Quieter

We’ve just got back from our third To Boldly Game at the National Space Centre.

   

All set up ready to begin! 

It felt a bit quieter this year. 

And there were more exhibitors. 

Which meant more friends to see! 

And more competition. 

Plus there seemed to be more young kids, too young for FlickFleet. 

We did less well as a result. 

Sales were about 90% of last year’s. 

But we still made a profit. 

And it was great to see some gaming friends. 

And I had the Gal4Xeon taster sheets to give away. 

We must have given away thirty-ish I think. 

I hope that leads to a bump in followers over the next week or so…

Stagnant

It's been a slow week.

Photo by Luismi Sánchez on Unsplash

With everything going on it's understandable.

But we need to get to the point where we're sustainable.

Which means more website sales.

And better crowdfunding campaigns.

Gal4Xeon got off to a great start.

Quickly passed the number of followers Exodus had at the beginning.

With 3 months to go before launch.

It was gaining 10 followers a day!

Then 9.

Then 8.

Then 5.

This week it was 1.4.

I tried running a competition, but it didn't get any entries!

I need to be using my Mondays to drive improvements in these areas.

Just need to work out what's the most effective use of my time...

At least I've made good progress on the Gal4Xeon graphic design and another game idea this week.

Free Game!

At the end of last week I had an idea of how to make a taster version of Gal4Xeon.

Half a game.

That I can give away at the National Space Centre next weekend to drum up Gamefound followers.

And share with followers to build excitement.

We’re even running a little competition!

It’s an opportunity to get some more early feedback on the rules.

In preparation, I spent the weekend making a new sheet and rulebook.

And then editing the rules over and over again.

First pass was typos and punctuation.

Second was clarity and brevity.

Third was more of the same.

You want the fewest words possible.

But also to cover all eventualities and questions.

It’s a hard line to walk.

In other news, President Trump’s threats to Greenland include doubling the UK tariffs from next month.

And possibly another (trade) war.

So we’re looking to ship the Gamefound rewards sooner.

At greater expense.

But hopefully a bunch will get there before the tariffs double.

Fun times.

Momentum

I'm mostly focussing on Gal4Xeon at the moment.

Tweaking the graphic design of the player sheets.

Playtesting with more people.

Getting more feedback.

And a couple of new ideas.

Trying to make it the best I can.

It's been in preview on Gamefound since just before Christmas.

Because I've been advised by Gamefound to get it up early.

It's been gaining more followers than I've been expecting.

It's now overtaken Exodus at launch.

With probably 3 months before the campaign goes live.

It could be our biggest roll and write campaign.

In terms of funding.

And backers.

Possibly our best ever campaign in terms of backers!

I need to keep improving things.

There's still time to make it even better.

2026!

Happy New Year all!

I hope those of you who celebrate it had a great Christmas, and I wish all of you a happy, healthy and game-filled 2026.

I feel like 2026 has started today, since we've been away visiting family.

I back now.

It's my first Monday off in a while, which gives me a chance to sort many things out.

I'll be doing some work on the Gal4Xeon campaign.

It's off to a great start with nearing as many followers as Exodus had at launch already.

With 3.5 months to go before launch.

Could this be our most successful roll and write campaign?

We'd really appreciate any follows or shares if you know people who might like a 30 minute 4X game.

I'll also be working on the Italian translation of the Exodus rules.

And planning the local convention I've taken over with a few other local gamers.

Progress.

Feels great after a decent break.

I even managed to maintain my daily game design habit over the break :)

Fauxmas

This weekend was the first of our four(!) Christmas celebrations.

Fauxmas.

Paul and his family came up for the weekend.

We had an early Christmas with them.

Complete with presents.

They got me River Valley Glassworks, which is a very full box!

Christmas dinner.

Drinks.

And games.

It was glorious.

We didn't get much time to talk business, or playtest new ideas.

But we've got a weekend in Leicester together at the end of January.

For To Boldly Game at the National Space Centre again.

It's also the start of my just over 2 week Christmas holiday from the day job.

Which I need.

It's been a crazy few weeks there.

Excited

I've had a new idea.

Inspired by For All Mankind.

I've been watching it in my spare time.

I.e. while washing up.

It's very much my jam.

Sci-fi.

Politicking.

Some alt-history.

Someone on Bluesky said in their mind it's in the same universe as The Expanse.

Which is a personal favourite.

NASA / Neil Armstrong (Public Domain)

So now I'm working on a moonbase game.

My second.

The first one didn't go anywhere.

Hopefully this one will.

I've a neat mechanism idea.

I'll see if I can knock up half a prototype to take away over Christmas.

And develop.

I'm excited to have a new project underway!