What do you WANT from me?!?
almost 2 years ago – Fri, May 20, 2022 at 01:25:51 AM

No, seriously. 

What DO you want to see from me in the future? 

What kinds of games would you be interested in? What floats your gaming boat? 

Do keep in mind that I plan (at least initially) to focus on SOLO / single player games and tools / Add-ons to aid solo play.

Now, don't get too excited - this is likely to be the ONLY time I'll PRETEND to be interested in your opinion.

;-)

Follow the link below for a survey. Basically, it's a whole bunch of words and super short phrases (118 to be exact and, NO, I'm NOT kidding! BUT it should only take about 1-2 MINUTES to complete.) that you can rate from 1 to 5 (1 is "I don't EVER want to see ANYTHING associated what that horrible, awful, smelly word!" and 5 is "Yes. Yes! YES!!! Gimme, gimme LOTS of fun stuff associated with that word!"). I even threw in a couple funny ones so your ridiculously short attention span can make it to the end of a 2-minute survey. Geesh. 

Complete "What should Ken work on next?" Survey (and / or BEG him to make more games) 

The survey MIGHT also double as a super-intrusive psychological test and / or grave violation of your privacy rights. I PROMISE that I will NOT sell your deep, dark secrets to a big, evil corporation UNLESS they offer me a REALLY gigantic sum of money.

;-)

Yours in Colossal Mayhem,

Ken

P.S. I SUPPOSE you could also Comment below, but the idea of subjecting myself to the inner workings of your brain is - quite frankly - TERRIFYING.

The Survey RESULTS are in...
almost 2 years ago – Fri, May 20, 2022 at 01:24:16 AM

... and it was just as TERRIFYING to glimpse into your collective psyches as I thought!

;-)

========TEMPORARILY PAUSE SNARKY COMMENTS=========

THANK YOU so much to the 200+ of y'all that completed the survey! I can't even begin to tell you how HELPFUL this info is. 

============RESUME SNARKY COMMENTS===============

I have to say that the actual results weren't terribly surprising (FOR ONCE I had an assumption that ended up being correct!). HOWEVER, the most surprising result is just how STRONGLY y'all agree with one another.

Like the famous phrase: "(Demented) [b]irds of a feather flock together (when answering ridiculous survey questions)."

Out of 118 words / concepts, the Top 25 choices were shared by NO LESS than 80% of respondents (89% for the #1 Choice of Endless Replayability!). AND even when I look at JUST the choices where y'all picked 5 out of 5 (the highest), the responses were very close to the same. 

Example: The overall #1 choice was "Endless Replayability" (okay, I have to admit: this one DID surprise me - I VERY RARELY play a game multiple times! HA!) receiving an 89%(!!!) score. It was also the 5 out of 5 choice for 67% of you. Wow.

As for the LOWEST scores, "Patreon" and its evil twin "Subscription" were ROCK BOTTOM. I guess my plans for getting RICH while delivering ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE to anyone will take longer than expected. :(

Okay, not REALLY rock bottom. The ONLY things that ranked LOWER than "Patreon" and "Subscription" were (in order of most hated!):

1. People that talk during movies

2. Bad Drivers

3. Politicians (big surprise... NOT!)

4. Billionaires (I hope y'all still love ME when *I* become a billionaire - actually, I really won't care 'cause... I'LL BE A BILLIONAIRE!!!)

5. Mullets (I can neither confirm nor deny that I had a mullet my first year of college - hey, MacGuyver was cool back then and I didn't have a girlfriend to tell me it looked ridiculous!)

6. Bell bottoms

Here are the Top 25 Results:

1. Endless Replayability (probably the ONLY way you can actually WIN a game! Hahaha!)

2. Adventure (worldwide pandemic wasn't ADVENTUROUS enough for 'ya?!?)

3. Inexpensive (no big surprise, ya cheap bastards!)

4. Treasure (get a job!)

5. Dungeon Crawl (take a bath!)

6. Exploration Maps (get Google Maps!)

7. Loot (Breakin' the law! Breakin' the law!)

8. Exploration (with THESE gas prices?!?)

9. Unique Treasure (REGULAR Treasure not SHINY enough for ya?!?)

10. Hero crafting ('cause you're never gonna BE one!)

11. Expedition (resource management fun times!)

12. Undiscovered (like my raw and amazing talent!)

13. Legendary Item Variety ('cause ONE Legendary Item isn't enough?!? Spoiled brat.)

14. Physical Games (apparently, you are ALSO a fan of paying ridiculous amounts in POSTAGE!)

15. Easy to Learn and Play (wouldn't wanna tax that melon of yours)

16. World Maps (Boooooring! Do you also do math just for FUN?)

17. Gear variety (any Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts in da house?!?)

18. Magic (I'm REALLY glad I didn't include "unicorns" as an option)

19. Weapon variety (such violence!)

20. Strategy (synonymous with Strategery - bonus points for knowing the U.S. pop culture reference)

21. Ruins (new construction is EXPENSIVE!)

22. Dungeon (a place to keep bell bottom-wearing, billionaire politicians that talk during movies)

23. Rogue (my personal favorite... not that you care)

24. Gamebook (A solo gaming classic! I also thought this would be HIGHER up on the list.)

25. Choose your own adventure (old person fun times)

Yours in Colossal Mayhem,

Ken

P.S. If you are a game designer (or dream of becoming one) and you think this survey data would be helpful at glimpsing into the minds of some pretty bizzaro peeps, feel free to message me to request it. The info is completely anonymized (Ha! Did you think I'd let you steal my indentured Backers?!? They're MINE. They BELONG to me!!!). I can include the raw data CSV (it's a HUGE mess!), a PDF with graphs for each response (for some weird reason it is LITERALLY 118 pages long) and my polished Excel version (I must admit: it's pretty slick!). 

"Wow" & "Thank You"
almost 2 years ago – Thu, May 12, 2022 at 01:01:54 PM

Hey, Party (of 4) People!

See what I did there?

“Hey, Party People” + Game Called Party of 4 = “Hey, Party (of 4) People!”

I agree. It’s genius.

;-)

As  you MAY have already noticed, I am NOT exactly a “man of few words.”  HOWEVER, when it comes to this Party of 4 Kickstarter Campaign, the only  two words that really seem appropriate for this 1st Update are:

Wow & Thank You

(YES, I KNOW that’s THREE words. STOP interrupting!)

Wow  & Thank You to ALL of you that decided to take a chance on this  crazy project (only time will tell if you are certified geniuses OR  certifiable nut jobs - my money is on the latter).

Wow  & Thank You to ALL of you that chose - of your own free will - to  join me on this even crazier journey (IF you aren’t here of your own  free will, then please thank whoever is COMPELLING you to be here. They  ROCK!).

Wow  & Thank You to ALL of you that went out on a limb to PROMOTE this  project to your friends and your family members and your lists and your  followers. I’m truly sorry for all those that now hate you for your  efforts, BUT, looking on the bright side, you gained ME as someone who  intermittently takes a mild interest in your well-being!

What Happened?!?

OBVIOUSLY,  we are now FUNDED (duh! If we weren’t, I wouldn’t be singing your  praises, would I? You’d be getting a - well-deserved - virtual  tongue-lashing instead!). ;-)

I  initially thought that we would be very fortunate IF we got this puppy  funded AT ALL. I certainly thought there was a decent chance, but it was  - by no means - a guarantee. To be funded in the first day (or  thereabouts) of a 30 day campaign is AMAZING! Thanks again!

As  of the writing of this Update (almost exactly 1 week in), we are now  TRIPLE our initial goal AND have over 300 Backers (again, I thought we  might hit 250-300 Backers by campaign END). Woohoo!

One  bizzaro aspect to this endeavor SO FAR is that I truly expected that  MOST Backers would Pledge at the $1 Tier. Wow was I wrong! About 97% of  you have chosen the $5 Tier. That is either a heartfelt show of support  OR an insane lack of fiscal discipline (if it’s the latter, please keep  me in the dark!).

(are you SURE want to continue to support a knucklehead that’s been pretty much wrong about EVERYTHING so far? Just sayin’.)

This has WILDLY changed a few things regarding the production of the game.

On  the PLUS side, we have A LOT more funds PER GAME that could go towards  upgrading a few of the components (like going from the crappiest  materials in the known Universe to the crappiest materials on Planet  Earth!). On the NEGATIVE side, having fewer relative UNITS produced  garners less savings on printing (the magical “Economies of Scale” for  my business nerds out there!). On the whole, it appears that it will be  an OVERALL PLUS in the end.

I  already have a SURPRISE planned for the shipping envelopes (since they  will also serve as the game’s “storage box”). Yes, they will still be  super crappy, BUT I think you’ll like what I have planned (it’s crazy,  but - I think, anyway - fun. :)

Whaddya Want From ME?!?

I plan to send a few more “nuts and bolts” Updates.

HOWEVER, I would LOVE to hear what YOU want to see during this campaign.

I  really enjoy the CREATION and PRODUCTION part of the process.  Unfortunately, that tends to create SPOILERS (which I do NOT like when  *I’m* the Backer). Let me know if you want to hear MORE or LESS about  that stuff.

I  don’t really enjoy the promotion and social media part (hence the  complete LACK of Stretch Goals!), but I know it can be important to some  Backers. Let me know if this stuff is important to you. I can always  pinch my nose and wade into THAT morass if it’s important to enough of  you.

On  the subject of Stretch Goals: do you want to see some? If so, what  kinds of stuff would float your - collective - boats (keeping in mind  that we are operating with fairly thin margins above the cost of  production)? I have no problem sinking TIME into creating cool add-on  stuff (digital, perhaps?). We just have to walk a thin line when it  comes to increasing production COSTS (ONE of us has to be the GROWN UP  here!).

Do  you want me to share Work in Progress stuff (with their inevitable  SPOILERS)? OR do you prefer keeping it all secret until you actually  play? OF COURSE, anyone that wants to play test would have full access  to everything, SPOILERS and all!

And,  lastly, please let me know if you would like to play test. I REALLY  want to iron out as many kinks as possible before release. That’s why I  listed an August release date despite the fact that MOST of the game is  actually DONE.

THANKS AGAIN! Please let me know what I can do to make the campaign an even BIGGER BLAST than it already is!

HA!

Yours in Colossal Mayhem,

Ken

Playtesting Platypuses: ACTIVATE!
almost 2 years ago – Mon, May 09, 2022 at 02:26:13 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Dungeons Deep, HERE WE COME!!!
almost 2 years ago – Mon, Apr 25, 2022 at 07:04:58 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.