gencon 2013 8/16/13 - the experience is the trip

learned so much today about patents and trademarks and service marks and copyrights and how much legal issues kill games...

so i nipped a couple of things in the bud as soon as i got the chance.

celtic barbarian (with mel gibson from braveheart) is gone.
decimatio (from the starz series - sparticus) is gone.

and there might be a couple more if/when i find out that u.s.a. companies own the rights to them.

also, hung out with around twenty artists - (writers and inkers) and asked them question after question about how they did what they did and what mistakes to avoid. it was really cool for them to take that time.

i even got to meet brom!

nice!

so...

in other news.

i didn't get a contract offer for the game or anything, but i did come away with VALUABLE information as to how the "con" works that i did not know before.

i learned a lot, and i learned it the harsh way. i failed miserably at the goal that i set out to do, so instead of admitting defeat... i made new goals and decided that it was just a learning trip instead of a promotional trip.

and this is why i failed at gencon as a game company owner trying to promote my game: i did not already have my game published and did not have the capital to "buy in" at the demo area.

so, basically it is about the money.

IF

a) my box is shiny
b) i have great artwork on the box
c) my signs are big
d) i have a demo booth set up, staffed and running the whole time

AND

e) i have a publisher helping me
f) i have a distributor helping me

OR

e) i have a lot of money
f) have the tenacity of a honey-badger

THEN

i will succeed.

however i had none of those things.

no one knew what the game was and i couldn't get them to sign up except on the free night and doing a couple of illegal games (running it for free on a "paid" table).

pish posh.

so, the rules is really what got in the way. if i were able to have waived that $2 then i would have probably had ten people sign up per night. eh. what do you do?

so maybe i will look at http://boardgamegeek.com/bggcon instead?

gencons actions towards us beginners is rather harsh. they were nice enough people and the business model works rather well for them, but all in all i got the feeling that it was just a really really big store where you could also pay to play.

;o

so. had i known that i might have changed my strategy rather earlier instead of resorting to inferior tactics mid-stride.

BUT

there is hope.

we plan to attend next year and not follow any of the foolishness that we did this year. as a matter of fact since all we did pretty much is bring the game and nothing else, we might just bring swag and not the game at all... ok maybe just like one of each deck or something... but i have some really great ideas and i think i got next year licked.

of course, by next years time i will have the expanded edition done.