www.gama.org

It looks like the convention circuit is in full bloom with the GAMA Tradeshow (GTS) just around the corner. If you’re in Las Vegas, please come visit the Bally’s Casino and check out the convention. It’s going to be a very busy show since I’ve got meetings scheduled essentially all week, but it will be nice to see everyone in the industry again.

While the show is hosted by the Game Manufacturers Association, it really is a show for independent hobby retailers … and if you want your games to be carried in showed, it’s a must show convention. Companies that cannot attend consistently are labeled as on the ropes. In fact, many people use your attendance at GTS as a sign of your financial health. For me, it’s a chance to get a lot of business done, make the right connections and hang out with all my friends. See ya at the show!

www.gamestorm.org

I had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Portland, Oregon for the biggest small show I’ve ever attended — GameStorm. I really had a fantastic time while I was there; Mark Santillo and everyone involved with the gaming scene in Portland/Seattle put on a great event!

In this recap, your plucky hero tours a beautiful city during cherry blossom season, is befriended by hackers, plays poker with some real card sharks, pitches several of his prototypes to one of the largest game publisher in the States, speaks as a special guest panelist and is picked up at a strip club.

With so much action packed into one weekend, you won’t want to stop reading the full recap once it’s posted later. But for now, I’ll have to leave you with only this teaser. Yes, I know, my greedy hobbits … it’s not fair to leave with with a cliff-hanger once you’re built up like this. But check back in a bit and you’ll get your daily allowance of drama!

http://wanderinggeek.podbean.com

The Wandering Geek podcast is a great new media show out there for the geeks that are often on the road. Curt does a great job reviewing games and grades them on how well they travel and guess which game made the cut? High School Drama scores big for it’s accessible theme, compact box and high production value.

Curt’s review of HSD is incredibly thorough and should be considered a must-listen to anyone interested in learning about the game. The Wandering Geek does a fantastic job describing the game and walking everyone through the freshman year. Check it out the Game Bag Review Show here!

Also, the HSD Button Men have been hitting the road alongside their board game sibling. Check out what everyone has to say about the new HSD Button Men set on a separate episode of the Wandering Geek Episode 13. I’m having a lot of fun listening to the show, so make sure you add the Wandering Geek to your podcatcher and hear what’s up!

http://www.gamestorm.org/

I love supporting local gaming conventions whenever I can fit them into my convention promotion circuit. Until I have my Shifting Skies Varsity Team (read: mobile demo team) fully established, convention appearances typically mean going to conventions personally. This means a lot of travel for me. And since what we learned in physics about distance over energy squared is true, this means that I used to stay close to the Southwest.

However, when I was personally invited to attend Portland’s premiere gaming convention, GameStorm, I simply had to say yes. Many of my friends in the gaming industry live in the Northwest because Seattle is the cultural Mecca of the hobby world. And to be honest, I miss the Winter season already and could use a good dose of cool GameStorm rain. So, if you’re in the area … please come out and say Hi, play in one of my events and check out my suitcase full of prototypes at ProtoSpiel West!

http://www.idesofgaming.com

Several hundred years ago a military dictator was assassinated to preserve democracy. To commemorate this historic event, my friends at SAGA (the Southern Arizona Gamers Association) and I will be hosting a full day gaming event right here in Tucson.

You will find me running events, hosting the party and celebrating with new and old friends. You are all welcome to come visit me at this mini-convention. Free entrance for a full day gaming pass. Free parking to one of the hippest areas of Tucson. Free drinks AND a prize give away to make even the Caesars blush. I hope to see you at the High School Drama table at this very special anniversary of the Ides of Gaming!!

www.toyfair.com

So, for people who have been following my adventures recently, you already know that President’s Day weekend was quite busy with me traveling from Los Angeles to New York City. To say that the American International Toy Fair is a big show is like saying GenCon is just a local gaming convention. Toy Fair is not just a trade show, it’s the trade show in America to get business done. Toy Fair is where all the biggest buyers congregate to see what’s new in the world of toys and games.

I was there with my fulfillment house, PSI, promoting our wares. It was my first time in New York and I had an amazing time. Despite all the chaos preparing for the show, all the work on the convention floor and the vicious flu bug that was waging open war on the attendees, I really loved being at the center of all the action at the Javits Center. I learned a lot, especially about NYC. But you you’ll have to keep reading to find out this insider information. Read the rest of this entry »

The convention circuit has officially opened with President’s Day weekend and I got a chance to kick-off the promotion circuit in Los Angeles with a local convention that I love supporting, Strategicon.

http://www.strategicon.net/

It was a real honor to help out Paul, Eric, Patric, Vic and all the guys over at Strategicon, but I really was only there Friday night for a couple hours. But that was still long enough for me to run a couple tables of High School Drama, run a mini HSD Button Men Smackdown, test a silly new prototype and get in on some Ticket to Ride. All in all, it was a pretty action-packed Friday night. Read the rest of this entry »

www.toyfair.com

Arguably, the largest show of it’s kind in the United States, Toy Fair is where all the major buyers for large retail stores (like Barnes & Noble, Toys R US, etc.) go to find their games and toys, and I’ll be at the center of it! I’m really excited for Toy Fair this year; trust me when I say that this year’s show is going to be awesome. So if you’re in snowy New York City this weekend, please come visit me at booth #6246.

Yes, I’m in LA Friday and NYC in Saturday. That’s what we call jet-set, baby!

http://www.strategicon.net

The convention circuit is kicking up again and it’s time to hit the road again! And to be perfectly honest, I actually miss the excitement of entertaining at conventions and hanging out with all the friends I’ve made over the past year. It’s a little bit like a travelling circus, but it’s as close to family as we’ve got.

If you’re in the LA area, please come out and visit me Friday night. Come sit in on my Play with the Creator event Friday night at 7pm. I’ve got a new set of buttons to pass around, so come check them out!!

Shifting Skies Games wishes everyone a prosperous New Year!!!

It is traditional for businesses in China to offer prayers on the second day of Chinese New Year for a year of good fortune for their company and employees. I could not think of a better time to kick off my sophomore year as a game industry insider than Chinese New Year. And looking at the production schedule for 2008, I can tell you that it is going to be an outstanding year!

I have been granted the licensing rights to a very  important major motion picture, whose licensing department asked me to develop a full line of games to compliment their property. The official press release has not been announced yet, so all I can do is offer a very tempting teaser. But people who have seen me playtesting one of my strongest prototypes should know what movie license I’m referring to. So, I expect a very big year for Shifting Skies for this Year of the Rat!

But before start moving forwards, I would like to apologize for all the major technical difficulties I’ve been going through over the last month. I know it must be very frustrating for all you devoted fans out there to be cut off from the source without any word or seamingly without any means to contact me. I am sorry for all the technological heartache you’re feeling, trust me when I say I sympathize. For people who prefer the Mayan calendar to the Chinese, you know that the days between the close of one year and the beginning of the new one are seen as being very unlucky. And with 1) my server going down; 2) all my email to start bouncing; 3) my computer breaking down, being rebuilt, only to have a fatal memory error and go into perma-blue screen of death; 4) my cell phone dying on me TWICE and then 5) having my car run into while it was safely parked –  I have to agree that for the first few weeks of January, I have had a technological nightmare.

But like I always say: “Bad luck at the beginning signifies good luck for the remainder.”

… and with the sort of calamitous bad luck I’ve had over the last quarter, this is going to be an AMAZING NEW YEAR!!

Calling all photographers:

Halloween is fast approaching, and I’m sure you’re as excited as I am. For most people, Halloween means two things — costumes and parties! Because you’re actually reading a gaming website blog, chances are fairly high that you’re also a bit of a geek. That means that while you’re with your friends and family celebrating my favorite holiday, you’re probably also playing your favorite games.

I’m looking for two things from the thousands of High School Drama fans out there this holiday season:

#1 Pictures of you dressed as your favorite HSD character!

#2 Pictures of you playing HSD with your friends and family!

The website will be going through some changes in the near future and I’d LOVE to add a community page for all the HSD fans out there. And nothing says community like a bunch of smiling faces grouped together around the table.

I want you to be part of this effort! So, please email me your best, cutest, funniest, sexiest, most phot0shopXor3d pictures you got of you posing with your favorite game — High School Drama! If you’re in a gaming club or convention or even someone with their own blog, I will link directly to your website! The winner of the “Best Damn HSD Costume” will be announced in a future post.

C’mon now, break out those cameras!

www.pulpgamer.com

First off, I have to say that I was genuinely surprised that High School Drama was placed on the review block for Pulp Gamer King’s Court episode 33. It’s true that Jeremiah asked for a copy of HSD (which I happily signed for him), but I just thought it was it was a present. I really had no clue Jeremiah was going to do the review!

I’m sure you all think I put the guys up to the task because we’re friends and I’ve guest starred on their show before, I honestly only just found out about this today — several days after the review was actually recorded and even posted!

www.dicetower.com

If you feel like you’d prefer a more detached expert opinion, please read Tom Vasel’s incredibly well-written review of HSD. Tom Vasel is an icon in writing game reviews, and it’s a real honor to have his words praise my first game design. He says that, “High School Drama is a well-themed game that I think will surprise many gamers with just how good it is.” Please make sure to read his review of HSD by following The Dice Tower link above; and while you’re there, please check out all the other amazing work he does for the gaming community! Read the rest of this entry »

www.homestarrunner.com

If your second favorite band after Driving Your Girlfriend is Sloshy, and you hum the Trogdor song on the way to work, then you already know about the hysterical flash animations that the guys at homestarrunner put out. And if you don’t know about them, you really should follow the link above to see their stuff. But I think my new favorite has to be the Teen Girl Squad.

No, there’s no direct link to Shifting Skies or High School Drama … but you know, sometimes you need a little bit of humor to help take the edge off things. So, enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

To everyone that received an error while trying to send me an email recently, please accept my sincere apology for any inconvenience. There was a small glitch that we missed after the server temporarily went down the other day. Everything should be 5×5 now.

I appreciate your patience.

If you have recently tried emailing me, and you think that your message was bounced during the last few days, please feel free to send me another copy. Again, I’m very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

www.wikipedia.com

I’m still decompressing from the summer convention season and all the crazy stuff going on in my life at this time, so I don’t really have too much to report at the moment. But I did want to take this time to thank all the fans of High School Drama out there. You guys are awesome — all the emails from the fans, the encouragement from players at conventions, all the retailers who support me. There’s no way I could be doing this without you all. Thank you!

Also, I have to give a special shout out to the person (or persons) who created the HSD entry on the community encyclopedia, Wikipedia. No, that wasn’t me shilling my product. I have to imagine that it was one of the many fans out there that wanted to expand the HSD community. Whoever you are, you are the awesome! I’ve noticed that I’m getting some good click-through traffic from Wikipedia to this site and that’s wonderful. Thank you, whoever you are!

Labor Day is the traditional end to summer, and for those in the hobby games industry it also signifies the end to the summer convention circuit. And for those keeping tally of my promotional tour for HSD, you know that I’ve kept my word of doing a convention a month and then some extra for good measure. From January to August, 8 months, I will have brought the good news of HSD to a total of 10 conventions and tens of thousands of people. That’s a lot of travel. While I would like to relish the upcoming moment of peace, I’d actually like to take this time to do something that I normally would never do.

Read the rest of this entry »

www.gencon.com

Now, when Peter Adkison says that he puts on the best four days of gaming, he really means it! Gen Con Indy really is an amazing show, and their 40th anniversary did not let our expectations down. If you follow the link above, make sure to check out the video segment that Geek Squad put out for the show. Obviously, there are a lot of booth babes and people in costume as those tend to look much better on film than a bunch of gamers imagining an abstract role-playing world or analyzing board game positioning. But they do give you a sense of scale as to how many people actually attended the show this year. And when I hear 30-40 thousand people attended, it really did feel like that many were there. It was crazy busy, but I had a blast! To give you a taste of what the show was like for me, here’s just what my Saturday schedule looked like … Read the rest of this entry »

www.gencon.com

Gen Con! Gen Con!! Gen Con!!! The best four days of gaming are upon us and I really hope to see you guys there! I’ll be running the HSD Showcase Showdown to help showcase our new title and grab some new players. I’m also running the Schoolyard Smackdown for Button Men, which is a Button Men tournament open only to student fights (like High School Drama, Lunch Money and Sailor Moon). The winner takes home the World Championship Button Men belt (yes, there’s a real belt!) so that’s going to be a lot of fun.

Make sure to stop by the Pulp Gamer booth #2224 for more details about all the events I’m running, start your HSD Button Men hunt and maybe grab a copy of HSD. While you’re there, make sure to talk to Don, Derek and Jeremiah about all the great stuff they have there at their booth — including their new CDs and those fresh new shot glasses!

www.pulpgamer.com

I am always happy to help my friends in the hobby games industry, so when Don and Derek called me up to fill in the third spot on their highly acclaimed podcast I just had to say yes! I was filling in for their normal commentator,  Jeremiah, as he was away training for the national guard. In fact, I recorded three episodes with them. So, check them all out!

And if you’re not listening to the Pulp Gamer podcast, what’s wrong with you? It’s a fantastic show (and not just because I was invited onto it!) and they would love to add you to their growing number of listeners. Listen live from their website (as I do) or download the shows to your favorite mp3 player.

www.comic-con.org

Most of you already know quite a bit about the International Comics Convention held last week in San Diego, because of the massive media coverage that the “geek prom” has earned. You already know what E! Entertainment, G4 Network and if you’re reading from San Diego, all the local networks have shown you. The mobs of comic book fanboys, the thralls of super collectors and masses of parents with their kids all watching the human zoo of the entertainment industry. In total, I think the numbers were something in the order of 150,000 — the San Diego Convention Center sold out each day — and I was there on the front lines with HSD. I got a chance to meet a lot of great people at the show and made some new fans for the game. Read the rest of this entry »

www.thespiel.net

Can’t stop the signal!

I ran into Stephen and David, the hosts of the wildly popular gaming podcast the Spiel, at Origins last week. And it was my honor to give an interview with them for their Origins show. So, you better make sure your hobbit hands click through to their website and check out all their great shows! Read the rest of this entry »

www.comic-con.org

High School Drama is really starting to get the popular recognition that you all have known from the start … so, you better make sure you come visit me at Comic Con!! Trust me when I say that if you’re anywhere even near San Diego during the last weekend of July, you want to make sure you come down to Comic Con before it sells out. And if anything can sell out the San Diego Convention Center, it’s Comic Con! Read the rest of this entry »

Winding down from the excitement of Origins, so I thought I’d jump online before my flight to give you all a quick recap of the weekend. I know a lot of you are only reading this now to see if we won the Origins Award.

… and the winner is … Munchkin Impossible.

I know many of you may be upset that High School Drama didn’t win in it’s category of best card game of the year. Now I can’t give you specifics into the voting process; however, I’ll say here what our esteemed master of ceremonies, Phil Lacefield, said: “Some of the votes were extremely close and were only decided by a few ballots.”

Was Phil talking about our category or just categories in general? Was HSD, a new game by a freshman designer, really a couple votes shy of beating one of the most successful card games on the market today? It sure makes for a good plot if it were true! But in all honesty, it was a incredible honor even to be mentioned in the same company as Reiner Knizia, James Ernest and Steve Jackson. Those guys really are my gaming idols. Read the rest of this entry »

www.originsgames.com

Yes, we’re up for the Origins Award for Best Card Game … so, you know I’ll be at Origins this week promoting and campaigning for High School Drama! Please make sure to drop by the Shifting Skies games booth (#223) while I’m in Columbus, Ohio.

Pick up your autographed copy of HSD, grab a full set of HSD Button Men and vote for the best non-collectible card game on the market — High School Drama!

www.gametrademagazine.com

Alliance Games, the largest hobby games wholesale distributer for the United States, just put out their June trade magazine issue, Game Trade (the one with the Optimus Prime cover) … and guess who got a featured spot? High School Drama!

To give you a sense of scale, roughly 80% of the retail game stores in America get their merchandise through distribution contracts with Alliance. That’s big! And it’s a real honor to be featured in their “Between the Lines Review” section. I have a very good feeling that we’ll get a lot of great buzz because of it! Read the rest of this entry »