New Home

We've run four Kickstarters for FlickFleet and its expansions.

Kickstarter recently announced a move to Blockchain that annoyed a lot of people including us while providing no sensible justification and no benefits for creators or backers.

So we're looking for a new home, starting with Xeno Wars this summer.

We've used Gamefound for all three of the pledge managers we've run.

They've started doing crowdfunding too, but are in beta.

Moving to them would streamline the process for us (and for our backers).

We've got access :)

I've started on the campaign this week.

It's not without risk though.

Kickstarter brings a lot of backers and marketing clout.

Plus it's much better known for new backers.

How much of a hit will we take for making the switch?

I don't think we'll ever know.

Visualise

I use Trello to organise all the tasks I have to do for Eurydice Games.

This year I’ve added a new column for quarterly objectives.

And put a 3 year goal at the top of that column.

I’ve used the cover feature to add a picture to that card:

Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash

The picture calls to me.

I love hiking up hills. Though I haven’t done it much since the kids were born.

The photo spurs me on. It calls to me. 

Every single day.

I want to climb that hill. Reach the top. See the view.

Amazing what a great photo can do.

So far this year I’ve been incredibly productive. 

Far more than recent years - more than I expected.

Related?

One Hour

I have a full-time job.

And a young family.

Time is tight.

Since Christmas we've settled into a rhythm where I have an hour a day to work on Eurydice Games.

After work we eat.

Then I do my chores.

Then it's bedtime for the kids and I usually do Daughter the Second's.

Then I have an hour to myself while The Wife does Daughter the First's.

One hour a day. Every day.

Though I often do more after the kids are asleep.

It's amazing what you can achieve if you apply yourself consistently.

I've mostly been focussed on Xeno Wars for the last month.

Playtesting. Graphic design. Preparing for prototypes.

I've now got a lot of what I need.

As long as you're using the time wisely, a little everyday soon compounds.

Genesis

Xeno Wars is a strange game design process.

We’re essentially designing new ships for an existing game, not starting from scratch.

Like the expansion and the two boxes of flicks before.

The expansion we tested in real life with friends.

The boxes of flicks were COVID-creations. And they changed a lot in flight as things were unlocked.

With this we’re trying to be a lot more organised. It has to work with FlickFleet, but also on its own.

And COVID is still a big problem here, I’m mostly testing solo.

This week has been about it taking shape.

I’ve cobbled together multiple copies of the ships, raiding my bits box for parts.

Box of Delights

Starting testing larger battles rather than just individual ships.

Looking into making a bunch of prototypes for testing elsewhere.

Getting orders together for bits and dice. Writing the rulebook.

Current challenge is our dice supplier’s minimum order changing from £50 to £750! 

Trying to workaround that now…