Publishers That Don’t Settle

Everstone is in a place where the game’s production cost vs. the game’s table presence is playing this tug-of-war game in my head. You want your game to be eye-catching to draw attention at conventions and game cafes, but you also want it to be at a price point where a wider audience can afford it. This balance is always fun to consider, but you want to ensure you are not upscaling the game for no reason. “Kickstarter Deluxe” editions aside, I think making games accessible to every hobbyist is essential. Minor upgrades can go a long way to make a game feel great without adding to the overall cost.

In product design and design thinking, there is always the talk of not stopping at the MVP but going above and beyond to find the MLP. MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product; this is having the product do just enough to where it can exist in the market. This line of thinking allows products to hit the market that could have been better. MLP stands for Minimum Lovable Product. This line of thinking forces you to push past what will satisfy the customer and create products that give rewarding experiences to the end user.

Today I wanted to highlight Five games where the publisher went above the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) with some of their components without doubling the game's cost. I’ll also be considering why I think it was the right decision.

The Five Games

Radlands (Retails for around $25)

Water is such a tight commodity in this game, so giving them a higher component quality makes the resource feel extra valuable. The water tokens in this game could have been cardboard tokens, which would not affect gameplay. Going with Bakelite for them is a decision Roxley Games made that made sense.

Aquatica (Retails for around $35)

The manta tokens in this game also could have been cardboard. Having them look like mini mantas not only makes them look nicer but also makes them easier to flip. Since you are flipping these tokens so frequently in this game, the upgraded component enhances gameplay for a better experience.

Jekyll vs. Hyde (Retails for around $25)

The track bust is another component that could have been cardboard. The game even had a punch board that would fit the token. Instead, Mandoo Games went with a two-faced bust (mimicking the theme) out of excellent heavy metal. Moving this token at the end of each round makes you feel the “weight” of the match. If you’re moving it as Dr. Jekyll, that weight adds to the doom of the game slipping away from you. If you're moving it as Mr. Hyde, the weight adds to the feeling of success.

Century: Golem Edition (Retails for around $40)

This is a reskin of Century: Spice Road, and I would be willing to wager that this edition probably will outsell the old one (if it hasn’t already). The decision to upgrade the wooden cubes to big chunky resin gems elevates the gameplay experience and makes the resource easy to grab.

Honey Buzz  (Retails for around $50)

The honey in this game, being a rubbery transparent material, is a decision that Elf Creek made that I am in massive support of. They could have been plastic, wooden, or cardboard (which are all materials found in the retail edition of the game), but they chose to go with a different option. This makes the components feel more like the real-life material the game tries to replicate, which always adds to our experience when we get the game to the table.

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Those are the five game components I wanted to highlight in the blog today. Comment below a game I missed and include what component used in the game made it an MLP product.