KINGS RANSOM ANTIQUES HOME

Ok, in this article l will cover how l invented a successful puzzle, and how you can read between the lines to get your own successful idea going.

So…let’s begin.

• Step 1 – I came up with an idea for a stacking type puzzle, back then the stacking jigsaw black and white versions were big, so l thought that a colour version would be a good idea. The idea flopped, but l learned that you need to bring in at least 3 good ideas to a toy company to have a real shot at getting something accepted.

So steps 1 is come up with at least 3 good ideas (designs) and find a toy company to show your ideas to. You can go to your nearest puzzle shop to find your nearest toy company which could be interested in your idea. You can also try Googling it or the Yellow pages.

• Step 2 – I developed another 3 ideas in between doing 3 models for the stacking jigsaw l mentioned earlier, (the company l showed it to wasn’t interested, but they said that an overseas company they knew about could be) and tried again.

Bombed again?

So far l had one maybe, and 3 failures. It’s usually at this point that most people would give up, but not me, so l continued. The message to take home from step 2 is don’t give up, regardless of how many times you have failed or that your wife or family is starting to doubt your sanity. Thomas Edison to name a few have been through this process and won. Toy and game inventing is no different, keep trying and success is inevitable.

• Step 3 – This time before l left l was shown an old puzzle book mainly showing 16 – 19 century puzzles.

So l went home with a few ideas and came up with another 4 quick sketches to show them. This time it looked like the same old failure. I showed them 3 ideas l got from their toy and puzzle book they let me look though while l was there last visit, with the usual not interested response.

But…

The 4th idea interested them. Initially they said that they weren’t interested because the puzzle idea would need to be done using a plastic sheet, but then I mentioned that you could make this yourself with the same materials you use with your on-site equipment to make jigsaws with.

And then the lights went on.

They realized that they could manufacture this on-site, and l had my first success. This took 7 failures to find this.

So the message to take home from step 3 is the more research you do, the greater your chances are of an early success.

On one side we have Magic The Gathering (MTG), which is the tabletop game that forged the concept of “strategy based on trading cards” and is considered by many to be the best game of its genre. The more than 20.000 unique cards in MTG can be combined to create an almost infinite amount of different strategies and a unique experience in each new match that is played.

Then we have Chess, which is without a doubt the most known abstract strategy game in the world and is also recognized as an official sport by the International Olympic Committee. Although it doesn’t involve producing ‘mana’ to cast spells, the pieces that are used in each match always start the same, and the rules are relatively simple to learn, Chess offers such a grade of tactical complexity that one could study different strategies and moves in the game for a lifetime and still find a fresh and surprising experience in every match. Both games are a lot of fun, and both have the potential of being studied in great depth in order to forge strategies and tactics to develop greater skills.

Usually the argument arises: is X game better than game Y? At the very end, even if you are comparing games of the same genre (e.g. MTG vs Yu-Gi-Oh), which game is truly the best is something that depends entirely on you and which game you find more attractive, fun and fulfilling overall. If you like to play casually both MTG and Chess, that’s cool. However, if you decide that you’d like to be more than just a casual player and you want to dedicate more time studying and playing one game in particular, then I recommend you have in mind the following aspects:

First, in MTG you need to constantly spend money on cards. After you buy your first set of cards (an intro deck, a fat pack, etc.) and start playing and learning about the game, you will want to create custom decks that would follow strategies developed by you, which is something that requires that you get more cards by trading some of yours and buying more. Once you have researched exactly which cards you need to implement a certain strategy you could either: ask people that have them to trade them to you, buy them individually online or at hobby stores (the rarer a card, the more expensive it is), or buy packs of cards from the set they are from (Mirrodin, Kamigawa, etc.), hoping that you will obtain the exact cards you need. Another thing is that a new set enters the market every three months or so, and with it a whole new bunch of cards with different powers and effects; thus, expanding the possible strategies you could create (and would have to face), AND requiring you to spend more money in this new cards if you want to be able to take advantage of them. All of this without mentioning buying accessories like card protectors, deck boxes, etc.

You might have certainly heard about the game named ‘connect four’, as you might have certainly played them while you were really young. However, this game was the inspiration for what they called now ‘four in a row’. This game of course was developed for adults to help them kill boredom and also to make it an addition to the existing gaming niche. But surprisingly enough this game today has been analyzed to be one of the best remedies to improve memory power. With our busy and stressful life, a lot of teenagers as well as others complain of short-term memory loss. Although, there are various other remedies to improve your memory power, yet ‘four in a row’ is one among them which not only increases your memory power but also does not give any side effects!

The popularity of this fascinating game increased to such an extent that today these games are readily available online which can either be downloaded or played online itself for free! The game has been around for generations and today can be called as one of the most popular games not only played by kids but adults too. These games are also available for downloading to your mobile phone or other handy devices.

Although the game incorporates a very simple strategy for its game play, yet it can be quite addictive to passionate players who might find themselves glued to the screen after a certain time. The biggest advantage of downloading it from the Internet is that it comes free of cost so it is also great for people who want to just try playing and if they do not like it they can easily get rid of it.

The game requires a lot of concentration, patience and of course memory so that the player can keep alert throughout the game and build up a gaming strategy to win the game. The capability of the game to keep a player focused and concentrated helps them to develop greater memory power as well as brainpower. The game also involves a lot of critical thinking which must be done in a rational way to help a player smoothly win the game. Critical thinking is a great blessing for people because irrational decisions may sometimes lead a person to suffering. Hence, playing this game benefits a person in a lot of way and helps them to psychologically heal.

Ok, well the big question is how do you develop a board game design concept and have a good chance of it getting accepted by a toy company?

Well… there are several issues to contend with, I will cover each one in turn.

• color

• design

• playability

Color - board game color is a very important aspect of board game design, develop a board that looks terrible and no-one will buy it, except your Mother and closest friends of course. Or use a color that doesn’t match the theme example, pink for a beer game and no real sales will result.

It is great if you have color matching skills, but it is a good idea to seek out someone who does before manufacturing begins, otherwise expensive mistakes could result.

Design - is another important area to develop, get this wrong and it’s profits and hard work down the drain. It has to be done right, so apart from doing the preliminary designs yourself, the finished work should be done by an expert.

Which is another reason why you should, (in my opinion) go through a toy company rather than do it yourself, unless you are a professional graphic artist of course. You won’t have to cough up for an expensive graphic artist if you go through a company, although you will still have to help with design ideas in the initial development.

You can always, (if you want to do it yourself) go to your local college, etc and talk to a student who wants to be a graphic artist when they finish. It is more than likely that they will be sufficiently skilled to produce quality work for you for free in exchange for a percentage of the profits when you get it, (your board game) into the stores, or internet, etc.

Playability - Playability is another important aspect of board game design that should be taken into account. If the game ends quickly then it won’t sell that well. If it takes forever to finish, same thing. But if it can be played for at least 1 to 2 hours, (2 preferably) then playability is great.

Playability also covers, playing pieces, although standard pieces are the safest way to go, and the cheapest. And how technical the concept is; usually if the customer can’t grasp your game within 30 seconds they might go to the next game and buy that instead, although as a game like Monopoly shows other elements can override this.

Playability can also cover the board itself, a relatively small board that doesn’t fold up, will be more desirable to customers than one that will eventually fall apart because it folds up or is excessively large, Squatter, etc.

There are numerous other elements, but these are some of the main ones, take note of these, and you will have a better chance than normal!