Choose Your Own Path, Protospiel Indy, Word Up Finalists

Hello Community

It's almost summer here in Wisconsin, USA and that means warmer weather and lots of game conventions! We're hitting the road again with our Board Game Candy Booth and our first shows will be Origins in June and Gen Con in August. Our TGC community events at Gen Con (game night and the community social) will also be resuming this year!

We are excited to announce the Choose-Your-Own-Path Challenge!

How many of you grew up on those super cool “choose-your-own adventure” books where your decisions each page brought you through a different path in the story? These books created a sense of free will and immersion unlike other fiction books where you felt in control of the narrative. This is sometimes referred to as 2nd Person perspective.

But we are here to make games, not books, right? Why not do both! The “Choose-Your-Own-Path” Contest challenges you to make a game (in book format) that players feel a sense of free will (though along a somewhat predetermined path) while playing. A good way to think of a “choose-your-own-path” game is a game with a built-in DM that guides your path based on your actions and frequently results in different endings. Click on the link above to learn more.

Protospiel Indy is an extension of the popular series of Protospiel game design and development conventions. Amateur and established game designers get together to test and promote game prototypes in a supportive, collaborative environment. This casual event is based on sharing experiences and insight toward a goal of making the best games.

Protospiel Indy is happening May 20-22 and The Game Crafter will once again be sponsoring the event with a smorgasbord of blank components and game pieces.

Finalists Announced

The finalists have been announced for the Word Up Challenge! Congrats to all the finalists and to everyone who made a new game for this contest.

MERC Crowd Sale

Here it is, folks! MERC is the game that The Game Crafter's CEO, JT Smith, started designing in 2007. The game originally had 400 cards and he got sick of manually printing & cutting cards. When he couldn't find anyone to help him, he was inspired to team up with Jamie & Tavis to create The Game Crafter. The rest is history!

JT thought it would be cool to run a Crowd Sale for the game that inspired the creation of The Game Crafter and it will begin on May 16th. He's excited to run this sale and share one of his all-time favorite games with you. If you look closely, you may see some characters you recognize!

Crafter Con Videos

Please enjoy these additional recorded sessions from Crafter Con 2021:

"Laser Cutting for Game Design" by Marcin Zarycki
"Component Studio 2.0" by JT Smith

Click here to watch all of our Crafter Con videos

Component.Studio 2 Tutorial Videos

Andrew Voigt is making new tutorial videos for Component.Studio 2! Check them out:

Ep 6: Position and Size
Ep 7: Drift, Cut Lines, and Design Overlay
Ep 8: Enumeration
Ep 9: Import Data from Google Sheets
Ep 10: Game Variables

Component.Studio 2 is a powerful tool for card and component design.

Learn more: https://component.studio/v2

Upcoming Events

Here's a list of upcoming events we're attending or supporting:

Unpub [Live, May 19-22]
Protospiel Indy [Live, May 20-22]
GOBfest [Live, May 27-29]
Kublacon Protospiel [Live, May 27-30]
Evergreen Tabletop Expo [Live, Jun 4-5]
Origins [Live, Jun 9-12]
Protospiel Michigan [Live, Jul 15-17]
Gen Con [Live, Aug 4-7]
Protospiel Online [Online, Aug 26-28]