I DO MY OWN STUNTS Update #1

Woot! It's not even been 24 hours and we're off to an explosive start for a home-grown, self-promoted unknown tabletop game! 

 
The game already has more backers than Escape from Rotter Mansion (11) and we've already have more than half the backers of OH NO! There Goes Tokyo! (31).

Not only that, but an award-winning Hollywood director has reached out to me! He has offered to put me in touch with his stunt people friends! This is very exciting and I'm looking forward to adding some authentic Hollywood stunt terms and scenarios to the game!

   It might be one of these guys... who knows?

Now I know that many of you have questions about the game that you'd like answered before you back. I don't blame you. Here are some answers for now:

• What kind of game is it? I DO MY OWN STUNTS is a drafting, rolling, placement, set collection game. At least I think it is.
• How are the meeple used? Still being designed, but take a look at the ideas below!
• When will it be available? I am shooting for late fall - definitely before Christmas.
• How long do I have to become a backer? I will accept orders through July 15th
• What is the shipping cost? It depends on where you live. If you live in LA, I can hand-deliver it to you. If you live in Germany... then it might be expensive.

Some of you might be hesitant to back the game, not knowing much about it. I've opened up my sketchbook and want to share with you the ideas I've playing with. Many of these concepts are built around production costs. Some of this might be easy to pull off, other options might be more costly thanks to the overseas tariff situation.

 

IDEA 1 uses standard meeples. It's the easiest to create (from a production POV) and all the parts (except for maybe the box) can be made in the United States.

 

IDEA 2 is more ambition production-wise. I really like the dice tower in the game Don't Go In There and have actually started talking to the printer about what something like this would cost.

 

IDEA 3 features screen printed meeples. The other option is stickers, but personally, I hate putting stickers on meeples. How do you feel about putting stickers on meeples? Let me know in the comments.

IDEA 4 is more complex from a production perspective. It would require creating totally custom meeples which would then have to be tested to see if they roll and lay on all sides correctly. I do like the ideas of the film reels and band-aid tokens. These could be cardboard or wood.

I think I need to have one more round of ideation before I commit, but if you have a preference for one of these ideas, please don't hesitate to chime in! I want this to be a game that people will be excited to play!

And remember, if you want to back I DO MY OWN STUNTS, please reach out to me at mightybedbug@gmail.com!

Can you ESCAPE FROM ROTTER MANSION?

Earlier this summer, I set myself a goal: to design a small run board game that had two professionally manufactured components. Up until this point I had never produced my own game, only having games created by publishers.

 

When I started, all I knew is that I wanted to make a game about a haunted house and it used dice.

I limited the production size to 10 games and charged $60 apiece for the game. I “sold out” in a half hour.

I set to work designing, having a fondness for push-your-luck dice games like Farkle and Zombie Dice; games that my family like to play.

 

The breakthrough came when I realized the Haunted House should be sideways not vertical. It evolved into a game where the players raced to exit the house before a ghost trapped them inside.

 

My family and friends playtested the game many times and realized something was missing. Adjustments to the rules were made and a mode where players found and lost treasure was added.

 

Now onto the production! Meeples were found overseas at a German wholesaler. Dice were bought from Chessex on Amazon. Coins were bought from an online shop. 

 

 

After looking at Meeple Source and a few other retailers, I realized that I wanted a custom-made meeple for the ghost meeple. I contacted a half-dozen manufacturers but ultimately went with Panda Games Manufacturing. They were great to work with and I was pleased with the results. 

 

 

I also wanted a cloth game map which I ordered through Contrado who was amazingly fast! Highly recommended!

 

I wanted to do something special for the box, but wooden ones were outside my budget so I gussied up a black cardboard box with a black velvet “coffin liner”. The lid holds a surprise for the owners, glow-in-the-dark ghosts!

 

 

The name of the game - ESCAPE FROM ROTTER MANSION - comes from my family’s original name, which was changed at the turn of the 20th century. 

 

The whole game was autographed and numbered in silver ink. And I managed to ship it off before my Halloween deadline. One buyer even received it on the holiday!

 

I think it turned out great. I had a lot of fun making this limited run game and will probably make another in the near future!

Exclusive Level Up! excerpt!

While Level Up! The Guide To Great Video Game Design isn't due out until July, I wanted to share a sneak preview of the book with you:


YOU CAN DESIGN A GAME, BUT CAN YOU DO THE PAPERWORK?



A Japanese game director once visited the studio where I worked to impart his wisdom to our team about his philosophy of game design, which mainly had to do with how much money his latest game had made. As he was leaving, he asked our team a cryptic question: “I believe making games is like fishing” he said. “When I return, you will tell me why this is so.” If he had been wearing a cape, I’m sure he would have swooshed it mysteriously as he left.

I spent a lot of time thinking about just exactly how making games was like fishing. In the end, I decided that making games is nothing like fishing. Fishing is quiet and slow and involves waiting for something to happen that may never happen. I also decided that this game director was full of crap. So I developed my own analogy.



Making games is like making chili (bear with me — it’ll make sense). Like making chili, you first need a recipe and that recipe is the game’s documentation. Having the right recipe is important. You are not making soup or stew. You want to make sure your documentation not only has what is in it, but how it can be made: just like a recipe. Be sure to follow the recipe, but be mindful that it will have to change, especially if something doesn’t go right. And, just like making chili, remember that you can season to taste. Some parts of the game will be “meatier” than others and you will want to adjust your game to make those parts more pronounced.

Next step is to assemble the ingredients. Just as a chili needs ingredients, a game’s design needs people and tools to make the game. You’ll also need the right equipment to make your game, just like you’ll need spoons and pots and pans and a stove to make your chili. However, you might not have exactly what you need on hand. Sometimes you will have the team and resources you want, sometimes you have to improvise with what is available. That’s OK; I hear cowboys made some pretty good chili with nothing more than a campfire and a tin can.

Add these ingredients together. The beauty of chili is that it usually works no matter how you prepare the ingredients. You can carefully cut and chop everything or just throw it together in a big pot. Some game productions are very methodical and well organized. Others are a mad dash to get all of the elements into the game as soon as possible. Just make sure you follow the recipe so you don’t forget anything. Prepare the ingredients in the right order. Always brown the meat before you add it to the pot. (I learned that one that hard way.)

In chili, everything is brought to a boil and then left to simmer. Crunch Time reminds me of boiling: a frantic burst of energy and effort to get everything in and running. However, if you boil for too long, you can ruin the chili, burn the pot and catch the stove on fire. Games and studios have been destroyed by too much crunch time, so be responsible. Game polishing and bug squashing reminds me of chili simmering. Chili isn’t ready the moment you finish assembling it. You need to take the time to make it just right. Games, just like Chili, need time to be iterated on, improved and seasoned. Bugs, code, art and design problems with the game, need to be found and fixed. That takes time. Allow for that time - just like you need to allow for cooking time for chili. Sometimes it’s good to let the team play with a part of the game to find out what works and what doesn’t. I find that chili always tastes better the day after you have made it.

Your chili may need something added to it at the last minute to make it work. Unless you’ve royally screwed it up, chili can usually be salvaged. I’ve seen troubled games get turned around in the eleventh hour. However, I don’t recommend making games this way. It can lead to stomach upset. Chili can also deceive. It may look horrible, but still taste delicious. Some games may not be perfect or even pretty, but if they have good gameplay they can still entertain. Good games and good chili satisfy soul as well as the stomach. (Or the head - if you think with your stomach.)

You see? Making games is exactly like making chili.