What has 11 years and a hit TV show done for George R. R. Martin’s next book? Changed it quite a bit, according to a recent interview:
“My stories grow and evolve and change as I write them. I generally know where I am going, sure … the final destinations, the big set pieces, they have been in my head for years … for decades, in the case of ‘A Song of Ice & Fire.’ There are lots of devils in the details, though, and sometimes the ground changes under my feet as the words pour forth.”
This interview coincided perfectly with a great question during Thursday’s live book club for A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide. Someone referenced my general recommendation that newer creators share what they’re working on from early in the process to build a crowd (Brendan McCaskell hooked me on Mythwind by doing this), compared to the level of secrecy for any in-progress Stonemaier product.
The reason has its inception in Charterstone. Back in March of 2017, I announced that I was working on a village-building legacy game. The design wasn’t quite complete, but since I wasn’t using Kickstarter for it, I thought I’d start to loosely discuss the game.
I rather quickly realized that this was a mistake for a number of reasons:
- With the game not 100% done, anything I shared could permanently shape the perception of the game even if it didn’t end up in the final product. This felt limiting in a way that directly impacted my creative process.
- By sharing some aspects of the game, I received a wave of unsolicited public input that made me question if I was making the right choices (opposed to the wealth of well-informed, solicited feedback from playtesters).
- I suddenly felt a huge amount of external pressure to finish the game. I’m grateful that people were eager about the game, but I just wanted to make the best possible version of Charterstone, which takes time. By talking about the game, I’d unwittingly started a countdown timer.
- Charterstone’s retail release wasn’t until late 2017 (there was no preorder), and I started talking about it in March. That’s close to a full year between announcement and release, which is enough time for people to go from excited to impatient to ambivalent. Fortunately it still had a strong release, but the initial enthusiasm had long since waned.
- As soon as I announced the game, distributors and retailers started accepting preorders for it. One of the big reasons I wasn’t using Kickstarter for Charterstone (aside from more directly supporting distributors and retailers) was to not have people paying for something with an uncertain release date far in advance, so to run into the same problem in a different way was quite frustrating.
This all goes to say that when I read the George R. R. Martin interview, it perfectly reinforced my experience with Charterstone (though on a much smaller scale–I understand that Game of Thrones is an exponentially bigger deal than Charterstone). That’s why, aside from the Wingspan Nesting Box, the entire creative and development process for all products since Charterstone have remained a secret until production is complete.
I’ve found this to be particularly helpful for my open-world cooperative game, which I’ve now been working on for 5 years. I’m glad that those are the only words I’ve revealed about the game, as the game has significantly changed and evolved over time, and the core design is still very much in flux. Without any artificial or external pressure to complete the game based on early reveals, I think the game has benefited in big ways from everything I’ve learned from other tabletop open-world games and open-world video games like Elden Ring. I look forward to sharing the game with you when it’s ready in a few years.
Every creator is unique, so the examples mentioned above may not apply to you at all. There are certainly benefits in selectively sharing your work and building excitement for it leading up to launch, just as Gabe Barrett has down for RoboMon. I think it’s mostly just a matter of figuring out how soon is too soon to start revealing key elements (whether its through social media or through a smash-hit TV show on HBO).
What do you think about the impact of early reveals on the creative process?
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22 Comments on “Game of Thrones, My Open-World Game, and External Pressures on the Creative Process”
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As a consumer, I experience a difference between “planned purchases” and “impulse buys”. For cheaper items, being able to put money toward it as soon as it comes to my attention is a big advantage when it comes to making me more likely to buy it – if it’s within my “impulse buy” budget, then making it possible to impulse buy makes a big difference. However, when it comes to more expensive items, and things I care enough about to remember and keep checking in on, having at least a couple of months’ lead time to sort out my budget, makes me much more likely to pick it up during the launch window.
None of which speaks to the impacts on the creative side – it seems like the effect of attempted engagement from eager potential customers is going to vary from creator to creator.
(Sorry if this posts twice — I’m having trouble getting this form to work.)
Before a game’s design has solidified, there’s much downside and little upside to sharing beyond playtesters. You’ve listed the downsides. I’ll add that during design, the art doesn’t yet exist, so there’s very little visual content available to share with the public. As you’ve noted in your book, high-quality visual content greatly helps to compel engagement. The lack of visual content during design therefore greatly limits the potential upside of sharing.
The solidification of a game’s design, with subsequent investment in art, opens up the potential for sharing. The designer can present the game’s mechanics as a fait accompli, which lifts some of the pressure to make changes in response to public feedback. The solidification of the game implies that nothing now presented will eventually disappear, thereby eliminating that potential for public disappointment. And the arrival of art creates the potential for sharing in a way that stimulates interest.
Do you agree that there’s a significant shift in the *potential* upside/downside ratio once art becomes ready?
You did some limited early-art teases with Pendulum. I remember seeing your blurred images and trying to guess what the game was about. I was asking myself: Was it the arrival of your long-sought game based on the Red Rising books? Was it something different? I recall Dusty really getting hooked by the tease, too. And then we had the big reveal, and it was a fun surprise to see it wasn’t Red Rising (yet) but something new.
Would you consider a similar strategy will work with your open-world game, once art becomes available?
I don’t think I’m the only person super interested to know more about the mechanics, theme and appearance.
> For one thing, you did a video back in the day about necessary elements of an ideal Skill Test game. You listed three major elements (player agency, random number generation, and opportunity to mitigate). Now that the design has solidified, I’m eager to learn whether and how these will manifest in your new game.
> Will the game have adventurers on quests, as in many open-world games? If so, are they animals, for all the reasons that you went with animals in the new Libertalia? Will the theme include any high fantasy killing/slaying, as in most tabletop RPGs? How would Stonemaier deliver on such a theme to stay on brand and avoid the “orc/anti-orc racism” that pervades the trope? Now that the theme has solidified, I’m eager to learn about the theme-mechanic integration of the new game.
> Is it going to be another Bosley game that just sucks you into a world of fantasy? Or is it going to be like the Wingspan art, with lifelike detail that makes the fictional world of the game feel like the real world? What’s the special new component, and how does it add to the appearance or experience in a unique way? When art becomes available, I’m eager to know what the world will look like so that I can start visualizing adventures inside it.
I doubt that I’m the only one really interested in this game. And I don’t think the excitement is likely to dull for as long as you have content that you can share every few weeks. After all: I’ve been interested in that Skill Test video literally for years — what’s another year of waiting?
“Do you agree that there’s a significant shift in the *potential* upside/downside ratio once art becomes ready?”
–I’d say there is a shift, but I think the most significant shift is when the game is fully produced.
As noted in the post, nothing has fully solidified: “the core design is still very much in flux.”
I find this very interesting as I thrive on others knowing what I’m working on and possible deadlines. At heart, despite my strong left brain, I’m a performer who loves an audience. It can be an audience of one or 1,000.
Perhaps it’s also a function of what is shared? I tend to theme and art versus specifics on game design. In the past, granular reveals, particularly around mechanics, have been in a playtesting environment.
Creative process is very personal, so the impact on outside scrutiny will also vary widely. In the end your early reveal still led to a strong release, so it seems more about what will give you the best environment to create and design.
I can definitely relate to a lot of what you said here, Nicole. I think the difference for me is that there are many people behind the scenes who know about the project and provide *internal* motivations (team members, artists, playtesters, etc)–I find that very helpful opposed to too-early *external* pressure.
I think it depends on what you, as the creator, want to achieve with the early reveals. If you’re not looking to share the creative process, so not looking for feedback, then I think some teasers will do just fine to get people excited.
Sometimes a teaser can already get you tons of feedback, the Sonic live-action movie is a good example of that, based on the trailer they went and changed the look of Sonic because there was a lot of backlash.
If you’re looking to get feedback, you could share more, but a lot of feedback will be unfocused, afterall you’ll have your group of testers for higher quality feedback so to speak.
On a sidenote, I think the ‘issue’ GRR Martin had to deal with, regarding the Game of Thrones TV series, was that eventually it was out of his hands. It’s as though you would give someone 70% of your game design and just some pointers for the last 30%, but the person you give it to doesn’t really know how to implement those things, so eventually they’ll be in the game, but it won’t be the game you would’ve made.
If unsolicited feedback and suggestions are unhelpful, then keeping things closer to the chest seems like a good idea. We know SM only releases so many new games a year, and that you only work on two games at a time, and thats great for me. Plus your team has set up a submission channel, so people who actually have working prototypes that fit your criteria have an outlet to share their ideas.
Seeing easter eggs in the wild is really cool, and if you have access to those things that can be shared after they happen, that is really fun. I have wingspan at the shop, and I know you have a place where people can share their ideas on upcoming expansions, but Im not chomping at the bit in anticipation for the new stuff. Im still loving exploring all that games we have and working on my own things.
I definitely see what you are talking about though with Space Cowboys. They announced Splendor Duel a while ago, but didnt have anything to say about it even though two of the three tanks of the golden geek award for best podcast are instabuying it. I was excited, but now that the game is still 3 months out after being demoed at GenCon, I have moved from going to buy it – to making my own inspired diy module and moving on to something else. If they had it available for purchase shortly after they announced it, I would have purchased.
As a fan of Unmatched, I feel like Restoration Games may have gone through the same process to a smaller degree. They announced the Marvel sets in like late 2020/early 2021 and they were unfortunately delayed due to Covid. At the same time, fans like myself have probably been impatient waiting, due to the long wait since the announcement. Now, they seem to be more careful and haven’t really even been providing box art till much closer to the expected release date or to retain interest in an upcoming set announced much earlier. Obviously, I’m not from Restoration Games, but seems like a similar process they may be going through with reveals.
I really like the short road from announcement to pre-order.
But on the other hand I also like a road map announcement like the one Marvel Studios did for their phase 5 (and phase 6) slate of movies. It’s just the announcement of titles that already gets me and others excited. And then when the time is right promotion starts full swing prior to release.
Anthony: I enjoy that type of timeline teaser from Marvel too. I think it may help, though, we recognize the names on that timeline. I doubt it would have the same impact for our vague codenames. :)
I agree on the codenames part and at the same time makes me wonder if there would be a difference when using the actual name. It would be just as vague.
But I wouldn’t mind a pre-announcement like
“2019 – Tapestry; my long time take on a civilization game”
“2020 – Pendulum; a worker placement game where time conquers all”
etc etc
But then again like I said, I like the short road to pre-order :)
This really does make sense. When demand is low, the pressure is typically less and there is more room for the creative process with others involved. But as demand increases so do the expectations and pressure induced by all the excitement!
I liked what someone else pointed out during the book study livestream, that the quick delivery of finished quality products has really become a big part of what your company is known for, because it is the exception in the world of board games where we can wait years for crowdfunded projects.
Thanks for the feedback, Jamey!
Thanks Skiler! For a while I thought we might lead the way with this method (for other publishers to try on a regular basis), but I’m also fine with us standing out as the exception to the norm. :)
Agreed. I notice that I’m always very excited for Kickstarter games, for example, but by the time fulfillment happens a year after the fact, the game arrives to my house and I’m much less enthused by it. The music industry shifted from big album rollouts to surprise releases years ago. Actually, I think we’re seeing the pendulum swing back in the other direction now with longer rollouts becoming more common, but I don’t think board gaming is as saturated as music, so the shorter rollouts still work well.
I also recommend against oversharing about your WIP, in any medium from game to novel to piece of furniture, as talking about what a project will be (and receiving interest/positive feedback) can start to give you the same satisfaction as if you’ve actually done the work, which can undermine your motivation to actually do said work.
I wonder if the negatives of early announcement could be mitigating in the way you talk about it, for example including lots of disclaimers, and fully conveying the uncertainty of it all.
That works for anyone who reads from the source, but information very quickly becomes secondhand, and such disclaimers are lost.
True
Very wise! Thanks for detailing your process. I prefer personally to hear about something when it’s already completed. Then I can get excited and hopefully buy it and use it/play it/listen to it/etc within a very short time period, rather than waiting months and months.
For example, I’m much more excited to receive an announcement on a Monday that a brand new album by a favorite band of mine is being released that very week, on Friday, without even hearing any tracks yet. I don’t want the surprise to be spoiled! I like discovering whatever the product is for myself, as a whole, which is generally what the creator intends – rather than getting snippets for months and months until the thing finally releases. Because then at that point I’ve stopped caring.
All this to say, I think you’ve made a wise decision!
Thanks for sharing that example! I’m generally the same way, especially for movies and games.