Ask any game developer to list the greatest challenges for their company and right near the top will invariably be “testing”. Testing. It has to be done – it’s crucial to delivering a great product, but if you knew how TOUGH it was to get testers. It’s a practically herculean task. In fact I’m starting […]
So I’ve got a Kickstarter running. It’s only tiny, but it sells off the last (hopefully) of the wooden deck boxes I’ve had made. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geode/custom-wooden-card-game-deck-boxes-super-limited-numbers?ref=user_menu And this time I’ve not posted an update. WHY? Because frankly I’ve got 40-ish backers and I’ve already lost quite a few (the frustration of people pledging and cancelling is […]
So yesterday wasn’t a great day. So many emotions, and I’m glad to share it with you all, even if it was a very dark time in my life. The biggest thing I took from yesterday is that I made so many mistakes. So VERY many mistakes. Geode wasn’t nearly ready to launch – if […]
There’s no one on earth who feels more like a failure than I do right now. And it’s pretty clear why. Geode didn’t just fail, it was a humiliating and unmitigated disaster for someone with a writing career as long as mine. I’m used to writing things and them instantly being a huge hit. And […]
With just 120 minutes until launch, it would be fair to say that I’m honestly really nervous. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t get nervous, but today… well, today I’m really pensive. So much is riding on Geode funding. After four years of endless delays, problems with artists, and just not being able to […]
It takes a long time to create a game. The review copies need to go out months in advance, which can be a problem if you have even the tiniest change to make to your game. I’ll discuss game development in another diary, but today I want to talk about the reviews Geode has had […]
There’s one element of Geode that I will defend to my dying days: the Grid. Follow Geode by clicking here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geode/geode-game?ref=discovery In Geode, you are limited in the number of tiles all players can play to 8 tiles deep and 8 tiles high. You can only place tiles outside this grid if you cannot legally […]
Geode launches in just seven days. On one hand I’m crazy excited, on the other, the vast majority of the reviewers have ignored my update and reviewed the game based purely on the original box. Which is INCREDIBLY frustrating because I sent out copies months ago. But there’s nothing I can do about it now. […]
It’s a brand new week; the chance to create brand new amazing things, AND, of course to decide whether to launch GEODE in the near future. I have just about – I think – secured a graphic designer to create the Kickstarter page; I swear designers are rarer than polka-dot spotted Welsh dragons (if you’re […]
The hardest thing (I think I’ve mentioned this once or twice) about having a publishing company, is finding good artists. It’s EASIER than easy to find artists, but to find reliable artists that can complete a project in the same style they promised – that’s hard. It’s an actual magical fact among wizards that it’s […]