OK, over in this topic I said that we would not represent overseas games under our banner.
I feel I should clarify.
If you come up to the booth and ask about, for example, Dogs In The Vineyard then we are more than happy to talk about it and recommend it. If time permits and someone on the booth has the book to hand we may also be able to demo it for you. No problem. We will also be happy to talk to you about other indie games that you may not have heard of that you may find similarly interesting and fun. These will include our own books, I think that's a fair and realistic point.
However, we will only be selling books at our table from Collective Members. There are a variety of reasons:
(i) We are only selling games that are sharing the booth costs.
(ii) We do not wish to damage the very strong relationships we have with indie-friendly retailers such as Leisure Games, Black Lion, FanBoy 3, etc. who kindly do not sell our books in competition with us at cons.
(iii) We do not want to become a clearing house or official convention representative for all indie games worldwide.
(iv) It allows us to focus on our own mission in a clearer way.
So, all that having been said, if you have questions about any overseas indie games at a convention in the UK then I'd say we are a good place to go. And we should know where you can buy the games either at the con or online.
Eminently sensible and good
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Mon, 18/06/2007 - 12:57.
Eminently sensible and good clarification of the position we have previously held, but whcih has remained unwritten.
Maybe we could speak to Angus, Brennan et al and look at the possibility of Leisure Games and IPR cards/flyers for us to have, in the event that people ask about non-CE games?
Cheers
Malcolm
Contested Ground Studios
One thing that might be
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Mon, 18/06/2007 - 16:31.
One thing that might be worth thinking about are demo exchanges with our foreign friends, whereby we swap some of our demo slots/capacity with international publishers. Do you think there's any potential in that?
Good question
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Mon, 18/06/2007 - 17:01.
I think there may be potential there. I'm more comfortable with arranging specific demo swaps with specific people rather than saying "the booth" will do it.
But I strongly feel the answer to any follow up question of "can you also sell my game at the booth?" should be "please contact X, Y and Z who are friendly retailers in the UK. I'll be happy to demo your game and point customers to them for sales. Do let X, Y and Z know that I sent you their way." A sale through a shop like that also probably leads to re-orders, which is no bad thing.
For X, Y and Z people should feel free to use any and all friendly retailers that they know of. I know that we have a very good relationship with Leisure Games (as does most of the indie community) but at GamesExpo there were a number of other shops picking up retailer bundles of our stuff too.
But I'm all ears, and I'd like to hear what everyone else has to say on this too.
On the subject of literature
Submitted by Iain McAllister on Mon, 18/06/2007 - 17:08.
On the subject of literature for other games, I know Angus has a very comprehensive list of all the indie rpgs. We could maybe ask for a copy of that at cons we attend, supporting our fellow designers overseas as well as putting some business Angus' way.
This could also work vice versa. If angus, or whatever retailer is selling other rpgs, is at a con and is too busy to answer all the questions people have about indie rpgs he could push them our way.
All the best
Iain
Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG
'The Giant Brain' has launched.
Oh, good point...
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Mon, 18/06/2007 - 17:42.
From Malcolm here.
"As regards games from outwith the collective being demoed, I have no problem with talking about other games but I think that our valuable demo time should concentrate on our own games, the games which are the core reason for our existence (in terms of a booth presence). This is not to say that I wouldn't like to demo, say, Grey Ranks, but I'm not sure if that would cause a dilution of our stated aims."
So, perhaps you might have to arrange to run a game of something in a scheduled slot at a con instead? (Though you might then be very busy at a con, since I'm sure buying into a booth will involve being on the booth for at least half a day or something similar.)