tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742096831064778888.post-58227427271256533932008-01-24T10:49:00.000+11:002008-01-24T11:02:51.555+11:00The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.austgamesexpo.com/">Australian Game Expo</a> is on in Albury in June this year. This annual event was launched by Phil Davies in 2006 and allows game players to "Try out some new games or revisit old favourites, play in a tournament<a href="http://www.austgamesexpo.com/tournaments/index.html"></a>, or just watch what's going on".<br /><br />The exhibition centre allows retailers, distributors and publishers to brandish their wares, and the question arises: should I bring my game to the Expo?<br /><br />In its short lifespan the expo has attracted a huge number of visitors, including internationals that make it a point to be in Australia for the Expo. A part of the goal is to facilitate dialogue between games creators at all stages of the development process. (Oh, and there's a flea market where you can buy or sell those hard-to-get titles!)<br /><br />So with a new game idea, what are my options? Revealing the game publicly without any IP protection does, in theory, allow anyone in the world to market your game without any obligation to you. Certainly game designers have displayed their concepts before and yet still secured ongoing contracts with established publishers (see Chess4).<br /><br />The alternative, of course, is to protect the material, and as I wrote the other day - that costs money. The cheapest alternative covers you only for 12 months, and only in Australia, but gives you time to decide whether you want protection for 20 years - again only in Australia. If you decide it's worth protecting your game, then a) you need to be able to fund all that, and b) you need to also pay to bring your product to market.<br /><br />Again that question looms: just how good is your game?<br /><br />With my recent play-testing feedback (see "Not a dog, but not a diamond") the game is probably not quite ready yet. A few minor tweaks and a broader range of testers should put me in a better position to decide, but June looms and I'd still like to protect the game if I decide it's worth it.<br /><br />With exhibition registration fees being $750 to $850 plus the cost of IP protection (about $1000 - $6000), and if it were your money, what would you do?youcantryreachingmenoreply@blogger.com