DToW #0 (Who am I)

Who am I? 

My name is Peter and I started designing games about 9 years ago (2005).  I wanted to make an adventure game that I liked.  I have played them all and while I like parts of most of them, nothing was exactly right.  As I started putting together the framework for my game I realized what I really wanted was something persistent.  I wanted my characters to get better and worse as I went along.  Yes, I said and worse.  One of my favorite games is Blood Bowl and one of the cool parts about that game is that your team doesn't just progress, but gets worse too.  The decision between short term success and long term building is fascinating, and keeps you engaged in a game long after you have lost.  I don't want to get too far down this rabbit hole on my first post, but that is how I got started.

So what is this MVP Boardgames?

After a few years of working on my masterpiece (note sarcasm) I met someone who was as enthusiastic as I was about making a great game.  His name is Mike.  We talked all the time working through the problems and making OUR game better.  Working with a partner really sped up the process.  It also kept me motivated.  Again, long story short (I am sure we will get into all the details throughout the course of this blog) we met and worked on a game together.  We then pitched that game to a publisher who was interested.  While he was looking at our first game we both started working on other games.  When we brought them together, his was more polished so we kept working on it.  Sadly after working with the publisher for our first game for 9 months and many revisions, they decided not to publish it.  Good news though, our 2nd game Salvation Road got picked up by Van Ryder Games this year (2014) and should be on Kickstarter soon (fingers crossed) if all goes well.  Mike's wife Venessa has helped us a lot with graphic design, art, and play testing.  Hence the name MVP (Mike Venessa Peter) Boardgames.

Why am I doing this?

I have met a lot of cool people in the game design space.  I just wanted to contribute something.  I posted one of these on twitter and got some likes, so I figured there was some interest out there.  I am just going to do it.  No editing, no censoring, just raw.  These tips are meant to be brief and give you something to think about.  Some will be fluffy, like my 1st one coming later today.  And some will be more technical.  Some may be tips on selling your designs to publishers.  Some may be Kickstarter tips as we get closer to the campaign.  Some may even be questions to the community.  Anything that would be useful to a game designer.  As long as people are into it, I will keep doing it.

What's the plan?

My goal is to have a new tip out every Monday.  Some will be longer than others. 

Any last words for us?

 Until next time, I am Peter, keep designing great games.