Business of games – The Law of Game Design

I recently had the great good fortune to give a talk at PAX East with Zach Barash, a good friend whose accomplishments are too numerous to easily list here. (Designer for Kingdom Death, Magic: the Gathering columnist, improv actor–seriously, we’ll be here all day and into the night!) Our talk, Starting–and Finishing–Your First Game, teaches a process that will reliably take you from an idea for a game to a finished product that you’re proud to show off. It also highlights some common pitfalls that derail projects, and explains how to avoid them.

You can find our slides here. Be sure to turn on presenter’s notes, which include our discussion for many of the slides.

Thanks to all who attended, to all those who asked questions (they were really good questions!), and to all who reached out afterward!

Much of my work these days is in making games for education–mostly for use in classes I’m teaching. Thus, I was very interested in this article on getting paid for that kind of work.

In many ways, the article echoes frustrating aspects of my own experience, and the experience of others I’ve talked to in this area. There’s tremendous demand, but no organized way to connect designers to the specific people looking for something at any given time. Money is out there, but it is often caught up in systems meant for other kinds of products and services. It is hard to build a reliable income stream.

On the flip side, there really are–as the article makes clear–paying customers out there. It is possible to do this kind of work, make some money, and finish your day feeling like you put your skills toward making the world a little bit better. If that sounds good to you, I hope you’ll join me in making games for the classroom, and that the article gives you some ideas for how to get paid doing so.

The Law of Game Design

Category: Business of games

Starting–and Finishing–Your First Game

Wick Perry on Funding Edugames