My "friend" Bill Dugan, president of Torpex games, and apparently a leader in the industry of game professionals, dropped me a line out of the blue 2 weeks ago. My first thought was that this was because he is a dear friend I used to beat routinely in the fine card game, Magic: The Gathering.
But lo! It wasn't to exchange a friendly greeting! Or ask how I was doing! It was to enlist me to do work for him for nothing, since I have copious amounts of free time and he knows I fucking hate requests from fair-weather jackholes like himself to illustrate things they're never happy with anyway! Why? Because that's what makes a leader! Suck my balls, "friend" Dugan!
I did some cartoons for his International Game Developer's Association Leadership presentation. It was mostly about realities involving the game industry. I am reprinting these because they are my god-given right to do so and I don't feel like doing a cartoon about me being afraid to have explosive sex while my corneal flaps are healing.
ANYWAY.
Did you know that publishers try to pick up game products all the time? It's true!
What they do with them is their business.
Just remember, that if you are a developer, chances are, a publisher has heard your frickin' pitch a hundred other times, so be careful before you use the word "innovative."
Leaders like my "friend" Dugan have a time-honored technique for narrowing down and selecting the proposals they like.
Then they negotiate about them.
Until one of them makes a logical, well-constructed, and convincing argument about the terms of each proposal.
We call this "due diligence."
Then we bring in the VP brainiacs to throw their 2 cents in on the whole deal.
They scour the terms of the agreement and the "milestones."
They negotiate the contract. FOR A LONG TIME.
But they usually give money before a final contract is signed, because signing a contract takes a long, long time.
Then the publisher sends in a trained professional leader like my "friend," Bill Dugan.
Granted, beforehand, they've laid out his responsibilities quite clearly.
And then the project is left in his capable hands!
Seriously, though, it was fun to do these. And they're not too far off of how product development begins.
My friend Dugan now owes me a favor in exchange for doing this for free, so if you guys have any suggestions for how to exact blood from a stone and do it in an entertaining way, let me know.
Oh, and support Torpex Games, maker of high-quality products and the birthplace of leaders.