GeekStack is recruiting playtesters for our online trading card game with a science and technology theme. If you're interested, sign up here. Thanks!
Update for TWiSTers Plus Get A Limited Edition GeekStack Card
Posted on | October 1, 2009 | 4 Comments
Since calling in to This Week in Startups on August 14th a lot has happened. The advice given plus the power of Jason’s voice helped me move GeekStack along nicely.
Design contest on 99designs – This was a great success! I got several very good entries and was wowed by the winner. I’ve used the heck out of it since then, putting it on the website, making a t-shirt of it, and printing trading card mockups with business cards on the back. (See the end of this post for more about that).
People – First, I’ve had about 100 people follow me on Twitter since then. (If you’re not already, you should follow me on Twitter here). I had several people email me to talk about working together and several others offering advice and encouragement. I ended up finding a great partner who I’ll talk about in the next section.
At TechCrunch50, I got to meet people that I want to have on cards, and there’s one I’m working with to refine the collaboration process. I also met several investors. All of them loved the idea but wanted to see a demo, so I’ll be getting back to them in a couple months. Besides that, lots of people I talked to loved the idea and were very encouraging, especially the guys from Spawn Labs. (BTW, if you love console video games, keep an eye on Spawn Labs – their product lets you play console games on any internet-connected computer).
I’ve also found a couple people with a gaming background and current game ventures who’ve agreed to be advisors to us on the game aspects.
Partner – of the people that contacted me about working with me on GeekStack, I chose to work with Michael Pavelich, a senior at Illinois State. He’s a total package of web development (Python/Django especially), graphic design, and art skills. Not only that but he knows artists and art students as well as people in Chicago that invest in startups (apparently they do exist!). All of this would be enough but he’s fairly close by, he’s from outside Chicago and comes back frequently so we can meet in person, and he’s working on GeekStack for his senior capstone class so his diploma depends on doing a good job! I couldn’t be more pumped and we’re going to tear it up together.
Project Status
Website – Michael is working on it. The inital version will let you manage your decks, acquire cards, and play against other players. The immediate next feature planned after you can actually get cards and play will be a trading marketplace where you can fill in the holes in your collection and get the most from each pack you buy. So far the registration part works and deck management is under construction. We’re still working on defining the right way to interact with the game engine.
Game Engine – I’m on the fourth rewrite of the game engine and each time the code gets shorter and clearer. The initial launch will include a subset of all card actions that will be eventually available – certain basic actions open up a ton of design space and we want to make sure we get playtesting feedback as soon as possible. We’ll continue to add planned actions and other ideas that come from playtesters and early adopters. If you’ve ever wanted to shape a game in progress, look for the forthcoming “Playtesters Wanted” announcement on Twitter or subscribe to the blog.
Game Design – The game design is open and flexible. I’ve read millions of words (no, really, millions) about game design in general and trading card games specifically, and I’ve studied and played some of the major games so I have a good idea of the design space, pitfalls, and strategies. I also have a couple twists on common patterns that I can’t wait to see how they playtest. We want the game to be as fun as possible so we’re making the game design as easy as possible to modify.
Goodies For People That Read This Far – As a concession to everyone who has persevered through my wordiness, you have your chance to get a free, real life, fake GeekStack card!! Real life because it’s a physical printed card, but fake because it is a mockup that has no relation to how the actual cards will look and can never be used in a real game. Yes, I will mail a free copy of the limited edition John von Neumann GeekStack prototype card/business card to anyone that does the following:
- Write a blog post with your opinion of GeekStack so far OR
- Tweet your opinion of GeekStack so far OR
- Sign up for the mailing list
and email the URL of your blog post/tweet or the email you signed up with along with the mailing address where you’d like me to send your card to peter@geekstack.com.
So that’s it! Progress, People, and Prizes (does anyone know a synonym for alliteration that starts with P?) Thanks to Jason and the This Week In Startups community for your support and enthusiasm!
Comments
4 Responses to “Update for TWiSTers Plus Get A Limited Edition GeekStack Card”
Leave a Reply
October 2nd, 2009 @ 3:10 am
[...] post by GeekStack Blog [...]
October 2nd, 2009 @ 3:38 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kris Ziel. Kris Ziel said: Check out @geekstack http://geekstack.com, great post http://bit.ly/XjZaA #geekstack [...]
October 8th, 2009 @ 8:43 pm
Heard your follow-up call on TWiST. Looks good…is this game like edutainment? E.g. kids learn about prominent science figures while having some fun…
The card art looks good, btw.
October 8th, 2009 @ 9:19 pm
I love the card! I’m impressed and I loved listening to your interview.