Update - Feral Instinct

A few of my regular readers know that I have been working on making a game. This is not because I want to be a game designer or publisher or anything. I'm not trying to sell it and become the next Richard Garfield. I just figured that anyone who talks as much trash about game designers should know how the process works.

So I started working on Feral Instinct, where anthropomorphic kung-fu warriors whoop up on each other. It's sort of like D&D meets Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I have four characters - Stoat, Bull, Newt and Fox. I've built the game, printed cards, and tested it a few times.

And here's the verdict - I'm not a game designer. This is hard. I don't have time to play it over and over and over, and I don't know anyone who would want to play it, anyway. I kind of dig it, but it's got too many problems. I can, as a reviewer, look at it and tell you that it's got too much happening at once, there are blatant typos, and it's confusing as hell. I can tell you that, but I can't figure out how to fix it.

So for now, that project is on standby. Instead, I'm going to try to bite off something I can actually chew. I would love to actually have a playable game, so I have started work on two new games. One is a card game about truckers, and the other is a board game where bums compete in athletic events to earn bottles of Wild Turkey. I might also do one about hookers.

The way I see it, if I'm going to make games, I want them to be as thoroughly ludicrous as this website. I want to see the kinds of themes that make people embarrassed to admit to owning a copy, but still break it out so that everyone can laugh at it. I don't care if I ever make any money at it. It's just a lot of fun to make games, and if I'm doing something to have fun, I intend to make it as much fun as I know how. And since I'm not a very good game designer, the way I know to make them fun is to make them crass and funny.

So thank you to everyone who took a look at Feral Instinct (and don't worry, I'll keep plugging at it here and there, it's just not a priority any more), and keep your eyes peeled for the next part of my mad scheme to experience game design. I'm calling it Haulin', because I don't think my wife will let me test a game with my kids if I call it Haulin' Ass.