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 :)