Pro Fantasy Software and The Game Crafter Print On Demand Service

Steven Kennett

Have you ever wanted to create your own trading card game or board game, but didn't know who to turn to for manufacturing? Enter The Game Crafter, a print on demand publisher that provides a plethora of game components and packaging.

You design the game, and use the provided templates to upload your printed materials. The Game Crafter also allows it's users to sell their creations through their online store, while the designers retain all the rights for the products they create!

This service seems like a perfect fit to Pro Fantasy's fantastic software. You can use The Game Crafter along with Pro Fantasy software to print out your maps and tiles for personal use with your gaming group, or design a complete game. I just thought I'd share this since I'm a fan of both TGC and PF.

Hope you guys find this useful,
Steven

Ralf

Thanks for the pointer to this printing service. I've moved the discussion to a little more appropriate category (Cartographic resources).

Steven Kennett

Thanks Ralf,

I didn't know which category this thread belonged in. I'm going to be using Cosmographer 3 to make modular tiles for a game I'm working on. I've been raving about Pro Fantasy software over at The Game Crafter. There's a lot of creative people over there that can't draw to save their life.

Cheers,
Steven

JimP

I don't know if I'm creative or not, but I cannot draw either. Which is why I use CC3, etc.

jaerdaph

So basically this is like a print on demand service (such as RPGNow or lulu.com), except instead of RPG (and other) books, it provides a board or card game - on demand? That is really COOL!

Old Guy

This looks like a really amazing service.

Steven Kennett

Hey Guys,

Yeah TGC provides all kinds of game mats, and a quad fold clipboard. The game mats get full color printing on both sides. They come in several sizes. They also have square and hex cards that can be printed on both sides to make modular board games and such. They have all kinds of components for your game ideas (tokens, pawns, custom dice). There are several sizes of cards to choose from, and they'll even randomize decks for you if you set up rarity. You can choose to sell your games in their online store, and retain full ownership of the IP.

That said, if you just want to make materials for your gaming group then that's fine too.

If you have any questions, I'm usually logged into the TGC chat. There have been some successful designers to come out of TGC. Dragon Valley, Farmageddon, and Flash Point are a few games that have been picked up by publishers or been funded by kickstarter.

They're always adding new things to the store to add to your games.

Cheers,
Steven

kristof65

I just found these guys a few weeks back myself and picked up some parts for prototyping a game. Finished my game board last night (maybe I'll even post it here when i get home.

But do you mean to tell me that they can print from FCW files?

Steven Kennett

@kristoof65, you'd have to export your work from pro fantasy software proprietary formats to a png or a jpg (png would be better, jpegs tend to halo and artifact).

kristof65

@Steven - yeah, I went back and looked again. I just got excited and misunderstood you.

But, if you're interested, I posted my game board here:
http://forum.profantasy.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=2820

Steven Kennett

Hey kristof65,

I check out your board! You could totally print that design out on a quad fold board or better yet, some mats!

Steven

Steven Kennett

They're going to have a booth at Gen Con Indy for anyone who's interested, and attending. You can check out their stuff in up close and personal. They'll also be featuring some of the community designers (who are people just like you and me).

fortius54

I have used these guys before, and they are great. I have this little baseball card game that I have done. It still needs robe published, but I ordered a copy of it. It is high quality stuff.

Dogtag

Posted By: Steven KennettThey're going to have a booth at Gen Con Indy for anyone who's interested, and attending. You can check out their stuff in up close and personal. They'll also be featuring some of the community designers (who are people just like you and me).

Sweet! I'll definitely drop by to see their stuff. Thanks for the tip.

~Dogtag

jigsawman

I saw samples of their stuff at Gencon last year (going again this year) and their samples range anywhere from very simplistic to very detail oriented. This is not to mention that their prices seem affordable as well. You just need to make sure to do the calculations for every single piece before marketing anything. Otherwise you may find yourself taking a loss.
JSM