Just curious

[Rhaevin80]

Hey I was wondering how much money it has taken to get mission to the point where it is now? Is getting into the development of a ccg pretty costly? What are some steps into starting one? Just curious, thanks for your help.

[Ezekiel]

Firtly I can't really recommend anyone make a ccg right now. I think the market is pretty full for a new company. Also making a Christian one is close to pointless. I am beginning to see more and more some of the damage that isolating yourself as a Christian in entertainment, music and culture can do. Maybe a secular one. But you are probably best selling it on to another company if they want to buy it. HOWEVER designing one is not pointless especially if you are young. I designing many games of various types, board games, roleplay games, ccgs etc. I actually designed a Christian ccg at 14. It was war between the spirit, soul, and flesh with similarities to magic. That kind of thing made my teenage and childhood year far more fun, productive and creative than most. Now I write scripts for a TV station and feature scripts for later development. All those creative juices are being put to use. These are not Christian scripts but have my Christian overtones in them. I think that art is an expression of what's inside and that invariable comes out as you express your world view. We want the unsaved to be drawn to Christ and his kingdom and frankly I can't see the unsaved playing Redemption or The Mission over Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh.

That aside if you do produce anything do it for God, regardless of content. And anything we do for God should be of the highest quality. The Mission is produced to the best quality available at the top manufacturer in Europe. Consequently I had to pay those kind of prices. For a small run of only 5000 starters and 50000 boosters I paid around ?50,000 which is around $80,000. Add to that my hours, artwork, computer and legal expenses and it is a major undertaking. Best to add another $25,000 for the rest. We initially looked for $140,000 but couldn't get it so we produced small and skimped on advertising which was probably a mistake.

The first step is to design a great game. If you don't have a great game don't start. Playtest, playtest, playtest. I used hand drawings and then photocopied onto card, cut them out and then played for days on end with friends and I made constant notes. When the game was closer to completetion I used printouts on the thickest phtopaper I could find and put in pastic sleeves. Again we would play for ages and I made tweaks. That process took around 18 months hard work. When you know you have a solid game then you look for artists and that is vital a good artist can sell the game. I was lucky and got an incredible deal, in fact if you get to that stage I can pass on your details to him as he may get involved. I could say more but I think that is enough for now. Any more questions just post away.

I should mention that I have seen no money for my work yet and likely never will. In fact the whole thing has left me in considerable debt as well as others that invested money. I don't think that had to be the way but if you do it yourself that is the danger, also it takes a certain type of person to be a businessman and I don't think its me. A certain aggression is needed that I simply don't possess.

If you do want to get into designing one or any other Christian product or game drop me an email or even leave me your number I would be happy to call and chat with you. I will give you my advice, I am not looking to get involved in anything.

Nathan

[Rhaevin80]

Hey thanks for the info. I would love to email you and continue this discussion. Kinda tied up at the moment so might be a little slow getting back to you. I gotta run, thanks again!