Ambitious Times (Jan 2022 newsletter) (Patreon)

Hey folks! So a lot of things have been brewing and I want to give you a quick roundup of what's going on. First off, the above image is from a game called Aldarra Reborn, and their publisher (Arcane Minis) has hired me to make a rules video for them. It's a big 4x combat game with beautiful card art and enormous minis. Seriously, the minis for some of these ships are as big as my fist.

Now I was originally told that they were going to launch their kickstarter in the spring, but then that changed to mid-February, so it got bumped up to the top of my list. But that's not the only game I'm working on. As well as Brass: Birmingham, I've also been hired for another game called Stellar Expedition. A game about peaceful exploration and diplomacy, and it's giving me some real Star Trek vibes, which I'm all for.

Both that and Brass should be coming out in March, provided the timelines work out well, which I'm confident they will. This is quite the output for me, but it's a rate that I'm happy to continue if possible. And speaking of, because the Patreon recently hit $600/month, we've reached a pretty big milestone, so let me go over what you can expect from me going forward. 

Previously I had been putting out a new Patreon-funded game every three months. From now on, the goal is to get one out every two months instead. Obviously I'm excited to just make more stuff, but what I'm really happy about is that this means a quicker turnaround from when you vote on a game to actually seeing the tutorial for it. Now I am still taking on commissions from companies, and occasionally that will push back a Patreon video release, but I plan on keeping my schedule open enough that hired work won't ever delay Patreon videos more than a few weeks.

Now as for games I've played this month, probably the biggest one for me was Imperial Steam. I made a Rahdo video for this one, and while I appreciate a lot of the design choices, there was something about it that just didn't click for me. It had a really cool stock system, whereby you could increase your stock's value, but that means fewer investors could afford to buy it, and also every time you sell stock you'd lose 10% of your final money (score). Unfortunately the resources and economy felt so restrictive that playing the game just wasn't as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. I know there are a lot of people out there that really like it though, so if you are one of them, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the game.

Anyway, that's all for this month. I've got a pretty busy...four months in front of me, so I'm gonna get back to work!