How do you do a print run, and plan all the formatting and stuff?
All my games are in google docs, which works fine for testing and playing, but something physical that looks cool would be awesome
For more "professional" quality print runs, I print with Mixam. They have no minimum order quantity and their quality is typically quite good. They have a lot of options regarding paper size, weight, coating, binding, etc. There are a handful of other options out there that I'm aware of too. But, the biggest things I look for are quality (do a test print first!) and low minimum order quantity. It also needs to fit with the price I want to sell the game at. So, a game that I want to sell for $20 MSRP needs to be much cheaper than that to print. If I sell to a store, they typically will buy it from me for 50% off MSRP. And then I need to consider other costs that contribute, such as shipping, packaging, and other stuff. It can be hard to find a good price point when printing at these lower quantities. Mostly, it just means I'm not making much profit. I do try to stay in line with prices of games of comparable size. For the first print of a game, I usually start with 100-200 copies. Then, future print runs are based on how quickly I sold the previous print run for that game.
I also do quite a few "DIY" games that I print and assemble at home. These, I print in much lower quantities and only print more as needed. Usually start with 20-50 copies. I have a decent inkjet printer, stapler, bone folder, paper trimmer, and other stuff to make that happen.
I've worked with local printers as well. I would love to do this all the time, but it tends to be more expensive. I consider it for any project and use it when it makes the most sense.
For game formatting and layout work, I have two options.
The first option is I do it myself. I use a suite of programs called Affinity. Affinity is now free as I understand it. Affinity Publisher is the program I use for doing layout of a game. I've learned skills with layout very slowly over the years. I've learned from my friends and other design who are way more talented than me. I've also learned just by trying things and experimenting. I'm certainly not an expert in this and graphic design is not my background. When starting out, I recommend just looking at other games out there and trying to understand what they do and why certain things look good to you. There are also a lot of guides and tutorials out there on using Affinity. Affinity also isn't the only option, it's just what I use. Free or low cost options are preferred to things that are more expensive/subscription based, like Adobe.
The second option I have for layout is to work with my friends. I am lucky enough to have talented friends who also like games. I've done some projects where I will collaborate with my friends on the game design, layout, and/or illustrations.
Also, I know you didn't specifically mention this, but regarding art for games, there are some great low-cost options out there. I do not, and will never, use AI generated art for anything I make. Public domain art is a great option, and there is A LOT out there. There are also relatively cheap art packs that folks release for use on commercial projects. Some can be found on sites like itch.io. My game Necromancer Heretic used an art pack. My game directionless used public domain art.
Hope this helps! Happy to answer any follow-ups you might have.
