Development Diary

Started by indiekid, September 24, 2017, 03:27:51 PM

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Jubal

I enjoyed this update :) I should really get back to some of my old creations before all the elastic bands congeal too much... and I like the problem of simultaneous vs turn based play as an issue, though I'm not sure how much having an initiative order really helps compared to full turn-based systems?
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

indiekid

Thanks Jubal, I feel like time has given me a fresh perspective on the game too. The advantage of the initiative order is that most actions can still feel simultaneous for as long as they're not in the same region of the board. The initiative order would only kick in to resolve complex late game interactions. The mechanic Fox suggested comes from an old Richard Garfield game called Robo Rally





Jubal

Interesting to see other people's organising process re the end of your most recent post :) I always meant to do an overview post of thoughts from when I used to run conventions, but it's probably a bit silly to do it now half a decade has gone by...
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

indiekid

I'm glad you found it interesting. I like how many other people are involved in it - these things always involve a lot of collaboration. Perhaps writing up your experiences now after some time has passed would help you connect with those ideas and people again?

Jubal

Yes... I mean, I think the lack of people-connection is a bit more down to just me having moved (Exilian did conventions 2014-16, I moved to Vienna in 2017, and the paperwork to organise something here has always been too big to deal with).

The other thing is that I really wasn't very good at it, I learned a lot but like usual I was trying to do too much myself, and we didn't have the advertising budget or smarts to really get the thing off the ground effectively: we relied too much on flyering etc whereas we needed to be pushing via things like area-targeted Facebook ads a lot harder. So I think I've always felt a bit embarrassed about the whole thing, the conventions often ended up a bit dry in terms of numbers of attendees which meant that the stallholders who'd paid to be there weren't really getting value for money taking into account all the travel etc. So I never really ended up feeling good about them (though I think they did contain some good moments and space for interesting talks), and I think that's probably contributed to me taking quite a few years to think through them. Maybe it's something I'll get to this year. :)
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

indiekid

Am I right in thinking the community lacked a geographical focal point when you put on the convention? Also these things always start small and get bigger with regular repeats, so perhaps it was a strong start but practicality stopped it getting where you wanted it!

Jubal

Yes, though we had good turnout from Exilian folks despite the lack of geographical nexus: there just aren't enough of us to form a convention on our own, and the Exilian people tend to have the projects which means you need other people through the door to buy stuff etc etc. Doing it in Cambridge made sense from that perspective: I think it's a place that absolutely could support a creative geekery convention which (as ExiliCon did) almost focused on eclecticism and discovering new things. But yeah, we never really cracked building up a big local attendee base, which was a pity, we clearly needed a serious rethink after year 3 and then me moving made it a moot point anyway.
The duke, the wanderer, the philosopher, the mariner, the warrior, the strategist, the storyteller, the wizard, the wayfarer...

indiekid

One possible solution could be to piggyback on an existing, larger convention, like I did in my blog with Beachhead. Beachhead started as mainly wargames so they were keen to have the diversity brought in with the playtesting zone.