Jay Vales discusses how his game, Conquest at Kismet, came to be and how it got great reviews but underperformed when it came to sales. We go into the contributing factors and what other designers can learn from the experience.
We also talk about some interesting design concepts, dealing with real-life death, and how even Zee Garcia can’t guarantee you sales.
1 comment on “Why Good Reviews Aren’t Always the Magic Bullet with Jay Vales”
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Gabe,
Great podcast! I can certainly sympathize with Jay. As you know, having interviewed Mike Strickland, the first campaign didn’t do particularly well. However, when we relaunched, we had tons of content which leads to tons of replayability. I don’t know how much Jay worked on marketing his game, but that’s a skill which is a fundamental necessity. Looking at his game, I agree that two decks, playable with only two players would prove a very difficult sell in that sci-fi space.
Cheers,
Joe