If you’re designing your game with the intention of pitching it to publishers, you should be paying attention to your game’s components.
While publishers do genuinely enjoy playing games, they’re also running a business, and your game’s manufacturing cost influences their decision on whether or not to publish it.
Components cost money. The more cost-effective your game is to produce, the more appealing it is to publishers. Before you pitch your game, see if there are any components you can reduce, combine, or get rid of entirely.
Do you have a big cardboard standee that’s just there for aesthetics? Get rid of it.
Do you have two different types of currency tokens? See if you can combine the mechanics so you only have one type of currency.
Not only does this reduce the price of your game and make it more appealing to publishers, but designing with restricted components in mind can often lead to interesting and unique game mechanics.
— Sara Perry & Peter C. Hayward
|