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Contagious
Dreams report: The response to last week's big mailing
has been really great. Lots of little game companies are currently
in the process of submitting games to us, and everyone is very
excited about the prospects of this new venture. New at the site
this week is an FAQ
file, which Kristin has been building up in response to the questions
being asked by the Dreamers we've been talking to. The Toaster
Testers are psyching themselves up for playing a bunch of new
games, which started arriving in the mail yesterday...
Fluxx
Third Printing report: The good news is the cards have been
printed and cut; the bad news is that, once again, the box is
proving to be a problem child. It's been delayed on account of
font absenteeism. We were supposed to have received the cards
at the beginning of this week; now it looks as though we won't
get them until next Wednesday. Nevertheless, we should have new
decks very soon. In the meantime, we're just sitting on the orders
that come in for Second Edition Fluxx, and we shall fill these
orders the moment we get our shipment of decks from the factory.
If you're getting impatient and wish to have us fill your outstanding
order with First
Edition decks instead, let us know and we'll send it right
out. But in any event, thanks for your patience! (And speaking
of Fluxx, didja hear about us getting the Mensa
Select award? We're still kinda jumping up and down about
it...)
 This
weekend, we were featured guests at Technicon
16, an annual science fiction convention held in Blacksburg,
Virgina, and we had a totally grand time.
 I was invited to
be a guest of honor by Jazzfish,
a longtime Fluxx fan, but when they found out Kristin was a Rubik's
Cube expert,
they upgraded her to Guest of Honor status as well, signing her
up to host a panel on the cube in the process. As GoHs, we held
three panels during the weekend: one about Fluxx, one about the
Rubik's Cube, and one about
the game design and marketing processes. The first two were nothing
more than play sessions really, but they went well. The third
panel on the other hand was much more like a formal talk - we
even prepared handouts. (But we kept it from being too formal
by sitting on the floor.)
Kristin and I spent
the hour talking about how we got started in this business, and
the process we go through when publishing new games. The handouts
included our Design
Flowchart, which outlines the Game Development Process we
use here at Looney Labs. We got a nice sized audience who listened
with rapt attention and asked lots of questions. It was cool.
We also set up a little instant sales booth and sold a bunch
of games before and after the talk, where I also signed a few
autographs. It's fun being an honored guest!
 We
were joined on this adventure by Alison
Frane, who'd never been to a sci-fi convention before but
had always wanted to go to one. Among many other things, Alison
spent some time wandering around with a stuffed broccoli tied
onto her shoulder with her hair, giving everyone Tirade buttons,
saying "Would you like a sentient
broccoli pin?" She also costumed to match us, and joined
with Kristin in being my entourage when I donned my classic Emperor of the
Universe full dress uniform for the formal dance on Saturday
night. They were giving out prizes to those best dressed that
evening, and I found myself being pulled out of the crowd and
handed just such an award! (Alison too was a prizewinner, taking
second place in one of the weekend's two limbo contests.)
But for you the websurfer, the best news of all is that there's
finally a working search
engine for wunderland.com. Kristin's been failing to find
time to get that working ever since it broke, during the site
rehosting last fall, but with wunderland.com having recently
passed the 2000 page mark, the need for a replacement search
engine was getting pretty serious. Fortunately, thanks to the
tireless efforts of the other Kristin, we finally have one again.
And it's a great one, too, allowing you to refine your search
by searching the results of a search. So three cheers for toK, and...
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Comments?
This Tom Hanks production about a rock 'n roll band's
rise to stardom in 1964 currently tops my all-time favorites
list. It's funny and upbeat, the music rocks, and it's an inspiration
to anyone with dreams of fame and success, whether in the music
industry or otherwise.
"People
don't buy products, they buy solutions to problems." - Sarah White, The Complete Idiots Guide to Marketing
Basics
