❖ Version History ❖

8th of March, 2022
❖ Warning: this one is a bit wordy… ❖

Through the last four or so chapters in the Calendra Design Journal, we have been discussing all manor of finishing procedures that needed to be enacted on the graphic design to bring Calendra from its prototype phase into its production ready phase.

During this time, I was living a bit of a split life. On some days I would take the time to work on the graphics of the box, or the rules, and on other days I would take the time to scour the internet for information on the perfect manufacturer for Librarium Games. And just so we are on the same page here, if you have never done this before, take it from me: it is a chore. There is so much that goes into this process… So, let’s break down why that is, and what I did to manage getting involved with all of it.

To start, let’s do an overview of what makes up the manufacturing challenge:
(Disclaimer: I will not be mentioning specific names or prices)

Phase One:
Who Can Make Me a Product?

For this discussion, we will break down the chaos of looking for manufacturers… and then a bit about what goes on once you find them.

Phase Two:
What Will It Cost?

After finding a wealth of options in the marketplace, we then get in to the complications of quoting the cost of the game making process.

Phase Three:
Where Will We Produce?

Beyond the elements of negotiation, we need to factor in some details about the costs that we are quoted and how they are impacted by geographical location.

Phase Four:
When Can I Get It?

As a factor of the ‘Who, What, and Where’ conversation, we then also consider ‘Why’ those costs reflect upon the overall value based on delivery method & timelines.

Phase Five:
How Will All of the Dot’s Be Connected?

Then finally, once every element of the creation and transportation has been honed in, we need to sort out the logistical process of conducting the final production.

These five topics help represent the reality behind why this process is so hard, and why so many people shy away from the industry at this point in the process. I think if I were to describe this metaphorically, this is exactly the moment when the average hiker realizes the behemoth of what they have decided to face when ascending Everest, or perhaps crossing The Appalachian Trail. You start off being like “I can totally handle this”… and then you witness the challenge first hand and all of a sudden you are struck with that sensation of defeat before you’ve even begun. But the most important ingredient here is conviction. You must believe in what you are chasing, and as such, we will not be giving up on Calendra at this phase. We will face this mountain.

So… Let’s dive right into this discussion on Phase 1: Who Can Make Our Product?

The first major challenge here is literally just identifying what options you have for manufacturing. I know that sounds crazy, but in all seriousness… there are companies all over the world that do this, and there is no definitive catalogue of these companies. Just the hunt for manufacturing options was my first speed bump in this process, for I simply did not know what to do; or much more importantly, who to trust.

Instinctively I wanted (somewhat desperately in fact) to manufacture in America. I have spent so much of my life hearing about how jobs have migrated over seas, and that nothing is made in America anymore, but I didn’t entirely understand why that was. So I began looking at some of the major players by means of avid Google searching… and I came up with about 5 different companies that I was interested in beginning the production dialogue with.

At the same time that I was going through this process in America, I started the hunt in Asia as well. I know the threat of production cost differences, but I have never looked at the numbers with my own eyes, which I must do as I now compete for best price. To accomplish this, we have to leave Google behind and migrate toward another famous search engine: Alibaba (essentially a ‘makers’ search engine for manufacturing companies overseas). For this particular leg of the hunt, I also have a couple of other tricks already up my sleeves, for I have heard of some specific manufacturers through other resources (like the board game design lab, run by Gabe Barrette), and also, we of course have Regent, whom made us The Great Chase.

And so quickly begins the obvious problem of Phase 2: What Will It Cost?

Once beginning the search, you will quickly find that there are lots of people who are happy to reach out to you. They are eager to impress with their price points, and so there are many discussions that started taking place as soon as I opened this floodgate. I was working to manage five quotes from the US and five quotes from Asia, just to see what kind of comparisons I might come up with. And I am sure you will think just as I did… “What makes this so hard? Is it not just who offers the best price and move on?” ~ No, unfortunately not.

There are so many factors that must be considered once you hit this exact moment:

❖ Obviously: What are the prices offered? (I saw prices from $3,000 – $16,000 on the same quoted total unit quantity… but this detail alone doesn’t tell the whole story)

❖ Also, how do those prices scale across different bulk quantities??
An Unrealistic Example: maybe 500 units = $1,000, but 1000 units also = $1000…
So your price per unit just changed from $2/copy to $1/copy (and these prices are offered differently at different places)

❖ Then there is the element of Quality! Maybe a price seems too good to be true… and perhaps that is exactly the problem. If you don’t pay enough for a product to be made, you may just be delivered 1000 units of garbage. But specifically the best quality might bankrupt you as a company as well…. so what is the happy medium??

❖ One must also consider the components. For Calendra, we are actually quite lucky… this game was intentionally designed to have the most simple components possible. It is literally just a box with cards and a small rule book… but… the quality of those card stocks, and the material used in box design all matter a lot. You need to make certain that the materials you need in your final product are also being met by the manufacturing cost.

❖ Finally, quotation must also factor in the price of delivery and shipping. Sometimes a quote is only for the making of a product and the shipping is a separate conversation. Sometimes the quote includes the delivery cost. There are complex answers you must have and factor in now!!! I repeat: NOW. To elaborate, lets talk more extensively about it:

As the list of pricing develops, a key element is Phase 3: Where Will We Produce?

Though the location of production is definitely a major discussion topic on the pricing of everything, there are many other factors that cause this to be its own entire plot point.

❖ First, the factor of Pricing:
As we just discussed, how far a product must move to get from its creation facility to your business facility adds to the overall raw cost of that product.

❖ Secondly, Quantity.
It is somewhat manageable and easy to make small quantities of something and have them domestically moved around. With amazing Print on Demand services like that offered by The Game Crafter, or Print & Play, I could theoretically make only 1 copy of a game and have it sent to my house, or to a customer perhaps. This is easy, costs nearly nothing, and it’s very fast. If I need 100 copies, this is also achievable, even perhaps 1,000 copies. But. If you want to get into major manufacturing, you will likely start to look for quantities of more than 1,000 to expand on business, and also drive the cost of the game down as much as possible… and for this you must start to look at what else is out there, which inevitably leads toward overseas production typically.

❖ Thirdly, Timing.
When it comes to production location, it can dramatically impact the overall timeline of a project. An enormous advantage to creating something domestically (no matter where you are, whether by train or by truck), there is an advantage of transportation speed when only working against land based travel. The inclusion of a boat in your transit changes everything. For me, I live in the Eastern United States. Getting a truck from California to my home in Massachusetts is only a matter of days. But getting a boat from China to America and then across America… that is at best going to be a matter of weeks, and typically into the possibility of months depending on how much production you will be doing.

❖ Fourthly, Language.
It should honestly go without saying what difficulty comes with language barriers, but it is important to remember the small details none-the-less. When making something domestically, you are naturally speaking your own tongue. When you need to go overseas for productions, there is without a doubt going to be a moment of language barrier somewhere along the line. It shouldn’t prevent you from taking on the best opportunities available, but it very well could be a tough challenge for you to face that should be considered up front in the process. At least two options that I had considered in my search overseas for manufacturers were disqualified from my interest because I simply could not properly communicate certain ideas or questions in our early discussion. Make sure you can get the answers you need from a reliable source through reliable translation.

❖ Finally: Complexity.
Every step taken that further removes you from the creation of an item directly adds several layers of complexity to the process of remaking it. When you create something yourself in your home, you can see the intricacy of the processes up close and personal, and you will always be able to diagnose a problem quickly. As you get this item prototyped and made by another person, you can quickly see things that you didn’t see before, and correct for needed changes. When you need to convey an idea to someone, who may then in turn have to convey that idea to someone else, every step of that progress contributes to the “Telephone Game Problem” ~ where all manor of details may become skewed or misinterpreted. When it comes to final production, this is the point that your product can no longer risk containing mistakes, or else it will affect everything permanently. As an already existing example of this, we had several months of The Great Chase project fall into delay because there were weeks and weeks of back & forth conversation revolving around altering the artwork to a suitable conclusion for all parties. Additionally, I faced this process in the creating of Calendra when it came to the final steps of the box design (which we will cover in another chapter of the Design Journal soon). Always remember the complexity of what you are trying to create, and what it will take to manage that idea being transcribed 100 times before it returns to your hands, and consider this challenge when it comes to deciding who will make your product.

…That’s enough of why ‘Where’ matters. Tell me about Phase 4: When Can I Get It??

Once you have managed to determine who you will work with, what your project will cost, and how you will get the final product to you, it is all a matter of what the timeline then becomes with your overall business strategy. It sounds like a silly thing, but it is very relevant to know what the production timeline will look like, how that will function with the timing of each transportation phase, and if that will all work for your planning. Luckily, with the manufacturer that I have selected for the Calendra project, we will be mobilizing the production of things quite a bit earlier in the year that I had expected, which will serve nicely toward release dates later on. From our initial quote, this was our predicted timeline:

There are a great many steps that I still need to accomplish in order to meet any of the checkpoints of this timeline, but, it is a good place to start for a comfort zone on the timing. I estimate that there may be delays in this, but it sets up what I now know to be my calendar for the year ahead, and gives me an important advantage for how I am going to begin my marketing from here.

By no means does this officially conclude the negotiating in terms of a final production run, but it is another necessary and important step. Without knowing what a company’s turn around might be on the return of your financial investment, you are putting yourself at risk of not being able to maintain strong sales or faith in your customer base later on down the line. This in turn brings us to our final challenge in the manufacturing process:

Phase 5: How Are All The Dots Connected?

In the arc of a game’s design there are three major parts:

1. Prototyping
2. Production
3. Distribution

The manufacturing process that we have discussed in length here is the glue that binds the perfect prototyped game to the beloved customer. It is the cocoon that changes a home made table top game for the family into a distribution worthy product for the marketplace. It requires strategy, timing, financial planning, a quality product, and strong communications to bring the project through the production. And though this stage of the design process is almost completely outside of the graphic design department, it is still a critical stage of where the art transforms from prototype into permanent.

In recap, to truly produce a good game, one must ensure:
A quality manufacturer is found, their price is right, their design specs match your needs, their timeline works for your business, and the bond is trustworthy. Only with all of these details in line can you truly make what the customer deserves.

I hope that that it has been useful to share my experience with all of these steps, both as a guide for you my readers, but also as a guide for me… to remind myself in the future of the details I find most important to remember as I went through this, and what I wanted to be focusing on while getting my first project ready for its grand conclusion. I know that this entry in the Design Journal was mostly discussing the grand schemes of my brainstorm through the puzzles of the process, but I am hopeful that it will help someone some day.

For now though, let’s focus back into the visual design of things on our next journey through the Design Journal, as we once again go back to the Making of the Box for Calendra… but this time it is not a matter of graphic art… it is a matter of physical construction! Tune in next time to learn more!