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A Maker Approach to Games: Pijin, Portland Makerfaire 2014
- 1. A Maker-Approach to Creating and Manufacturing Tabletop (Word) Games TRAVIS FELDMAN! OMSI - Portland Mini-Maker Faire! September 14, 2014
- 4. THE PROCESS OF MAKING PIJIN: • DEVELOPED IN 12 MONTHS! ! • THREE MAJOR ITERATIONS!
- 5. GUIDING IDEAS: 1. YOUR EXPERIENCE MATTERS - “Spell What You Hear”! ! 2. THERE ARE NO “EXPERTS” - No Official or External Word Lists - Players Assess Each Move as a Group! ! 3. NO CHEAP STUFF - Use Good Quality, Aesthetically Pleasing Materials for Game Pieces (Bamboo)! ! 4. MODULAR SYSTEM - Encourage and Build into Game Openness, Variants & Expansions
- 6. As I developed! the game, I learned new things, including creative ways of working rapidly with the IPA chart.
- 7. I took a maker’s or hacker’s approach:! ! learn what is needed as it is needed & creatively assimilate found materials. ! ! For instance, I made this ! Table of Elements.
- 8. We spent months playtesting. Wine, it turns out, often improves the experience of phonetic spelling.
- 9. By January 2014, I had arrived at a “working prototype”! complete gameset, with graphics and branding!
- 10. In November and December 2013, I used TaoBao, Alibaba, ThomasNet, Amazon and Google searches to find different suppliers for each part of the game.! ! ! By January I had explored many manufacturing options, I procured estimates for the costs of making the game using several different methods or manufacturers. ! ! ! At the end of January, I shot tons of photos, made a video, and was ready to raise the funds needed to make the game. November December January February
- 12. THE GROWING BOARD GAMES MARKET: Sales at retail game and hobby stores have risen 15-20% for each of the last three years (ICV2.COM) Amazon says board game sales increased by double digits from 2012 to 2013* On Kickstarter, the amount raised for board game projects surpassed the amount raised for video games last year, ! $52.1 million to $45.3 million * *NYTimes, May 6, 2014
- 13. So… on February 10, I launched on Kickstarter -! Pijin: The Spelling Game of the Spoken Word
- 14. Kickstarter backers were ! interested in many facets! of the game, including! the materials and construction! of the grab bag.
- 15. One project Update included close-up! photos of the bag…
- 16. …and this “How To” description for making a grab bag from recycled materials.
- 17. I also shared details of tile distribution, and algorithms used for creating the 144 unique, double-sided tiles.
- 19. THE KICKSTARTER WAS SUCCESSFUL.! ! NEXT I ORDERED! FROM MANUFACTURERS! AROUND THE WORLD… Tiles: Made in China! ! Cards: Made in India! ! Everything Else: Made in USA
- 20. When the manufactured parts of the game arrived, ! about two months after orders were placed, ! I asked friends to help me assemble and box games! for shipment -! one night in June, we put together 200 game sets !
- 24. TOWER OF BABEL!! ! 200 PIJIN GAMES! READY TO SHIP
- 25. MY APPROACH TO MAKING! PIJIN! WAS! ! PROBLEM BASED! COLLABORATIVE! DEMOCRATIC! MULTI-DISCIPLINARY
- 26. when you… LEARN THINK DO
- 27. MANUFACTURING! IS HIGHLY EXPLORATORY! ! ! BE PREPARED! TO EXPAND YOUR AWARENESS, ! THINK LIKE: A DESIGNER! ! A PROGRAMMER! ! A MARKETER! ! AN ENTREPRENEUR
- 28. AS FOR PIJIN… ! REWARDS HAVE SHIPPED,! ! PRE-ORDERS FULFILLED, SO WHAT’S NEXT?
- 29. PIJIN ON AMAZON
- 31. LET’S PLAY!