It has been a very long time since I’ve shared much in writing. This winter has been personally challenging. I don’t like it when I let the blog go, but sometimes I need to take a sabbatical from myself. That doesn’t mean I’ve been idle! Quite the contrary actually. I’ve been working on all sorts of different projects. This may have actually been one of the more productive winters for personal projects. Between games, graphics, and wood-working, I kept myself pretty busy.
If you keep up with me on Twitter, some of this might seem familiar.
The Secret Project
I tweeted some cryptic messages and images in January about some sort of secret project. Well, it’s still secret. I’m really excited to share the results with everyone, but that won’t happen for quite a few months. This project kept me extremely busy during the month of January and is partially at fault for the lack of updates on the site. Thanks in part to the number of days snow days we had, this project went through a very rapid development cycle. I’d likely be piecing it together for months had I not been able to focus on it and, quit possibly might not have finished it at all.
Okay. I have to stop. I want so bad to share this!!!
Kickstarter?
I dropped a little secret a few weeks back on Something From Nothing. I’ve been pondering running a Kickstarter campaign. At that point, the idea was still mostly an idea. I have refused Kickstarter many times in the past because… well… I just don’t deal with stress very well. That being said, some options have opened up for me that takes a significant amount of the pressure off of me.
As someone who puts himself out there with open transparency, I get asked a ton of questions about Kickstarter. I have many opinions about the Kickstarter model and how current publishers are using the platform for pre-orders, but that isn’t what this is about. I’d like to provide quality Kickstarter-focused content and I’m unable to do that without familiarizing myself with the process. So, I’ll be doing that soon!
You may have seen this one coming. I’ve been begging for help on this game for a few months now. I haven’t shared much of the development cycle on the site, and until recently, there wasn’t even a worthy Print and Play available. A great deal of this was due to my focus elsewhere, but some of it was simply because I was trying to determine… for myself… if this was the right path.
I feel pretty firmly now that this will be an excellent freshmen project to bring to Kickstarter. This is one of those games that gets chucked out of pitch meetings before I can even describe it simply because I mention trick-taking. While it is heavily influenced by trick-taking games, it’s unique game-play could very well be enjoyable to anyone, even those that don’t actively play trick-taking games.
Additionally, this is purely a card game. There’s no need for tokens, boards, and dice, which means I can get my feet wet with a relatively simple project to produce without worrying about fulfillment and component issues. Also, I can keep the base pledge level near $15 which seems to be a magic number for Kickstarter campaigns.
I’ll continue to write more and more about this game as I draw closer to the campaign. Preview copies will be headed to reviewers very soon and I’ve begun to line up some podcast interviews and such to highlight the launch. If you are a reviewer, podcaster, or blogger and would like a closer look at pull, let me know! I can provide you with some great content for your listeners/readers in exchange for a little exposure!
If you want to help, I’d love some feedback on the rules!
As always, I thank you for tagging along on my adventures!