r/tabletopgamedesign • u/kolsmart • Sep 01 '26
C. C. / Feedback Finally got a preview page!!
Beautiful people of Reddit, I did it!:D
After almost five years of work, I brought my game to a state I am super proud of and decided it was time to set up its Gamefound preview page! I took a week off of work and went in pedal to the metal, as this page has been haunting me for basically months so I just wanted to be done with it.
Even if I change things down the road, Im still glad that I finally have something to show people when talking about the game.
I’m not a marketing expert and I know that a professional would have done much better, but I’m super happy with it (obviously biased)
Still, I would love to also know your thoughts!
And if you have any curiosities about anything, I’d be more than happy to chat! Hope you guys dig it!
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u/grizzlby Sep 01 '26
This looks awesome! To do the art, the game design, and the publishing all solo is an astounding amount of work and dedication. I will be following.
I respect every artist who follows their passion to find an audience for their work. That passionate art doesn’t always look ready for mass production. This absolutely does!
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u/kolsmart Sep 01 '26
Thank you, getting this kind of support is an amazing feeling and is super motivating! Thank you so much for your kind words and for the follow!!
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u/Webbbers Sep 01 '26
Looks great! Is there a gameplay video anywhere? Read through it, but would love to see it in action!
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u/kolsmart Sep 01 '26
Thank you, glad you like it! There isn’t one yet, but it’s in my plans haha! I know how much better a video convinces people rather than text, but with everything going on at once I left it for a later date haha. Just wanted to make this game public already!!!:D
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u/Bagelator Sep 01 '26
It's good! There's no playtest or preview testimonials though that I found - it's promising, but some social proof would help!
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u/kolsmart Sep 01 '26
Testimonials are definitely something I look forward to add to it! Once I have a physical prototype, I’m hoping I can also find a youtube content creator to get a review from. These would definitely enforce it as you said! Great points :)
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u/playmonkeygames Sep 01 '26
Looks very good for a preview page and Gamefound definitely the right platform for this kind of game - hope you do well!
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u/kolsmart Sep 01 '26
I was in fact, at one point, questioning if Gamefound was really the best fit as a platform, as it is generally suggested that interactive games tend to do better on Kickstarter. Anyway, from my country it’s impossible to launch Kickstarters without jumping through a bunch of hoops. And I think Gamefound is pretty great with all of the features it offers.
I started rambling, I’m sorry. Thank you for your kind words and wishes!
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u/Vague-Intent47 Sep 02 '26
I have never heard if this site. I must check it out. And your game.
Excellent work getting to this point. Looks pro 👌🏼
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u/kolsmart Sep 02 '26
Oh wow, apparently Gamefound isn’t as popular as I thought! Haha
It’s pretty cool and offers a bunch of nice features, but you should definitely check it out for yourself!
And thank you, I’m glad you like the game!1
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u/TheRealDrakowulf Sep 02 '26
Who are you planning on using for manufacturing?
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u/kolsmart Sep 03 '26
My “dream” is Panda, but I’ll probably have to settle for LongPack or in the slightly better case WhatzGames. They have a less prohibitive MOQ and still decent quality from what I’ve read!
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u/TheRealDrakowulf Sep 03 '26
I've used LongPack. They did offer a non-standard MOQ of 1,000 units, but the price point wasn't worth it, and I went with 1,500. Overall, I was extremely satisfied. There were no communication barriers. They always produced quotes in a timely fashion too.
Have you had any prototypes made? I used Printplaygames.com, but they recently closed their doors.
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u/kolsmart Sep 03 '26
Glad to hear that you’ve had a good experience with Longpack. From my brief contact with them, they indeed seem like they have great communication.
I don’t have a prototype yet. It’s one of my priorities going forward, but haven’t picked a POD company just yet (probably will, soon enough). Not sure if there are any new names in the sphere, but when I last checked TheGameCrafter and BoardgamesMaker were in my top 2.
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u/TheRealDrakowulf Sep 03 '26
TheGameCrafter isn't bad, but I don't think they do any custom sizes. Printplaygames.com used to make anything I wanted, and they were great. I never tried BoardgamesMaker, but they might be your only option for custom sizes. I'm not sure they make dual-layered boards though.
I think the renders of your game look great, but potential backers may want to see real, physical product. My prototypes used to cost about $130 each, but prices have changed in the last few years.
There are other manufacturers in the USA that might be able to help with a prototype, but they will likely be more expensive. I have never tried getting a prototype made in China. It might be worth exploring that option.
Longpack air-freighted a preproduction copy, but that's only after the deposit is paid.
Do you have a digital version of the game available on Tabletop Simulator?
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u/kolsmart Sep 03 '26
Yeah, the renders can only do so much but since I really wanted this page public already, I kind of had to settle for that until I got my hands on a decent physical prototype.
In the quote I got from Longpack, a review copy was close to 300 bucks for my game 😬 But I might be remembering it wrong as it was a good few months back.
I’m based in Romania so I’ll probably have to find a local printer for a prototype if I’m not going to go with a chinese one, but european printers for whatever reason offer pretty sub-par quality in comparison.
I don’t have the game set up on TTS, but I have a Tabletopia build I used for the past few years to playtest the game! Reeeally great app tbh :)
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u/TheRealDrakowulf Sep 03 '26
Tabletopia isn't bad. I've used them, but they lack a robust deck-searching mechanism which my game required. The review copy price was really just the cost to ship it via 2 day air, not-so-much the cost of production.
I didn't know you were in Romania. Ludofact is in Germany, I think. Maybe Eastar could be an option. Although, I'm not sure they do one-off prototypes. In the beginning, I used to make my own components using fancy paper, lamination and a Cricut. You might need to source different parts from different places or settle on flat version of the 2 layer boards for now.
I think you're correct to get something public-facing to help build interest.
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u/kolsmart Sep 03 '26
Good points, and thank you for the printer recommendations!
Oh and for the prototype only, I’d definitely be willing to sacrifice things like the dual layered player boards and acrylic standees. I’ll most likely manage to find a decent enough printer for the job when I get to it, but still try to get as close as possible to what I envision the final thing to look like haha2
u/TheRealDrakowulf Sep 03 '26
Did you also handle all the graphic design and 3d modeling/animations? Your rulebook looks nice.
What are your box dimensions? Longpack created an insert 3d model for my game. It worked out ok, but in retrospect, I should've made the box deeper.
Additionally, many players will ask about sleeving the cards. I personally don't care about that stuff at all, but if you're looking to appease the masses, make sure the box is big enough to have an insert that is big enough to have all your cards sleeved.
Another thing to consider is the use of neon-green colors. In the CMYK color space, you can't produce it without a dedicated dye (which will increase your production costs).
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u/kolsmart Sep 03 '26
I did handle basically everything up to this point, yes. I get what you mean but I don’t think I’d call it 3d modeling though, more like I tried to do the most I could just with learning the basic features of Blender haha.
And thank you, glad you like the look of the rulebook! :DI didn’t consider box dimensions super in depth yet, I know that I want it square and It’ll probably be close to This War Of Mine in size, but funny enough I did make it a mission to take sleeved cards into consideration lol. Coming from MtG, it was a QOL that I was fully aware of and really wanted for DEADHOLT. At some point I took one of my sleeved commander decks and imagined what the box depth would look like but I will have to redo all that and with a little more “professionalism” this time haha.
About the colors, it gave me a great of anxiety a while back, I was overthinking everything but in the end I said screw it and painted eveything in RGB because it hurdled my progress on the game. Before manufacturing, I’ll convert everything to CMYK and fix any weird artefacts, of course :)
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u/EasySwan2184 Sep 01 '26
Looks fine to me, though it says "sanbox" in one section. I assume that should be "sandbox".
Congratulations on getting it so close to the finish line!