PULL! – What It Means to Commit 3

In my push to bring PULL! to Kickstarter, I’ve crammed some intense development into a short period of time. Ultimately, I think it has been wonderful for the game and the project as a whole, but it has meant that I’ve needed to make some difficult decisions.

When I decided to form this company and take charge of some of my future projects, I knew that I was opening myself up to new stressors in my life. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to coast through this unchanged and unphased like I do so often. I knew that I was going to have to challenge myself to take on a large number of tasks without affecting my quality of life or my time with my family. What I didn’t expect was a large community of online friends and acquaintances cheering me on and helping overcome every challenge.

Making games is fun… therefore, creating a game company and publishing a game should be fun… right? Sure, there is a certain amount of fun to doing all this… but ultimately, it’s way more work than I anticipated. Some close personal advisers have asked why I’m stressed about this. Apparently, I should be excited and jovial. Some have suggested that I take my time to help limit the stress that I place on myself… after all, this is a card game, it’s not worth getting all worked up over… or is it?

You see, if I waited until I was ready, this would never happen. Nobody but Chevee Dodd has placed a deadline on this project. There’s no magic window of opportunity that opens up on April 21st that I need to be ready for. The timeline and associated stress are entirely my created problem… and they are a completely necessary problem. I know me better than anyone and the one thing I know about myself is that I will never be ready for anything. In taking this leap and putting my name on a product, I have to force my hand at every turn. I have to fight myself for this and that’s exactly what I’m doing…

Because, damnit, PULL! is a great game. It is worth it.

As I mentioned in my previous article, I want to commit to a final, conclusive edition of the game at the close of the Kickstarter campaign. I was hopeful that I’d be able to do that before the launch and before I sent out review copies, but I failed. And that’s okay. You see, until I press the order button with the manufacturer, we are able to change anything we like about the game. This is a community project, born of community interest, and I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if I’m not going to give the community what they want. So, with that in mind, I made two little tweaks this past week.

What was original the Quick Shot variant is now the main (and only) official method of play. I shelved my ideal that I was going to make an interesting, yet calculating trick-taking game of perfect hand management. I fully welcome the fun this variant brings to the game and I’m not afraid to admit I was wrong.

I’ve removed the word “Kill” from the game. I knew some people would be turned away from the game because of the implication of using guns (though, let’s be fair, this game is highly abstract) but I assumed that no one would bat an eye about the “killing” of some cartoon ducks. I was wrong. I’ve received more than one complaint about the use of a violent word and I totally get it. Fortunately, that term has absolutely no affect on the game or the mechanic it is tied to, so I got rid of it. It has been replaced with Foul. I like this change.

Throughout these last few months, I’ve had to change my position on this project. I’ve had to decide that I no longer wanted to take a stand for my ideas, and instead, take a stand for the game. I’ve become a bigger person because of it and the game has become much more enjoyable… and I owe it all to you. Thank you.

I’ve uploaded the latest rules and updated the print and play. I still feel like a few of the rules sections aren’t as clear as they need to be, so it would be awesome if you’d continue to help me make them better. We have until I hit that order button to take this from one man’s ideal to the game we all want.