Designer's Guide to Unpub

If you’re a designer, especially a first-time designer, coming to Unpub 9, you may have some questions. How does this whole thing work? What am I supposed to do? What’s expected of me? We’re glad you asked. The following are some answers to (hopefully) most of the questions you have.

What’s on the schedule?

Thursday, March 21

• 12:00pm – Designer Check-in
• 2:00pm – Panels and Workshops
• 6:00pm - Mixer
• 8:00pm – Open Gaming
• 9:00pm – Feedback Frenzy

Friday, March 22

• 10:00am – Designer Check-in
• 12:00pm – Panels and Workshops
• 4:00pm – Public Attendees Check-in
• 5:00pm – Block 1 playtesting
• 9:00pm – Open Gaming

Saturday, March 23

• 10:00am – Designer Check-in
• 12:00pm – Block 1 playtesting
• 5:00pm – Block 2 playtesting
• 9:00pm – Open Gaming

Sunday, March 24

• 10:00am – Designer Check-in
• 12:00pm – Block 2 playtesting
• 4:00pm – Open Gaming
• 10:00pm – Unpub is Donepub.

What are the panels?

While we can’t give you a specific schedule right here in this FAQ, we can tell you what’s planned. We’ll (most likely) have discussions and workshops about the following*:

• Graphic Design
• Prepress and Game Manufacturing presented by Panda
• Giving/Receiving Quality Feedback
• Protecting Your Game Ideas
• Forming a Design Group
• Pitching Your Game
• Retail Relationships

Plus we’ll have Q&A panels with our distinguished VIP guests Kwanchai Moriya and Rob Daviau!

* subject to change.

What’s the food situation?

We’ll be providing lunch and dinner boxes delivered directly to your table at 1:00 for the early timeslots and at 6:00 for the late timeslots. They’ll cost $15 and you MUST purchase them from tabletop.events ahead of time. Check your email for details.

What’s expected of me when it’s my time to playtest my game(s)?

Please arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the beginning of your timeslot. This will allow plenty of time to check-in and get your game set up. You’ll need to first go to Designer Check-In located at a table in the main hall. It’ll be obvious when you get there. There, you’ll be checked in by one of our terrific volunteers who will just need the name of the primary designer associated to that table. You’ll be given your table assignment (if you haven’t already gotten it), an official Unpub Blüdle dry-erase board, and a game-category key.

If you have not checked in to your table by your scheduled time, you will have 30 minutes to check-in or your table will be released to the wait list. Once a table has been released to the waitlist and reassigned, it will not be reversed. We understand that emergencies happen, so if you can contact us prior to your time lapsing, we may be able to work with you to hold your table.

Using the Blüdle Board: The dry-erase boards are a handy way to display the title of your game, the max player count, the approximate play time, and whether or not you’re looking for playtesters. If you’re looking for playtesters, make sure Blüdle is UP. If you’re not, put him down. You’ll get a marker, which we need back. We’ll also need Blüdle back. Blüdle is our mascot. We love him. Please use him appropriately.

The game-category key: There’s another type of information we’d like you to use on your dry-erase board. We know the system is FAR from perfect, but we’re trying to help the playtesters identify games they may want to play. Yes, you can use more than one symbol if you want. The four categories are as follows:

• Kids/Family – light, quick, luck-driven
• Cooperative – story telling, problem solving
• Party/Social – deduction, deception, puzzly
• Abstract/Strategy – deep, thinky, tactical

Use your skills of an artist to add the symbol to the handy Blüdle Board. Make sure it’s big enough to be recognized at a distance. We suggest using the space in the white after and below the “B” in Unpub. Maybe like a 2”x2” area.

How do I get feedback for my game?

Communication with your playtesters is very important. Types of questions you should ask after a playtest:

• What was your favorite moment or interaction?
• What was your least favorite moment or interaction?
• When did you feel the most clever?
• Was there anything you wanted to do that the game wouldn't let you do?

The point of Unpub is so that you, our dear designers, can get the constructive feedback you need. One-on-one vocal feedback is invaluable, however, anonymous digital feedback can be almost as vital.

That’s why we encourage you to recommend the Unpub app to your playtesters OR have them use their mobile devices to navigate to unpub.net and click on the “give feedback” button.

Will there be publishers there? Who are they? How many? How do I get my game in front of a publisher? When is…

Woah woah woah. Hold on there. Unpub is first and foremost a feedback-focused event. Yes there will be publishers. They may even playtest your game. But it is very important to us that if you are scheduled to be at your table, that you use that time to engage with playtesters in order to get feedback. If you want to get your game in front of a publisher, please approach them or schedule a meeting outside your playtesting time. If a publisher happens to sit down at your table and playtest your game, that’s great! But please be respectful to the non-publisher playtesters.

Conversely, if you ARE a publisher it’s important to emphasize again that Unpub is a feedback-focused event. We appreciate all of our publisher friends who see Unpub as an opportunity to scout new games/designers, but also ask that you try to maintain a low profile so as not to disrupt the flow of the show. If there are games that catch your eye during the event, please sit down and play and give feedback. If there are games that you are interested in signing/following up on, we ask that that business be conducted during hours outside the designated play testing times for that game.

Can I bring signs/banners/etc. to promote my game?

Sure. Sort of. Feel free to bring table coverings, props, signs, candy, prizes, or whatever you can think of to help draw attention to your game. Anything you bring must be confined to your tabletop area, and any signage that you’d like to put on your table must be no taller than 18 inches. Sorry, but those cool, vinyl, stand-up, roll-away banners are not permitted this year (even along the walls).

How do I get on the waitlist for a table? How does the waitlist work?

In order to get a table if you don’t already have one, you must have a VIP playtester badge. We’ve just released 25 more on tabletop.events, so grab one now! The waitlist will be managed entirely on-site. Prior to the start of a time slot (Fri 5 PM, Sat 12 PM, Sat 5 PM, Sun 12 PM), go to the designer check-in station and put your name and contact information on the waitlist. Names will be chosen at random to fill any open tables 30 minutes after the scheduled time slot. In order to claim a table if your name is chosen, a $45 balance must be paid to make up the difference between the playtester badge and the designer table cost. All decisions, selections, and reassignments are final and at the discretion of Unpub staff.