Asgard Rises!

Only days ago I was left bereft with the news that Vince and the wonderful community of gamers that is Asgard were to depart our Town Centre, and their future was deeply uncertain.

Tonight, wonderful news!

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Ragnarok

I was very unhappy today to hear that local stalwart and all-round good egg Vince is shutting up shop. Truly, Ragnarok has come to Asgard.

I’m sad to see this day dawn. Asgard and Vince in particular gave me the confidence to launch two successful Kickstarter campaigns and to explore the joy of creating games. My latest game is in development and even has a dwarven theme in honour of the Asgard mascot.

In the outpouring of emotion and support for Asgard, its communities of gamers and wider customer base, it’s important to note a couple of key things.

Giant Dwarves and other minor errors

A couple of weeks ago I ordered pieces for a game I have recently invented in conjunction with Vince Connolly at Asgard Games in Walsall.

Recognition for getting in early

Kickstarter loves an early adopter. From early bird pledge levels in projects through to those who are first to contribute to their special campaigns.

It’s Games Hack time.

I love creating games from scratch. It’s fun and cool. More to the point, it’s exercising creative urges.

Since April Fools Day falls on a Saturday this year I have secured permission from Vince at Asgard Games to use his shop for a few hours to undertake a Games Hack. Working from a brief or inspiration, teams and individuals can compete on the day to create the best basic game in two hours.

You can find out more and sign up here.

Do come down and join us for some fun. It’s 8 quid ont he door but you have to sign up via the Kickstarter to confirm your place, otherwise we don’t have any cash to pay for the venue and materials.

Hurrah!

PS: Any suggestion that we might have to retire to a local public house to play test the games afterwards is going to get nothing but support from me.

Defining Success

This is not an inspirational post. Or at least, not intended to be. I’m hardly disadvantaged by my own estimation.

But I wanted to acknowledge and celebrate a little milestone. I had an e-mail from Kickstarter this week congratulating me because exactly a year ago I’d successfully concluded the campaign for No Dice, and it was fully funded.

Bear in mind the average Kickstarter project might take months or years to set up, run for a month and then take another few months to even get off the ground properly let alone send out all the rewards and so forth.

Shipping and Selling

Nearly all the 60 decks have shipped now. Two to the Antipodes, nearly a dozen to the land of the free and the home of the brave. A familiar chap from my previous Kickstarter in Denmark and a couple of Dutch backers, and the obligatory UK crowd. Over thirty backers in total, ranging from a gent who just wanted a postcard to one backer who ordered four decks.

I’m very happy to say that I had some extra decks from the Kickstarter left, and I’ve put a few in Asgard Games at the standard Kickstarter price of £15. They are the last of the first edition. Get them while they’re in stock!

60 – The new Kickstarter launches with remarkable kick-off

It’s been a while since I risked every ounce of my professional reputation (nothing) on the roll of No Dice, and I’d been working on a new game in the last few months. Finally I managed to get my stuff together and launch this weekend. What a beginning!

No Dice is live!

After fiddling around with the idea for years and spending weeks talking about it, No Dice is finally live on Kickstarter. Do you like card games? Dominoes? Scoring points? No Dice is the game you’re looking for, even if you never heard of it.

The project video is basically just me mumbling at the camera, and the rewards (including T shirts from Eve2 Media) are fairly standard but I’m truly happy with the game itself and welcome everyone on board to get it off the ground.

No Dice – a whole new game

For the last couple of years I’ve had an idea rolling around my head based on developing dominoes and adding elements from card games my brothers and I played when we were young(er). It’s essentially a three part domino design on hexagonal cards and a variety of matching rules to score points each turn. I found a supplier who prints custom decks and ordered one to play around with.

Jimm, Chris, Mike and Scott giving their seal of approval. MNA Gaming Store in Walsall.