Flatlined Games - Fun games for smart people

Board Game Publisher book

ehanuise — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 15:25:21 +0000

Board Game Publisher book

ehanuise Tue, 22/03/2022 - 16:25

Eric Hanuise, founder of Flatlined Games, is pleased to announce the immediate release of his book “Board Game Publisher”.

The book explains the whole workflow of board game publishing, from reviewing designer prototypes to the finished games on the retailer’s shelves. Anyone interested in starting a game publishing business or in finding a job in the boardgame industry should find answers to their questions.

The tabletop games market has never been as large and diversified as today. Yet, there are few books that focus on the business aspects of publishing tabletop games.
In this book Eric Hanuise, founder of boardgames publisher Flatlined Games, shares his experience learned from years of publishing:

The whole publication process, from the author's prototype to the finished game on the retailer's shelves
The different jobs available in the industry
Setting up your publishing company
Contracts with authors and artists
Manufacturing board games
Safety and legal obligations
Distribution and logistics
Retail, direct sales and crowdfunding
Fairs, conventions and events

Written by an actual publisher, this book will help you figure out the tabletop games industry. No matter whether you are just interested in how things work or you intend to set up your own board game publishing business, you will find answers to most of your questions here.

Table of contents
Introduction
Part 1—Preparation and Administration
Chapter 1—Gathering Information
Chapter 2—Become Part of the Community
Chapter 3—The Many Roles of Board Games Publishing
Chapter 4—Planning Your Business
Chapter 5—Setting up Your Business
Part 2—Financial Management
Chapter 6—Funding
Chapter 7—Accounting and Cash Flow Management
Chapter 8—Hiring
Chapter 9—Other Considerations
Part 3—Game Development, from Prototype to Product
Chapter 10—Sourcing Prototypes
Chapter 11—Change Management
Chapter 12—The Cost of Developing a Game
Chapter 13—Licensing a Game From a Designer
Contract Example
Chapter 14—Commissioning Artwork
Part 4—Prepress and Desktop Publishing
Chapter 15—Overview
Chapter 16—The Prepress Process and File Management
Chapter 17—Software Tools
Chapter 18—Board Game–Specific Prepress Techniques
Part 5—Production Techniques
Chapter 19—Paper, Cardboard, and Chipboard
Chapter 20—Printing
Chapter 21—Game Boards, Cardboard Tokens, and Game Boxes
Chapter 22—Cards
Chapter 23—Wooden Components
Chapter 24—Plastic Components
Chapter 25—Metal Components
Chapter 26—Laser-cut Components
Chapter 27—Electronics
Chapter 28—Cloth
Chapter 29—Ziplocks and Rubber Bands
Chapter 30—Other Components
Chapter 31—Shipping Cartons
Chapter 32—Shrink-wrapping
Part 6—Manufacturing and Logistics
Chapter 33—The Quote Request Document
Example Quote Request Document
Chapter 34—Asking for Quotes
Chapter 35—Preproduction
Chapter 36—Logistics
Chapter 37—Safety Regulations, Barcodes, and SKUs
Part 7—Sales and Marketing
Chapter 38—Sales
Chapter 39—Export
Chapter 40—Marketing
Chapter 41—Fairs and Events
Part 8—Conclusion
Part 9—Bibliography and Thanks

The book is in English language, so as to reach the widest possible audience.
Localised translations may become available at a later date if we get inquiries from foreign partners for licensing the book for their markets.

"Board Game Publisher" is available as print-on-demand paperback (6x9" , 270 pages), and as e-book.

It is available on several platforms and formats for your convenience :

Drivethrurpg.com (US paperback including digital versions OR pdf+epub) :
- https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/387529/Board-Game-Publisher
Google Play Books (epub) :
- https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=0f1fEAAAQBAJ
Lulu.com (EU paperback or epub) : https://www.lulu.com/search?contributor=Eric+Hanuise
- epub : https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/eric-hanuise/board-game-publisher/ebook/product-72qgg4.html
- paperback : https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/eric-hanuise/board-game-publisher/paperback/product-j4zepn.html
Amazon (Worldwide paperback or Kindle ebook) :
- Links are to Amazon US, please change to your local amazon site if applicable, especially for print on demand paperback so those can be printed locally.
- paperback : https://www.amazon.com/dp/2960296109
- kindle : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VYBDMJX

Eric Hanuise started Flatlined Games in 2009.
Flatlined Games is an indie publisher that released the following games since 2010 :

Dragon Rage (Lewis Pulsipher)
Rumble in the House (Julie Saffre)
Rumble in the Dungeon (Julie Saffre)
Twin Tin Bots (Philippe Keyaerts)
Robin (Frederic Moyersoen)
Argo (Bruno Faidutti and Serge Laget)
Otter Nonsense (Eric Hanuise)
SteamRollers (Mark Gerrits)
Hoarders (Andy Niggles)

Retailers

Retailer inquiries are welcome, please use the contact form on this site.
Retailer copies are printed on demand and shipped directly to your store, with a suitable retailer discount.
Please indicate your store address and the number of copies you are considering, and I will send you a quote.

Board Game Publisher YouTube channel

ehanuise — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 14:55:00 +0000

Board Game Publisher YouTube channel

ehanuise Thu, 01/04/2021 - 16:55

I am happy to announce the launch of Board Game Publisher - The YouTube channel.

If you are or want to be a board games publisher, this is for you!

Board Game Publisher will publish videos about all aspects of the board game publishing trade : sourcing, development, manufacturing, logistics, marketing, regulations, DTP and Pre-press, the list goes on.

Board Game Publisher is the brainchild of Eric Hanuise, from Flatlined Games.

Essen 2019

ehanuise — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 14:33:09 +0000

Essen 2019

ehanuise Fri, 27/09/2019 - 16:39

The essen Spiel fair is coming, this year it will be on Oct 24-27.
I will attend the fair this year again to show Flatlined Games' games with my team of volunteers.
We will be on booth 4-D109, in hall 4 next to the Galleria.

Flatlined Games releases a new title at Essen this year : Hoarders.
(We are looking for international distribution partners for this game.)

Hoarders, a game of hoarding nuts!

Winter is coming, and the forest critters are busy gathering nuts in preparation for the cold season.
Each player hoards nuts in his stash, all while stealing some nuts from the other players' hoards and playing some tricks on them. The first player to have five identical nuts in his stash wins the game!

Hoarders is a fast and smart game for the whole family.
The rules are very easy to learn, and the game plays under 15 minutes. You can read the rulesbook here : https://www.flatlinedgames.com/sites/default/files/games/hoarders/rules/hoarders_rulesbook_FrEnNlDe.web.pdf
Maëva Da Silva and Christine Deschamps' great art definitely belong to the 'post-modern so fluffy and cute you will tear up' school and make Hoarders a game not to miss!

Events on the booth :

All day long, demos of Hoarders and SteamRollers.
(Mark Gerrits, author of SteamRollers is part of our staff so don't hesitate to ask for a signed copy!)

Artist signings by Christine Deschamps and Maëva Da Silva :
Maëva and Christine will be on our booth Thursday from 12.00 to 13.30, Friday from 12.00 to 13.30 and Saturday from 14.00 to 16.00 to sign copies of their games, draw critters, and talk about games and art so make sure to pay them a visit!

Games on sale during the fair

We will have the following games on sale during the fair :
Hoarders, our 2019 new release (En/De/Fr/Nl)
SteamRollers (En/De/Fr/Nl)
Rumble in the House and Rumble in the Dungeon (Fr/Nl game is language-independent)

We look forward to meeting you at Essen!

Argo est jouable sur Yucata.de

ehanuise — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 14:05:20 +0000

Argo is now playable on Yucata.de

ehanuise Fri, 13/09/2019 - 16:10

Argo can now be played on Yucata!

http://yucata.de/ is a german website allowing you to, play boardgames online. No need to install anything : just go to the site, create a free account and you can play!

Argo is our second game to become available on Yucata, you can also play Twin Tin Bots for free on the site.

Of course, should you prefer the cardboard-and-miniatures version, feel free to request it at your friendly local game store!

Flatlined Games à Essen Spiel 2018 [4F108]

ehanuise — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Flatlined Games at Essen Spiel 2018 [4F108]

ehanuise Mon, 15/10/2018 - 09:00

Hi everyone. The Essen Spiel fair is near us, with no less than 180.000 visitors expected this year! (25-28 Oct.)

We are moving to hall 4 (formerly 7) as the gigantic booths of hall 3 are no longer a good fit. We're joining the hall of indie publishers, with human-sized booths.

SteamRollers will get the highlight this year on our booth, since it's the first time it'll be available for sale at Essen. Last year we were still preparint the launch of the campaign at this time, and the game was only released end March.

Flatlined Games will be glad to meet you on our booth 4-F 108

Author on the booth: Mark Gerrits

Mark Gerrits (Mini Rails, SteamRollers) will be on the booth most of the time, so don't hesitate co come greet him and ask for a signing!

Games on sale

Essen is a very important event for indie publishers, as this is a rare opportunity for direct sales. We'll carry SteamRollers of course, and also Rumble in the House and Rumble in the Dungeon.

Mark Gerrits on creating SteamRollers

ehanuise — Fri, 08 Sep 2017 17:01:37 +0000

Mark Gerrits on creating SteamRollers

ehanuise Fri, 08/09/2017 - 19:01

Mark Gerrits, who are you?

I'm a civil servant software engineer who sometimes designs games in his free time.

What kind of gamer are you?

In board game geek parlance, I'm mostly a Eurogamer and a cultist of the new. I tend to abstract theme away to a high degree while playing, which makes it hard to really get into the theme of a game. I love exploring the mechanisms and workings of games and prefer the thrill of new discoveries to the satisfaction of really mastering a system. I like most weights of games, from light fillers to games that take all evening (but not so much games that take all day). In my regular gaming group I'm considered a train gamer, but that's of course very relative. I mean I've only played two 18XX games, so I hardly think I qualify :)

How long have you been designing games?

About six years.

What led you to game design?

I wasn't one of those kids who invented their own games out of the scraps of old games. But when I started working in Brussels, I joined a gaming group which had some successful and fledgling game designers as members or on its periphery. That demystified a lot of the design process and showed that great games start as humble prototypes. So I figured I could give it a try myself too. Of course my first few prototypes failed horribly but if at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again.

What was the genesis of SteamRollers like?

After a game of Age of Steam, the loser (which was probably me, but I don't remember), joked that it was nothing but a lucky dice game. (For those that haven't played AoS, resources enter the game through dice rolls — it's a minor and easy to anticipate mechanism) That got me thinking about what a real dice version of a pick-up-and-deliver train game like AoS would look like.

The first version didn't have any cubes but a delivery matrix. This made perfect sense to me but not so much to anybody else. Once that was replaced, the game very quickly came to resemble the version you see now. The last thing to be added were the action tiles. Of all the games I've tried to design so far, SteamRollers went by far the smoothest. Everything just kept clicking into place.

The infamous delivery matrix

SteamRollers early prototype

SteamRollers has a first, very limited edition in 2015. How was it received?

It's hard to get a lot of feedback with only 200 copies out in the world but my impression was that it was well received by most people. Certainly demos have always gone well. We were also lucky to have some vocal, enthusiastic supporters from very early on. Their support has meant a lot to the game but also to me personally. You know who you are.

How has the new edition benefited from the feedback on the limited 2015 release? Did you learn unexpected things from the gamer’s feedback?

Honestly, nothing much changed with the base game mechanisms, though the publisher has optimized some of the game components. Some of the feedback did lead to the mini expansions in the stretch goals (Coal, Orders and Starting Powers). For instance, noticing during development that some people tended to hold on to the delivered cubes provided the impetus for the Orders expansion.

The 2015 limited edition

Since the first prototypes, you played a huge amount of SteamRollers games. Do you still like to play it?

It's become the gaming equivalent of comfort food for me. Some of the thrill may be gone but I have yet to tire of it.

Do you have other games published or to be published?

I had another game come out from Moaideas Game Design at Gen Con this year. It'll also be available at Spiel. It's another light train game but very different from SteamRollers: it focuses on stock manipulation and is a bit on the mean side.

Mini Rails

Benjamin Beneteau on illustrating SteamRollers

ehanuise — Fri, 08 Sep 2017 16:59:38 +0000

Benjamin Beneteau on illustrating SteamRollers

ehanuise Fri, 08/09/2017 - 18:59

Benjamin Benéteau, who are you?

I'm a French comic book artist, living in Brussels, mainly working on the backgrounds and cars of the new Michel Vaillant series since 2012, and currently working on a new one-shot, which will be published by Le Lombard in 2018.

Did you work for other boardgames before or only comic strips?
No, I usually work on comic books, and do various commissions, from wedding cards to car posters, but never had the chance to work on a boardgame. As a casual boardgaming fan, I always gave much attention to their art, hoping that one day I could make it, and SteamRollers made it possible.

Did you play the game before starting work on the art?
Of course: it was a critical necessity for me to grasp the spirit of the game, before trying to put drawings on it. The artwork is an interface for a logical gaming process I had to fully understand first. It needs to serve the understanding of the game as much as making it attractive.

What was your process for creating the SteamRollers art?
A long one. At the beginning I thought it would be a relatively short run, based on my experience on diverse commissions, but I quickly discovered it would take me much more time, as I was lacking the experience on this kind of artwork. The main difficulty is the amount of constraints for the short amount of images : every image must be thought of very thoroughly, because it has to convey a lot of infos and suggest different feelings, without being sketchy or overcrowded, therefore unreadable. Kind of a "less is more" approach : less visible complexity for the most infos conveyed.

So I classically started with documentation : most of the visual cues were put in the briefing, so I had a clear angle of research. Google is my friend, but I have a lot of other friends too, like 90's French "Western style" comic books for this project.

The SteamRollers graphical briefing document at a glance.

Then, a lot of sketches, beginning with the main and most important illustration : the box cover. We even made a survey on Facebook to see which one of the sketched composition were the public favourite.

When the composition was set, I did a colour rough, to be sure of the direction I was taking for the final colour work. And finally, was the time for the finished inking and colouring. All on computer, on my Wacom Cintiq, so the infinite number of corrections and adjustment can counterbalance my lack of innate talent.
And, except for the survey part, repeat this process for almost all of the game's artwork.

Was it very different from comic strips?
Very different, firstly because I'm not used to doing my own colour work on Michel Vaillant, although I love doing it. Secondly, as I said earlier, it's not the same narrative process : each image isn’t designed the same way a comic book page is. As an example : there's no possible speech box to compensate the lack of readability...

Will you be looking forward to other such projects in the future?
I sure am. It's a very exciting work for me, and I like to breathe another atmosphere than comic books'. As I said, I was hoping one day I could do boardgames artwork, so now I'm longing for the next one !

Get SteamRollers now on Kickstarter

ehanuise — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 12:32:52 +0000

Get SteamRollers now on Kickstarter

ehanuise Mon, 21/08/2017 - 14:32

SteamRollers is now live on Kickstarter!

America, shortly after the first transcontinental junction in 1869.

Railroads are developing all over the vast expanses of the wild west, and business is booming. It is a time of adventure, progress, and opportunity. The transcontinental junction was a great milestone in American history, a first step that reshaped a whole continent.

In SteamRollers you are a railroad entrepreneur building a network of tracks and a fleet of train engines to secure freight delivery contracts before your opponents. At the core of the game is a very nice dice drafting engine by new designer Mark Gerrits (Be). In turn, players choose dice from a pool to draw rails on their individual playsheet, improve their engines, research new technologies or deliver goods to get points.

This is a Kickstarter 1-Year Exclusive* project: after the campaign, SteamRollers will not be available in distribution. It will only be available direct from Flatlined games and via a limited selection of retail partners.

The Kickstarter campaign will run from Aug 22 to Sep 21, so don't miss out, pledge now!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flatlinedgames/262599968

SteamRollers video presentation - Ludochrono

ehanuise — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 09:57:46 +0000

SteamRollers video presentation - Ludochrono

ehanuise Mon, 31/07/2017 - 11:57

Ludovox, a french vlog has released an english language video presentation of SteamRollers:

Flatlined Games Stakeholders report 2017

ehanuise — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 18:19:18 +0000

Flatlined Games Stakeholders report 2017

ehanuise Sun, 16/07/2017 - 20:19

Hi everyone. Flatlined Games is a one-man shop, operated and owned by Eric Hanuise, but there are many stakeholders to this indie boardgame publisher: designers, friends, volunteers, and of course gamers.

I think it’s time to issue a stakeholders report, and let everyone participating or interested in the success of Flatlined Games know the current status of the company.

7 years - The age of reason

I started working on Flatlined Games as soon as 2007 but the first game, Dragon rage was released end 2010. This means Flatlined Games is now 7 years old ─ the age of reason.

This is both very young for a company and a very long time in this industry. And the boardgames market has changed A LOT during these 7 years and is still evolving at breathtaking speeds.

I started this business as a sole proprietor, which is very flexible and easy but also very costly in Belgium, and I was finally able to incorporate as a Belgian law ‘SPRL’ in September 2017: Flatlined SPRL. This is mostly administrative stuff, but it will provide a good foundation to expand Flatlined Games in the future.

Money’s too tight to mention

I am still a very small, one-man indie publisher. This started as a side project, along with my daytime work as IT consultant (project management and business analysis). From 2013 to 2017 I have been able to make myself fully available for Flatlined Games. In 2017 I have moved again to daytime consulting, and I manage Flatlined Games during the evenings and weekends. This should be temporary, I will be able to resume working full time on Flatlined games when finances get better.

I view myself as extremely lucky to be able to switch back to a more reliable source of income in order to keep Flatlined Games going on. This allows me to invest the required time and resources before launching a new game instead of making bad decisions because of time and money pressure. It also makes things slower overall as no one can handle two concurrent full-time jobs continuously for a long period of time. I need time to sleep, play, and eat too!

Current Catalogue

Over these 7 years, I have released 8 games. Many are now sold out at the publisher level and some are still widely available. Here is a quick game-per-game summary of Flatlined Games current catalogue :

Dragon Rage (2010)

This fantasy wargame was a niche project, and a labour of love. I printed 1500 copies with the goal of selling out over 5 years, and I only have 6 units remaining in stock. I’ll call that a success as the projection was right. Of course the money is ridiculously low.
I think There’s still some interest for Dragon Rage, The author is working on an expansion, and I intend to offer it for reprinting through a crowdfunding campaign in the future. Most units sold in Europe, so there could be an untapped market in the US big enough to warrant a reprint.

Rumble in the House (2011) and Rumble in the Dungeon (2012)

Rumble in the House is our staple game. This mindlessly fun little party game is having a huge success worldwide, with translations in 10 languages including Russian and Chinese! Combined with Rumble in the Dungeon and the newer Chtulhu in the House (produced by CMON under license) we now crossed the 80.000 units threshold.

I have managed to keep this one in print the whole time, and it is my priority to keep it in print in the future.

Each publisher needs a staple game that continues to sell over time. Mine is Rumble, and I am very glad about this.

Twin Tin Bots (2013)

This Robot Programming game by Philippe Keyaerts (of Small World fame) had only one print run, and I think I should reprint in the future. As for Dragon Rage, it was mostly sold in Europe, and a crowdfunding campaign could allow me to reprint it and reach the US market.

Robin (2014)

This card game by Frederic Moyersoen (of Saboteur fame) sold out over a little more than one year, and was reprinted in Russian by Zvezda. It might see a reprint in the future, but will remain for now sold out at the publisher level.

SteamRollers limited preview release(2015)

This was a return to the roots of indie board games publishing: 200 hand-assembled numbered copies, sold at the fair during Essen Spiel 2015.

The reception was overwhelmingly good, prompting me and the author to prepare a much wider reprint. More about this later ─ SteamRollers will return on Kickstarter end August.

Otter Nonsense limited preview release(2015)

Just as SteamRollers above, this was a limited 200 copies print run, to ‘test the waters’ and get feedback. The game had good reception, and I am working on making it ready for a wider release too.

Argo (2016)

Argo should have been released in 2015, but was delayed for financial reasons. Kickstarter and a partnership with German publisher Heidelberger (now Asmodee Deutschland) eventually allowed me to release this game by renowned French authors Bruno Faidutti and Serge Laget. Argo is currently available at your friendly local game store, and also direct from the Flatlined Games website www.flatlinedgames.com

Future titles

I have several titles in preparation for the future, but the first order of business for the time being is to reprint SteamRollers.

Book

I have been working on a book about the trade of board games publishing since 2013. It is now well advanced and I intend to finish that book and make it available for sale. There are plenty of books on board games design but none yet on all of the other aspects of board games publishing.

Distribution and licensing

From 2011 to 2015, I have worked exclusively with Iello for distribution of Flatlined Games. First in France, then Europe and then the rest of the world. The partnership worked well in the beginning, but over time this arrangement proved unsustainable for me. The money from sales consistently diminished over time and I had to end that relationship or close shop.
I was shocked when they offered me to buy over the licenses to my published games if I was to end Flatlined Games. It all but confirmed for me that parting ways was the right thing to do.

This brought me back to square one for distribution and led to the ‘indie minimal print runs’ of Essen 2015 as well as a one year delay in releasing Argo.

It also led to a re-evaluation of my business model for foreign language releases. Until 2015, my standard operating procedure was to make a first release in 4 languages, release at Essen and then look for partners to make localized versions in other languages. I would get their translation, arrange the reprint myself, and sell them the localized copies. This is a very cash-intensive way to do things.

With my finances at an all-time low, I had to pivot to a licensing system. I will make a first edition, multilingual, and then look for foreign partners that will manufacture their own version of the game under license. With this model I get a per-copy royalty but I do not have to cover the cost of an industrial print run myself. As a print run cost several tens of thousands of euros this makes a huge difference in what I can do and avoids delaying the printing of localized versions because of me being cash-strapped.

A market evolving at light-speed

The board games market is bearing a full-blown revolution as we speak. Overall, more and more people play and buy games and this evolution has been continuing steadily for several years now. As the market expands we also see dozens of new publishers appear, and thousands of new games are now published each year. So bigger pie ─ but lots of more slices being cut.

We also see consolidation, with behemoths like Asmodee buying out smaller distributors and publishers worldwide. There has never been so much small and large companies in the boardgames market, which brings a lot of changes and growing pains. But I am certain overall that this growth is a good thing and a trove of opportunities.

Distributors that were previously focused about exclusively on local gaming retail stored are courting larger shops and chains, as the market growth opens opportunities there. You can now buy some of the more mainstream board games like Ticket to Ride, Catan or Seven Wonders at Barnes and Nobles, Sears, and other similar chains. Some of these sales are to new gamers, but part of it are sales lost by the FLGS putting extra pressure on them to adapt or die.

Then there’s the evolution of retail itself. Amazon and online vendors are the main way to acquire new games for many gamers, and brick and mortar retailers must adapt to that new landscape or die. This is in fact not specific to the board games industry! look at any retail category, from high-tech to groceries, from clothing to tools and you will see that online shopping is now everywhere, for better or worse.

The last horseman of that retail-pocalypse is of course Kickstarter which revives the age-old subscription model in a modern way that is very well suited to the needs of boardgames publishers. Kickstarter allows direct sales to the gamers, without any distribution hassles. Again, for better or worse.

I have no pretension of shaping the market or resisting to these changes. As a business owner it is my job to identify the changes in the market, and to adapt to them. I like to say I am not a salmon, and I will not spend my life swimming upstream. Which bring me to...

New business model

A new business model is required for me to stay in operation in this changing market. Manufacturing games, placing them at a distributor warehouse and relying on them to do sales and solicitations requires a sizeable amount of cash on hand to start with, and is a very risky proposition. It also requires marketing and promotion efforts at a scale well beyond my reach. With the current quantity of new releases each week, no distributor can effectively promote each of my games to their retailer clients. Even them must make choices to face this flood of releases. But then what with the games that are not picked for the spotlight? Is the publisher expected to just write them off and have them destroyed? This is of course unsustainable, and more like playing the lottery than actually managing a business.

Distributors will of course be happy to carry titles that are in demand by their clients, so it’s now my job as publisher to make sure this demand exists and to build up a game’s reputation before it reached distribution ─ if it ever does.

The explosive growth of the market and of Kickstarter and online sales offers new sales channels. I view them as complementary to the ‘main’ distributor-retailer sale channel more than concurrent, and I will start to aggressively make use of these newer channels.

So my new model would be fund through Kickstarter, sell to gamers and interested retailers, sell direct and through some online channels, and then if the game reaches a high enough threshold move it through ‘classic’ distribution.

It means offering incentives to the players and stores that support us for launching new products. I have some ideas about this and I look forward to experimenting the opportunities that the new channels such as Kickstarter or direct sales offer.

I also have some ideas to support retailers in the process with models that are compatible with the way a FLGS is run: paying hundreds of euros up to a year in advance of receiving the product doesn’t work for a shop, so alternative models are required.

I will also aggressively pursue licensing with foreign partners, as a local publisher is better suited than I ever would be to release and promote localized versions of my games in their country.

The future of Flatlined Games

Here is what you can expect from Flatlined Games in the near future:

SteamRollers will return on Kickstarter. This should be around August 20-25. The game will exclusively be available through Kickstarter for a 12 month period before it becomes available in distribution. Yes, a ONE YEAR exclusive period.

After the KS campaign and until the end of the 12 month period, the only way to get the game will be through retailers that have registered with us during the KS campaign, directly from the Flatlined Games store, and on our booth during fairs and conventions.

This should make SteamRollers a sought-after game, while avoiding some of the darker effects of current exclusive propositions such as overpriced resales. The one year period should allow us to establish SteamRollers as a game worthy of a wider audience for distributors or foreign language partners.

I want to finish my book on boardgames publishing and release it, so this will be the next project after SteamRollers.

There are many other boardgames that I am working on, but that will be for the future. First comes SteamRollers!

Brussels, 15 July 2017

Eric Hanuise, Founder of Flatlined Games