So, for about a year now, I've been designing card games in my spare time, some of which you know about if you read this blog. It's my favorite hobby, and something I wanted to do for a while but didn't know how. After reading some articles at The Games Journal, I found my way over to the Board Game Designers Forum and read so many helpful resources and messages in their archives. I'd come up with designs from everywhere, Laura would suggest themes, and we'd have a blast trying them out and playtesting new suggestions. The feeling is similar to writing a computer program, with all the logic and loops that go into making the rules, but the hardest part is the playtesting, trying to make your game compile and be fun. You can't program in the fun, it has to happen for some other reason, like building tension, interesting decisions, or engaging player interaction.

Last summer, I packed up some games and headed out to Protospiel 2004, a mini-gathering of game designers, and had a fabulous time meeting other like-minded people, giving and receiving feedback on a number of interesting games. A friend who went with me now works for North Star Games, and I made some contacts with other game designers as well. It was very encouraging, so I continued to work on the games, playtesting with friends, making tweaks here and there. I found another game designer here in Madison, so we're getting together every two weeks and playtesting some games and trying to design new ones.

One game has stood out, getting requested over the others, with a few people wanting to buy the game from me right after playtesting. So, I started investigating how one gets a game published these days. The first step is to find a company which produces similar games and is looking for submissions. You email then with a short description, and if they like what they see, they'll ask some questions or request the rules. If they're still interested, they'll request a prototype so they can play the game themselves. It's a publisher's market, and they receive many, many more game submissions than they could ever hope to publish, so it's always a long-shot to get noticed.

All this to say, I've achived my goal of having a game worthy of being reviewed by a big-name company. They said it sounds "somewhat interesting," so I'm sending a prototype this weekend, and then hope to hear back from them within a month or so about their decision. Either way, having them just take a look at it is an amazing feeling, given that they probably recieve 100 submissions a year and only look at a few. Thanks, unnammed board-game company, you made my day.