Christmas

I’m taking a break now for Christmas.

Heading to Bristol to see family and in-laws.

Will probably take some prototypes along with some games though.

I’ve levelled up Coalescence a bit.

Hope you all have a great Christmas/Happy Holidays/winter break/summer break as appropriate!

See you in 2024!

Demand

We ran some ads during the Gamefound campaign.

Which is still open to late pledges

The ads led to a bump in website sales as they always do.

The ads finished when the main campaign finished - at the end of October.

But website sales remained high.

Higher in fact.

The average for the last eleven weeks has been double the average of the preceding quarter.

Which itself was crazy high.

Website sales have been amazing.

And I’ve no idea why!

No ads.

The traffic comes from mostly Google.

With Paul having been ill, then hospitalised, then recovering, then at mine last weekend, then recovering again, we have struggled to keep up with demand.

We’re on top of it again.

Thanks to a quieter week this week.

I’m guessing the Christmas present traffic has peaked now.

Still don’t know where they heard of it.

Or what drove the demand.

Very grateful though, whatever it was!

Fauxmas

Paul and his family visited for the weekend.

Celebrating an early Christmas with friends.

Paul’s still a bit under the weather after last weekend’s stay in hospital, but on the mend.

We played loads of games.

And talked Eurydice.

Scheming.

Planning.

A bit of game design.

Might now gave a viable way of making this

And sorted the names for the FlickFleet  pirate ships.

The Box of Pirate Flicks rules are with the proof reader now.

Next up is the dashboards.

That’s this week’s task…

I’m hoping to tease them in the FlickFleet Facebook group as I go…

Rules

I’m now in fulfilment mode. 

First up is the print and play rewards due at the end of this month. 

They require the finished rulebook and dashboards. 

I’ve finished a first cut of the rules this week. 

Taking shape!

Next up are the dashboards and finalising the rules. 

The 3D printing and laser-cutting files are done. 

Looks on track at the moment. 

Hopefully early. 

Website sales are continuing very strongly. 

Still no idea why. 

But Paul has spent all weekend in hospital with a serious infection. 

He’s coming home this afternoon though.

Dichotomy

Website sales are up.

A lot.

Like, a lot a lot.

Average weekly sales since the beginning of October are double May-September and almost 30 times January-April.

Thirty!

It's been amazing.

The new website has helped a lot.

As have a lot of really good reviews.

We are featured in the latest Senet magazine too.

We're getting lots of new FlickFleet fans!

Yet the Gamefound campaign didn't do as well as the last two.

And the pledge manager is way lower than Xeno Wars.

I though the new fans might join in for Expansion 1 which is cheap and out of stock.

Or the great new reviews and cheaper shipping would convince more people to give it a try.

I want to understand why before the next campaign.

Phases

Crowdfunding is lots of different phases. 

There’s the page graphic design.

Then the constant checking of a live campaign. 

Then a brief respite. 

Then the pledge manager preparation. 

Then the P&P file preparation. 

Then the ordering of all the different components. 

Then it’s over to Paul for the manufacturing. 

Then shipping. 

Which is mostly Paul, but involves a decent chunk of bookkeeping for me. 

The pledge manager is in review. 

So I’ve started working on the P&P files.

The rulebook is taking shape...

Pledge Manager

My focus is now setting up the pledge manager.

It’s a bit of a faff.

Gamefound is getting better though.

We’re still a bit unusual though.

Lots of stuff that we re-enter every time.

Because it’s essentially the same game.

We can’t turn it on before the 15th.

I’m hoping to hit that date.

Or thereabouts.

Plus Paul and I have a date to finalise all the ships.

A day of playtesting on the horizon

So I can do the dashboards and rules.

Once the pledge manager is up.

Making solid progress.

Yorkshire

I’ve spent the weekend in Yorkshire.

In the middle of nowhere.

In a former hunting lodge.

With 25 other gamers.

Playing games.

Oh so many games.

It was awesome.

Did some playtesting.

Played Battlestar Galactica for the first time in years.

And even got a couple of short walks in :)

We were near this 150 year old viaduct

Surprised

With much cheaper shipping, 

And double the ad budget, 

And better graphic design, 

And great new reviews, 

And Stretch Pay, 

I thought we’d get more backers who were new to FlickFleet. 

Not big pledges. Just the base game. 

Or maybe with Xeno Wars. 

At this point we have about 240 backers. Which is a lot less than last time. 

And 150 of those are existing fans getting the new stuff to add to their collections. 

Every time I run a campaign I’m surprised by something.

I wonder what put the new people off?

Fast. Slow. Fast?

We’re in the middle of the campaign.

After a great start, it’s slowed to a crawl.

I knew it was coming.

Happens every time.

Still hard though.

Watching the total tick ever so slowly up.

And occasionally down due to a cancellation.

We’re still tracking ahead of every campaign we’ve previously run.

Just.

No idea where we’ll end up.

Probably similar to Xeno Wars.

A bit up on it.

Or a bit down.

All depends on the last couple of days now. 

Until then we wait.

Watching it tick up slowly.

And occasionally down.

Launch

Our fifth FlickFleet campaign launches tomorrow lunchtime. 

I’m a bit worried about it. 

It’s a weird one. 

A new expansion for true fans of the game. 

But there’s not a huge number of them. 

And the new expansion doesn’t really make sense for new backers unless they go all in. 

Which is expensive now. 

And not possible until we unlock a lofty reprints stretch goal. 

We’ve only sold about 1,500 copies of FlickFleet in total over the last 5 years. 

I’m utterly convinced there are thousands (tens of thousands?) of people who would love FlickFleet if they played it. 

The challenge is finding them. 

And getting them to take a punt on a game made in a garage. 

I’m nervous. 

I hope tomorrow goes well.

Reset

I've a chain of daily tasks.

Including game design, exercise and a walk outside.

I keep track of how many days I've kept it up.

At the beginning of the year I set myself a goal of a 100 day chain.

I'd done that by March.

I broke the chain on a family holiday by accident after 123 days.

I thought I'd done my stretches but, in hindsight, I think I forgot.

I started again.

I got to 176, before last week's COVID did for it again.

Several days where I wasn't fit enough to exercise.

And shouldn't leave the house.

Now I'm feeling better I've started again.

It's day 5.

I want to get to 200 this time.

It's really good for me.

Bed

I’m writing this on Sunday.

Which is not unusual.

I’m also writing it from bed.

Which is.

We’ve got just over two weeks until the planned launch of our next Gamefound campaign.

Lots to do.

I could do without being ill.

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

But here we are.

VAT

Value Add Tax.

Not an exciting subject.

But one that is very much in my mind.

We will be registering for VAT shortly.

We're nearing the threshold where we have to.

But we're doing it voluntarily.

Most of our costs will reduce by 17%.

We'll make 17% less on UK sales though.

There's an opportunity to make more money on exports.

Or pass on the savings.

I've been trying to work out how best to pass on the savings on Gamefound.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

I've got two blunt hammers to play with:

Product discounts - which affect everyone, including the UK.

Shipping discounts - which can be tailored by region, but don't directly connect to the order value.

Two blunt hammers.

And a sculpture to carve.

I think I have a solution.

A bit of hammer A, a bit of hammer B.

Cheaper prices for most people.

I hope I get it right and it doesn't end up costing us loads of money! 

Purchase

Last Thursday at Games Night I asked my buddies if they would playtest a prototype.

It’s my second roll and write.

Currently known as The Planets My Destination.

A nod to Alfred Bester.

It’s about colonising the solar system.

It was a big ask.

Several months ago 2 out of 3 of them played an earlier version.

It was a disaster.

20 minute game. That lasted 1:40. And was way too complex. 

Complicated really. Not complex. Unnecessarily complicated.

But they humoured me.

We played again.

25 mins this time.

Much better.

And the new 3rd person?

He asked where he could buy it the next day.

It’s getting close I think…

Daily

I have a set of actions I do every day.

I’ve kept it up for 155 days.

An unbroken chain.

Would have been 279, but I think I forgot one of the actions a couple of times on holiday back in April.

It’s really helped me.

I’ve been way more productive.

But I didn’t do enough on the Gamefound page during August.

Progress has been too slow

A two week holiday, Tabletop Scotland and my daughter’s birthday all got in the way.

But those are just excuses.

I need to do better.

So I’ve added it to my daily chain.

I’ve made progress every day this week.

It’s taking shape now :)

Gear

It’s time to change gear.

The Box of Pirate Flicks campaign has been languishing in neutral.

Our holiday, then Daughter the First’s birthday, then Tabletop Scotland took priority.

I need to crack on now.

I’ve started adding to the page, but there’s lots still to be done.

The page is still pretty Spartan.

Time to crack on.

The ads are running now at least.

Some progress!

Three

Conventions this year.

AireCon in March.

The UK Games Expo for the second time in June.

And now Tabletop Scotland.

Ready to demo!

I came here with low expectations.

It’s small. Much smaller even than AireCon.

But a friend of Paul’s offered to put us up, so it’s fairly cheap too.

I’ve been really looking forward to it.

Another road trip with Paul.

Another weekend of demoing FlickFleet and chatting about prototypes.

It was way better than I expected.

Still feels like we’re gathering momentum.

Lots of fans of FlickFleet stopped by.

Lots of new FlickFleet fans by the end of it :)

FIVE

This month Eurydice Games Ltd turned five.

Six if you count the first year when I ran it by myself.

Almost as old as Daughter the Second.

I remember doing the initial graphic design for FlickFleet with her as a sleeping baby in one arm.

It's been fun watching it grow.

Get bigger.

Learn new things.

Same for Daughter the Second.

I’m excited to see what it grows up to be.

Much like Daughter the Second.

Road trip!

This week though, it is preparation for Tabletop Scotland.

It’s in Perth (Scotland, not Australia obviously!), this weekend.

It’s another weekend away with Paul.

Another road trip.

I’m really looking forward it it.

Back

I'm back from my holiday.

Refreshed.

Rejuvenated.

Raring to go.

I kept up my games design streak while I was away.

Making progress on my new roll and write.

Working on Wizard a bit.

Coming up with a newer roll and write.

New roll and write sheet scribbled on the back of another roll and write sheet!

Now I'm back, I need to crack on with the Gamefound page for FlickFleet: A Box of Pirate Flicks.

Exciting times...

Trains

We’re on our way home now.

Via Paris.

But we still have 15 hours on trains.

I’m putting the time to good use.

Designing games.

Cicadas

For the first time since our honeymoon 20 years ago, I’m on holiday for two weeks.

We travelled to the south of Spain by train.

Stopping in a couple of places.

We’re now in the mountains.

I can hear nothing but cicadas.

It’s very peaceful here.

I will crack on with the Gamefound page when I return, but for now, I rest.

Feedback

I have three games that I ought to be playtesting more widely.

Jotunsaga, about Vikings hunting trolls.

Colony, the new roll and write that’s only a few weeks old.

And Coalescence, which has been years in the making.

The next step is to get people playtesting without me there explaining the rules.

To do this I need to send physical (or at least digital!) copies of the games to people.

Troll is still sharpie on blank cards. Needs some work before it’s ready to send out.

Coalescence is a real pain to manufacturer. 

Needs a 5-layer board and 3D-printed planets.

So Colony was first out the door.

I already had everything I needed!

I’m off on holiday this week. Need to work on the others when I get back.

Sci-Fi

I’ve six games that I’m working on the at moment.

I started a new one a couple of weeks ago.

Another roll and write.

It’s on its fifth iteration already.

Three of the six are sci-fi themed.

There’s coalescence about making a solar system.

The Uprising Saga about the birth of The Uprising from FlickFleet.

And the new one: Colony about colonising the solar system.

I’ve also got three that aren’t:

Siren Song about capturing Greek sailors off triremes.

Wizard about duelling wizards in an arena.

Jotunsaga about Vikings hunting trolls.

I definitely tend to lean towards the sci-fi theme though.

I’ve more ideas in that direction too that I’m not actively working on too.