Well, it seems zombies are popular these days. My good friend J.R. Blackwell wrote a little game, a live action thing where you take turns being zombies and survivors. And then she asked me to publish it. I agreed, quickly!
Now we're doing a pre-printing fundraiser to cover our initial costs. If you get in on it now, you can get little zombie toys, extra material for the game, and other cool stuff, including J.R. to come and run it for you.
Check out our Kickstarter campaign for Shelter In Place.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Geeking in Public
This week is Speak Out with Your Geek Out!
This post is about being a public geek. Back when I was in Middle School and High School, and even in college, I used to be a bit embarrassed about my hobbies and geeky taste in movies and books. I would only talk about them to people I knew were fellow enthusiasts. With everyone else, I'd pretend to be 'normal.'
I love role-playing games, and fantasy and sci-fi movies and books. These things are a part of my life, and one of the parts where I get the most of fulfillment and enjoyment.
Hiding this is actually a pretty lame way to live. Who wants to feel guilty and ashamed about the things they like? As I got older, graduated and started my working career, I slowly became less and less shy about discussing my hobbies.
At this point, I'm pretty open about gaming with everyone. This isn't to say I bring it up out of the blue or try to force it into conversations on completely unrelated topics. It's just that I mention what I'm doing if people ask about vacations when I'm headed off to a convention, or about what I did over the weekend. I talk about all this with confidence and a lack of shame. Coworkers and other interested parties may not follow your hobbies, but I've never had anyone judge now that I'm an adult.
So, I say read an RPG in public. Play one in public. Don't be afraid to talk about what you like and what you do.
This post is about being a public geek. Back when I was in Middle School and High School, and even in college, I used to be a bit embarrassed about my hobbies and geeky taste in movies and books. I would only talk about them to people I knew were fellow enthusiasts. With everyone else, I'd pretend to be 'normal.'
I love role-playing games, and fantasy and sci-fi movies and books. These things are a part of my life, and one of the parts where I get the most of fulfillment and enjoyment.
Hiding this is actually a pretty lame way to live. Who wants to feel guilty and ashamed about the things they like? As I got older, graduated and started my working career, I slowly became less and less shy about discussing my hobbies.
At this point, I'm pretty open about gaming with everyone. This isn't to say I bring it up out of the blue or try to force it into conversations on completely unrelated topics. It's just that I mention what I'm doing if people ask about vacations when I'm headed off to a convention, or about what I did over the weekend. I talk about all this with confidence and a lack of shame. Coworkers and other interested parties may not follow your hobbies, but I've never had anyone judge now that I'm an adult.
So, I say read an RPG in public. Play one in public. Don't be afraid to talk about what you like and what you do.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Metatopia and My New Game
I've been working on a new design here and there over the last year or so. After How We Came to Live Here, I really threw myself into Bulldogs! to get that finished, and I've been doing a lot of editing of Mortal Coil supplements, Bulldogs! supplements, and other people's games. I definitely let my own game design take a back burner.
One of the issues is that a lot of what I'm interested in doesn't have a big market appeal. Bulldogs! is obviously an exception, and if I'm going to be making a go of it as a publisher I should be thinking about the larger market. That's something I'm always wrestling with. How We Came to Live Here is a beautiful little gem that I poured a lot of myself into, and it's my worst-selling game to date. I would hate to have never done it, though.
My latest is again something I'm not sure has a ton of mainstream appeal. I'm toying with ideas about fantasy and politics, and about card-based mechanics. I need to sit down and get cracking, though, because I want at least an early playtest version by November. That's when Metatopia will be held and I want to go with game in hand.
If you haven't heard about Metatopia, please check it out. It's a convention specifically created for game designers, and I'm hoping some of the local designers will go. Dreamation and DexCon have always been really friendly to the indie game designer, and Metatopia is meant to truly cater to that market. We'll see how it goes, but I'm willing to commit. I think an entire con devoted to the idea of building your own games is exciting and awesome.
One of the issues is that a lot of what I'm interested in doesn't have a big market appeal. Bulldogs! is obviously an exception, and if I'm going to be making a go of it as a publisher I should be thinking about the larger market. That's something I'm always wrestling with. How We Came to Live Here is a beautiful little gem that I poured a lot of myself into, and it's my worst-selling game to date. I would hate to have never done it, though.
My latest is again something I'm not sure has a ton of mainstream appeal. I'm toying with ideas about fantasy and politics, and about card-based mechanics. I need to sit down and get cracking, though, because I want at least an early playtest version by November. That's when Metatopia will be held and I want to go with game in hand.
If you haven't heard about Metatopia, please check it out. It's a convention specifically created for game designers, and I'm hoping some of the local designers will go. Dreamation and DexCon have always been really friendly to the indie game designer, and Metatopia is meant to truly cater to that market. We'll see how it goes, but I'm willing to commit. I think an entire con devoted to the idea of building your own games is exciting and awesome.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Due to Circumstances beyond Our Control...
Livejournal is dead and seems to attract lots and lots of spam. It also serves up obnoxious ads.
The Galileo Games web site seems best suited to only business-related updates.
My old Blogger blog was registered under an e-mail address I no longer have access to, and was not hooked in to my Gmail account and general Google identity.
All this is by way of saying, welcome to my new blog! I thought I'd get this started up because next week is the Speak Out with Your Geek Out event and I'm planning to participate.
The Galileo Games web site seems best suited to only business-related updates.
My old Blogger blog was registered under an e-mail address I no longer have access to, and was not hooked in to my Gmail account and general Google identity.
All this is by way of saying, welcome to my new blog! I thought I'd get this started up because next week is the Speak Out with Your Geek Out event and I'm planning to participate.
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