I’m putting this in under the crowdfunding tag since that seems the most appropriate spot in light of their “Crowd Sales.”
I am throwing in a poll and invite clarification comments in this thread as well.
How would you generally evaluate the build/component quality of print-on-demand games you have acquired from The Game Crafter?
- Clearly professional quality (but not “Luxury”)
- Just barely professional quality
- Slightly below professional quality - “Veteran Hobbyist” let’s say
- Noticeably below professional quality, but probably better than I could do
- Amateurish quality; I could probably do this.
I’ll offer my own long-winded clarification first:
Games from TGC are relatively expensive. I think it could be valuable for folks to talk a bit about why they think the games are worth the price tag. I think this may be especially valuable because the eye-popping shipping rates make it very impractical for folks outside the US to acquire games from TGC, and it’s worth getting a sober view on what they’re missing and what they’re not.
Setting aside shipping, I used to have it in my head that the relatively high price tag of TGC games could be justified by saying: “Well, that’s just what it costs to do a print-on-demand of a game at professional quality.” But as I’ve acquired a few more games from TGC, I find that this justification doesn’t work for me, since as a whole the quality isn’t, I think, professional or industry standard.
This varies by components. Small wooden bits and eurocubes are great. Printed materials like rulebooks are pretty good. Cards are sturdy but feel plasticy and, well, a little cheap. Tokens are physically fine once you get past the lasercut soot but can show weak alignment across the 2 sides with, I think, a higher margin of error than professional products. Dice look cheap and tend to lose the paint in pips over time. Storage boxes are mixed bag with some sturdy designs and some flubs.
Of course all of this is to some degree subjective. And, to be clear: I am grateful that The Game Crafter exists, I am glad to have the games I’ve gotten from them, and I think it would harm small indie developers if TGC didn’t exist in its current form. But I am realizing that for me, the component quality is “hobby-ish” enough that I have a harder time justifying the price-tag by simply saying “that’s a reasonable cost for the quality.” Instead, I think the uniqueness and “exclusivity” of the game matters to me to justify the pricetag. For certain games I think I would prefer to craft my own PNP copy if it’s an option. For most games I would only buy them from TGC in a Crowd Sale that comes with a discount.
What are your thoughts?
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I do not know the answer but are there different quality of product chosen by the game developer or is it the same across the board? Someone like Pete Jank would know much more on this. I wonder if the developer gets to choose the size of card stock to use etc.
I would assume some corners would be cut to keep costs down for many of the developers who just want to get their game out there.
That’s possible, but if the component quality I’ve seen is the cost-saving option, then I personally will find it harder to justify the pricetag.
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I am guessing maybe its the same all across the board? Otherwise, you could give people options on different price points I suppose since its print on demand anyways. Not sure tbh.
I totally agree that the price seems high for the component quality. Especially compared to any other professionally printed games. But I don’t know that you can get a better deal for single item print-on-demand. And if they had even higher quality components then I suspect that cost would go up even more.
They do have discounts sometimes if you join one of their crowdfunding runs. Have you ever seen one of those? It gets cheaper the more people join in on them because the manufacturer will cut discounts at different tiers based on number of orders. But there obviously needs to be enough interest. I did this once when I picked up Quest for the Lost Pixel, I think. Maybe when the last expansion came out? And I’m pretty sure I saw it being done for Iron Helm within the past year.
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I love everything I’ve received from them in terms of component quality, except for the glued medium sized boxes. There playing cards are some of my favorite.
POD is super expensive, especially for all the cards that come with games like Lost Pixel. But when compared to same number of cards for games like Arkham Horror LCG, it’s about the same price.
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That’s fair. I didn’t compare QftLP to AH:LCG price-wise. It wouldn’t surprise me if they came out closely, just thinking about how much money I’ve put into that particular game over the years…
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I was thinking about standees when I voted on the quality. I guess maybe that’s not really one of the Game Crafter’s primary focuses when it comes to components? But the solution they have is pretty weak, at least if QftLP is their usual go-to. And with the laser-cut wooden components the soot can get a bit ridiculous.
But you might be right about the card stock. It’s been a minute since I had QftLP on the table but I don’t recall having any unhappy feelings about it. So that is probably professional grade.
That said, if we’re talking favorite card stock, whatever they used in the deluxe version of Radlands is amazing.
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I think that’s plastic, rather than (paper) cardstock.
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