Hello internets! I am Sam.
I am a game designer in Michigan ("The Wisconsin of Eastern Time") who as a day job is lucky enough to attend a great many conference calls. My game design background (such as it is) is actually in digital games -I've released a few mobile games and desktop games each- but I wanted to branch out into analog space and I recently overcame two design hurdles on board game concepts that had been percolating in the background. (I also overuse parenthetical asides.)
I am currently working on a two player abstract strategy game (Which I *assume* all but guarantees that it will be a smash hit financial success, right? Right, guys? Guys? Why is everyone slowly backing away?) and word game, as well as some VR-facing games in the Cardboard/Mobile space.
Please feel free and/or encouraged to ask me about:
•game theory
•statistics & randomness
•Unity (the game engine)
•the best book to read in October
Also: I have Tabletop Simulator, so if anyone needs playtesters and are using that as a framework (which I cannot recommend enough) and likes really specific feedback, ping me.
Also Also: I am new here, so please don't be offended if I fail to answer a "PM" (as the kids call it) or something because it's likely that I simply failed to set up notifications correctly.
Also Also Also: I have a toddler, so don't be offended if I fail to respond immediately for that reason either.
Ok goodbye now.
@elkolbold, polyobsessive -- Thanks! Though based on my experience with digital games, I'm adopting the attitude that simply releasing the game I am proud of needs to be the enough to justify the work of creating it, and any profit is icing.
@ruy343 -- I definitely agree there's some market, but the market is not so big (nor is my presence in it) that I am going to make the mistake of assuming I am *owed* any sales. The game I am working on is about the level of chess (my rough estimate put the number of possible moves on a given turn somewhere in between chess and go, from a branching complexity perspective) and can pivot *extremely* quickly if a player overextends. In testing so far, the games usually end very quickly if there's an early, overly optimistic mistake, or after 45-60 minutes for players who are familiar with the nuances and play conservatively.
@arcuate -- I will attempt to PM you (no promises it will work, as an IT person I am terrible at using technology on the user level) but please feel free to PM me details/etc. I think I can scrounge about 2 hours at that time. If that's not enough feel free to send rules/whatever and I will send feedback and learn them for the next time you are running a test.