Into '17...

So what am I planning to do in 2017?  From a game design perspective, anyway.

Well, obviously I will continue to work on some of my existing projects and, inevitably, I will start a load of other games along the line.  I think that this year, however, the main objective is to get at least a couple of games to a state where I can start seriously pitching them.  I will make that a slightly more SMART objective and state that I will aim to have some sort of a pitch meeting with at least one publisher at UK Games Expo.  That's not hugely adventurous, but I want to just learn what I am doing.  And by the end of the year I want to have a portfolio of at least a couple of games that I feel happy presenting to publishers.

This year will, of course, involve a lot of cutting out prototype cards.

Thinking of UKGE, a call has just come out for submissions to the Wyvern's Lair, the boardgame version of Dragon's Den.  I submitted to that last year but was not accepted for the final event, and I'm determined to have another go this time around.  The deadline is in April, so I will have to decide what to submit by then.

As an aside, I'm being a little disingenuous in talking about building up to pitching a game as in truth I am currently in negotiations with a publisher about one of my games, but this came about through a series of fortuitous events.  Nothing is settled yet, but hopefully I will soon be able to announce some news one way or the other.

Other plans include getting involved in at least one collaborative design.  I have been chatting with one of the other Playtest UK attendees about possible projects, so that might result in something.  Basically, everyone I have talked to who collaborates with other designers seems to find the experience really helpful for developing games more quickly and enabling more interesting ideas than is likely with solo design.  Trying to work with someone else should also help me learn a load more about my own strengths and weaknesses, which has to be helpful for the future.

I will also continue to offer assistance with people's rulebooks as and when I can, and really must make a little more effort to do this, so I guess the objective is to get involved with reviewing more rulebooks than I did last year.

Right, let's see how I do this year...