Hi everyone,
I'm the designer of MINIMUM JOURNEY, a card game for 3–4 players (20–40 min, ages 10+). I'm also implementing it myself in BGA Studio (project: minimumjourney). The implementation is almost feature-complete, so I'd like to prepare for alpha. I'm unsure how licensing works in my case, though.
My situation
I'm the sole designer and copyright holder. There is no separate publisher.
The game is self-published. I distribute it at board game conventions in Japan, such as [event name, e.g. Game Market], and [it is / it is not] available through [online shop / other channel].
I submitted the game to BoardGameGeek on 2026-10-15, but the entry is still waiting for admin approval.
What I read
BGA Game licences: BGA only makes available games that "can be bought somewhere, or will be in a near future", and self-published games may stay in private alpha.
Pre-release checklist: BGA needs a licence even for alpha.
The publisher contact template asks for a BGG page.
Questions
How should a designer who is also the rights holder grant the licence to BGA? Is a simple email from me enough, or is there a contract or form?
Does a game distributed at conventions count as "can be bought somewhere"? Can it go to public alpha and beta, or only private alpha?
My BGG entry isn't approved yet. Can I start the licence process now, for example by sending the BGG submission details instead of a page link? Or should I wait for the BGG page?
Where should I send this: the publisher contact (#!gamepublishers), Studio support, or somewhere else?
If other designers have published their own games this way, I'd really appreciate hearing how it went.
Thank you!
ZoneTsuyoshi
I'm the designer of MINIMUM JOURNEY, a card game for 3–4 players (20–40 min, ages 10+). I'm also implementing it myself in BGA Studio (project: minimumjourney). The implementation is almost feature-complete, so I'd like to prepare for alpha. I'm unsure how licensing works in my case, though.
My situation
I'm the sole designer and copyright holder. There is no separate publisher.
The game is self-published. I distribute it at board game conventions in Japan, such as [event name, e.g. Game Market], and [it is / it is not] available through [online shop / other channel].
I submitted the game to BoardGameGeek on 2026-10-15, but the entry is still waiting for admin approval.
What I read
BGA Game licences: BGA only makes available games that "can be bought somewhere, or will be in a near future", and self-published games may stay in private alpha.
Pre-release checklist: BGA needs a licence even for alpha.
The publisher contact template asks for a BGG page.
Questions
How should a designer who is also the rights holder grant the licence to BGA? Is a simple email from me enough, or is there a contract or form?
Does a game distributed at conventions count as "can be bought somewhere"? Can it go to public alpha and beta, or only private alpha?
My BGG entry isn't approved yet. Can I start the licence process now, for example by sending the BGG submission details instead of a page link? Or should I wait for the BGG page?
Where should I send this: the publisher contact (#!gamepublishers), Studio support, or somewhere else?
If other designers have published their own games this way, I'd really appreciate hearing how it went.
Thank you!
ZoneTsuyoshi
