SigninG a Publishing Contract

4A. Development of Game content, Mechanics, and theme

Most designers are appreciative of the development work that publishers do to refine their game before publication. You should trust that an experienced publisher knows what they are doing, but it is also entirely reasonable to want to sign off on the changes that they make to your game.

Publishers vary wildly on the level of development that they do on a game and also on the level of work that they expect you to do. Before signing a contract, it is good to have a conversation about how you both want that process to work, and you may want to put some of it in writing. 

For example, this is a sample clause you might ask for from a publisher planning to do development on your game without your direct involvement. How often do you want to be given the opportunity to weigh in on their direction? 

If the publisher is not planning to do all of the development, and is instead asking you to do significant additional work (not just because you want to be involved in work that they would otherwise do without you), make sure you get an advance that reflects this, or have a clause inserted into the contract that limits the amount of work they can ask you to do. With a signed contract, you deserve not to be working without any guarantee of payment.

Instead of, or in addition to, the clause above asking for ongoing input, you could ask for a clause that gives you one final review of changes to your game. Some publishers may balk at this — it is their product, and they will want final control. However, international law recognizes that creators should have the moral right to the integrity of their work — that is, the right not to have a work modified in a way that might harm their reputation. Here are two different ways that we have seen this addressed in boardgame contracts:

Not everyone wants to be involved in a careful final review of the print files, but this is your last chance to catch typos and other little problems that could have a big effect on your game. 

Too many designers are given only a cursory amount of time to review these files. You can try to safeguard against this by creating a contract provision that requires that you have a certain amount of time to review. It’s much easier to get a publisher to agree to these timeframes at the beginning of the process than when they are under a time crunch.

Outside the contracting process, be proactive about repeatedly discussing the timeframes that you put in your contract for reviewing things, so that your review time is built into your publisher’s schedule — and so that you know when you will need to be available for review. Things always run late, and “we need to print this now so we can have it at Gen Con” is a real constraint. Work with your publisher to plan ahead, and everyone will be happier for it.