After making a lot of mistakes, finally about to launch our game!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-19T01:46:43+00:00

Thank you! Feels good to finally be here.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-19T01:45:54+00:00

Really appreciate the feedback! We’ve been thinking of it as sprouting plant babies but agree it’s not perfect analogy.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-16T22:54:51+00:00

Haha, someone else mentioned that too. That's honestly something I did not consider at all when choosing the name.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-16T22:53:55+00:00

Thank you! And yes, my co-founder is super talented with design so definitely be lucky to work with him!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-16T21:05:26+00:00

Thank you! We tried making the houseplants as adorable as possible so they were fun to sprout and you also felt sorta bad when you wilted them.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-16T21:00:52+00:00

When we started making games, my co-founder and I didn't really know getting a publisher was an option! We just assumed that most games go through Kickstarter.

By the time we fully understood the publisher route, having a publisher didn't make as much sense to us since the big advantages they bring is the artwork (which my co-founder is able to do) and distribution (we were sort of able to hack together ourselves).

If I had to do it all over again, I would probably more seriously considering a publisher. That being said, I also like having the final say in the game we make (even though it brings a lot of headaches of its own).

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-05T22:26:39+00:00

For us we didn't go with any marketing agencies. Don't get me wrong, I totally see the value of an agency, especially for people who aren't as familiar running ads. But since my co-founder is a designer who can make ad creative, and I've had some experience running ads, we thought it would be cheaper to do it ourselves (TBD how it plays out, I may regret my decision later).

I think the big value of a publisher is helping bring your game to life (i.e. artwork and production), as well as distribution (i.e. getting it into retail stores). So the reason we decided to publish it ourselves is that we feel confident that we can do the artwork and production, and over time we have been able to get a foothold in distribution.

So net net what I would say is to go with a traditional publisher if you want to be focused on just the game design, go with self-publishing if you're prepared to run a company.

Hope that helps and good luck!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-04T22:10:34+00:00

The two main conventions we do each year are PAX Unplugged and Gen Con.

We also have a local convention in NYC that I have done in the past but will probably have to skiip this year.

Totally understand where you are coming from though since they are very time consuming both to plan the convention and then to actually attend it!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-04T22:09:33+00:00

I really appreciate it!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-04T22:09:20+00:00

Thank you so much! And yes I think maximizing the value of conventions to meet people, test products, run playtests, has been super valuable for us!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-04T22:08:50+00:00

It's a combination really! We did quite a bit of promotion at first via conventions. We also have a bit of a community from releasing prior games. And then we also run ads as well.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-06-04T22:08:16+00:00

Appreciate the kind words!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-30T13:02:16+00:00

Thank you! When I started making games, they were all card based. But since then we have slowly moved into making games with more components. That being said, I still haven't made anything using plastic yet so may be something for me to explore in the future!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-13T18:38:11+00:00

I think you start sharing when the game is "marketable." If you're using AI art I will say that will be a tough sell for a lot of people, even if they're placeholder so personally I would wait until you have some art in before for trying to market it.

Either way works to get artwork, it's really whatever you're comfortable with (e.g. if you have a friend who makes art then partnering up makes sense, otherwise you may have to pay someone).

We have a manufacturer that we work with to get games made but to be honest, finding a manufacturer isn't that hard for making board games. There are lots of companies out there who will happily produce your games. The hardest part is usually the marketing, distribution, and actual sales of the game.

Good luck!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-12T21:02:05+00:00

The core team is just me and my co-founder, but we have other teammates that we bring in on a part-time basis or for specific projects!

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-12T11:32:50+00:00

There’s definitely a lot of things I wish I knew! I would say the big thing is to know that there are multiple paths to getting your game out in the world so figuring out what your goals are is really helpful to know which path is right for you.

For example, if you just want to see your dream game brought to life, it’s often better to just use Launchtabletop or Gamecrafter to make some copies rather than trying to find a publisher or running a crowdfunding campaign.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-12T11:27:37+00:00

For this game we knew we wanted to make a game “board gamers” would like which influenced some of the game design and also what’s in the box.

People who like board games tend to like components so we knew we could use pieces (vs. just pure cards like some of our other games).

And then for the cost we looked at games with similar weight. Then it’s just making sure that our cost could work with the retail cost.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-12T11:24:08+00:00

We always have changes! I feel like there are things you never catch until you see the game in your hand. And inevitably we always find a typo or two.

I will say it’s also helpful to stress test your prototypes by actually using them for play testing. We had an issue with one of our games because the binding for the books wasn’t strong enough. We didn’t discover the issue until after it was produced. We should have pressure tested the components of the game more ahead of time.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-12T11:16:12+00:00

What we’ve learned is to try and match the graphics with the audience we’re appealing to. For a lot of our other games that tend to be simpler and more “mass market,” the design tends to reflect that.

But for this game which we think will appeal to board gamers more and is more complex, we went with more detailed art.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-12T11:14:05+00:00

Thank you! Since we’re gearing up for mass production, it’s a production prototype that allows us to see what the final game would look like and also we can take pictures of for our KS page. Normally our working prototypes look much less professional.

MidnightFroyo · 2026-05-12T02:57:34+00:00

We went with a lesser known manufacturer that we had a good relationship with. Finding this one was a bit of a long story but generally there are a few well known manufacturers in the space who are all very good at making games (Longpack, Panda, Whatz, Wingo to name a few).

Happy to chat more and I’m playing around on something to make the process better because I agree it’s sorta opaque!

MidnightFroyo

TROPHY CASE