Good day readers!
John here and things in my life have been very hectic recently. I have myself a new job that comes with a host of new challenges; not least of which is scheduling all the amazing things I want to do, creatively. NaNoWriMo has been a part of Emma and I’s life for a few years now; every year we give it a go and inevitably fail (Emma succeeded once, which was amazing!) So this year we really want to give it our best. Emma is attempting a traditional fantasy novel based on the world she has been developing for quite a while, it’s really good and I can’t wait to read what she comes up with.
I however am going to do something completely out of the ordinary. I am going to be developing games for the whole month! You heard that right: in the time honored spirit of National Novel Writing Month, I’m not going to be writing a single word of narrative fiction!
For ages I’ve had a few half-developed games ideas rolling around my skull, a few of which I have taken quite far with the help of some friends, but there are some really interesting ideas which I always return to but never develop any further. Well, this November will give me the opportunity to flesh out those ideas into prototypes with proper rules and hopefully some art.
Idea 1 – PAP RPG – this will be a totally lightweight tabletop roleplaying system that I half-developed last year with the help of a friend. I am taking a few core mechanics that I really liked and going to try and build it into an enjoyable game!
Idea 2 – Project Power – This will be a card game centered around the political turmoil of our time, I’ll say no more!
Idea 3 – Project Felix – Another card game utilising some fairly interesting and underused mechanics which will be a cross between Resident Evil and Neko Atsume.
Idea 4 – Project Stellar – This is the project that is the furthest along, I have actually made some wooden spaceships and have a first-draft ruleset. It’s a tabletop, space-based, fleet combat game.
Idea 5 – I have no idea – Here’s the real challenge! I’m going to develop a brand new idea for some kind of physical game; from the ground up. I am going to try and make it fully print-and-play so I can basically just release it on here and get people playing it and best of all, I’ll be uploading dev diaries and hopefully find a few other ways to connect with you all. I really want to stream this stuff on Twitch!
Wish me luck, this is a purposefully large undertaking so I can really try and push my motivations into creating something a lot more interesting and fulfilling his year!
Good luck to everyone prepping for NaNoWriMo!
John Steadman.
Steadman Society 