Design Lesson 4: Some Thoughts on Fulfillment

Design Lesson 4: Some Thoughts on Fulfillment - 10/5/20

My Queen Bee project has become very real for me during the past couple of weeks. On September 16th, I had a couple of pallets of games delivered to my house. Seeing that many games in front of me generated some pretty awesome feelings as it signified several year’s worth of highs and lows in developing this game. It’s been a fun road! I’ve also been able to see backers worldwide begin to get their games. So far, the reactions have been positive and I am still a little bit in disbelief as to how well everything fell into place. I believe in my game and I am so happy that so many people were willing to take a chance on me. I am happy that they are happy with the final product.

Getting people their games… that is ultimately the finish line, right? From the consumer’s standpoint that is all they really care about, right? They pay you money, they get a game. But as the creator - so much has to happen from the initial concept to the final product. And there are a lot of hats that have to be worn all throughout the process.

One of the greatest obstacles in getting a game made for me was figuring out the last leg of the whole process - fulfillment. How do I get games that are made in China delivered to people’s doors in Michigan, New York, Utah, Australia, Italy and everywhere else all over the world? Not only do I need to figure out how to do that, but I also need to figure out how to do that economically and safely. I’m sure I could’ve figured that out on my own eventually. But I opted for experts for this final stretch as I didn’t want this last critical step to get messed up. So I hired Quartermaster Logistics to solve that problem for me - and I am glad I did.

Quartermaster Logistics coordinated everything for me after manufacturing. It was fantastic! They coordinated picking up the product from the manufacturer, getting the games to the VFI hub for Asia backers, getting the games to Aetherworks for the Australia backers, and getting the games to their warehouse for the US/Canada/European/RestOfTheWorld backers. To me, the fulfillment process went seamless and it was fantastic that I didn’t have to figure any of that out on my own. They figured out the best ways to get my games to their destinations and used their network of trusted fulfillment partners to take my project to the finish line. It was a great way to finish the project.

My biggest recommendation on the entire game creation process would be to use experts for fulfillment and use experts along the way. Put that in your project budget. I think you should gain an understanding of the process but ultimately rely on experts for the important steps of the project. The value they provide in their fields of expertise will pay dividends and bring credibility and longevity to your publishing business.