Playtesting

I've spent much of the last week frantically crafting an updated prototype.

For a push-your-luck game we're working on.

So I could take it to Yorcon - Paul's mini-convention that he runs every autumn.

The last couple of years Paul's done a bingo card for every attendee.

To fill it in, you need to play with a wide variety of other people.

Do special tasks.

And playtest a prototype!

The last few years there's been several designers who've brought at least one prototype.

Lots of options to choose from.

This year I was the only person to bring one.

And I brought only one.

I played it a lot.

Each other person only needed to play it once.

They actually played it several times on average.

Possibly on both the days I was there.

People played it with me.

And others taught it without me.

I got loads of feedback.

I got to try out a couple of variants I was considering.

They worked well.

People have signed up to buy a copy.

Others want a prototype to play with their families.

That's the best kind of feedback.

I also got to play Spirit Island and Rococo for the first time, plus Istanbul, Space Base, Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game, 6 Nimmt, a couple of games of Sky Team, several games of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: The Trick-Taking Game (worst name ever!), and loads of games of Bomb Busters.

It was a great weekend.

Family

I'm catching up on sleep after the convention.

Humanity slowly returns.

This week is half-term in Newcastle though, so the kids are off school.

And my sister and her family are visiting us twice, to and from their trip to Edinburgh.

So I'll not make much progress on Eurydice things.

And then on the weekend, it's Paul's mini-convention in Yorkshire.

Yorcon.

For me it's 48 hours of gaming with friends.

I'm taking a couple of prototypes too.

Will have to get one of them finished first!

Sleep

I'm one of those people who needs a lot of sleep.

Eight hours a night.

This weekend I ran a convention along with four friends.

It was a lot of work.

And at times quite stressful.

I've been sleeping badly for a couple of weeks now.

Awake for hours in the middle of the night.

Lots of last minute issues with vendors, suppliers and the venue space.

Brain whirring.

Or worrying it would be a disaster.

But it's done now.

Visitors seemed to really enjoy it.

People asking us to run it again.

There were no major issues on the days.

But it wasn't perfect.

There's lots of things we can improve on.

And several of the exhibitors had a poor show.

Including Eurydice.

Which was really weird as we had a brilliant show at a similar event in the same place last year, and this one had more people!

Plus our website sales have dried up too :(

Convention

This weekend is the first Tyneside Games Expo.

It's a progression from the Northeast Tabletop Expo that Gareth of Farplace Games ran for the last couple of years in Gateshead.

The new version is run by me and four friends.

We're all experienced convention attendees.

Three of us are experienced convention exhibitors.

John has been on the organising committee of large sci-fi conventions.

And Sarah has helped to organise political party conferences.

It's been fifteen months of hard work.

In five days' time we find out how we did.

It's been exciting.

And gruelling.

And stressful.

The last couple of weeks I've had a few sleepless nights, which is unusual for me.

I'm really hoping it will be a success.

The north east deserves its own convention.

Especially with Airecon ending next year :(

I've got three days off work this week.

Several last minute things to do.

And some time that I need to work out how to spend in the most productive way.

As an added bonus, Eurydice will be exhibiting there, so I get to see Paul this weekend too!

Crunch

We're getting close to our next Gamefound campaign launch.

Which I pushed back last week.

And we're less that two weeks from Tyneside Games Expo.

Which Paul is attending as Eurydice Games.

And I'm one of the organisers.

I'm extremely busy.

But things are coming together.

And we've signed a game by another designer.

I'm making a little progress on the next prototype of that every day.

Tradition

I'm optimistic.

As a result, pretty much every Gamefound of mine gets pushed back before launch.

It's that time again.

I was targeting two weeks from the 20th October.

But that's just after the convention I'm helping to organise.

And my sister and her family are now visiting during half-term.

And Paul's mini-convention in Yorkshire is during that time too.

Plus, I'm nowhere near ready.

Time to admit that, and push it back by a couple of weeks.

Now targetting the 3rd to the 17th of November.

Photo by Christopher Luther on Unsplash

Hopefully, that date will stick!

MIT

I have a job (thankfully only 4 days a week now!).

And a family.

And now two side hustles.

I'm a busy man.

I've a todo list longer than most best selling novels.

It makes it difficult to see the wood from the trees sometimes.

So I've added another step to my daily habits.

What's my Most Important Thing to do tomorrow.

One thing.

That I need to complete or make progress on.

A priority.

Some much needed focus.

As a result, I've made loads of progress on our next Gamefound campaign this week.

It's not visible yet, but it's taking shape behind the scenes.

Biggest concern at the moment is the new EU law.

Which is going to make things harder (impossible?) to handle EU orders.

I'm still investigating that...