Wednesday, October 01, 2008

BGG.con coming up!

It's getting close to November, which means it's getting close to time for BGG.con! I don't think I prepare for any trip as far in advance as I do for this convention. I bought plane tickets months ago, I arranged hotel accommodations (sharing a room with a friend from previous years), and now - still 6 or 7 weeks before the con, I'm posting a sign-up list on BoardGameGeek for playing unpublished games.

I did this last year and I think it was successful, so I intend to make it an annual thing. I'm trying to help grow the burgeoning game design community the only way I really know how - by designing games, and bringing unpublished games to conventions to drum up interest!

Not all the games I bring are my own. I have several friends from the Board Game Designers Forum who have designed some excellent games, and I have made or obtained copies of some of them.

My action isn't entirely altruistic though, I'm constantly trying to find a way to get some of these games, by myself or my friends, published. Several publishers will be in attendance at the convention, and it would be great if I could show these games to them as well - though so far that hasn't gone as well as I'd hoped. But it's still great to get the games played and hear feedback from players.

So I'll see you at BGG.con - sign up to play some unpublished games!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So there!

Clive said...

How do you play unpublished games at BGG.CON or any other CON for that matter? Do you just set up the game at an open table and invite people to play? Are there special tables for play testing?
Sorry if this is an obvious question - I have only started concentrating on designing games for the past year or so and living in Canada there are less opportunities to present game designs.

Seth Jaffee said...

Nowadays there's an "event" at BGG.con called Proto Alley where designers bring their games and people play each other's prototypes.

Outside of that, it's an open gaming convention, so sometimes if you just ask people if they'll play your game, they'll say yes. It's a little tough to go that route though, as many people are interested in playing all the new games that have come out, and might not be interested in a prototype, so be aware of that.