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.