Actually, I have a stupid question that I've been afraid to ask because... well... I dunno actually. I suppose because with a few minutes of Googling, I could figure it out. But, here goes anyways:
I'm actually in the market for becoming more awesome. I just sold my first Board/Card game to a publisher, and it's time for me to start working on my brand. What I need: a space on the internet.
I'm currently teaching myself HTML/CSS so I can code up a site. What I need, but haven't even started figuring out:
-what is my best option for registering my domain name? namecheap comes up a lot... I'd like whois obfuscation as I don't have an actual business location/phone.
-who should I register my DNS with? Do I buy this in a package when I register the domain?
-since I'm doing plain HTML, should I look at a host that offers basic web-hosting or a vps for future proofing? Who should I go with for hosting?
-I'm expecting a very small amount of traffic. Should I just go with a service that does all of this on the cheap?
It's almost crunch time for me to start doing press releases... so, I've been putting this lesson off until after I have a site coded. Thanks!
I'd use Dreamhost for buying and handling your domain names. They offer private WHOIS for free. I'm migrating the remainder of my GoDaddy domains to them as we speak. They've been handling my domain names for 6 months and I'm happy at this point. They also handle hosting (which I've used in the past) and would suit your purposes pretty well. I'd recommend them to my mom. (If you'd like to use my referral code, I'd help pay for my hosting.)
- Don't worry about getting anything too big or too small. You don't need to lock down hosting for longer than a month at a time. Hosting is cheap so even if a web host is disappointing, you aren't typically out so much.
If you want, consider an all-in-one solution with publishing functionality. Something like http://squarespace.com. I haven't used them (but mainly because I'm not their target customer). I think you would do well with them and can put something together that's really professional looking.
Thank you so much for the response! I feel silly even asking this question as a SysAdmin. I know HOW it works beyond my LAN/WAN, I've just never done it!
Awesome service so far. I'm very impressed with the time it took them to have everything set up. I haven't rolled through any of their services, since I'm hand coding everything but it looks like they sure offer a bunch for $9 a month! Thank you for the code.
Woah! I have a couple friends who want to do board/card game development. Any tips for them? How did you break into it?
My thoughts:
--I have my domains registered with Namecheap.com and it works fine. Avoid GoDaddy, I've heard some nonspecific bad things about them.
--My hosting is off of webfaction, but I'm also using Django. Even though you're doing plain HTML, you should find a host that could support Ruby or Django
--Cheap is great and all, but you'll only be saving five bucks a month. For the hassle, just go with something in the normal market.
First off, thanks for the tips. I wouldn't mind having Django/Bottle/Flask support as I do write python code. I assume that if a basic HTML service becomes obsolete for me, changing DNS to point at new service is relatively quick?
Heh. I didn't expect I'd get questions in this thread. :)
My biggest advice is not surprisingly, make games and more importantly PLAY those games. Play them a lot with many different groups. Give your games to people you don't know and let them try to figure it out from your rules.
There is no substitute for failure here. Success at designing games only comes after many failures. I've designed about 40 in 10 (or so) years and I'm only actively trying to sell 4 of those. The others? There's good ideas in there, but they would all need a serious revisions as they are either broken, or just not fun to play.
If other people can't understand the rules, figure out how to write technical manuals, or find someone else to do it for you. When you are licensing a game, the publisher is buying your rules. If the rules are not written well, they will get passed on.
I broke in by sending intro letters to publishers. I've been sending them for about 6 years. I researched publishers on boardgamegeek.com first to find companies that print similar products. After I targeted four or five companies, I sent introduction letters. This is the board game equivalent of a pitch. Be polite. Show excitement. Be short. If they like it, they'll ask for more. If not, move on.
Make sure you have a professional, presentable prototype!
If a publisher asks to see the game, send your prototype and forget about it. The publisher that is producing my game took two and a half years to accept it. That's fairly normal in the industry. Publication schedules are years in advance. Unless you have a name behind you, or your game jumps on a new hot theme, you aren't going to be rushed to the front of the line. It's okay to email them every 6 months or so, but don't be a nuisance.
And finally, like everything else: network, network, network. Go to conventions and shake hands. Go straight to the publisher and shake hands. Get involved with design discussions on boardgamegeek.
I'm actually in the market for becoming more awesome. I just sold my first Board/Card game to a publisher, and it's time for me to start working on my brand. What I need: a space on the internet.
I'm currently teaching myself HTML/CSS so I can code up a site. What I need, but haven't even started figuring out:
-what is my best option for registering my domain name? namecheap comes up a lot... I'd like whois obfuscation as I don't have an actual business location/phone.
-who should I register my DNS with? Do I buy this in a package when I register the domain?
-since I'm doing plain HTML, should I look at a host that offers basic web-hosting or a vps for future proofing? Who should I go with for hosting?
-I'm expecting a very small amount of traffic. Should I just go with a service that does all of this on the cheap?
It's almost crunch time for me to start doing press releases... so, I've been putting this lesson off until after I have a site coded. Thanks!