Official Release date for Conquest at Kismet

Well boys and girls, the time has come (well I've kinda known about it for a while) to announce my release date for my card game, Conquest at Kismet.

The game will be released on August 20, 2015 through Victory Point Games. I'm not sure where they will be distributing to, but I hope it's a lot of places :)

While this is an exciting time for me, it's nerve-racking. I've been a part of industry teams that have published video games and it's always the same...you're scared that the work that you've put into the game is all for naught. The critics may not like your game and it might get panned.

But I suppose this is not why we make games. We make games because we love games, no matter how many games are released every year, no matter how rehashed the game idea is, we make games because we love games.

I believe I've got a good balance of strategy, luck, and fun all in one package. Still, I know that not everyone will like my game, much less a sci-fi card game. My combat mechanics are just different enough to be its own beast and not be compared to other card games of its genre. I've set my art so that it's simple; matte paintings are great (and I certainly had a lot of professional artists volunteering their services), but readability was more important to me, so I kept it very graphic-designy like Glory To Rome's Black Box art. I've taken the game to a lot of conventions to get people to look at it...and I'm still planning on going to GenCon, BGG Con, Celesticon, and I've listened, iterated, listened, iterated, listened, and iterated again. I've tested the game with my students, pro-Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, LCG card, board game, young, and old players...and I still don't think it's enough. I surrounded myself with other game designers...video and analog, to try and fine something I can use in my game.

I opted not to use Kickstarter, not do a PnP, and I trusted a publisher with my work so I could concentrate on refining the gameplay instead of worrying about finding an adequate printer or worrying about customs issues. As such, I have already created 3 expansions that are on deck should my game take off. Were these decisions right? I'm not sure.

For me, this is a bucket list thing. I've always respected people that design card games and now I'm about to be one of them. I also consider myself lucky that I live close to the printing facility and know the owner of my publishing company (with games that have shown up on Dice Tower's top 10 lists); it has saved a ton of back and forth had I lived outside of the state.

This weekend (Jul 8-11), I'll be at a con called Gam3rCon in San Diego. I have a spot reserved there and I will be demo'ing my game. Currently, I believe the game is complete, I just need to refine the rules so that the audience will be able to comprehend them; rules are a lot harder than it seems...even for a game as simple as mine.

The plan right now is to get the game in front of the right people. I've certainly planned it out, now all that is left is to do it.

Wish me luck!