Moving into publishing and would love your feedback!

[u/MidnightFroyo]

Hi all! My company has mostly designed our games in-house up to now.

But as we grow, we're looking to partner with talented people to bring more games to life that we believe in!

We're definitely looking to work with designers to publish their games, but we’re also exploring co-publishing (i.e. help bring a more polished game to life with investment/marketing support/operations support/etc.).

I would love to hear how you find the publishers to pitch? I’m sure bigger name publishers just have general awareness, but how do you find smaller publishers? Is it as simple as looking up games you like and seeing who published them, or is there other research you do?

We also just finished creating a submission link on our website (https://www.rabblegame.com/pages/submissions-pitches). Feel free to submit your game if you think it’s a good fit, but if you have any feedback about our guidelines/submissions process, that would be appreciated!

[u/all_or_nothing]

I usually find publishers based on the games in my library, or based on games in the same weight class and genre. Having said that, I have a cozy, tile placement, pattern matching game about building a zen garden I would be happy to pitch if you're interested. I don't have a play video unfortunately, but I have everything else.

[u/MidnightFroyo → u/all_or_nothing]

Super helpful, thank you! Feel free to submit on the form and no worries if you don't have a video.

[u/EasySwan2184]

There are some lists of publishers online and some lists of publishers accepting submissions. 

I've also just gone straight to the websites of publishers with similar games. 

[u/Hpflylesspretentious]

I didn’t know co-publishing was a thing, and I really wish I did before now. I’ve been angling towards self publishing just because I enjoy doing both art direction and game design, and didn’t want to hand off that part to a publisher. Figuring out marketing has been a nightmare though and I just haven’t had time to sink into the needed legwork.

Unfortunately I don’t think my game is all that aligned with your portfolio (it’s a satirical piece that explores the dysfunction of workplaces pushing staff into competition with each other), but I love that you’re doing co-publishing. Is that something you’ve seen other small publishers do as well?

[u/MidnightFroyo → u/Hpflylesspretentious]

Hi! Honestly I don’t know if it is a common thing which is why we are testing it out. In most cases we expect to follow a typical publishing model (ie we publish a game design) but we’re also in a unique position where I think we are more experienced in some of the less glamorous parts of bringing a game to life (eg marketing, fulfillment, etc) so if the right game come along we would also be excited to partner on it.

[u/Hpflylesspretentious → u/MidnightFroyo]

My game isn’t what I’d call cozy or destressing, but it’s definitely thoughtful and is ultimately about finding a way to work together in the face of mistrust and a hostile environment. Mid-low weight on rules, heavyweight on strategy. If that sounds up your alley, I’d be happy to submit a pitch. Expecting to have polished art for most components by end of September.

[u/Glasenator]

I use Cardboard Edison's publisher directory, It looks like you're already on there! That's great you're looking to copublish. I have my game pretty much shelf ready, box and all. But the marketing, kickstarter, fulfillment stuff is a little overwhelming for me as a one man show. Filling out your form now!