Well, Hello There.

You might have noticed that a little time has passed between my last blog entry in June and now, which is November.

Here's what I've been up to.

I was laid off from my job at an awesome LBE VR company (LBE stands for Location Based Experience, VR stands for Virtual Reality and company stands for... you know.) which kicked off a nice bout of depression that I had to stuff down as I went on interviews because no one wants to hire a mopey game designer.

However, as a result of all of this interviewing I learned a thing or two about myself and the industry. The first is, most of these people out there seem REALLY UNHAPPY about their jobs. And if they are unhappy, I think I would be unhappy too. I don't need that. I have my own f'd up brain to keep me unhappy, I don't need work to do that for me either.

Secondly, I have come up with a new credo for myself pertaining to work and that is: "Anyone who isn't thrilled to be working with me, doesn't deserve to work with me." I have worked for all types of people and most of them were d*cks. I'm tired of making money for d*cks. I want to make money for (well, myself) people who are genuinely nice people and who are happy to be working with me. Anyone else can go kick a bucket.

I did find some contract work with a cool little video game company and that helped a little. They are great people and the kind of "not-d*cks" I enjoy working with and for.

Other than that, it was a tough summer. However, my friends at the New York Film Academy offered me a position which I accepted. So I am back teaching classes and also doing a few other things as well. I am teaching a "writing comic books" class which is starting to refuel my design to create a new Bedbug comic. I don't care if anyone else cares, I want to do it for myself. Which is the other thing I learned over the summer. Don't worry about others when you are creating something, if it is good, it will find a home.

There was also some other bad stuff, a fire that almost burnt up my house (it didn't), a friend who was killed by a gunman (so senseless) and several other friends who's loved ones are suffering from or dying from cancer. As a cancer survivor (you don't "fight cancer" you just survive it or you don't) I feel bad - not just for their loss and pain, but as someone who has survived it. Cancer surviors feel guilt from this all of the time. Like we need one more thing to feel bad about. :(

I doubt if anyone will read this, but if you do, I guess my message is "don't be a d*ck" and "show compassion to people going through bad stuff" - it only takes a little bit of effort to not be so self-centered. Give it a try.

Gen-Con 2018 Board Game publisher's List

 Gen-Con is coming!

I don't know about you, but I can get overwhelmed as I prepare for Gen-Con. I'm starting to plan out my schedule for the show and I'm trying to determine which publishers to try to arrange meetings, which would be a good fit for my games (you should never pitch to a publisher who isn't a good fit!) and this year, I want to find out more from the publishers about what they are looking for

However, I didn't even know who was going to be at the show! How was I to learn this? My first thought was to check out the Gen-Con website's interactive map but it's actually kind of hard to navigate for this kind of information.

Undeterred, I dug deeper into the web (OK, I Google'd) and I was able to find a great site at Living Dice.com that had links to all of the exhibitors at the show, however this list, while comprehensive, included everyone at the show, including a vendor who sold adorable Owl Bear stuffies.

I took a few days (really, it took three days) to go through the list. I only listed publishers who produced board games, not those who exclusively made miniature games (like WarMachine or Warhammer 40K) and not companies that only made role-playing games (not that they aren't great companies - I am only focused on board and card game publishers). And I didn't list game-manufacturers who also sold games like The Game Crafter. 

In addition to the company, I listed their booth location number at the show. I would have liked to have gone into more detail about the games they make and their published titles, but at least it's a start.

Also, any publisher marked with a * only had one game list on their site, which implied to me that they are less likely to publish someone else's game... yet.

• Academy Games : 2748
• Adam's Apple Games : 2663
• AEGIS Combining Robots : 3060*
• Albino Dragon: 122
• Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG): 701
• Alter Reality Games: 2501
• Amigo Games: 2763
• Ankama Board Games : 2753
• Anvil Eight Games: 320
• APE Games: 1739
• Arcane Wonders: 1249
• Archon Games: 460
• Archon Studio: 2544
• Ares Games: 335
• Artana : 1159 
• Asmadi Games: 2229
• Asmodee Digial: 2509
• Atlas Games: 1407
• B&B Games Studio: 259
• Bananagrams Inc.: 2015*
• BANDAI: 3023
• Bezier Games: 431
• Big G Creative: 1656
• Big Potato Games: 2105
• Blacklist Games: 2907
• Blood & Cardstock Games: 120
• Blue Orange Games: 1813
• Brain Games: 2205
• Braine Games: 2050
• Breaking Games: 2329
• Brotherwise Games, LLC: 1639
• Buy the Rights: 554*
• Calliope Games: 1901
• Capstone Games: 1559
• Cardboard Dynamo: 2768
• Catan Studio: 823*
• Cephalofair Games: 250
• Chaosium: 829
• Cheapass Games: 1823
• Chip Theory Games LLC: 2927
• CMON 415
• Coffee Cake Gaming: 2958
• Columbia Games: 273
• Corvus Belli Infinity: 241*
• Crafty Games: 1929
• Cranio Creations: 2005
• Cryptozoic Entertainment: 609
• D-Verse NEXUS: 2959
• Daily Magic Games: 264
• Days of Wonder: 1619
• Decision Games/Strategy & Tactics Press: 3018
• Deep Water Games: 272
• Devious Weasel Games: 1130
• Devir Games: 2639
• Diemension Games Inc: 3065
• Dodeca System Games: 363
• Dude Games: 2807
• Dust USA: 3035*
• DV Giochi: 2707
• Eagle-Gryphon Games: 163
• Eggertspiele: 2935
• Et Games: 565
• Everything Epic: 2923
• Exodus The Trading Card Game: 2944*
• Exploding Kittens, LLC: 2643
• Facade Games: 2856
• Fallen Dominion Studios, LLC : 3057 
• Fantasy Flight Games : 809  
•  FASA Games : 1929 
•  Fireside Games : 2455 
• Floodgate Games : 249  
•  Flying Frog Productions : 941
• Flying Meeple: 2315
• Force of Will: 2469
• Formal Ferret Games: 2770
• FoxMind: 1908
• Free League Publishing: 1455
• Gale Force Nine: 629
• Game Salute: 2315
• Gamelyn Games: 2945
• Games Workship: 2619
• Gamewick Games: 2918
• Gamewright: 2100
• GCT Studios: 2821
• Genius Games: 171
• Gigamic: 1913
• Gold Baby Games: 165
• Golden Bell Studios: 2860
• Golden Egg Games: 319
• Goliath Games: 2507
• Gorilla Games: 2606
• Grail Games: 30
• Grand Gamers Guild: 2007
• Great Northern Games: 2511
• Green Couch Games: 2108
• Greenbrier Games: 637
• Grey Fox Games: 2401
• Griggling Games: 123
• Gut Bustin Games: 1236
•  HABA USA: 1907
• Hammerdog Games: 634
• Happy Games Factory: 175
• Hawk War Games: 2141
• Haywire Group: 2006
• HELVETIQ: 2956
• HEWN: 2723
• Hit 'Em With A Shoe: 3058
• Holy Grail Games: 2859
•  Hot Metal Games: 1552
• IDW Games: 158
• IELLO: 129
• Indie Boards and Cards: 2447
• Inside the Box Board Games: 2857
• Inside Up Games: 1456
• Jasco Games: 2119
• Jason Anarchy Games: 2448
• Jellybean Games: 2953
• Junk Spirit Games: 2656
• Kess Co.: 2865
• Keymaster Games: 2445
• Kingdom Death: 3003*
• Knowledge the Game: 2861*
• Kolossal Games: 3004
• Kosmos: 2648
• Lay Waste Games: 2831
• Leder Games LLC: 3043
• Level 99 Games: 2149
• Lightseekers: 555*
• Lone Shark Games Inc.: 2735
• Looney Labs: 1651
• Lucky Duck Games: 3054
• Luna Games: 2960
• Mantic Entertainment Ltd: 835
• Master of Wills: 2965*
• Mattel Games: 349
• Mayday Games: 2101
• Meromorph Games: 2646
• Mindclash Games: 1739
• Monolith Board Games: 2830
• Mr. B Games: 2342
• Myndzei Games LLC: 112
• Mythic Games: 3033
• Mythical Eras of War Games, LLC: 1839
• Nauvoo Games: 2009
• Ninja Division: 2627
• North Star Games: 2311
• Odam Publishing: 1238
• Odd Bird Games: 271
• Oink Games: 2561
• On The Lamb Games: 464*
• Paizo Inc. 403*
• Pandasaurus Games: 3047
• Party People Games: 175
• Passport Game Studio: 2535
• Paw-Warrior Games: 2504
• Peaceable Kingdom: 1805
• Pegasus Spiele: 2013
• Pelgrane Press: 1317
• Perplext LLC: 466*
• Petersen Games: 1261
• Plaid Hat Games: 1537
• Plan B Games: 2935
• PlayMonster: 453
• Pointy Hat Games LLC: 3061*
• Portal Dragon: 3062*
• Portal Games: 1850
• Pretzel Games: 1850
• Prolific Games: 269*
• Queen Games GmbH: 2527
• Quined Games: 1556
• Rather Dashing Games: 1437
• Ravensburger: 2113
• Red Raven Games: 2659
• Renegade Game Studios: 2209
• Resonym LLC: 1803
• Restoration Games: 151
• ROXLEY: 531*
• Rule & Make: 2535
• Set Enterprises Inc.: 2208
• SFR: 2025
• Skybound Games: 2841
• Slugfest Games: 1849
• Smirk and Dagger Games: 1743
• Soaring Rhino: 2961
• Space Cowboys: 1719
• Space Unicorn: Battle Over Cupcake Mountain: 2755
• Sparks Games: 553*
• Sparkworks: 2315
• Spellforge Games: 1259*
• SpinMaster: 2727
• Spy Alley: 2110*
• Starling Games: 2315
• Steamforged Games: 2827
• Steve Jackson Games: 2827
• Stonemaier Games: 3019
• Stronghold Games: 2019
• Studio Woe: 3015
• Summon Entertainment: 1256*
• Surfin' Meeple LLC: 2201
• Table Forged, LLC: 2540
• Tasty Minstrel Games: 1337
• The City of Games: 2765*
• The Witchborn: 1938*
• ThunderGryph Games; 2862
• Thunderworks Games: 2954
• Tudor Games: 2955
• Tuesday Knight Games: 2051
• Twilight Creations Inc.: 323
• Twin City Games: 1906*
• TwoGether Studios: 2667
• University Games: 2208
• Upper Deck: 1205
• USAopoly: 137
• Van Ryder Games: 2731
• Vesuvius Media: 2558
• Victory Point Games: 2315
• Warcradle Studios: 3027*
• We Have Issue! Publishing: 1940*
• Weta Workshop: 601*
• White Wizard Games: 2741
• Wildfire LLC: 1355
• Winning Moves Games: 237
• Wizkids: 217
• Wonderment Games: 2855*
• Wyrd Games: 1129
• XYZ Game Labs: 2962
• Z-Man Games: 1429
• Zafty Games: 157

Whew! That's a lot of publishers! I'm sure at least ONE of them would be willing to talk to you about your games.

Fingers crossed and see you at Gen-Con!