THIS IS THE STORY OF A GAME


I created this game out of curiosity. Actually I took an online course in game design out of curiosity and did it as an exercise.





The course was a MOOC from Coursera, taught by an illustrator (Frank Ause) with a puppet sidekick.




So at the beginning of the year when the Hand Eye Society





called for entries for their Games X Comics, I sent it as a proposal, not expecting much...






So of course it got chosen! I learned about it checking the e-mail in the middle of a snowstorm, sharing an otherwise empty double-decker bus with a fellow teacher (wondering why I started shouting like a maniac) because the College shut down due to bad weather.


Glee! Followed by the realisation that I would have to change my cute hand-drawn sketch into something a little more professional looking.


So this is what my dining room looked like for the past month.





I created a clean version of the game.

My beautiful assistants test played it and adjusted the game rules accordingly...


Once everyone was happy with it, printed and hand-folded 300 copies of the game.





We braved the inclement elements to trek into the wilds of Toronto to purchased a button machine...





so we could make buttons! They are gorgeous!


Then on to design and print tee-shirts. There are two as you can see: Team Zombie and Team Human. Which side are you on?





So that by the time TCAF starts we will be ready to go. Please come say hi, test play the game, maybe take one with you.

Game and buttons are free. Tee-shirts are for team members only for now but I may put them in my tee-shirt shop if enough people ask.






And that is the story of the little game that could, with illustrations for each step, organisation or individual involved. Even something this simple can involve a lot of outside associations. Doing something for fun involves the same tools and connections to do it professionally. The groundwork is nicely laid out for that.

See you at TCAF!