Its GameCrafter Prototype Time!

All of the core pieces are in place... so close to printing a fun trial copy of the game with all of its core cards and pieces, in the new cardframes.
The game still has plenty of playtesting and polishing to do, but this will be a huge step for the Image of the game when discussing and promoting on social media and through game store interactions.
This game will probably cost close to $100 once shipping is included, but I feel the investment is worth the cost to see the potential future game in a solid state rather than locally printed prototype cards in magic sleeves with posterpaper gameboard.

Hoping to have the submission finalized within a week, then should get the physical copy of the game by the end of June.

Just one more step in the journey, then behind the scenes there will still be changes to gameplay/stats/abilities as well as new art contributions, so a second printing will take place before an official Kickstarter video is made...

Progress and Video

All Photoshop Card files are now complete!

Exciting time.

Now I have some nights of playtesting ahead... but first I have to download the card images into Tabletop Simulator.

That will be the easiest way for me to play the game against playtesters before creating a physical copy again.

And the video and rulebook have been sent in to FallCon, won't know if I pass round one until July, but I'm in there regardless.

See below link for the overview video!

Also here is another piece of Art created for the game, for the Ridges of Kadaar.  Art by Boris Turano, great job!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYAkuXzzbXU

GameDesign Video

Big thank you to Leslie at Pandora's Boox and Tea for taking the time and energy to film a game design video for my entry into a board game design contest for FallCon!

Took several takes, and a few setup changes, to make it something we were satisfied with.  She also did some great graphical add ins to showcase the game cards close-up, and the fantastic art it has so far.

Hope its enough to pass the initial tests... won't know until July!

Also another big thanks to Andrea, who took my logo idea and really cleaned it up to something professional looking.  Wonderful job!

Game Awareness

It appears awareness of the game, and the art, is growing thanks to the use of the Instagram account.  Still small scale, but going from nobody being aware of it to having 38 followers is pretty cool.  And the interesting thing about Instagram is that as you get contacts, they tend to share info/pics as well and thus the effort to grow from 0 to 10 might take a while, but then 10-30 is faster, and 30-50 should be faster still, and so on.

This is all provided that the pics I share are quality, and relate to the hashtags/groups it gets tagged in.

Regardless, it is coming along slowly.  Most interesting is that a number of kickstarter files have followed it, which is important down the road for the KS launch!

Tomorrow is game video summary day, will be exciting to get that filmed and set as part of website/digital content for future interest and advertising!

Self Check-In

It's been a few weeks, time to check in to see if I am on time with my personal deadlines...

By end of April 2018 - Creatures reformatted to new design... I have about ten left to do, so those will be done by end of day tomorrow. Achieved!!

By May 1st - Also finish Sell Sheet and submit my Game Design to BGDL for the contest.  Achieved!!

By May 10th - All Classes reformatted to new design - Achieved! May 7th

By May 15th - All Location cards reformatted to new design - Did NOT Achieve ... worked on other card formats instead...  Revising date

By May 30th - All Reward cards reformatted to new design - Achieved!  May 15thth

By June 15th - All Adventure cards reformatted to new design - Achieved - May 12th

And now for new timelines, have to keep these personal time goals going as a self-motivation tool and keep a sense of accomplishment going.

May 16th - Visit with local game store owner to plan out overview video and discuss some gameplay aspects

By May 20th - New Map Inserted into the Rulebook, with Map trails/location symbols overlaid

By May 21st - All Location Cards to be completed in new design

By May 21st - Complete 5 minute introduction/overview video

By May 25th - Submit Game Rules/Video to BGDL Contest and FallCon Contest

By May 31st - ALL cards converted to printable PDF sheets (9per sheet)

Begin re-communications with Print and Play fans to test the game out again (including local and Calgary/Red Deer areas)

There will be other things in between those milestones, but that is the core of where I would like to be by the end of the month.

Here is a quick comparison of cards, basically the initial card concept via Magic Set Editor, then my Inkscape card design, then the fusion of my Artist's ideas with my game concept for a finished potential format (for a creature anyhow)...

Social Media explorations continue

In one of the email blasts from Board Game Designers Lab from Gabe was a link to an article about Instagram.
Turns out this is a powerful tool for reaching very broad audiences with minimal effort, just a simple screen shot or image can speak volumes about the content and direction the game is going for.

So today I made my first Instagram account, based on Legends of Novus.

The key is hashtags that are related to your aspirations.  In my case it is the following:

#dnd #dragon #fantasyart #fantasy #worldofwarcraft #diablo #tabletop #mtg #magic #adventure #bgg #boardgamegeek #instagame #boardgame #cardgames #kickstarterproject #kickstartertabletop #geek #digitalart #artwork #finalfantasy #rpg #pathfinder #kickstarter #roleplay #crowdfunding #instafantasy #ff #world #fun

I should know in about a week if this helps multiply the interest in the game, whether it is through Instagram followers, Facebook followers, or other contact methods.

Hope it helps!

 

200 hour Estimate

I thought I would reflect back on how much time has been invested in this Game Design project of mine so far...
Looking back this all began on Feb 16th 2018, doesn't seem like that long ago.  It began with an hour here, an hour there, some work on my days off.  Maybe 24 hours spent in February.
In March I was ramping up, trying to make every card, source free or borrowed art, make my own odd card design.  I spent more time where I could, so averaged about 2 hours per day.  Another 62 hours.
In April I found that my original design would not be good enough, and I was developing other avenues to Game Design, such as website creation, FB groups, and working with an Artist partner.  This upped the time I spent per day related to this game design to about 2.5 hours per day.  That was another 75 hours at least.
It is now May, and when I can manage it I spend 3 hours or more each night working on this (or even if its not 3 hours, I am regularly checking my email, FB account, and other things related to learning/understanding/developing in this world).  That adds up fast, already at least 33 hours this month.

That means, just based on averages, I would be at 194 hours.  There are some mornings off or days off that I have spent 3-4 hours working on this as well, which easily tops the 200 hour mark since I began.

I won't divulge my earnings on this blog, but in a position such as mine with the company I work for the earnings are pretty fair.  So lets say I were to make $50 per hour (again not quoting my payrate, just putting a round figure out there), that means that I would have invested $10,000 in labour hours into this game and my self-learning and future customer awareness communications already.

WOW... that happened fast.  200 hours, $10,000 of time, 3 months.  I don't see myself reducing time invested into the game anytime soon, still have the entire Rewards file to redux, a gameplay video to create, player reminder cards, redux of the gameboard, personal playtesting and LGS testing, and then a new PnP option to email blast about again.  That will all take a ton of time...

This process is fun, and amazing but it requires an extreme amount of time, dedication, and desire to commit to.  I am committed... this game IS going to get made in some way/shape/form.  I have faith that once it is ready, and once it makes the Kickstarter pages, it is going to get backed in a significant manner.  The card design is sleek, the gameboard looks like it will be stunning, the lead artist has amazing and detailed artwork, and the game truly immerses you in a fantasy adventure world.

First, before I get too excited and proud, comes the game design challenge.  Should know by Friday if I make the cut to round 2, and if so that means the game has a chance!  By the time that hits I will have spent another 15-20 hours game designing.

This blog is distracting me though, lol.  Time to cut this post discussion and get back to game work!