Cars and Cards

One letter different, but worlds of frustration apart.

I love cards. I love the concept, the interplay of the rules, and the gatherings in friendship that cards creates.

I love cars too!  The fun of acceleration, the concentration in a hard corner, the sound of the engine, the smells of petroleum derivatives. I love everything about them. Except the $$$ involved.

My favorite car is sitting in my garage, taunting me with the lack of a water pump. This is no American car, with the $100 repair that a bad water pump would be on Chevy small block. This is a German car. And because of that, you can add a ZERO to pretty much any repair it seems. $984 to put a new water pump on my car.

I was scheduled for Monday to get it repaired. I cancelled that appointment. Why?  Because I have cards. I have cards to play, I have cards to Kickstart, and I have a commitment to my friends to get this game out the door.  That money, it seems to me at this point, is far better spent on cards than cars.

So thank you, cards, for giving me an alternative. Thank you for giving me something that is mostly joy with only occasional moments of frustration, as opposed to joy followed by a grinding noise then continuous frustration.

Thank you cards.

Failure

... is something we want to avoid.

Debby sent me a link to a few Kickstarters that didn't make it, specifically card games.

Things we noticed that might have impacted their lack of successs.

1. No video.  We think that it's critical that you not only meet the designers, but that you see the card game in action. There will be videos of our game.

2. Lack of information about how the game is played.  I suspect the designers of those games didn't want anyone to steal their ideas.  That is not something I worry about.  As an author I know a bit about copyright laws, and the fact is that as soon as you create original content, whether it's graphical or textual, it's protected by law. Our game will not be stolen, so you can bet we'll share with you how it works. Could someone come close to copying it?  Sure, and you'll never stop that sort of thing.  But we trust you, the consumer, to reward us for our efforts with your good faith.

3. No content. We want to make sure you have plenty of options as the Kickstarter becomes more successful.

Things we will have for you:

1. A downloadable .pdf scoresheet
2. An app to electronically score your games. We're not sure if this will be free at all levels of funding, but there will be a level at which it's provided to all supporters. 
3. A website to share ideas, optional rules, ideas for other games. We want to listen to you, our supporters, because our goal is long term success. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm an idea guy, and my work comes in surges and starts. But that's why I'm teamed with people who balance that out. Debby is an avid researcher and is constantly sharing ideas that inspire me. Jeff does the same. My wife, bless her heart, she's a brilliant woman who can ferret out any bad gameplay. So we will bring you an excellent game.

We play what we create.  We're all demanding and critical people. If we don't like it, you'll never see it.  That is our promise.

Script

A script has been written with a short interview for the Kickstarter video.  We'll be making more content, but it's a step in the direction and help sets the tone for how we want this game to be seen.

Family friendly. Easily played by kids and parents.

Yet....

Competitive.  Also easily played by friends having a few beers and reveling in friendly competition.

I know when we, the developers play, we laugh and take quite a bit of joy in some of the unexpected outcomes, especially if it deprives someone of making an All bid. 

Will you like this game?  I think you will. It's friendly and competitive at the same time, creating memorable moments of comraderie as well as opportunities to gloat.

Optional rule #117:  Take a drink every time an All or Nothing card is flipped.

Been a while

I haven't posted a recent update because my family moved to a new house. If there is a more abhorrent process in our lives that doesn't involve the collapse of modern civilization, I don't know what it is. 

So quit whining and update what's going on with the game?

Okay.

Right now we're working on a script for our kickstarter video.  I'm not going to give away any details, but it involves a really cute actress.  Nobody famous... or not yet anyway.

The script writing isn't hard, because I'm funny and my daugh... er, the actress is funny too.  It should be a blast to do.

We've continued the testing process, taking the game out in public. It's been played at an author convention, a gaming convention... and by a mathematician who loves the game now.  That's a good sign.  When the math guys love your game, you've closed the holes.

We've started very early testing of our next game, which I'm not at liberty to disclose the name of yet. You'll get more SOON™.

What else... there is a lot of behind the scenes discussion right now on packaging, marketing, and getting this thing ready to fly.  We welcome suggestions from the public, and I believe that means you.  If you know a good card printer that prints nice black core cards, feel free to speak up for them and help out our project.  Same goes if you have any Kickstarter tips.  I'd love to see them in the comments below.

Oh, and if you're not familiar with this by now, I'm also an author.  My book is on sale for the next week for .99 on Amazon Kindle.  Offer ends June 18th. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RY202VO?*Version*=1&*entries*=0