Depending on how funding goes, I have started working on some prototypes for a box for Lomby Zombie and LZ: Corporate Stiff.
When Frank and I first did Lomby Zombie, the bulk of the costs of making it was around:
- Art - $600
- 50 Tshirts - $450
- 1000 Dice and 5000 Stands - $400
- 36 Inkjet Ink Tanks - $260
- Misc Parts like Bags - $300
- Business License + Lawyer Fees - $600
At little over $2500 just to get things going and that doesn't include any sweat equity that we put into it. While we had some great lessons learned and found ways to cut some costs while improving the quality of the game, it will be about like that to do this again. That was a lot to front for just me, which is why I hope the Kickstarter page for Lomby Zombie helps out this time.
But that isn't what I wanted to get into today. What I want to talk about is packaging. When we did LZ, we opted out of packaging. It was something we didn't know how to make ourselves and printing companies wanted a minimum of $5 a for a telescoping box, $12 to have printing on it. For a game we were trying to retail for $20, that was a lot to swallow. So, we didn't.
Instead, we did this:
It wasn't the professional look we wanted, but got the job done. A lot of people at Archon that year though it was an alpha version as most of them were used to the completely gussied up box packaging and not the "Cheap Ass Games" style
Obviously, the flaw is that it doesn't fit well on most gamers shelves and wrinkles horribly. A few months later, I repackaged most of them in a large clear plastic bag that kept the game looking better, but still doesn't fit well on most gamers shelves.
Now that we are attempting to make a much nicer version of the game and the expansion, the first thing I have turned my eye to is a box. After reading a few guides on how to make a covered chipwood box, I made a quick prototype to see if everything we already have done fits.
