TL;DR
I made a plan, but then I deviated from that plan and regretted doing so. Then I deviated from the regret and decided that my bad ideas were—in fact—good ideas.
The Good Bad Ideas
In my last post, I bemoaned, “I have no idea what I’m doing!” and some of y’all came back with, “Yeah, we have no idea what you’re doing, either.” Okay, I hear ya, I hear ya. I’m communicating in shorthand as though everybody lives in my head with me.
What I’m trying to accomplish with The Seahorse & The Hummingbird is… well… too much, frankly. Maybe. It feels like it might be too much, but I’m moving forward anyway. Slowly… but forward.
These are my planned efforts:
- Invent delightfully clever tabletop experiences; games that challenge the mind and lighten the heart.
- Bring those games to life, whether through crowdfunding, pre‑orders, or other financing models.
- Champion other indie creators by helping to develop, publish, or co‑publish their own brilliant games.
- Curate a small indie game marketplace, highlighting small‑press titles that echo the ‘Think Deep & Play Light’ spirit.
- Share these experiences directly with you, via my website and newsletter (that’s a polite way of saying, “Sell a bunch of stuff”).
- Resell established games (purchased wholesale) that capture the same heartwarming, clever gameplay you and I value.
The Bad Part of the Good
I’m going to admit that a lot of these initiatives were spawned by insecurity. Initially, the whole entire plan was to create a li’l ol’ LLC to house my crowdfunding attempt with Rune Rite. That was it. But then, because I didn’t (and don’t) know the first thing about crowdfunding, I started bike-shedding. I’ve been a web developer ever since there was a web to develop, so I went on ahead and built out all of the e-commerce infrastructure before I had anything to sell. I marked time by pretending that the thing I know how to do is the most productive thing to do.
Then Pyrotechnics happened. Then The Book of Wandering happened. Then I had this e-commerce site with three products (two-thirds of which didn’t actually exist). With that, I generated some anxiety to manage. “Oh, no! My website isn’t legitimate enough! People are going to think things about me!” In response, I came up with ways to pad out the site with more products. “I’ll sell my stuff and your stuff and their stuff and that stuff and all the stuff! Okay, now I’m a real and worthy human.”
All nonsense, of course. After about a week, I calmed down and recognized that I was taking actions for the wrong reasons. I re-evaluated. For a while, my next rational plan was to strip it all back down to the essentials.
The good part of the bad
But… after reflecting with a less emotional mindset, I realized that all of those “bad ideas” are… things I want to do. I really like the idea of the ecosystem generated by like-minded games converging from multiple vectors. I like being a creator and a cultivator and a curator and a collector of games that make me feel the ways I like to feel.
Perhaps this approach is unconventional. Perhaps it’s not good business. Perhaps it is absolutely and definitely too much for me to handle. Maybe. I’ll adjust if and when I must. But, for now, I’ve settled on how I want to try.