Note: This is a copy of Update #22 from my Kickstarter campaign.
The Last Hurrah
Every board game (or any other creation, for that matter) begins with this: something that nobody else can see. It's a vision that exists solely in the mind, and part of the goal of creating is transmitting that vision to other people, getting it out of your head and into the heads of others. Whether that's through pictures or words or actions or some sort of physical object or a melody, that last step of the process is always the hardest.
You can draw and paint and design and write and think about your project by yourself, but at some point art of any sort is meant to be observed. A game isn't a game until somebody plays it. The magic of a book really takes place when somebody reads it. But handing over control—giving other people a choice about what to do with what you've created—is always a scary thing.
Emperor's New Clothes began with this vision: a box of blank white cards and boards and wooden bits, and people sitting around playing it. I had seen pictures of printer's proofs from other Kickstarter projects. I'd also been to a few game day events where I'd wander around, looking at what other people were playing, trying to decide what I wanted to try. I imagined a game that invited scrutiny, one that made people wonder "What is that?"
I imagined a game that didn't just include a small group of people playing it, but one that drew in even more people and engaged them. Even as somebody who is very comfortable playing any type of board game, I'm not always comfortable approaching a game in progress to ask about it. Most gamers don't intend to shut other people out while they're playing a game, but we can unintentionally give off a "don't bother me right now" vibe when we're really engaged in a game. I wondered if there could be a game that encouraged people to approach players, one that started conversations instead of shutting them out.
That was the initial spark of my idea. Sure, it was a bit half-baked. The game as it is now isn't entirely the same thing as it was when I first approached Game Salute, or when I wrote a letter to send out to reviewers and blogs, or when I asked artists if they wanted to sign onto a crazy project. Once I made it public, it was no longer solely my creation: other people introduced ideas and added to it. Some things I liked, and some I didn't, but it wasn't entirely within my control anymore.
If I were to do it all over again, I'd still run the campaign. I probably would have picked a better time to do it. I'd write all my updates ahead of time, and not run it when I had a camping trip planned in the middle of it or at the same time as a major shift for GeekDad. I would have thought more about the fact that people would be dropping into the project on day 1, and day 5, and day 17—that not everyone was following the same threads at the same time. I would have spent more time playing the game with people and less time talking about playing the game.
I won't know until the end of the day whether enough people stick around for the big finale. I won't pretend that I'm not disappointed if we drop below funding, but in the end, I'm proud of what we've accomplished together. We made something out of nothing this month.
At the end of this month, my wife and I will be welcoming our third child to the world. It has nothing to do with Emperor's New Clothes, and everything to do with it. I know that at the end of the month my world will be filled with smiles and cooing and dirty diapers and rocking. Things like Kickstarter and writing for GeekDad just won't matter as much at that point. I wanted to wrap up this project on April 1 not just for the significance of the date, but so that I'd be done with some time to spare.
Whatever else you get out of this Kickstarter campaign, whether you're a backer or you're just here for the schadenfreude, this is what I hope stays with you: You can see things that nobody else can see … yet. Figure out what they are, and then share them with the rest of us*. You never know what might happen.
*Including Game Salute: Dan Yarrington has said he'd love to see game submissions made using the Create Your Own Game Kit.
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