Protospiel was fantastic. I got a lot of excellent feedback on Falconers. I also played several extremely promising games-- including one which will be published, to which I am now attached as illustrator.
One of the highlights of the weekend was a Q&A with a representative from LudoFact, a game manufacturer in Kalamazoo. I got to ask questions I have wondered about for years.
- What are the standard sizes for sheets of cardstock? How many cards can fit on them in standard European board game size, American collectible card size, and poker size?
- Do you require files that lay out all the cards on one big sheet, or an individual page per card and you lay it out yourself?
- How much art should I plan to bleed off the edge of a board, where you will wrap it around and glue it to the back?
- Exactly how much margin is required on cards and die cut chips, to assure mis-registered trimming will not lose too much art?
- What are the most standard box sizes? (And which ones do retailers prefer? Which ones fit in a flat-rate shipping box?)
- What's a cheaper box insert tray: folded cardboard, or a generic off-the shelf vacuum-form?
- How do you carve a stick of wood into a profile along its length, before cutting off figures from it?
...and so on. He sent me several amazingly detailed documents.