Heya,

Last year I started to work on a booth menu, then Alexander took it over and did an awesome job.  Is anyone up for starting this project again for this year?  Those who used the menu last year, how did it go?  What suggestions might you make to imrpove it?

Peace,

-Troy

Good point, Troy.

Alexander, I know you won't be at the booth this time around, but are you available for menu construction anyway?

Best, Ron

Hi Troy,

I bought quite a few games at the Forge booth last year. One thing that I noticed that really slowed down the exchange of cash for game was the order the games were listed in. I forget if it was in alphabetical order by company name or author name. I think it should be in alphabetical order by game title. Many times the person at the register wasn't sure who the author was, and it could take them some time to find it, whereas if the menu was by game title I imagine they could easily find it. Perhaps break it into sections by letter to easier facilitate quick searching.

Otherwise it was nice to have a list I could take and look at away from the craziness of the booth.

If more experienced menu constructors are unavailable, I would be happy to step up and use my layout skillz to put together the Forge booth menu this year.

I strongly encourage two separate handouts.  One should be focused on the new games at the Forge booth--the ones that will be demoed there.  The other should be a basic price list for the IPR stock.  And I agree that organizing the price list to facilitate look-ups would work best. 

Last year there was some confusion because the handout included all games available for sale and attendees were asking for demos that were not available.  The listing did have a notation for the games with demos, but it was easy to overlook.

Julie

If there's really a shortage of layout/graphic workers for the booth, I'd be happy to put together menus and whatever else is needed. But I'm sure that somebody who's going to be there can also take care of this stuff quite handily, so I'm just mentioning this so nothing worthwhile is left undone because everybody is too busy...

Heya,

jrs wrote:
I strongly encourage two separate handouts.  One should be focused on the new games at the Forge booth--the ones that will be demoed there.  The other should be a basic price list for the IPR stock.  And I agree that organizing the price list to facilitate look-ups would work best. 

Just an observation from last year: can we have small price tags that sit on the display racks? I think if they were branded like the menu and had the game title and price that would be really cool and, of course, useful. Something small but clear would be ideal.

I won't be able to do it again this year, sorry! Too much on my plate right now.

Some thoughts, in no particular order, as advice / warnings / prejudice:

- stick to a content deadline. Game publishers - if you haven't priced your game by the time you need to provide this information, you are a bad person
- don't let the gazillion game design companies suggest that every company should get its own section. It makes life very hard at the till, and for punters - and this document is for punters, not the damn designers
- include details about where to find the GoD and IGE
- Z-fold works just fine
- invest in a couple of bone folders
- arrive on Wednesday, go straight to FedEx/Kinkos in Monument Circle  and be very nice to them

Troy_Costisick wrote:

jrs wrote:
I strongly encourage two separate handouts.  One should be focused on the new games at the Forge booth--the ones that will be demoed there.  The other should be a basic price list for the IPR stock.  And I agree that organizing the price list to facilitate look-ups would work best. 

We've gotten a few good suggestions here, and Julie's is one of the best, IMO.  The menu that should have priority is the one that lists the games that can be demoed at the booth.  Brennan can weigh in on what he would like for an IRP stock menu if he wants.  Fred, you did an awesome job with my Hunter Rose character sheet and I know you will both have games at the booth and be there yourself.  If it's okay, I'd officially like to put you in charge of making the menu.  Ron can overrule me later if he wants, but I'd rather get this decided now.  It's a pain.

Now that that's done, what do people who are A) going to be demoing games at the booth and B) going to be buying games at the booth want to see on the menu?  Clyde has a good suggestion that they should be aranged according to name, but what else?  What can we add to the menu that might entice people to try and then buy a game?

Iskander wrote:
- stick to a content deadline. Game publishers - if you haven't priced your game by the time you need to provide this information, you are a bad person
- don't let the gazillion game design companies suggest that every company should get its own section. It makes life very hard at the till, and for punters - and this document is for punters, not the damn designers
- include details about where to find the GoD and IGE
- Z-fold works just fine
- invest in a couple of bone folders
- arrive on Wednesday, go straight to FedEx/Kinkos in Monument Circle  and be very nice to them

The problem at the register last year had nothing to do with the menus at the booth. The register used a different code for each game, and the list provided at the register was not alphabetical. That won't happen this year. There will be a deadline to provide game info for the booth, and after the deadline, it doesn't go in the register and it doesn't get sold at the booth. Ralph was stuck programming the register the week before the con and new games were coming in while he was trying to do it. Not this time.

Regarding the menu, I like all the ideas here, but I think we are going to have a bit of trouble getting all of the games plus a one sentence description on one sheet.

I'll work closely with IPR to get the IPR menu put together.

There will be a small handful of non-IPR games being sold but not demoed at the booth. (see Ron's [GenCon 2007]The plan for this year post for the policy: "And if you have been a long-term participant at the booth and aren't carried by IPR, and if you're at GenCon in any capacity, the booth will have your game on the rack too for no charge beyond IPR's commission, if you desire.") My Life with Master will be one of them. And perhaps Primetime Adventures as well? Presumably these should go on the menu with the IPR titles?

Paul

Paul wrote:
There will be a small handful of non-IPR games being sold but not demoed at the booth. (see Ron's [GenCon 2007]The plan for this year post for the policy: "And if you have been a long-term participant at the booth and aren't carried by IPR, and if you're at GenCon in any capacity, the booth will have your game on the rack too for no charge beyond IPR's commission, if you desire.") My Life with Master will be one of them. And perhaps Primetime Adventures as well? Presumably these should go on the menu with the IPR titles?

Brennan wrote: Regarding the menu, I like all the ideas here, but I think we are going to have a bit of trouble getting all of the games plus a one sentence description on one sheet.

I'm all for booklets, or any way to increase type size and readability.  I know there's a trade-off there, but if cost is an issue I'd be happy to chip in for something that was, in itself, a compelling and desirable object.  If it became an eight page digest-sized booklet (two pieces of letter-sized paper and some staples), perhaps both the demo stuff and the catalog could be included, along with blurbs about IGE/GOD/WTF etc. 

Maybe that's too much work for a handout, but it'd sure be nice.

Jason wrote:
I'm all for booklets, or any way to increase type size and readability.  I know there's a trade-off there, but if cost is an issue I'd be happy to chip in for something that was, in itself, a compelling and desirable object.  If it became an eight page digest-sized booklet (two pieces of letter-sized paper and some staples), perhaps both the demo stuff and the catalog could be included, along with blurbs about IGE/GOD/WTF etc. 

Maybe that's too much work for a handout, but it'd sure be nice.

I think I have a handle on making this happen now, and I don't see any reason not to start gathering information for it.  I'll make another post soon (probably starting a new thread, so all the information necessary is in the first post anyone encounters) calling for entry submissions for the menu.  Ron's deadline for getting in on the booth is June 1st; I'll probably set the deadline for getting info to me that needs to be in the menu at some point past that.

Right now I'm thinking we'll do it (likely 8-page digest) booklet style rather than as a single sheet thing. 

I still need advice on how many to print up.

I'm thinking it'll have these sections:

- Serving Today: Games actively represented at the booth (i.e., if there's someone at the booth able to demo the game)
- From the Cellar: Games for sale at the booth (essentially IPR catalog entries, plus other items beyond those from IPR's stores)
- Points of Interest: Pointers on where to find other "forge diaspora" booths around the convention floor, such as the Ashcan Front, but I imagine there are others

My ideal vision here is that this is a guide on what you ask for demos for, a list of stuff you can buy, and a roadmap for making sure all the podlets that have launched from the forge mothership get traffic sent their way.

Products listed won't be split out into companies; the focus here is on games, sorted alphabetically by title.

Anything missing from the plan?  If not, I'll get prepped to gather up the needed info and will make that post.

I think that covers it.  Points of Interest can be URLs, too.

If there's space we should use the back cover for something fun and sticky, like a demo log you can get stamped or a complete RPG or something. 

Jason wrote:
I think that covers it.  Points of Interest can be URLs, too.

If there's space we should use the back cover for something fun and sticky, like a demo log you can get stamped or a complete RPG or something. 

Heya,

That sounds really great, Fred.  Once you're ready to go, I'll let you start a separate thread for people to post what games they are bringing, how much they cost, and whatever other informatino you'd like.  I'd like to have it public to drum up interest and support for one thing, and for second people can already start brushing up on their familiarity with the games that will be demoed.  This way, the learning curve might not be so steep the Wednesday before GenCon.  I might suggest waiting on that thread, though, until after Ron's June 1st deadline for signing up.  That way, it's final who will be in and who won't be.

Also, on that subject, Ron if you are reading this, what's the status of the "newbie" rule where $100 buy-ins can only bring 1 game.  Is that still in effect this year?  I can't remember.

Peace,

-Troy

I like the idea of a passport themed book...wasn't there some talk of this last year?

If the center pages of the book contained the stampy place and a place for contact info, it would be easy to pull out and drop in a bin for a drawing of some kind...maybe free promo t-shirts...several of us have logo t-shirts already that would do the trick.

Any chance the back cover could fit a small map of the dealer hall with points of interest marked?

Valamir wrote: If the center pages of the book contained the stampy place and a place for contact info, it would be easy to pull out and drop in a bin for a drawing of some kind...maybe free promo t-shirts...several of us have logo t-shirts already that would do the trick.

Any chance the back cover could fit a small map of the dealer hall with points of interest marked?

Troy_Costisick wrote:
Also, on that subject, Ron if you are reading this, what's the status of the "newbie" rule where $100 buy-ins can only bring 1 game.  Is that still in effect this year?  I can't remember.

iago wrote:
maybe getting to enter fully-stamped booklets in some sort of a prize drawing?

Hello,

Fred, let's handle the booklet information privately rather than on-line. I do not want to generate a "who's in, who's out" culture by publicly discussing who's signed up at this point. Email me for the current list.

I'll announce who's participating in about two weeks; it's not secret information, just not a topic for debate or social pressures.

Best, Ron

Ron wrote:
Fred, let's handle the booklet information privately rather than on-line. I do not want to generate a "who's in, who's out" culture by publicly discussing who's signed up at this point. Email me for the current list.

I'll announce who's participating in about two weeks; it's not secret information, just not a topic for debate or social pressures.

Whatever. We can probably have a thread about that later.

Best, Ron

Ron wrote:
Whatever. We can probably have a thread about that later.