Thanks for being honest enough to admit that an idea isn't fun enough to release as a product. As someone who has bought too many board games that aren't fun, I wish more people had this amount of self-awareness!
It’s important to always be learning! I’m learning the types of games that I like to play and the types I like to make. And hopefully how to make them better.
I definitely know the feeling of finding out about a cool jam right before it’s ending. Itch’s jam page is woefully under-developed. It would be great to be able to tag and filter jams, among other things. Good luck finding one whose timeline works for you! I try to mention any jams I am interested in each month, but there are far more out there always going on.
I enjoyed your commentary on scrapping ideas. It's something I've had to do quite a few times, but I now think about it in a different way. Even if an idea isn't "fun" and shouldn't be released as a finished game doesn't mean it's bad or not useful. I'm careful to document everything in my notebook, including why it didn't hit the kinds of fun I wanted.
Those ideas (good and bad) are invaluable down the road for inspiration, often turning into better mechanisms, fun ideas, or perhaps even playable games.
A positive reframe of "scrapping" from "failure" to "fertilizer for future crops" might be in order! :)
You must be more “glass half full” than I. But I guess at the end, I still comment that I now have 2 more games rising from the ashes of this one, though both are farther from completion than I had thought the first one was.
For the Appendix N Jam, I received “The Violet Flame Ascending.” Have been thinking that it’s a structure that you literally ascend or it’s a dead cult resurfacing. Tower seems more straightforward and fun. Maybe it’s a race to the top to stop something coming down.
I do like that title. "Violet Flame" is a good phrase. Nothing wrong with a good cult in your dragon game, and towers are nice because everyone already has an idea of what a dragon game tower is like, so that might save you some exposition.
I could also see that title as the need to escape literal flames. Maybe there's a many-floored dungeon with a known trap protecting it that engulfs the entire dungeon in magical "Violet Flame" (magical in that it hurts outsiders, not the contents or inhabitants of the dungeon). Stick a MacGuffin at the bottom of the dungeon and incorporate some kind of clock counting down to the flames starting at the bottom and chasing the PCs out of the dungeon.
I like that a lot! Now I'm thinking of the Violet Flame as a contestant in a race up the tower. Each contestant carries a different colored flame and lights braziers as they ascend. Bonus points for lighting the giant brazier at the top. It's an ancient right or sporting event with origins lost to time. Could be solo or small group.
Thanks for being honest enough to admit that an idea isn't fun enough to release as a product. As someone who has bought too many board games that aren't fun, I wish more people had this amount of self-awareness!
It’s important to always be learning! I’m learning the types of games that I like to play and the types I like to make. And hopefully how to make them better.
That production schedule chart is really cool btw! Can’t wait to check out Mountain of Power!!!
I wanna do all these Jams but I’m just now finding out about them lol
I definitely know the feeling of finding out about a cool jam right before it’s ending. Itch’s jam page is woefully under-developed. It would be great to be able to tag and filter jams, among other things. Good luck finding one whose timeline works for you! I try to mention any jams I am interested in each month, but there are far more out there always going on.
Oh, also, I'm in for the Appendix N Jam as well. Sounds like fun if I can finish something in time. I got "The Trench Grub's Thirst". 🐛
I enjoyed your commentary on scrapping ideas. It's something I've had to do quite a few times, but I now think about it in a different way. Even if an idea isn't "fun" and shouldn't be released as a finished game doesn't mean it's bad or not useful. I'm careful to document everything in my notebook, including why it didn't hit the kinds of fun I wanted.
Those ideas (good and bad) are invaluable down the road for inspiration, often turning into better mechanisms, fun ideas, or perhaps even playable games.
A positive reframe of "scrapping" from "failure" to "fertilizer for future crops" might be in order! :)
You must be more “glass half full” than I. But I guess at the end, I still comment that I now have 2 more games rising from the ashes of this one, though both are farther from completion than I had thought the first one was.
I've been called a lot of things over the years, but "optimist" has never been one of them! 😂
For the Appendix N Jam, I received “The Violet Flame Ascending.” Have been thinking that it’s a structure that you literally ascend or it’s a dead cult resurfacing. Tower seems more straightforward and fun. Maybe it’s a race to the top to stop something coming down.
I do like that title. "Violet Flame" is a good phrase. Nothing wrong with a good cult in your dragon game, and towers are nice because everyone already has an idea of what a dragon game tower is like, so that might save you some exposition.
I could also see that title as the need to escape literal flames. Maybe there's a many-floored dungeon with a known trap protecting it that engulfs the entire dungeon in magical "Violet Flame" (magical in that it hurts outsiders, not the contents or inhabitants of the dungeon). Stick a MacGuffin at the bottom of the dungeon and incorporate some kind of clock counting down to the flames starting at the bottom and chasing the PCs out of the dungeon.
I like that a lot! Now I'm thinking of the Violet Flame as a contestant in a race up the tower. Each contestant carries a different colored flame and lights braziers as they ascend. Bonus points for lighting the giant brazier at the top. It's an ancient right or sporting event with origins lost to time. Could be solo or small group.
Does Torq have a 3rd Party License? Probably couldn’t fit this into the Appx N page limit, but what a wild game this could be.
Brilliant! And yes, Will has a very generous license! It’s called “right to repair.” 🛠️