Yikes. When I was making video games I either released them all myself or licensed completed games, so I didn't see contracts like this, but I can believe this

Yikes. When I was making video games I either released them all myself or licensed completed games, so I didn't see contracts like this, but I can believe this is the norm. I guess it's a good thing I mostly have small designs I can build myself, for the most part (gotten a lot harder for me to do now, I haven't released anything in a while). I have seen several board game publishing contracts and none of those that I've seen put the burden on the designer to pay the cost of developing a game further after signing (and there's pretty much always extra development done by the publisher after signing). That being said you're not likely to make much (any?) money as a designer in board games anyway unless you are really prolific. It really has to be a thing you do for the love of it rather than as a viable career. Thankfully it's (mostly) a fun process.