Opie Games: 2017 Preview

Setup

The one statement that covers my 2017 goals for Opie Games is, “Get back in the game.” Starting in March of 2015 and continuing through about September of 2016, I had significant “distractions” from doing anything related to Opie Games; a flooded house that needed repairs, the culmination of a huge 3-year project at work, and other significant obligations pulled me away from this pursuit. Hopefully, 2017 is a year of change in a positive sense and I can get back to my preoccupation with game design and back on a blogging routine.

Round 1: Blogging

As a writer of many things over time, blogging was intended to be a constant opportunity to write. It was also a means of journaling ideas and decisions on my game designs so they had better long-term value. Since I am out of practice, I will start small:

• At least 1 blog entry per week. I tend to have multiple posts working concurrently, but will try to have a new one completed each week. Each can be in any of the categories I have blogged already but should maintain some continual progress in the major threads:
  • Design Notebook: Game design discovery and advancement.
  • Design Blog: Critical analysis of game design aspects and trends.
  • Industry Blog: Critical analysis of the gaming hobby and game releases.
  • Gaming Blog: My gaming experiences – less important and interesting than the others but provides context for my opinions and analysis.
• I have several articles and blog posts that were started and never published that may give me an early boost to stay on track - or maybe they are no longer topical.

Round 2: Community

Anything worth doing is worth sharing and helping others to enjoy. So contributing to the gaming community belongs in my goals. Over time I have done this through several outlets; assisting game publishers with demos, rules editing, and playtesting, volunteering for Envoy, etc. I have recently joined the Colorado Game Designers Guild and so will focus my efforts here, but maintain some other opportunities as well.

• Contribute and participate in the Colorado Game Designers Guild as much as possible with rules editing, playtesting, sharing experience, etc.
• Stonemaier Ambassador: Continue to support Stonemaier Games primarily with rules editing, but demoing and/or playtesting as available.

Round 3: Game Design

I have saved the first for last – why Opie Games exists at all – game design.

• As mentioned in Round 2, I have recently joined the Colorado Game Designers Guild which I hope will help me keep game design in mind regularly:
  • Providing a means to work with others and to think critically about game design and playtesting.
  • Piquing me to make progress on my own designs.

End Game

A few bullet points can add up to a difficult play through. This will be a challenge to accomplish, but hopefully I have this year well in hand.