We recently received our production proof ofĀ Pack the Pack from our printing partner AdMagic. What better time to share a bit about the production process than at this crucial step.
When you produce a game, after youāve designed it, playtested it, developed it, found a manufacturer and paid for the printing is the proofing process. You printer/manufacturer will, generally, create a single proof of production copy of the game. The downside to this step is that it lengthens the turnaround time for the whole run and possibly, especially relevant for small press creators, can cost you a nice chunk of change. But the upsides are innumerable. The ability to actually hold and critique your product before it gets to the hot press is essential and any project that you are not assembling in your garage should put up the cash and time to ensure a proper proof is received.
Proofing a production samples isnāt just about catching errors though. It is also a useful pause to examine what you have made and calibrate your expectations for the final product. Below you can see some of the material issues we had with our productionĀ proof. Though we are highlighting theĀ concerns we have, the product actually looks amazing and came out head and shoulders above our expectations. But, if you have the opportunity to fix you should take it.
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There were threeĀ main concerns with theĀ production proof. Our rules booklet was not bound into a booklet. The play mats were printed asĀ 20 singlesided sheets instead of 10 doublesided. And finally, there were some miscuts on the tiles resulting in improperĀ gem alignment.
The first two issues are easily a case of poor communication. We sent along files that we were completely familiar with, but failed to specify what EXACTLY we were expecting to receive. This is not uncommon, when you create something whole cloth you may not realize it but a huge amount of contextual information exists only in your head. Just as in rules writing you should approach your printing instructions as if you were programming; step by step detail. If youāre worried about appearing pedantic, stop. As someone who spent a decade deciphering the instructions of clients I can assure you the more questions you answer up front the more we (production folks) love you. And the more we love you, the more likely we are to fix itsy-bitsy things before you ever notice them.
Making Fun: The production proofĀ process We recently received our production proof ofĀ Pack the Pack from our printing partner AdMagic. What better time to share a bit about the production process than at this crucial step.
