• Massive projects require several small steps. Stressing over those steps add up to a huge headache.
• Be mindful how minor steps can lead to major progress.
• Progress is not always visible. Not every moment needs to be dedicated to building a thing.
• Remember all things are made of smaller parts, and they all add up to a greater whole.

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Quirkery

Many years ago, around the time Urban Legions (a browser-based RPG) briefly existed, I had an idea for a photo safari. The idea was to have someone provide a prompt, and then people respond with a drawing, photo, or video to match the prompt. Then, people vote for their favorite submissions. The winner provides the next prompt, which leads to the next round of submissions and voting.

At the time, the social media scene was still fairly young, and I did not have enough programming knowledge to have these sorts of things shared on my own website. Nor, did I want people to reply with such stuff, mainly due to the lewdness mentioned above.

Now that social media incorporates and supports posts with GIFs, videos, pics, emojis, and so on, I think this idea could easily be implemented on top of any of the current platforms. Use Likes for votes. Repost with the winner tagged. I think this type of game could spark a lot of fun interaction. Social media overflows with creativity.

Micro RPGs

One of the most clever forms of fan-fiction I have seen on the internet was someone using a forum for role playing. In this particular use, the forum was essentially Hogwarts. The “students and teachers” at the wizarding school (forum users) would take on a role of a character from a non-Harry Potter source. Maybe Batman taught potions to Shaggy and Princess Bubblegum.

I love the concept of essentially turning the forum into an unregulated RPG. I wonder if social media could do something similar, but I do not know how I would implement this. I imagine the poster acts as the DM for that post’s thread, presenting any responders with a scenario. Responders indicate their approach to the situation. The DM either responds with a given outcome, or prompts them to “make a roll” if the outcome requires a bit of chance.

How the randomization works might take a bit of work. You wouldn’t want responses to either post a 1 or a 20, assuming the best or worst case scenarios. You would almost need to make a short list of acceptable responses and award those responding close enough to the predicted outcome, or creatively knock them down for anything else.

Guessing Games

Guessing games might work well in a social media world. I think I could get games like 20 Questions or Pictionary to work well.

For 20 Questions, I’d start with a vague prompt (Ex. “What I saw today”). People respond with yes or no questions to get more information. When enough info is provided, people can start guessing. But, if it is not answered within 20 replies, the game is lost. Eventually, the poster reveals the solution by congratulating the first to guess it correct or gives the answer after surpassing allotted guesses.

For Pictionary, again I’d start with a vague prompt (Ex. Movie Title). I would post a series of pictures of an on-going doodle. The first is a line or a squiggle. After a while, contribute an addition to the doodle. Keep posting more and more additions to the doodle. With each doodle-post, people reply with their answers. I figure eventually someone will guess it correctly, or the doodle-poster would need to forfeit the solution.

One-for-Ones

At times, I see posts designed to influence activity. Usually, these are prompts for likes, replies, or shares with a promise in return. For every X you give me, I will reply with one Y.

I imagine this type of activity would be good for creative posters. For every share, I will write you a haiku. Or, reply to this post with your favorite animal, and I will reply with a blindfolded doodle of that animal.

These types of posts, I have seen more on social media platforms that rely heavily on gaming the algorithm.

What other kinds of games could people play on social media? And, more importantly, would you like to play a game?

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I do not remember exactly when I first learned of D&D, but I remember obtaining the beginner’s box of D&D, the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Player’s Handbook. I may have received them as Christmas gifts one year. My friends and I did not know how to play, but I do recall experimenting with some of the game’s concepts, like staging combat scenarios on a chessboard, using the pieces to mark our heroes and the foes we faced. Chopsticks marked the boundary’s walls and dominoes marked the doorways. That was my earliest memory of using other stuff as game mods, which is what I decided to blog about.

The dice came with the beginner’s set. In the days where miniatures were too expensive an investment, my friends and I improvised with other game pieces or things found around the house. Back then, I had no idea such improvisation would continue throughout my life well into adulthood.

Introduction to Inspiration

Games have always played a big part of my life. Those same friend and I would play Risk throughout New Year’s Even night. We would play travel scrabble, chess, and cards on school trips. It was not until after college, when I started my first “real” job, that new friends introduced me to Cheapass Games.

Cheapass Games has been around for decades and had a wonderful philosophy about making cheaper boardgames that borrowed pieces from other games. They figured most people already had dice, pawns, fake money, and other bits from other games, so their more affordable games (at least, back in those days) focused on the different pieces, like the game board and card decks.

On their earlier website, James Ernest said not to send him game ideas, but try inventing it yourself. His words are what inspired me to start Pegamoose Games. To this day, he is still inventing new games under Crab Fragment Labs, while ye olde Cheapass Games are now licensed by Greater Than Games. I completely understand what James meant. Once I started coming up with ideas for one game, I started thinking of ideas for other games. This flood of game ideas eventually led me to design Peggy, a game engine for tabletop games.

Many of those ideas centered around how I would modify an existing game, or if I were to make my own, somewhat similar game, how would I modify it? In a way, it related back to those earlier days of playing D&D with things we found around the house. At that time, wWe knew we did not play it the way it was intended, but we improvised, essentially inventing our own way to play it. As far as playing D&D our own way, I remember hearing about someone playing an RPG using a standard deck of cards and poker hands instead of dice rolls.

This kind of game improvisation reminds me of one of the classic episodes of The Simpsons where the family combines pieces from the remains of various lacking games into their own improvised board game. This leads Homer to declare, “You sank my Scrabble ship!”

Enhancing the Existing

My son introduced me to video game mods, especially the world of Minecraft mods. Before that, as I tweaked the earlier versions of Snipe Hunt, I had been pondering how to modify some of the more traditional games I had played.

Monopoly particularly interested me. There are so many ways in that game draining money from players, I pondered ways to give players a bit of a break (even though this would prolong an already long game). Before diving into this blog, I dug up my notes on modding Monopoly. These helper cards were to be their own deck and are only drawn on doubles. Players could opt to take another turn, or draw a card. Here are a few of the ideas I entertained:

• Train Delay – Landing on one of the railroads, the player plays this card to pay nothing to the owner, claiming the train’s cancelation.
• Speed Train – Play this card to jump from one station to the next train station, and then pay the owner of that next station, instead.
• Natural Disaster – Play this card when landing on one of the utility spaces. The next player to land on the utility rolls the dice and received 5x the amount as a power-outage refund.
• First Month’s Free – Play this card on any one property. The next player to land on that property does not pay rent to the owner. The card stays there if the owner lands on their own property.
• Meter Maid – Each time the player with this card passes Free Parking, they receive half of the money collected there. The card is discarded when anyone lands on Free Parking.
• Certified Public Accountant – The player with this card, when landing on one of the tax spaces, receives a $100 refund instead of paying their taxes.

I do not remember all the details, but I think I decided not to take this idea any further, because I did not want Big Parker Brothers suing me and my tiny game company into oblivion for even considering a mod add-on for their cash cow. Still, I can always quietly mod my own game sessions. They probably also would not care for my suggestions for improving upon Clue.

I have encountered one game company who has a mod for chess. Steve Jackson Games released decks of cards called Knighmare Chess (LINK) to enhance a game of chess. Chess has been around much longer, and SJG has nothing to fear from Big Parker Brothers and their legions of lawyers.

Mods through Merging

Speaking of SJG, Munchkin has been a family favorite. For those who have not played this, it is a stripped down version of a role playing game into its most basic form: kick down the door, defeat the monster, loot the room. Be warned, there are many add-ons and flavors of sets, which could be a gateway drug to other RPGs.

I have been pondering merging Munchkins with another recent favorite, Dice Throne. A co-worker introduced me to this game and it is another fantastic game series to invest in. Basically, it is like combat by Yahtzee. Each set comes with unique characters, each with their own dice rolls and abilities. Any character may compete against any other character.

As I have said, I have been pondering merging the two games. Instead of Munchkin characters, play with Dice Throne characters instead. It could be played as a cooperative dungeon crawl, or as an arena game each taking hits on a line of monsters charging into the arena. The levels of the Munchkin monsters relate to the health of the dice thrones. Maybe players roll for initiative to see who faces the next challenge.

I have not worked out all the details, but it is something I am pondering. If I ever nail down the how-to for this, I will happily share via this blog.

Have you ever mixed and matched games? If so, what crazy game have you come up with? Please share in the comments below.

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My Problem with Sports

When I was a kid, my parents pushed me to play sports. I do not think poorly of them for wanting me to be well rounded. Unfortunately, I have never had much interest in sports. Even though they enrolled me in soccer and baseball, I had no interest in playing competitive sports. Maybe my disinterest was because this was around the time I learned I needed corrective lenses. Maybe I lacked confidence and did not feel coordinated. I have never grasped the concept of dribbling a ball. I was constantly penalized for either traveling or double dribbling. Maybe I lacked that competitive spirit, and just enjoyed playing.

My disinterest in sports was not because I was inactive. I was a very active kid and got my exercise in many other ways. I enjoyed playing tag, hide-n-seek, and capture the flag. Even though I could not dribble the ball, I loved playing Horse and Around the World. In the summers, I practically lived in the swimming pool. And, when I wasn’t in the pool, I explored the world around me on my bike. I am more of a couch potato now, but I still enjoy being active. I have even overcome some of my coordination issues by learning how to walk on stilts, bounce on a pogo stick, and juggle.

I believe my lack of a competitive nature boils down to how I generally approach games. For sports, there is a push for excellence. It’s all win, win, WIN! People who follow sports retain the statistics and number of wins. That is not how I play. I do not keep score long term. I enjoy a good game in the moment and how a game is played. I do not track how many times I, or anyone else, wins. I do recall the impressive strategic moments. But, to me, it is more about playing a good game and having fun.

Another difference between sports and games are the conditions of the participants. Sports favors the more elite participants who are athletic. Games are more more available to a general audience. There are some games, like Scrabble and Pictionary, which favor intellect and creativity. Most games, I feel like anyone can pick it up and play it, and the more a person plays, the more exposure to different strategies, and the better they can get without exercising more or without studying or reading more. Most games are tailored to be very accessible.

My beef with games are more about balance. I choose not to play unbalanced games. For more on this, see these blogs about Clue  and Rummy. If a game is not fun, I choose not to play.

The Sports I Want

Touching back on those two articles I mentioned in the opening paragraph, what could be done to improve player equality? Why not restructure sports to be more inclusive and equal? Support more co-ed sports. Support more sports that do not favor strength, intellect, or creativity. Support sports allowing for more well-rounded players who put up a good game.

Finding a sport supporting well-rounded players means looking for more well-rounded games. What games have a decent balance and do not favor the strong, smart, creative folk? What games are more accessible to a wider variety of players? Where do we go for inspiration to find these kinds of sports?

As a couch potato, I suggest looking at TV for inspiration. My wife and I love watching The Amazing Race. There are people from all walks of life on that show. Sometimes, you go into the race thinking the most athletic teams are going to do better. Sure, they might be able to run faster or carry more weight, but often they overlook details or struggle with grasping simple concepts. The more well-rounded teams often perform the best.

The Amazing Race reminds me of the Nickelodeon game shows in the 80s (isn’t there a documentary about these?) or Battle of the Network Stars in the 70s. Teams had a variety of players, and they did both physical and mental activities. What other forms of inspiration?

What about Role Playing Games (RPGs)? RPGs involve more mental and creative activity than physical. There is the Live-Action Role Playing (LARPing) in which players act out their role playing. Before jumping into a campaign, gamers construct a variety of character types to improve their chances of success for anything they may encounter. A campaign would not last nearly as long if all the characters were barbarians or all were wizards. If you don’t think watching people play a role playing game would be interesting, you should check out Geek and Sundry’s Titansgrave campaign run by Wil Wheaton. Or, look up the documentary Uber Goober.

Many years ago, I read an article in Games Magazine about a group who had started a company of Live-Action Puzzle Hunting based off the 80s movie, Midnight Madness. In a way, The Amazing Race reminds me of this type of event. Even more so is the short-lived reality show, The Mole, which Netflix has recently revived. I enjoy The Mole more, because viewers at home can play along by looking for clues and observing the players to figure who they think is the Mole.

What would I suggest?

First, let me stress that I am not suggesting the elimination of the sports we currently enjoy. I am suggesting exploring new, more inclusive sports that most anyone can watch and think, “That looks like fun and something I could do! Where do I sign up?”

One thing I would like to see different than reality shows is getting rid of the weekly eliminations. Allow viewers to root for the same team all the way through a season, hoping to make it into the finals. For reality shows, I often root for certain teams, and then hit a moment of disappointment when a team is eliminated and long to see more from that team, but still watch half-heartedly to the end of the season, because I have invested enough of my time to continue watching to see who does win. If I were to design a game, all teams fight for a place at the end, and then the finale is an elevated version of what those teams had been through. These two teams have proven themselves to be the best two, what happens when they go head-to-head?

I could see the creation and execution being split into two types of seasons. I may not have watched much of them, but I know there are reality shows in which individuals or teams show off their creativity. Imagine a sport with two types of teams: the creators and the competitors. This new sport could have creative teams pitching concepts for what teams could experience in the next season. Teams design and pitch ideas for things like escape rooms, mini golf holes, hide-n-seek venues, puzzles, or other kinds of features experienced over the competitive season. The sport could go on all year long watching both the creation process and the competitive progress for both seasons.

Like The Mole, the experience could be enhanced by including a play-at-home aspect. I suppose there could be something like fantasy football or call-in-with-your-vote. I think it would be more immersive if the presentation of the games does not reveal the answers, but provides the same parts for viewers at home to figure out themselves, or a variation of the same puzzles. As for physical activities, people could post videos of themselves performing similar activities to be ranked by their peers. Maybe even advancing up the at-home leaderboard could help recruit new players.

What is Your Opinion?

The world today has so much potential, but we often hold ourselves back from exploring what more we could do. I am open to changes in the world of sports. Where do you stand on the possibility of reinventing sports? Are you fine with how things are? Or, are you looking for something more? What would you suggest to make the world of sports more equal or inclusive?

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Currently, I have three roadmaps for the Pegamoose Games website. I have developed other roadmaps for my more recent books, which I refer to as IPCs (Indie Publishing Checklists). These checklists are for the entire story publishing process, from outlining an idea to providing a post-production marketing checklist, and every step in between. Essentially, outlines and checklists are forms of roadmaps. They are a series of checkpoints helping navigate to a desired goal.

Why does Pegamoose Games need three roadmaps? Because, one is for the epic journey and the other two are major side-quests. The main roadmap states what to do to help build and run my business, and features for the website to support the business. The other two are for two game engines, which will be key products for the business: one for Peggy (tabletop game engine), and one for Reggie (role playing game engine).

Developing a Roadmap

The first thing to designing a well-crafted roadmap is to hire a really good cartographer and a professional origamist to fold your maps. More jokes. No cartography or folding are necessary when designing a roadmap, but it will require work.

Above, I mentioned IPCs and outlines., because developing a roadmap is similar to outlining a story. They are called roadmaps because it can be like planning an epic journey. You know where you are starting from and you know your destination. Break down that journey to figure out the points of interest along the way.

Two Points

Start with the beginning and end points. What do you currently have? What are you trying to achieve? Where do all the other dots come from to connect the beginning and the end? I suggest as much brainstorming as necessary to start filling in the details. Do not dismiss any ideas, and do not stress over any missing details.

Brainstorming

To kick off the brainstorming, consider the difference between what you already have and what you need. For example, I have a website for Pegamoose Games, but the goal is to allow people to play games online. What do I need? Player accounts? Games to play? Maybe a store to facilitate what games players want to play? Maybe a leaderboard? This is great! Four additional points on the map!

Each of those midpoints may require more granular brainstorming to iron out additional details our journey. We start with the site having no player accounts, and work towards establishing the winner of a game. What happens in between those points? Do not stress over organization during the brainstorming phase. Just get all those ideas out and noted. In fact, you might consider brainstorming onto Post-It notes or index cards for when you do begin organization.

Organizing

We now have ideas all over the place. How should we go about organizing these ideas into something more linear? First, group ideas together into piles that make sense. Let’s take player features as an example. Each player needs and account. Their account most likely will need a profile. We might include password recovery in the event a player cannot log in. Players will friend and block other players. Players have a set of games they have purchased. Players will need a way to invite others to play a game. Some players may have active game sessions. These are all important aspects of the site involving the players, but it is a bit of a mishmash of different things players have or can do. It is messy, but a good start. You might even wonder if Player Accounts belongs with the pile of Player-related ideas or the Access Control-related ideas. Either pile is fine at this point.

Ordering

Now we have vague piles of ideas, grouped by concepts that may overlap with other groups. Start ordering those piles into a logical progression. You may start at the beginning. Typically, I organize better starting with the end and working backwards. Eventually, I will bounce around to help smooth the progression. The end goal is to have players playing online games. Games and Players fall before the end goal. Which is first? We need Games to attract Players to the site. Good. Games is now before Players. But, Players are needed before there can be a Game Session. Ah. This is where logic begins to divide those piles. There is now a new pile for Game Sessions which is after another pile for Game Design. And, a Player Account pile is before the Player Sessions pile. Continue this process enough, and there is general outline as the first draft of a Roadmap. Congratulations! We can finally get this show on the road!

Detours

Adjusting

Once the roadmap has a logical progression between the beginning and the end, it is time to kick off the journey. Start at the beginning to work your way towards the ultimate end goal. Uh oh. Things were going fine, but we have hit a snag!

Like any road trip, keep in mind you may need to deviate from your route. Recalculating and adjusting the roadmap along the way is essential. This is why map systems don’t continue to follow the same route when the driver deviates. It may nag you to get back to where it thinks you should be, but unforeseen things happen and there may be setbacks.

The roadmap is not set in stone and should be referenced and modified as often as necessary. As the project evolves and has setbacks, the roadmap should be edited to accommodate for the evolving landscape. Like the long car trips we had as a kid, we sometimes took detours to visit a corn maze or see the world’s biggest horse shoe. Then, we checked the map and returned to our plotted route. Going off on tangents happens all the time, and is nothing to stress about. Recalculate your route and keep going as best you can.

Documenting

One other thing I recommend is documenting the journey. For development projects, this may be in the form of detailed design docs and work tickets. For writing, this may be keeping a bible of events and characters. Any time you associate adequate documentation while following the roadmap, these details act like the map’s legend, providing key information to reference to help better understand where you are going and why.

There have been times when I do not provide enough details, and I begin to question my design decisions. I may go off on unnecessary tangents or second guess a design, develop a different way, and realize why I settled on the original design.

Other times, I may have provided enough details, but some new factor is introduced which may impact various points on the roadmap. I can refer to all my notes to better decide what is best approach for getting things back on track. Things happen. Refer to the roadmap, make changes where necessary, and keep moving forward.

Driving Blind

This seems like an awful lot of work. Are roadmaps really necessary? For bigger projects, yes, some form of roadmap is necessary. If the project is small enough, you may not need an elaborate roadmap. You may not think you need a roadmap, but even when you microwave a meal, how often do you double check how much time it should be heated? Those microwave instructions are a roadmap in a basic form.

When you progress through the same steps over and over, you may realize you no longer need a roadmap. Just like going to the store each week, you most likely do not need your GPS system, unless there is traffic or construction diverting your memorized route.

I do not need a recipe to make a breakfast scramble. I generally know what to add and when and how long to cook it. But, designing games and self publishing a book is not the same as whipping together a few ingredients into a meal. When necessary, I recommend providing some form of roadmap.

In the writing world, we refer to those who follow roadmaps versus those who do not as Plotters and Pantsers. The Plotters make plans. They take time to create an outline for the story and a checklist to get it published. They adjust their plans based on feedback. The Pantsers, on the other hand, “fly by the seat of their pants”. They make it up as they go. They start a story, throw in some characters, and see what those characters get up to and where the story goes. I do not know how Pantsers do it. Some are good at making it all up as they go along. Not me. I am a definite Plotters. Even this blog started with an idea, evolved into an outline, and became this blog. I even adjusted and edited out bits as I wrote it.

What type of worker are you? Are you a Plotters or a Pantser?

What kind of roadmaps help you with your projects?

The post Roadmapping appeared first on PegamooseG's Blog.

What do the funds pay for?

I will get into fundraising in a bit. First, I would like to explain what funds currently go towards and if I had adequate funding, what I could pay for. Right now, a majority of my upkeep goes towards web hosting and domain registration. The more fancy features required, the more that hosting price drastically increases. For now, I have been running this site on the bare minimum until there is more momentum. It is run on a dual account with my author page on a shared hosting package. It’s not ideal, but is fine while I continue to treat the Big Plans more like a hobby.

I juggle the projects for this site with other projects, like my writing and other web development projects. I would love to have extra funds to hire a developer or two to push things forward faster, but right now, it is just lil ol’ me. It would be incredible to pull in other creative minds and manage the work (which is all designed out in copious notes), but I do not have enough to pay anyone, including myself. Anyone up for an unpaid internship?

Once I do have the digital product ready, I will need to spend a bit to advertise it. I am hoping when this reaches the point to wrangle some beta testers, word-of-mouth will spread. I still believe word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising. If it does catch on, then I won’t need to pay for marketing it (or, at least not as much). One of my dreams is for it to be so popular and so crowded, the system crashes. That sounds bad, but having too many people interested in the product would be a good thing. And, hopefully by then, it would attract a developer who could help fix this good to have problem.

If there is no money currently coming in to fund this project, how in the world has it beenl able to run the “perpetually under construction” message? Good question.

How is Pegamoose Games still running?

When I had worked in the corporate world, I had arranged with my wife to set aside a small percentage of each paycheck to help fund my gaming and writing pursuits. Over time, I had built up a decent sum. Unfortunately, my time away from the corporate world has whittled away that sum. It took a massive hit to help pay for the web development bootcamp I took over the Summer of 2023. On the bright side, it was that same bootcamp that provided a fresh bit of perspective and breathed new life into this project.

I do contribute smaller amounts from a bit of side projects to The Cause when possible. My book sales have kept both the Checkered Scissors and Pegamoose Games sites afloat, but just barely. In time, I will find a decent web development job which will once more fill up the project coffer. First, I need to reimburse myself for what I consider the bootcamp loan.

When this project takes off, I know it will do well enough to at least fund itself. I have various ideas up my sleeve to monetize this project.

What funding methods have I considered?

First of all, once the website is in a happier place, I will provide online sales of the Limited Edition physical copies of Snipe Hunt still sitting in storage. I say “Limited Edition”, because at this point, I have intentions to create a new and improved digitized version of Snipe Hunt. Unless something drastic happens to change my mind, I have zero interest is printing any more physical copies. My Peggy Game Engine is my solution to move away from physical game distribution.

Running ads on my site is a consideration, but one I will handle with caution. For many sites, I find ads really annoying and distracting. I do not go on social media sites as much as I had in the past, because they choke out the people I follow when ads are embedded within the social media feeds. If I do include ads on the site, they will be harmless, static messages more like newspaper ads than flashy billboards.

One consideration I have strongly considered is crowdfunding. I definitely have a strong product I believe in. Unfortunately, I have issues with this idea. First, I know very little about how to prepare and market a crowdfunding campaign. Second, with funds dwindling, I would not be able to hire someone to help prepare such a campaign (unless it is rolled into the amount and they are paid when the goal is met). Any takers?

In the early days of Pegamoose Games, I had set up one of those print-on-demand merchandise stores that could print the flying moose on all sorts of items. I still have a couple of the t-shirts from those days. It brought in a trickle of money back in the day. Plus, wearing those shirts was great advertisement. I have not looked into it, but I imagine there are plenty of such services still in existence.

Once the site is operational, and I have my checklist I’m working towards to make the site “live-worthy”, the site should generate money via virtual game sales and subscriptions. More on this a bit later in the blog.

I do have various avenues of income I have considered. Many of these, I have been inspired by other game companies.

What companies inspire my funding considerations?

James Ernest of Cheapss Games, now running much of the business under Crab Fragment Labs, was the original inspiration for the birth of Pegamoose Games. I loved the brilliance of how Cheapass Games brought down gaming costs by borrowing pieces from other game sets. For Snipe Hunt, I had found a parts manufacturer who could produce piece sets for a very reasonable price.

Although I have not played lately, I have put in many hours of gaming at Kingdom of Loathing. They have a couple of games for sale on Steam, but for many years, the original game was funded by donations (at least, that is what I remember). Players make a donation and receive a perk, like a virtual token, which could be traded in for some very cool in-game items. I have played through the basic game dozens of times, but they keep it fresh with various seasonal challenge paths. I would still love to make a game like Kingdom of Loathing. I have copious notes for a role playing game engine, too.

Another company that “keeps it fresh”, is Epic Games. My son loves Fortnite and who knows how much money he has sunk into the game over the years paying for virtual merchandise. He must have collected hundreds of characters and equipment. This merch is one thing, but I love how the company refreshes the game periodically with different season changes. They had insane turnout for hosting live events and virtual, in-game concerts. Plus, I am impressed by how they have sponsorships with Marvel, DC, Disney, and more.

Perhaps the grandest inspiration is to one day be like Mojang. Even though Microsoft paid an obscene sum of money for Minecraft, millions of people still play the game. All the mods and realms available now in the game, not to mention the merchandise, Microsoft has no doubt made all that money back and more. I do not know what I would do if something like that happened to me, other than pick my jaw up off the floor.

Very nice little list of inspirational game companies. Now, what about Pegamoose Games? You mentioned subscriptions and laid out various money-making ideas. What is your vision for monetizing Pegamoose Games?

Monetizing Vision for Pegamoose Games

At the time of writing this blog, this is how I envision turning Pegamoose Games into a money maker (even if it is just enough to keep the business afloat with a couple of quarters left over to buy me some Ramen). Income will be based upon the multiple layers of access.

Guests:

I welcome anyone to stop by the site to play a few of the solitaire games. I envision this like Wordle, Spelling Bee or any of those quick games to play when you have an idle moment. For the virtual board games, guests can look through the games, explore the pieces, get an idea of what they could play if they sign up. Some active game sessions will be open to spectators, so people can learn how the games are played.

Players:

The next layer are players, who are those who create a free account. Players have opportunities to have extended the amount of play for the same solitaire games, with the exception they may earn points. Collect enough points to trade in for various perks. Players may start multiplayer game session with the board games with other players. Having an active account, they can track various statuses, like winning streaks.

Subscribers:

The more avid players might consider paying for a subscription. They have all the perks of non-subscriber players, but may run concurrent game sessions and may use invite codes to allow (non-player) guests to join game sessions (like Jackbox Games). The best part for subscribers will be access to the Workbench, where subscribers may customize the piece set of any of the games. Or, they will be able to use the workbench to create and share their own game sets.

Other considerations:

If I am to include ads, even the more annoying flashier ones, I would present these at only the Guest and Player levels (another incentive to subscribe).

I am strongly considering game purchases. Players would need to purchase a game before starting a game session. Subscribers would have access to the a library of games with their subscription.

I have time to figure out how to handle other considerations. See? I have Big Plans for this site. But, as I said, I am one small fry developer guy trying to juggle too many ideas on very little money.

The post It’s All Fund and Games appeared first on PegamooseG's Blog.

I have wanted to learn WordPress. Although I did mimic the blog code from my Checkered Scissors author page, I decided to use WordPress to set up a more official  blog for Pegamoose Games.

Also, this is the first post for the revival of Pegamoose Games. A way for me to say, “Hello world! Did you miss me?” In which most people respond with, “Who are you?” while a small group of friends and co-workers say, “Oh yeah. I remember you…vaguely.”

I intend to document my process for developing Peggy, the game engine behind the “new-and-improved” Pegamoose Games. I have big plans and have been making progress towards making those plans come to life. My hope is to be more visible about my development process and thoughts behind my creation(s).

I may also use this blog to talk about my personal gaming experiences: game experiences, game reviews, game theory, game therapy,..I’m not sure about that last one, but definitely something game related.

I look forward to keeping you up to date on more Pegamoosey goodness.

Ta!

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