When designing a game, sometimes you have to make hard decisions. It’s clear that there is no obvious way to do things and no common agreements based on people’s perspectives. We must decide and try to get the best decisions out of everything.
Today, I will gladly share some thoughts and decisions we decided to take in order to provide what we believe will benefits our player the most.
Enjoy your reading!
Canada First
Above all, we wanted to offer a product we would be proud of. People buy collectibles because they’re more than just a piece of cardstock. We all know a piece of cardboard is not that expensive! People buy collectibles to experience something and have something to be proud of.
By buying a product that is being produced locally, you know your investment is helping local businesses. And that is something to be proud of!
Furthermore, you’ll know this leads to having a more sustainable product, and you make sure everyone involved is getting a fair part of the cake.
However, choosing to do so is not that obvious. It’s clear that this will come at a significant cost. For example, products made in China are much cheaper and just as good (China has a lot of specialized plants in that industry). It is tempting to do it, because it would have reduced the cost of a single “booster box” by more than 20 dollars. But I refused!
I had discussions with several shop owners, and this specific item came up a few times. But I decided that no matter what we will end up with, we will always make sure to work with local companies first.
I know you will endorse this decision.
Standing the test of time
We want to make something that will last for years. For us, it is more important than anything else to have a game that will be played and enjoyed for many years to come.
When you release a product, there are a lot of ways to do it! And I’ve spent countless hours reading about the best way to release this game. We looked at the “easy” options like Kickstarter. Going that route would have led to a lot of sales right from the start, and if all the dice would have been tweaked (like most games do), we could have bragged to ourselves that our game has been founded in a few minutes and we have something that looks really promising. But what’s next? Selling 10 boxes in each country is still a lot of boxes (which equals profit), but it would not let people find friends to play with. We decided to step away from that part. At least for now. We’re not saying it’s bad, we’re even planning a worldwide release, we’re just saying it’s not a way to get something sustainable.
Instead we decided to focus on the local scene. We are putting a lot of effort into connecting with your local game store, helping to build a community, and giving you a great gaming experience.
We will grow with you, slowly but surely.
With Local Game Store - For better and for worst
We believe there is only one way to do this: With your local game store (LGS). We want to make sure they get their fair share of the profits because they are the places where you play your games and enjoy the experience. It is so important, now more than ever, to help sustain these places. To that end, we have chosen not to sell product (except at conventions or for special reasons) and to give them a lot of leeway. For this first release, we even chose not to use major distributors, because we want them to get the full value, and that will lead to a better place for you, the players.
There are significant downsides to this, as we are reducing our profit margin to increase theirs. We are enforcing MSRP and not going to agree with the big companies, which will have some negative impact on sales. But in the long run, this is the best investment we can make.
We will work with them, listen to their comments and try to meet their needs. Okay, we’re small and not that influential, but when you support our products, you support your local game store!
Fair Price
In today’s world, money is hard to come by. We all have bills to pay, food to buy, and a place to live. For most of us, this does not leave much room for hobbies. Yet hobbies are crucial to keeping us sane. We need ways to escape the real struggles of life, and this is a good one!
We want you to be able to pay for your hobby, and will make sure to keep prices as low as possible. Even though we’re a small company and want to distribute as much as we can within our community (as you can see above), we still manage to sell you a product at a lower price than any of our main competitors. For example, the MSRP for a regular “booster pack” will be $4.99 CAN. And as we grow together, we promise to lower that price (at least in constant dollars).
In order to do this, we are very selective about where we invest our money. We spend a lot of money directly in your LGS and in the community, through player rewards and big events. !! More details on these things will be coming soon 🙂 !!
On the other hand, we are choosing not to spend too much money on advertising. We do spend some, but less than most companies do. Ads cost a lot of money and have very indirect results. Instead, we want you to be part of the advertising.
We are also very careful about the agreements we make. We want to make sure that we maintain a good cash flow and do not geopardize the company.
You, the players, are the ones we want to support!
Being honest and transparent
No matter what will do, we strongly believe you deserve, as a customer, to know about it. We will not write to much about this for now, but you can be assured that we will keep sharing our decisions. You will, somehow, have your word to say on the future of Imagine DM (L.E.T.A.L. TCG).
Etc.
There is so much more that we value, such as making sure we develop environmentally friendly products and being an ethical company. We will eventually share our thoughts on these topics as well.
I sincerely hope that by reading this text you have strengthened your bond with us. And if you read the whole text, it means that you are a true supporter of us and I thank you very much for all this,
David
