Joe: Hey Natalie – thanks for agreeing to this conversation. Let’s start with a little introduction. Who are you and what brings you to the world designing games?
Natalie: Hey Joe! Thanks for inviting me to do this. I’m a first time board game designer from Virginia, USA. I’m a mom of two young children and stay home with them so this is a big creative outlet for me. I’ve been developing a game for about five years and just recently in this past year picked up a ton of speed; both in play-testing and getting ready to pitch the prototype.
I have a background in toy and shoe design, but I’ve actually always wanted to create a game since I was a child. I grew up kind of a master of ceremonies in my neighbourhood making games for all the kids to play, and then in both elementary school and college I tried taking a stab at designing board games. Only until my experience overseas as an adult did I have the right inspiration and time to devote to a game.
I know that you’re also a parent while designing a game, so how do you feel about balancing parenting with creative design and all the demands of that process?
Joe: Master of Ceremonies for the neighbour sounds like an epic title – creating and curating fun is brilliant.
I have a day job, which has nothing to do with games design, and then I’m lucky enough to work a 4 day week. The opportunity to design fills my Friday (day off) and the most of my evenings after the kids have gone to bed. Like for you, this is a creative outlet for me, so although it can be hard at times it never feels like hard work.
Can you tell me a bit about the project you’re working on at the moment? What is the game, where did it come from?
Natalie: My game has a fun backstory – I actually lived what the game is about. The title right now is “Oki Café Hoppers” and it simulates the lifestyle of an adventurous content creator exploring the Japanese Café scene. I spent 18 months of my life in Okinawa, Japan which inspired the whole game and it was the thrill of finding coffee shops, great food, and meeting the sweet local people that got me out of my comfort zone. It was my first time living overseas and I could have easily existed in the bubble-world of the military base (they have Dunkin Donuts & Starbucks too), but I took on the hobby of “café-hopping” which helped me spread my wings and explore the island. I think if not for the content creators that came before me, I would not have known until word of mouth where to go and what to do!
Is your current game “Drop Zone Chocks Away” inspired by any real experiences of your own, or is it based on an interest of yours?
Joe: Inspiration mainly came from playing other games. I also wanted to create a flying game that didn’t involve shooting at people! I have another game that’s themed around rock pools (tide pools), that’s inspired by the place I live, a town on the North East coast of England.
You posted something in the #boardgameprotohype chat recently about “putting on your big girl pants” and pitching your game for the first time. I’m interested to find out a bit more about this – what’s stopped you so far from taking that leap?
Natalie: Nice! We have that in common then, being inspired by beautiful places, and I think the lack of violence in your aviation game makes it unique.
As far as my big girl pants go, I definitely opened up to the group about never before having the opportunity to approach publishers in-person. UKGE was our first board game convention, and we started a bit behind the curve by visiting from a foreign country and missing the application process to get into the speed pitching event. To be truthful, we didn’t go into the weekend with many expectations of cold-pitching at booths or promoting our game too much because we are so new to the industry and want to learn from others at further stages in their games.
I started to feel the itch to get our sell sheet in the hands of at least one or two publishers
I think after a day and a half of exploring the exhibition halls and finding the other designers from our #boardgameprotohype group, I started to feel the itch to get our sell sheet in the hands of at least one or two publishers. I did not want to leave the convention without trying. I felt like that is the experience we missed by not making the speed pitch.
Joe: Finding inspiration and courage from the people around you and the situation you’ve got yourself feels like a good perfect storm style situation. I assume there was also a bit of “what’s there to lose” about it too?
So you went for it. Before you tell me about the process, what did that feel like, taking that step?
Natalie: I definitely felt a mix of adrenaline rush and hesitation before going up to booths. In a way similar to what you said above, I flew all the way to the UK, so I might as well have found out for myself what the interaction was like. I wanted to hang out and try some games at booths before I started yapping about my own, but I realised a couple of things pretty quickly. First, publisher booths were full of game fans and very busy, so I only had a small window to say a couple of things to employees before asking if they were taking pitches. Second, most of the employees working the booths were not involved with the publishing side of their company, so I had to find the right person to have the discussion with.
Joe: There’s a lot to think about then! Did you have your opening speech all planned out? What sort of things did you want to say?
Natalie: Yes, I wanted to be organic and not lead the discussion with the pitch. My prep involved writing and saying my pitch over and over again on the way to the convention center parking lot. It was really just a general script in my head that I could adapt to the conversation and the audience. I wanted to tell them 2-3 details: the game’s name, the core mechanic, & the theme. The conversational lead-in I used to get to that point was simply remark on their current games I spied at their booth, and mention my own in response. For example; “I notice you have a lot of eclectic titles here that are fantasy themed but based on reality. I’m a designer, and I’m working on a game that does that.”
Usually they just wanted a sell sheet and not the pitch. That’s when it became very apparent to me how important sell sheets are in the submission process. Publishers generally know from that alone if they want to proceed or not.
Joe: that’s really interesting, I suppose from their point of view they want to see a lot of different options and weigh each against their portfolio. How do you feel post-pitch? What have you learned from the experience, about your game, but also yourself?
Post-pitch feels great!
Natalie: Post-pitch feels great! I broke the ice for myself and could do it again without as much trepidation or feelings of awkwardness. Publishers and team members seemed to expect this interaction to occur, and they also have their own prepared responses. Thankfully, goal was unlocked for passing my sell sheet along in-person. In the one case where I did this with an actual publisher, I was able to get instant feedback and many off-hand comments were made while he took time to glance it over. It went really well and gave me validation for an integral part of the submission process!
Joe: Great so a positive experience and one that I get the sense you’d recommend. It’s interesting you got some fast feedback too – are you able to share what sort of things they were able to pick up on in such a short space of time?
Natalie: Sure! One publisher I spoke to said he can always tell right away from a sell sheet if a game is a fit for them or not. So it was interesting to hear him compliment that it was a really good sell sheet after a quick scan (I interpreted that as overall format/info/aesthetic), but then he wasn’t quite sure if we were a no or not by the end. There were some interruptions from team members and other game fans while he was reading, but it was clear our theme passed his initial screening. When we were leaving the booth he gave us the go ahead to email him the sell sheet, Rulebook, and video.
Joe: Incredible that must give you quite the buzz! I hope the rest of the process goes well for you.
Last question from me – let’s say I’m thinking of taking that step but I’m lacking that confidence, can you give me a bit of advice?
Natalie: Definitely! I think beyond just telling yourself an “if you don’t ask, you don’t get” type of mantra, when you approach publishers, I would cling to the truth that people in this industry are passionate about games, but they are also passionate about people. They want to interact and help you. Regardless of how unprepared you might feel for what you’ll say, the results of approaching will reveal the true heartbeat of why we are all here :).
Right, Natalie is ace and if you’re not following in her instagram, you need to be – click here to do that! I can’t wait to see how Oki Café Hoppers turns into a real game that I can buy.
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