Science fiction, fantasy, & horror - web design, graphic design, interactive media development by greententacles
2024-12-22 GMT
Science fiction, fantasy, & horror - web design, graphic design, interactive media development by greententacles
2024-12-22 GMT
If you were to wander upstairs to the studio above my home that I so lovingly call my office, you would find the place a mess. I mean absolutely disastrous. Paper and notebooks strewn about, pamphlets, leaflets, stacks of magazines I subscribe to but hardly ever read are splattered across the floor. Novels I bought with the intention of reading immediately, three years ago... are filed in my library or stacked in piles threatening to topple over any minute gathering enough dust to make museum curators cry.
But I need this mess. This is my creative zone. I know where things are, even if no one else does, and the whole haphazard nature of the place helps me sort things out. I like looking at chaos. It inspires me. Inspiration is something I could use more of right now.
You see, Key 20 publishing is debuting its second release this summer called Little Fears. It will be our first foray into a field I love: role-playing games. Specifically, horror role-playing games. This one deals with the horrors of childhood: the Bogeyman, the Monster in the Closet, the Crazy Old Man Next Door. All those things that kept us up nights as kids, our heads buried under the blankets and afraid to peek our heads out for fear of what might be looking back at us.
In Little Fears, you play children (ages 6 through 12) and you must survive your childhood with your mind, body, and soul intact. This game has to be at the printers in 4 months. It still has to be play-tested, laid out, and ran under three separate editor's noses. And I'm stuck. I'm only 70% done with the text and I've hit a wall.
But wait: aren't role-playing games about being something you normally can't be? Aren't they about slaying dragons, saving princesses, amateur theatrics, and social posturing? Who wants to play a kid? There's no established market for that, what are you thinking?
Well... that's not the point. This is something I have to do. I feel the drive to do it and audience be damned, it's getting made. Passion: that's the point.
What's passion? Good question. Webster's defines passion as 'a powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger.' Trust me, you'll experience all four of those and more. But that doesn't really answer the question. I'm going to take great liberties here and define passion as 'the need to see a creation out to the very end. And the ability to go on even after the initial fire burns out.' Running a business, in any market, is about the bottom line. But we're not just CEOs. We're also game designers. Having passion can see us through all the business things we have to do in order to be successful.
In a industry such as role-playing games, the adage goes that 'you better love what you're doing, 'cuz you won't get paid for it.' For the most part, that's true. The revenue generated by pen-and-paper role-playing games is laughable compared to their electronic counterparts. Bean counters know to stay out of the market if you're looking to get rich.
That's exactly why I want in. All it takes is one trip to a convention, or one chance meeting at a distributor's open house with another designer/publisher to realize that you have something in common with every person in the room. No matter how they're dressed, no matter how much they disagree with you about whether Angel leaving 'Buffy' was a good thing or a bad thing, you're all in there because you love the games and you must create. You feel it deep down in your bones. It wakes you up in the middle of the night and you scramble to find something to write your ideas on.
The downside to dipping your toes into the RPG water is that, unless you have some major connections, in order to not completely lose your shirt and have to go back home with your tail between your legs thoroughly defeated - you must learn a little something about business. It's something I have to do, it's something the RPG grand-daddies had to do, and it's something the game designers of tomorrow will have to do. But, hopefully, I can help them (and you) out a bit.
In the recent past, I've learned a great deal about how to get a role-playing game out into the market. Am I a world-market-savvy business veteran who could sell sand to nomads? No. I'm a gamer and horror buff who got the notion in his fool-head to finally stop playing at game design and get something out there.
I've been lucky on some points and made mistakes on others, but I've learned from them and will pass this 'wisdom' on to you. Hopefully, you'll find it useful and you'll have fun coming along with me as Greg Oliver (my partner in Key 20) and I do our best to crack through the walls of gaming business and make something of our little game.
Here's an assignment for you (I'll go easy on you to start): Think of something. Well, maybe not that easy... think of something that you could complete (design, test, market, advertise, and generate enough fire for) that you can hawk to distributors and retailers, show at conventions, and - even if it fell flat on its face - be proud that you made it at all.
Now, this idea may not be the final idea that you'll eventually push into existence, but ideas are the basest currency in game design. Having the passion to make it more than scribbles in a steno pad is what separates game designers from game designer wannabes. That means having the discipline to see it through from concept to completion even when you hit dry spots and, for the life of you, you just can't think of what else to write.