Excited

For the second time in a few months I’ve been really excited about a friend’s game.

Both created by designers at Newcastle Playtest.

Which is growing and gaining strength every month.

In both cases I’ve wanted to publish the game.

I’ve spent this week playtesting the latest with my mum, and The Wife and Daughter the Youngest a bit too.

Ideas fizzing.

Working on naming.

Playing with art styles.

But he’s not ready to hand it over to a publisher yet.

And the designer of the first one wants to try to find a bigger publisher.

Which is fair - we’re tiny.

Everything we’ve published so far I’ve designed or co-designed.

I’d love to branch out to other designer’s games.

But my time is very tight, so I don’t want to announce we’re open to submissions - I’ve not got the time to review them or do them justice.

Newcastle Playtest is perfect - I’m there already.

Hopefully at some point we’ll get there.

Maybe even with one of these two…

Me waiting patiently for the perfect game to drop into my lap...

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

Family

My parents are visiting for a week.

They live 300 miles away, and so I see them rarely.

Two or three times a year.

And dad is getting less mobile.

So it’s harder for them to travel.

It’s going to be lovely seeing them for a whole week.

Not just a brief video call.

But I run Eurydice Games in my spare time.

Around a full-time job.

And a youngish family.

So visitors pretty much pause game company work.

The print and play rewards are almost done though. Half a page left of the rulebook, then proofing and it’s ready to go.

It’ll be a month late :(

I have at least done some playtest of my mate Joe’s solo dungeon crawl (it’s very good!).

Loads of fun!

Mum, The Wife and Daughter the second joined in too!

Back

It's been a very busy week post-Expo.

There's been loads of Expo tasks to catch up on.

We've had a very busy week of UK sales (post Expo ones?).

So loads of bookkeeping.

And I'm back on the P&P rewards graphic design.

One thing I needed to do was physically print the dashboards.

And cut them out.

In their Print and Play configuration.

For two reasons.

One: it's easier to spot errors in physical form than on screen.

And two: I needed to check that I'd lined the backs and fronts up correctly for the P&P rewards.

In that the correct fronts and backs were together.

And the orientations were right too.

The good news is the P&P configuration was all correct.

But I spotted a few issues with the dashboards that needed fixing.

Cheaper to fix them now, than after printing 350 of them!

Conventions

I'm back from the UK Games Expo.

I'm knackered.

But it was so good.

We had our box manufacturer, W. MacCarthy & Sons, hand-deliver some Xeno Wars boxes to the Expo, from London!

We sold more games than ever before!

We demoed FlickFleet to loads of new people and could see how much fun they were having.

I had a few really useful business meetings.

We had a crowd of spectators for most of the time.

We had people go out of their way to come to our stand, just to tell us how much they love FlickFleet.

And someone even came up to us during dinner, to tell us how much he loved it!

I've done conventions in four jobs now.

Games ones with Reiver Games and Eurydice Games.

Scientific ones in the day job.

And during my PhD.

I really enjoy them.

Games ones in particular feel like I'm among my people.

And I love meeting so many people I know.

Missed

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I've a lot on.

So has Paul.

Our laser-cutter failed.

Two weeks before the Expo.

So Paul took up an offer from the amazing team at Harps Corp.

To use their laser-cutters for a couple of days.

So we had stock for the Expo.

And fortunately, our laser-cutter has been fixed already.

Meanwhile I've been working on the graphic design for Box of Xeno Flicks 1.

Dashboards are almost done.

And preparing for the Expo.

The Expo deadline cannot slip.

And it was Daughter the Youngest's birthday and party this weekend.

That couldn't slip either.

As feared, that means the graphic design had to, despite burning the midnight oil.

The P&P rewards are due on Saturday.

I think they will be a couple of weeks late :(

Guesswork

We crowdfund to raise money for print runs.

We print everything that we need for the next year.

In runs of 100-800 copies.

Tiny print runs.

Because they are small, they are expensive.

So we need a decent campaign total.

Some of that comes during the campaign.

Some during the pledge manager: shipping, extras, and late pledges.

We need to kick off manufacturing early. Boxes and wooden bits have long lead times.

Before we know what we’ve raised in the pledge manager.

We need to ensure the total raised is enough to fund the print runs and cover campaign shipping.

And VAT.

And Gamefound fees.

And royalties.

But also order enough to keep us in stock until the next campaign.

It’s a guess.

We’ve made our guesses.

Ordered boxes accordingly.

Now we are waiting to see if the pledge manager ends up where we guessed.

Or not.

Deadlines

I’ve got two pressing deadlines the moment.

The UK Games Expo.

We’ll be in Hall 2, stand 2-494

And Print and Play rewards for Box of Xeno Flicks 1.

The Expo starts on the 29th May for us - driving down to Birmingham and setting up.

The print and play rewards are due on the 31st.

The Expo deadline cannot move.

I really want to hit the other one too.

Lots to do still on both though.

I see some late evenings on the horizon…

Meanwhile Paul is down the laser-cutting mines. 

Cranking out copies of FlickFleet and the expansions.

To cover web sales. And the Expo. And the start of fulfilment.

He’s finishing last year’s print runs.

We’re running low!

Production

It’s going to be a very busy month. 

I’ve got to do the graphic design for the Xeno Flicks rules and dashboards. 

I've made a start!

Work out all the quantities of things we need. 

Then get the manufacturing orders started. 

Boxes are being made as we speak.

Xeno Wars reprint has gone to the printer. 

Ideally, we’d like to have some Xeno Wars stock at the Expo. 

Need to place several orders for that though. 

Also need to finish Expo preparations. 

Progress is being made at least.

Pledge Manager

Now I’m back from my holiday it’s time to focus.

It’s a busy time.

The print and play rewards are due by the end of May.

Which is also the UK Games Expo.

And I need to begin ordering materials for the physical copies.

First up was the boxes.

The print run has been ordered and the files sent over.

I also need to finish off the pledge manager.

We’re adding planets!

It’s almost there.

Should go live in a day or two I hope.

Diversify

I’m back from my holiday.

Rested.

And raring to go.

I have two things to focus on.

The pledge manager for Box of Xeno Flicks 1.

And global diversity.

55% of our sales go to the US.

Trump’s tariffs don’t affect us yet.

But he’s unpredictable and anything could happen.

So we need to diversify.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Away from the US.

And our reliance on FlickFleet.

We have three other products. All print at home roll and write games.

Which are tariff-free.

And easy to sell to anywhere.

I’m advertising those in our top fifteen countries.

The US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a chunk of Europe.

Added bonus: there’s no cost of goods sold or shipping to pay for.

So the ads don’t have to cover those costs.

But I also need to focus on the pledge manager.

Coming within a week or two I hope…

Wales

I’m on holiday for a week.

In Wales.

With 18 members of my family.

Parents.

Brother and sisters and their partners.

Nieces and nephews.

Plus The Wife and our kids.

19 of us. And a dog.

Aged 3 to 79.

After a busy weeks at work and our Gamefound campaign, the break is welcome.

Some downtime.

I will keep up my games design streak though.

I’ve brought some prototypes.

And some prototyping materials.

I’ll make some things.

And do some playtesting.

Here.

Feaster

It’s hard to believe our campaign ended less than a week ago. 

It was our second best crowdfunding total with a really strong finish. 

Since then I’ve had my monthly playtest session. 

Numerous problems in the day job. 

Tariffs have completely up-ended the world trade regime, which will have a huge effect on the board games industry. 

I’ve had my weekly games night with friends. 

Paul and his family have been to visit for our yearly Feaster weekend. 

Feels like way more than a week. 

We’re lucky that the tariffs don’t affect us yet. 

The UK is only 10%, and the de minimis rules mean small orders aren’t affected. Yet. 

But the chaos is stressful. 

And many others in our space are affected much worse. 

I’ve started advertising our print and play games. 

At least they are safe!

Crescendo?

Our seventh crowdfunding campaign finishes tomorrow.

It started slower than the last few.

But we didn’t start advertising until a few days in.

It’s been doing better than the rest during the quiet period.

We’ve been ahead of Box of Pirate Flicks on the equivalent day for the last couple of days.

We might have a strong finish!

Could be our second or third best campaign, with luck!

Fingers crossed!

Just over 24 hours left if you're interested...

Adfound

Box of Xeno Flicks 1 is live.

And funded.

In 9 minutes.

Still doing worse than our last campaign, at the moment.

We've only just started running ads though.

Which is unusual.

Usually we run loads before the campaign starts.

Then more during.

This time we're pretty much only doing it during.

Which is interesting.

Because those early backers came from our mailing list.

Or Facebook group. Or Discord. Or Bluesky.

Or the nearly 200 followers we picked up during the week our campaign was approved and in the Upcoming section on Gamefound.

With our later ad spend this time, we might see a better second half of the campaign than we've had previously.

Also we're using Adfound.

It's Facebook ads. Managed by Gamefound.

They claim impressive performance.

Way better than we've managed in the past.

Will be interesting to see if that holds true for FlickFleet...

But it's off to a good start.

Launch Week

Our latest FlickFleet campaign goes live on Gamefound tomorrrow. 

The rollercoaster begins. 

We use crowdfunding to raise the funds to reprint most of the expansions at once. 

Amortising costs. 

Some small economies of scale. 

Because of that, we need a to raise a lot. 

Not millions.

Not hundreds of thousands.

But certainly tens of thousands. 

All but one of our FlickFleet campaigns have been the best ever (at the time). 

The last one was second best. 

We’re now in the lull, before the launch. 

Will it do well? 

Best ever? 

Enough to fund the print runs and shipping?

Not enough? 

Soon we’ll know. 

There are some encouraging signs. 

We already have our second best number of pre-launch followers. 

And we’re not far off best ever pre-launch follower count. 

Will it be enough? 

Soon find out…

Ticking

I've finally finished the campaign page for the sixth FlickFleet expansion: Box of Xeno Flicks 1.

It's been a long time coming.

Once again, real life got in the way.

It's been a hectic month or so in the day job, which has eaten into my Eurydice Games time.

But it's done now.

And sent for approval.

With just over a week to spare.

If you're interested in FlickFleet it's a great way to get the base game and/or Xeno Wars.

With discounts.

And subsidised shipping.

If you're already a fan of the game it introduces 14 all-new ships to the Xeno Wars factions.

Ten are already included in the box.

The remaining four can be unlocked as stretch goals.

The more backers we get, the more you all get in the box.

As two guys making a game in a garage we have very little capital.

The only way the company works is by using crowdfunding campaigns to combine our several small print runs into one larger one, getting us some small economies of scale.

Making the game affordable for us.

We really appreciate your help with that!

Thank you in advance if you're considering backing the campaign.

And please share it with any friends or family you think would enjoy FlickFleet.

Bleed Through

I have a full-time day job.

And a family with youngish kids.

And I run Eurydice Games in my spare time.

I try to keep them all separate.

Focusing on my day job during work hours.

Focusing on my family when I'm with them.

I'm very lucky that I work hybridly.

I can work from home or go into the office, which is only a 2 mile walk from my house.

I like going into the office. 

I enjoy the company.

We have a lunchtime games club.

I like working from home too.

I get to spend my lunch breaks with The Wife.

Get chores out of the way during the day so I have more time in the evenings for Eurydice Games.

For the last month I've been in the office every day because of a late-running project.

It's been stressful.

And it's eaten into my time.

Then Friday we had some issues too.

I was working until late.

And a bit on the weekend.

I don't like the bleed-through.

I'll be working from home again more next week.

And with The Wife travelling for work I'll be able to spend lunchbreaks catching up on Eurydice Games stuff.

Like the Gamefound campaign.

It's not all bad though. 

I played a lot of games in February.

Mostly at almost daily lunchtime games club.

Colds

Paul and I have both been feeling rough this week.

But we've managed to eek out some progress.

Paul continuing to churn out ships from the laser-cutter.

To fulfil our website orders.

Me, inching towards the completion of the crowdfunding page.

And, while feeling particularly rough this weekend, cranking out a first cut of the high-ink page for Exodus:

My fourth print at home roll and write.

Community

I love the feeling of community.

I’m stuck in the office all month for February.

So I’m playing games every day in lunchtime games club.

We’re a small community of gamers at work.

I design games.

So we started a community of board game designers in and around Newcastle.

It’s doing the best it ever has.

My sister-in-law and her husband have been visiting this weekend.

We’ve been hanging out and playing games all weekend.

I love that feeling.

Being amongst my people.

One of the reasons I love conventions.

The sense of belonging.

We have a FlickFleet Facebook group.

This week we were asked for a FlickFleet Discord.

I don’t really use Discord.

But I’ve set one up.

If you’re looking for a FlickFleet community.

Rollercoaster

We call ourselves a publisher.

But really we're a self-publisher.

Zombology.

FlickFleet and its billion expansions.

Three print at home roll and write games.

All designed by me, or me and Paul.

Nothing by a different designer.

Yet.

We've signed a contract for a FlickFleet-related game.

And there was another chance this week.

I went to my monthly playtesting session in Newcastle. In the pub.

Played one of the other designer's games.

Loved it.

Told him I'd be interested in publishing it.

Spent the week thinking about it.

How to make my own copy for playing with Paul and my other friends.

Then a few days later the designer said he'd rather pitch to a big publisher.

Disappointing.

But fair.

I'd told him he'd be better off doing that at the beginning!

Still disappointing though.

I loved it.

Stealth

I’m working on the next FlickFleet Gamefound campaign.

Beavering away behind the scenes.

But there’s not much to show for it.

The draft has hardly changed in a couple of months.

I’d hoped to make really good progress this week.

The Wife was away for work for three and a half days.

But solo-parenting is time-intensive.

Didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped.

I think I need to push the campaign back a bit.

I have made progress this week though.

Getting prototype ship outlines designed.

Then Paul added etching.

And cut them.

Need these for the page design work.

It’s getting there.

Stealthily. Behind the scenes.

Together

Paul and I run Eurydice Games.

He does all the manufacturing and most of the shipping.

I do finances, marketing, and graphic design.

And we both do the FlickFleet game design.

Which is slightly awkward.

Because I live in Newcastle upon Tyne.

And he lives in York.

100 miles away.

Our families are friends, so we try to meet up in Newcastle or York several times a year.

To catch up and hang out.

We play games with each other and the kids.

Chat, eat, hang out.

And don't make a heap of progress on Eurydice things.

Like FlickFleet game design.

I've just spent the weekend in Leicester with Paul.

Due to a storm disrupting my travel, I had to change my travel plans last minute and travel to York on Thursday evening (no Games Night 😢).

So I got to hang out with Paul and his wife on Thursday evening.

Then Paul drove me to Leicester.

And we spent 72 hours together.

At the end, rather than getting my train in Leicester, Paul gave me a lift back to York and I boarded it there, as it went through.

Another 2.5 hours in the car together.

We got so much done.

A very productive weekend.

Plus we sold some games.

In a space museum.

How cool is that?

Space!

I’m really interested in space.

In sci-fi.

Obsessed maybe?

I’ve published 7 or 8 games I’ve designed.

Border Reivers, set near where I live in the 1500s.

Then Carpe Astra (with Ted Cheatham) set in space.

Then Zombology about curing a disease with crazy things (not ivermectin or bleach though).

Then FlickFleet and Xeno Wars (with Paul), both set in space.

And three print and play roll and writes: Rocky ‘Roid, The Planets My Destination, and Away Team Bingo.

All set in space.

I’m working on another print at home roll and write too.

It’s set in space.

So you can imagine how excited I was when we were invited to demo and sell FlickFleet at the National Space Centre in Leicester last January. 

At their To Boldly Game event.

It was amazing! 

I’d been meaning to go there for years.

Plus, we sold way more games than I was expecting too.

They’ve invited us back for this year’s event.

It’s this weekend.

I’m so excited!

Comparison

Is the thief of joy.

Apparently.

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

I’ve seen a few people on the last week or two publishing their earnings in board games.

Or talking about it.

A few surprises.

A small publisher similar to us.

Who I’d assumed was doing much better than us.

Because they are in retail and distribution, unlike our hand-made-in-a-garage games.

They’d had their most profitable year yet.

Only a four-figure loss.

We’ve been profitable 5 out of 6 years!

Go us!

And a big name games designer who’d made over €150k in royalties this year! Which was worse than last year!

I had no idea that was even possible.

I assumed the full-time game designers were earning a small but comfortable salary.

That’s way more than I make in my day job as a manager of a team of programmers.

And way more than our revenue, let alone profit.

Another designer I’m aware of who had made $34k in royalties.

Again many times our profits.

I'd like to get to higher turnover.

And higher profits.

So we can fix our cashflow issues.

Have money to invest in new games.

Have enough cash left over for me to draw some of my dividends out.

Back!

I'm back!

Happy New Year all.

After a week or two of Christmas preparation and then visiting Paul, Christmas itself, then visiting my family and then the in-laws.

I'm back.

Cracking on with the Gamefound campaign for Box of Xeno Flicks 1.

Finally making good progress.

I'm loving their new import/export feature for rewards and add-ons.

It's saved me a ton of time.

I could export the rewards and add-ons from the last campaign.

Tweak them.

Then load them back in :)

Next up is the graphic design for the rewards/Box of Xeno Flicks/Shipping sections.

And getting some details up about the new ships you can vote on :)