Devils deeds project: The start.

Hi all

14 years ago I self-published a tabletop game and I manage to get the money back (the only reason for that was that I manage to sell over 400 copies of the game to a gaming club that bought it to give to there members). The game was not good (actually a catastrophe) and I was convinced that I will never try to self publish again (just make games and send them to publishers).

Until now...

Background:
One and a half month ago I come up with a game idea during a coffee brake. On my way home from work I made the complete design and then it took a couple of hours to do the first prototype.
The weekend after we did the first two tests (the game took 15-20 minutes and the group wanted to run the test twice).
I did an update of the design, re-made the game, created some graphics and made a new game. The next test did not show any flows and the players did think that the game was OK.
This weekend brought the game with me to the game convent (hoping that it would be tested a couple of times). I don’t know how many times the game was tested. I think it was around 15-20 times with 50 different people. Players did come back with there friends, wanted to intruduce them and play the game (my only copy was also borrowed several times). I had a dozen persons that wanted to buy copy, wanted to know when the game was to be published or the possibility to download the game from internet. I did not make anything to push the game.
It felt great but at the same time I started to wonder. I don't see what is special about the game (It’s an OK game but...). The reason can be that I know that it was just a quick idea that worked directly. I have not even written any rules (just some bullets on a paper).

The game:
Current Name: Devils deeds
It is a card game with 128 cards (I can add or take away 10 cards without any problem). It takes around 20 minutes and the game is for 3-6 players.
All cards are generic (no text on the cards so I just have to include rules on different language) and very few symbols (one good and one bad symbol per daemon and only six daemons), still all cards are unique.
The theme: Each player takes the role of a small daemon on earth working for the man down there. The daemons enjoy the life here and don’t want to be promoted (and going back). Therefore your job is to do everything to do as little as possible without become noticed.

The plan:
I consider to self publish the game (Since it is such a small game I can probably take the loss but it will be a long way to a final decision). The work that is ongoing right now is:
- A friend of mind has connections with printing companies and is right now checking the actual cost.
- I working with my daughter to create the graphics.
- After July 18 I will start to write the rules.
- In the end of August I will have several prototypes ready for test.
- During the summer I will also make a business plan and see how to proceed.

The help
I need help. There are several things that I need help with but in the start I will need help with:
- I will write the rules in Swedish and English. I need proofreading of the English rules (the rules will be ready in August) (you all know that my English is not the best).
- I will help to test the game. The test will start in September and end in November.

What's in for you: Actually nothing except your name in the rules and a free copy of the game when and if it is released.

If you are interested to help me, you can send me a mail or a PM (even if this is a couple of month away, I will need to know how this for my plan and). I will come back to you as soon as possible.

One final thing: Since this is a something that starts from the beginning I will keep track of all actions, obstacles and solutions, that other could be interesting for designers that are in the same situation (in the start of a self publishing of a game and trying to build something).

// Johan

P.s As you have seen, I'm not completely convinced of the project (and I think it could be good to have a skeptical attitude and not be afraid to drop the project or trying to sell the game to a publisher).