There’s been a lot going on recently, and I’m amazed that my efforts to develop a tabletop game haven’t gone to pot. How many months has it been since I decided I wanted to make a game and have it play tested at Unpub? It’s less than two months away, and I’m still going.
I’m also surprised that I haven’t gotten tired or bored of the idea. But I’m also pacing myself fairly well and not forcing myself to work on it every day. However, we are in January, and Unpub/PAX East is in late March, which means I need to do some serious design work now.
The above photo is an older one. I’ve done some considerable work on the icons. They’re incredibly plain and basic, but just the first play test alone showed me how much iconography matters in a game. To my utter amazement, the mechanics—which I thought would be my biggest hurdle—are solid. With four people (actually my presenting partner/fellow tester and I playing ourselves and two “dummies”), players can expect to go two full rounds before a conclusion. There’s plenty of spaces for the cards, no griefing, plenty of opportunities for imagination and improv. The play depends on how well people are able to build a story together. But if I know gamers (both analog and digital), there may be an expectation of “how do we know if we won”. That’s what I haven’t been able to brainstorm on my own… but it’s a perfect opportunity for feedback from folks at Unpub.
But it’s the giveaway cards I’m looking forward to the most. More on those in a later post.
I’ll be lugging around my game and perhaps most of my effects in this new favorite bag of mine. I’ve wanted a Fjällräven Kånken backpack for the longest time, and I finally got one from a post-Christmas sale at Barnes & Noble. It’s roomy enough for the game box, it has a nice pocket for my Duckhead umbrella, and it lives up to the reputation of being light on the shoulders. Seriously, I could probably walk around for hours with this thing hanging off my back. Not that I want to test that theory, but it’s good to know that it might be possible.
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2026 feels like I’ll be venturing more out of my comfort zone. I don’t want to divulge right now, but some things have come up, and it’s made me realize how much time I’ve spent planning and brainstorming, waiting for others to get out of my way or leave me alone, and scrabbling for any moment of true peace where I can get something done. But there are no perfect moments. Catalysts don’t wait for comfortable times. People definitely won’t give me the time, grace, or space that I want.
So I’m doing more, and to hell with whatever and whoever is trying to stop me.