It’s now 2022! I want to start a tradition of looking at all the important moments for Weird Giraffe Games and for this blog. It should be a good way to acknowledge all the things that have been done and to learn from the past year, so the next one can be better!
Game Updates
- Tumble Town launched in retail stores in January! Fulfillment ended in December and nothing too much was planned for the retail release due to COVID. Normally, we do a Splash event where the games are played around the country in a specific week… but not this time. We also didn’t do a local event for the same reason.
- Gift of Tulips funded on Kickstarter in March and ended up raising $41,747 with the help of 1955 backers!
- Wicked & Wise funded on Kickstarter in August and ended up raising $41,697 with the help of 1498 backers!
- Tumble Town sold out in distribution sometime in November, then we sold the remaining copies left in our house in December. There’s still some games that are in retail stores, but this is the first game that I’m scheduling for a reprint, which is exciting!
- Studies in Sorcery was fulfilled between October and December! This is the first time that I used the combination of Amazon and VFI fulfillment due to all the VAT changes in the EU. VFI turned out to be much more expensive than I thought it would be, plus a number of games were destroyed in transit and lost. I know better how to estimate VFI fulfillment and the timing of the fulfillment, which can be much faster for some countries but take months for others!
- Gift of Tulips manufacturing finished in December! It should be heading to backers early in the new year.
- Four games were signed in 2021! They haven’t been announced yet, but they should be announced closer to their Kickstarter date.
- Dreams of Yesterday, Way Too Many Cats, and Fire in the Library: Card Game were all announced on the website for 2022!
- There were a number more games that got further playtested and started through the art process, but were not released on the website yet. Those should be announced soon, though!
Celebrating People
One of the big things I wanted to do in 2021 is to celebrate all the people whose effort comes together to create all of the games published by Weird Giraffe Games. I might be the main force behind the company, but it definitely takes many people all working together to get things done.
- I created a page on the website for all the artists that have their illustration and graphic design in WGG games. I’ve also been slowly adding pictures of all the designers, developers, and editors for each game. Each person has a picture, so it’s more obvious that games are created by a number of real people.
- The WGG page also got expanded a bit! It should be obvious from the website that making games isn’t a solo endeavor.
- I started the habit of adding designer pictures and bios to the rulebooks. There was a discussion on facebook about adding photos to rulebooks, I thought it was a great idea, so I made it happen. Might as well have a small blurb, too!
- I started a series of Guest Posts on this blog! While I do interview a lot of designers, the guest posts allowed me to highlight even more designers that I think are fantastic.
Conventions
- Attended Gen Con, Geekway to the West, Origins, BGG, and Pax Unplugged
- This Gen Con wasn’t that great for us, between the pandemic and a very bad location. I’ve signed up for Gen Con next year, but am trying to get a 20×10 booth, as the larger the booth, the less the placement of the booth matters.
- I had wanted to get a booth at Origins, but due to an email issue, I didn’t get one and realized this the week before the convention. This was a lot of stress, as the convention booth and helpers had all been planned, but it might have been for the best, as Gen Con happened two weeks earlier and Geekway to the West was the day after Origins. I ended up getting a lot of time in the Unpub room and to destress a bit, while also getting a number of games playtested IN PERSON.
- I’ve never been to Geekway to the West, but I did enjoy this one! I’ve been told it was very different than a regular Geekway, as there were a lot less people at the convention and instead of having exhibitor booths, publishers had exhibitor tables that they could use for whatever they wished (other than sales). It was exhausting and I didn’t get as much out of the convention as I wanted, as there was definitely not enough time between Gen Con, Origins, and Geekway.
- Origins ended on Sunday night, we got up on Monday, drove to St. Louis and immediately started gaming. BUT there was one notable stop at Warm Glow for reasons.
- BGG is always a convention I enjoy, as I don’t have a booth at it and I can play games and there’s time to spend with people instead of rushing about. This year was definitely smaller than in years past, but that meant that I got to see a few people a lot, so it’s definitely been my favorite of all the cons in 2021.
- This was my third year at Pax Unplugged and the second time I completely hated driving. This is definitely an interesting show that we’ll be continuing attending, though it is a more expensive and stressful show, given the distance I have to travel and the cost of hotels. It was definitely less stressful this year, though, as Justin took over as booth manager and did a truly fantastic job! It was also the first time that I shared a booth with another company, Talon Strikes Studios, and that paid off really well! Our booth looked impressive and was really open, as we could share space together.
- I tried out two new items with WGG logos this year: masks and bags. For the masks, it was definitely nice to always have a KN-95 mask available, though I’m not sure how many people noticed that they had the WGG logo on them. Still, I’m glad I got them, as it meant the booth helpers all looked a bit more uniform! The bags were also worth the cost, as they were bright and could be seen from quite the distance. They were also way more professional looking and required less work than the stamped paper bags that we’ve used in the past.
Retreats
- I’ve been wanting to run a game design retreat for awhile and I’m a few steps closer to doing so! I did run a mini Weird Giraffe Games retreat in Florida in June and also attended a retreat in Maine, as well.
- The WGG Florida retreat was definitely a success as it got me back in the flow of playtesting and playing games in person. It was also a learning experience in running an event with multiple people and what sort of breaks and itineraries need to happen. I’m hoping to run this one again, but hopefully a bit larger next year!
- David and I attended a design retreat in Maine a few weeks ago and it was definitely a nice transition from either attending conventions of thousands of people or staying at home alone. It was great to not be completely surrounded by people and needing to wear a mask all the time but also to be around some number of people. A bunch of playtesting got done and a new game designed, as well!
- Based on the learnings of the retreats this year, I’m hoping to run a Game Design Retreat in Tennessee sometime in 2022, plus another Weird Giraffe Games Retreat sometime after that.
Marketing
- Before 2021, WGG has been a bit rainbow themed as far as colors go, but this year I really leaned into the WGG green idea. I definitely think it helped, as there’s no other board game company that uses the shade of apple green that I am! This meant all new shirts for booth helpers, tablecloths for demos, bags for purchases at conventions, and a more consistent marketing look. Basically, Weird Giraffe Games is more recognizable and professional looking, in addition to being associated with my favorite color.
- New tagline: Classic Mechanisms with a Twist of Weird. I really like this, as the previous tagline was a lot longer and more generic. This one can be easily placed on our marketing materials and should help us stand out a bit.
- New website! One of the themes of 2021 was apparently to make Weird Giraffe Games be more professional and look less like one person is doing all the things and I think the website update definitely helped with that. The pages are more consistent.
- We had our first big sale! The Clean the House Sale, as a series of home disasters happened, so we had to get things out of my house and into someone else’s. This worked out really well, as it was before the holidays and shipping was free with the purchase of a few games. So, we’ll most definitely have another sale if I have series of home disasters happen again. Or I’ll just learn my lesson and not use my garage and spare room and most closets for WGG storage.
Getting Help with Weird Giraffe Games
While I’m the face of Weird Giraffe Games, I’ve definitely made it a point to get help in the last year! If this pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that I can’t do everything all the time, so I’ve been slowly getting more people to help out and rely on.
- Marti as Social Media, Marketing, and Community Manager. This was Marti’s first full year as community manager! She’s slowly been taking on more duties as the year went on and it’s been fantastic! While I do enjoy social media, it can become a chore after awhile. Having Marti take over meant that I enjoy the time I am on social media much more and the posts are far more consistent. Marti also helps with the KS messages and comments, which makes Kickstarters a lot less stressful.
- David as General Manager. This is also David’s first full year at Weird Giraffe Games! He started as my codesigner and has gone on to help with development, game evaluation, and convention planning. This has meant that we have more games in progress than ever before! It’s also been great to have someone else to make choices when I can’t make a decision.
- Justin as Booth Manager. Justin has worked at my booth for the past few years and he’s recently taken over as booth manager! He helps plan what to bring to conventions, who to get as helpers, what the schedule is, and even does diagrams and construction of booth furniture! With Justin’s help, I get time at conventions to PLAY GAMES, which is just plain wild.
- Jon, Jay, and Maria as Graphic Designers. While I work with a lot of graphic designers, I previously worked with them on a per project basis. Switching these three to be working on whatever needs to be done at the time has saved time and energy, as they all pretty much know what I want and how to work together. They’re all fantastic and the artwork has been getting done way faster than it has in the past, as I can have the person that gets done first work on the next highest priority task, instead of everyone working alone on different projects.
- Beth as Blog Editor. Beth has taken over as editor for this blog and not only makes it look like I know how English works, but also helps motivate and keep me on track! I definitely would not have been as consistent as I was last year without her help.
Basically, it’s due to the above people that I’m still somewhat sane and doing things occasionally!
Personal Achievements
- I’ve always had trouble not doing all the things and being a perfectionist, but this was definitely a year where I was successful in letting other people complete things and for me not to micromanage them. It’s something I definitely still struggle with, but I’m getting better at it and the rewards are definitely something I can acknowledge.
- I’ve been doing work with other publishers and designers, either with contract design or getting games signed with other companies for years, but it usually takes years for board games to get made. It was nice to finally see a physical announcement of one of the games I’m working on at Pax Unplugged.
- Even though I did not feel like I had a very creative year, I designed and got several games to the full playtestable and fun state! Meow Meow Sushi, Firebird, Untitled Mancala Game, Seven Generations, Jellyfish Jungle, and Motley Clues! I’ve even designed games that have been in my ‘undesigned list’ for quite some time, including an 18 card game, party game, and a numbers on colors card game! We can maybe even say that one is an I Split, you choose game, which has been on my list for a LONG time but has never been a mechanism that’s stayed in the design.
- I worked on the above 6 games, plus made significant progress on at least 20 other games! It definitely didn’t feel like that many, but after making a list of all the ones I can remember, I’m sure I missed one or two here and there.
- I’ve been trying to focus a bit more on my mental health in light of the pandemic and this post is part of that! It shows that I actually get a lot more done than I think I do. I’ve also started therapy which has definitely helped!
- I’ve worked with more codesigners than I ever have before and I definitely feel like I’m getting better at it. I’ve successfully worked with 7 different designers, whereas last year, I was working with two, and none the year before! At this point, all my new designs are codesigns, which is definitely a complete switch.
- 34 blogs posted here in 2021! Which is somehow the exact same amount that I wrote in 2020, so that’s consistent, at least. I have no idea how I posted the EXACT same amount, but at least it’s not less!
Did you enjoy this entry? How did your 2021 end up? Please let me know! I’d love to hear what you think and what kind of things you’d like to see from this blog. Feel free to send me an email or comment with your thoughts!
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