Hi everyone,
I've been a "gamer" my whole life. Board games, card games, Magic, RPGs, wargames, dice games, console games (but only up to PS2, truthfully), a handful of computer games and apps, etc. I had designed a bunch of games as a kid for my brother and I to play, but it never occurred to me to actually make games seriously.
But it's mostly been a hobby. When I got into D&D 3rd edition when it came out (and wargames like Warmachine shortly thereafter), the design-bug hit me. I was making conversions, variant rules for gladiatorial skirmish games, MtG/D&D hybrid miniatures battle games, etc. with a group of avid gamer friends. I even had a cool Holiday Rumble battle game that I sold to some local game stores.
Then I sort of fell out of it, and life kept rolling. Work, love lives, lots of traveling, more work. But playing games has always been a theme in my life.
The last 2 years, I started playing a lot more games with a newer group of friends. Settlers of Cattan, Dominion, Ticket to Ride, Cards against Humanity, Apples to Apples, Magic the Gathering, Pathfinder, Gloom, Fluxx, Munchkin, Infernal Contraption, Smallworld, Dungeon!, Chez Geek, Chess, Poker, Descent, Warmachine, a number of multiplayer console games, etc., etc.
Point is, my brain, like all of yours, is full of ideas and motivation. Distilling my love of gaming into the things that matter most, and the things I and others seem to have had the most fun with in games we've played, I've decided to make a game that encompasses lot of these elements, and see how it goes over.
If it goes well, maybe I'll make more games? Maybe I just want to make this one. Time will tell.
I have been doing a lot of internet research on game design theory, comparing similar games, looking at dice probability, the idea of emergent complexity, creating prototypes, the cost/benefits of 2D vs 3D tokens, prices of artwork, printing, manufacturing, etc. It's daunting but exciting.
I'm relatively familiar with PDF game publishing, as I've been published as a contributor to 3rd party publishing material for Pathfinder Roleplaying game a few times, but this is all new to me.
I'm looking forward to bouncing ideas off of folks. :)
W Canepa
