Conventions and trade shows – and why we attend them

A convention or a trade show is a very special event, both for those gamers who are more deeply engaged in the hobby, as well as for us – publishers and designers of board games. Some of us love them, some of us hate them, but most of us attend for reasons I’m going to share below. And it’s a great time to share, since it’s all still fresh in my mind after the recent UK Games Expo.

Let me again start with a quick preamble: NSKN Games is very much like other publishers, but neither I, nor any other member of our crew has yet mastered the art of mind reading (though Andrei, the Big Boss himself, is most likely to make that breakthrough, and when he does a voice in your head will happily announce it to you), so whatever I say here will not be true for all publishers. Although, from our own experiences, educated guesses and some beer-propelled conversations with other people in the business, it probably is true for most.

So, let’s start with the basics: going to a convention is both expensive and exhausting. I won’t be talking about actual prices of space in different convention halls, but just know that the owners of these facilities know their worth. They also know very well that not all booths are equal, and not only size, but also multiple other factors influence the final price of being able to set up shop during the convention or show you saw us at – with all sorts of corner booths usually being the most expensive, and the first to go.

When it comes to exhaustion, just remember that whatever you see around you at a booth, was brought in by a number of human beings. And if you’re in a booth belonging to a smaller publisher (like NSKN Games), also know that those same human beings are most probably surrounding you now – all bubbly, enthusiastic and happy to see you, often despite being quite tired. Incidentally, this is why if you are absolutely certain you are not interested in a product they are to tell you more about, just tell them. You’ll save yourself some time – and they’ll be able to preserve their voice.

The NSKN Team at our UK Games Expo Booth

Having revealed the awful truth about conventions and trade shows, it’s time to finally get to answering the titular question. Why? Why do we attend? Is it for the possibility of making a quick buck on games that sell well, or sell out? No. Definitely not.

The truth is that selling a lot, or even all the games you bring to a convention, does not “make” you money – not in the sense of coming back with more cash than you had coming in. Most times, when you saw a booth selling games left and right, or have come too late to pick up a game (this may have happened to you for example last year in Essen if you wanted to pick up Praetor or Versailles on Sunday – or Progress on a Saturday afternoon), the publisher was not in for a big financial gain, but was happy that the event will break even.

Yes, between the prices of exhibitor space, the travel and transport costs and the hotel bills, a convention or a trade show for a publisher is a financial success if it makes them, all in all, spend a relatively small sum or no money at all. But no matter how much we pay, we do bring something back from each such event. We bring you.

Exodus Proxima Centauri - base game and the Edge of Extinction Expansion at UK Games Expo 2015.

Trade shows and conventions are important because of people we get to meet. We are happy to get to know new people in the industry, joke around a little bit, congratulate our competitors on a job well done (yes, that really happens!), and share experiences in the evening, in a hotel filled with exhibitors and attendees, or in a nearby pub overrun by the convention crowd. Apart from that, hands are shaken, eyes are looked in – and deals are made. Sometimes deals that make smaller publishers stay in the game – or help them develop, expand and grow.

Finally, conventions are important because of all of you. All of the people that come by to say hello – and all those who come in to ask: “Who are you again?”. Believe it or not, but we not only get a kick out of meeting new people, or getting to shake the hands of those of you, who we usually know by their Facebook profiles, Twitter or BoardGameGeek handles, but we are also interested in what you have to say. 

Clicking a thumb up on Facebook or bashing a game or mechanism online is so easy, that sometimes it almost goes unnoticed (although we always try to listen). Having an actual, face to face conversation with a person wanting to praise or critique something we’ve done is always memorable. And having ten people say “we did/did not like this and this” to our faces may actually influence what and how we’ll do in the future.

For all of you who asked about the NSKN Cats during UK Games Expo :-)

I’ve written all of the above mainly because we’ve just come back from UK Games Expo, and I had a chance to show off an advanced prototype of Mistfall to both new people, and our extraordinary backers. And this made me aware of one more thing. Each time (after playing a few turns) someone would tell me: “Yeah, I’m happy I backed this, it’s an awesome game”, I felt that a total of four hours in the air, two take offs and two landings between two consecutive flights suffered by a guy who hates flying, was something that guy would happily endure again. And each time we would say: “Yes, both Exodus: Edge of Extinction and Mistfall will be delivered without delays”, and see perplexed faces of gamers not used to their Kickstarter stuff ever arriving on time, we got a feeling that it is something we are simply unable to put a price tag on.

So, in short, the people are why we attend. The lure of talking to all sorts of individuals from all corners of geekdom, the chance to meet the persons we are fans of – and the people who are our fans, and the chance to share in stuff that is not only good for our business, but also pretty cool as a memory for us, simply as human beings

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Secrets of board game manufacturing

UK Games Expo is only several weeks away and NSKN Games will be, like always, present with new titles and prototypes.



But on top of this, we have been invited to speak in a panel about board game manufacturing and we would like you involved.

We have already dipped into this topic in these older posts, but we would like to know what are you interested in. If you have any questions or if you want to learn about something hard to find on the web, please post a comment and we'll try to find the answer for you and for the rest of the community. We'll then reply and include your topic in the panel at the UKGE, making it less of a secret for the whole industry.

Happy Gaming! 

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NSKN Games @ 3 years

Arthur Ashe said that "success is a journey, not a destination; the doing is often more important than the outcome" and this very quote describes very well the 3-year history of NSKN Games.

We know where we came from... but where do we go?

We started in 2011 not really knowing what we're getting ourselves into and not knowing how difficult is the transition from gaming to designing and publishing. The journey used to be the means to reach a destination - making a living out of publishing board games - and now the journey has become a life style. The purpose has not changed, but the defining paradigm of why and how is no longer the same.

Playing and designing games are not all that different, but publishing is. In 2013 I have questioned my decision to do both many times, because there are many turning points in the career of a designer/publisher when one conflicts with the other.

People say that time flies when you're having fun and I must admit that it's absolutely true. The past three years have flown by and I must take a moment and look back at what we have accomplished.

I won't go through the whole history of NSKN Games again, but if you're curious you can still read about our previous anniversaries:

NSKN @ 2 years (part 2)

NSKN @ 2 years

NSKN @ 1 year

...but there are a few things worth mentioning about our third year of being in business. 

The summer of 2013

One year ago NSKN Games was preparing the revised edition of Exodus: Proxima Centauri. That was our only release for 2013 and, even though we had another 3 prototypes ready and play-tested, things seemed to move a little too slowly. I wasn't sure if it's something we're doing or this is just the way things go, but one thing was for sure, publishing looked like a tough business with many pitfalls and a tremendous amount of work for uncertain results.

I know it sounds grim and discouraging, but figuring out how to dig your way out of the hole when you find yourself stuck is not an easy task. The publishing business was going well, it was simply too slow to make a decent living out of it. Rushing games to the market wasn't a solution, we never wanted to cut corners for an easy living. So, we decided to go one more time full speed ahead and bring our unfinished work to Essen, getting a lot of feedback from all kinds of gamers to figure out if we were going in the right direction or not. All the effort, money and creativity went (besides Exodus) into preparing the game we would publish in 2014 and 2015.

Spiel Essen and the autumn of 2013

The key moment into our finding a direction for NSKN Games and effectively working towards a goal - to stay in the board games industry and make a living out of it - came in Essen. The amount of interest and feedback we received was overwhelming and it helped us focus our efforts in the right direction.

NSKN Games @ Spiel '13 Essen

Besides selling out Exodus: Proxima Centauri soon after Essen, we have had a lot of good feedback for Praetor, Perfect Storm and our other prototypes. The light at the end of the tunnel was not a speeding train, but a guide towards what we were supposed to do next. For the rest of the autumn we finalized Praetor and closed the deals for the 7 editions in various languages adding up to a total of 7500 copies - almost as many as our previous board games combined. I must admit that having my name on a dedicated Romanian edition of a game made me feel especially proud. 

We have also "upgraded" the way we work. Having direction and focus saves a lot of time and effort. Even though we cannot say that NSKN is a large team, we've been growing steadily. With adding people we have also gained expertise and enthusiasm and thus we were able to cover more than one project at a time.

The winter of 2013/2014

By December 2013 all the graphics for Praetor were ready and we started submitting the final files for production. With a print run as large as we had, preparing for production was no easy task. We had several meetings to check the color proofs, the die cuts for the punchboards, the size and shape for the box tray and this just the tip of the iceberg.

Due to our new workflow philosophy, we had time to develop more games for 2014 and 2015. We continued developing and play-testing Progress: Evolution of Technology which will soon become our first ever Kickstarter project and we made created the framework for the long-awaited expansion of Exodus: Proxima Centauri.

Springtime 2014

With Praetor out of production in April, our first weeks of spring were dedicated to avoid a logistics nightmare. Shipping more than 7000 game boxes to 12 different countries was no easy task but we can proudly say that the the preorders were sent out 3 weeks before the promised deadline and every copy of the game is either with our partners or en route to them.

These days we are preparing for the upcoming gaming conventions (TIG Con in Romania and UK Games Expo) and in our "spare time" we're looking after the final details of our upcoming Kickstarter for Progress: Evolution of Technology.

Conclusions?

Designing and publishing board games is the most interesting life experience I could have ever imagined, very fulfilling and just as hard. As long as we can keep in mind that it's all about the journey, I think the future of NSKN Games looks brighter than ever.

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How to chose your holiday destination

Long time no hear! After two years of working like crazy I felt that the line has been crossed. The winter in Poland was absolutely out of the ordinary this year. The first three months were OK. Winter, you know, cold, snowy, rainy and so freakishly dark outside most of the day. Anyway, this would be still acceptable if only after all this winter sadness ... less winter came. However mother nature had a different plan and it brought us more winter sadness! It was the end of March when the temperature dropped to -10°C with heavy snowfall and wind outside our windows, letting us know that winter was not going to leave us neither easily nor soon. And you could feel that your heaters are on the limit! They may be able to get you to April... but then what? 

I have to be honest with you, I am completely weather dependent. When it's sunny outside, birds are singing and there is a rainbow on the sky - oh yeah! I feel the power! (and yes, I do sing "I got the power!", when I wake up with this picture outside of my window).

So I went to discover the sunny side of the earth, with the sneaky thought in my head: "When I come back it should get better in here. Maybe", and here comes the bold thought, "there will be Spring already in Poland."

(Just as a spoiler I will tell you now that when I landed back in Poland I sang "I got the power" again.) 

However, choosing holidays destinations was not easy. The winter was long, so you can imagine that I've played quite many board games and you know how they work - they move one's imagination! 


?? Should I go to Mexico and see Chichen Itza, Palenque, Uxmal, Tikal, Yaxchilan, as while playing Tzolkin I hanged on all those new places to discover?  This game, Tzolkin, put so much curiosity in my head! 

?? Maybe some place with nice beaches, white sand and palm trees? - Thank you Merchants & Marauders! Thank you Hawaii!

?? Or, or... I know ... something more exotic! Like in Ming Dynasty... Asia?? Asia!!

?? For adventure in dungeons with torches and magical blue potion in one pocket and a silver dagger in another I was not ready yet! Who knows, maybe in the summer... Winter and dungeons sounded too extreme in my head. Thou Descent: Journeys in the Dark filled the gap perfectly!

?? For Cosmic Encounter and Race for the Galaxy I was totally not prepared. What do I know about cosmos? What if Exodus will come and hey! what will you actually do if you discover a new form of life? Space definitely seemed too much to handle.

So Asia it was, without my gaming preferences I needed sun and I needed it immediately. Long story short - the trip was wonderful. It was long enough to detached from all the responsibilities, clear my mind and see things from a new perspective. I am now loaded with new ideas, my mind is nearly exploding! This year will bring a Perfect Storm and Praetor and W: The Board Game at least. We're planning to fit in all this also re-dressing of Exodus: Proxima Centauri this year. So, as I said, long story short - let me get back to work... I wanted to share with you that there are wonderful board games coming up this year from NSKN. And yes, I am genuinely smiling while writing this... ha! Wait till you play them!

Now, all our thoughts are focused on the preparation for the UK Games Expo 2013 on the 24th - 26th of May in Birmingham. We are printing, cutting and gluing prototypes so you can enjoy playing freshly made prototypes with Andrei and I there. Many more thing are going on at the same time.. World is never asleep and especially board gamers! So I hope to see you there!

As a conclusion of my adventure I want to share with you this picture. Some of you maybe have seen it already, as I shared it a few seconds after taking it ;-). However it is so mind blowing... imagine seeing this in reality!

Enjoy! And let your mind wonder!

Captured while wondering on the streets of Yogyakarta

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NSKN at gaming convention in 2013

Throughout the whole year NSKN will attend various gaming conventions and fairs where we'll present our new releases, demo our board games and play. From the very beginning of 2013 we have quite a busy schedule.

From 25th to 27th of January we'll go to Italy for GobCon de Luxe. It's the second time NSKN is attending this winter Italian convention and we're hoping it will go just as well as the previous one. It will be a weekend of gaming among friends. We're not going there empty handed, on the contrary, NSKN has prepared a special limited edition of Warriors & Traders: Middle Ages expansion in Italian. 

From Italy we're going north to Germany to attend the Nürnberg International Toy Fair, the biggest European exhibition of its kind. This is where the official release of Exodus: Proxima Centauri will take place. We will present also the English pre-release of Warriors & Traders: Middle Ages which we plan to publish in the fall of 2013. Besides this, we will bring along the prototypes of Praetor and W, two of our upcoming games.

We have another title prepared for Nürnberg  but since it's not a sure deal we must wait a bit before announcing this title.

At the end of the spring, from 24th to 26tf of may, NSKN will attend the UK Games Expo. After the success of last year, we plan to make a habit from going to Birmingham. Besides Exodus and Wild Fun West, we're hoping to have the final versions of Praetor and Warriors & Traders: Middle Ages.

As always, the main gaming event of 2013 for our team will be Spiel Essen. This is where we're going to release our new games, meet and play. The dated have not been announced yet, but as soon as we hear back from the organizers, we'll update our website and this post.

Besides all these events we have a few more in plan, but since we have not made up our minds yet and we're still talking to the organizers it's a bit too early to talk about them.

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More about NSKN Legendary Games on the website | Facebook | Twitter | BGG |  ScoopIT Magazine | Blog

Warriors & Traders can also be found on its own website | Facebook |  BGG
Exodus: Proxima Centauri: website | BGG
Wild Fun West: website | BGG

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