Dearest Patrons,

Game Diego Spring was fun, wasn't it? We had as many people as we ever had, and you may recall this game there:

This was GameFrame! Our board game platform and API we can use to make any square-based game!

Did you play this game?

Did you have fun with this?

Do you want to know how we made it?

Want to know why nobody will be playing it ever again?

Well.

We were commissioned to do this last Fall, and after the event wrapped up in early December, we were asked  by pretty much everybody who knew about this project:

"How did it go?"

The answer took me five months and over nine thousand words to communicate. This is not a DBZ joke. It is literally over nine thousand. 

Dozens of pictures, editing and re-editing for months, and re-visiting some pretty dark places and the most stressful night of my life, plus powerful friends and how NOT to connect 3,456 soldering points.

That's right. I made this whole newsletter JUST to promote this damn blog post. I really think it is that much worth your time. That, or I'm in denial about my sunk cost. Either way, you and I are both too deep in by this point to really go back, so you might as well see what I'm on about. I recommend reading on desktop. You'll see why a few paragraphs in.

Some Smaller Updates

Look, I'm not going to lie to you: Sometimes a call should just be a text. Sometimes a meeting should just be an email. And sometimes an email should just be a short message whispered in your ear as you sit on your couch. But since you've stubbornly disabled location services on your mail reader client, I guess we're going to be doing an email. So don't blame me for the inefficiency, is what I'm saying.

Hear/Say 4 will be at GenCon!

Did you miss Hear/Say 4 last year? Do you wish you could murder your friends with abandon? Well the MegaGame Coalition and Puzzalarium are teaming up to bring Hear/Say 4 to GenCon!

By far our smoothest and most time-efficient MegaGame to date, I am proud to put Hear/Say 4 on my shelf of Best Works, next to The Parlour and The Floor is Lava.

If you have already played Hear/Say 4, I don't strongly recommend you play again, as it will be the same story. But if you had so much fun that you really *really* wanna give it another go though, reach out ahead of time so I can give you a Meta Role or get you on a different faction.

Tickets will be available on GenCon's event ticketing system, which opens May 6th. I'll quietly mention it again soon.

Come and build something!

A bit of a preview for the next newsletter, I want to soft-announce a new experiment:

Do you wish you could build something, but don't have the skills, tools, or workshop to do so? Want to get handier? Is there a broken lamp, fan, or other thing around your house that you want to fix yourself? Come on down for a SparkForge Workshop day! 

On Sunday, April 28th, I will be opening up my prop shop in El Cajon to four guests. For four hours, I will work with each guest one-on-one with their projects, giving advice, tutoring, and helping to make it happen! Admission will be $50 per person, and we'll be in communication ahead of time to find a good project that can be done with the time and tools that we have. No idea what to do? We'll see about a custom project.

I'll be opening slots and formally announcing this to everyone in the next newsletter, but if you want to snag one of the four slots right away, just reply to this email declaring your interest!

Game Diego Summer is Confirmed to be happening!

Expect it on a weekend in August, this time with another Premium MegaGame! (or other big game.) Last time I asked about a premium game, people were into a short escape room the most, and when I asked about a MegaGame, they were into a supernatural cruise ship. But that was awhile ago! And I want to see if the sentiment has changed. 

Thank you for your continued attention. I pledge to continue to abuse it for financial gain and for personal status!

Or was that "deliver value to our clients?" I forget which.