New Games for a New Year
Well, New to Other People, Anyway
Hey there, happy new year!
I mentioned in a previous letter that I wasn't really doing active TTRPG development right now. However, I've done a lot of it in the past and the new year seemed like a good time to remind people of that. To remind me of the road I've taken to get where I am.
So, over on Bluesky, I've been doing daily threads about the games I've written, in order of publication.
Iron Edda: War of Metal and Bone
Those links will take you to the first post of each thread. I'm pretty sure that Bluesky will let you read those without an account now, so please go check them out if you'd like to. Each one takes a look at the game, how and why I made it, and the context within which I did so.
It's been very good for me to go through my creative history like this. I've had plenty of highs and plenty of lows. In times of stress or hardship, it's been really difficult to see anything but the lows. Mistakes, over-reaching, etc. But I have a lot more perspective now. Looking back and honestly exploring what I did, good and bad, has been the start of a long-needed healing process.
It's been very easy for me to get caught up in what I'm calling Main Character Energy. Me thinking that I need to have my games become commercially successful and that the success of others was something to envy. I tried to mitigate those feelings in the moment, but it never felt like I was able to inside. This all ties back to the previous letter where I talked about wanting to create for myself rather than creating for the market.
For a long time, these thoughts and feelings have been a big, mostly negative, mess. Untangling that mess is a good thing and I'm really glad I'm doing it.
Of Games and Craters
Every one of the titles I'm talking about in these threads is on sale right now. It's always helpful to have some extra money, so I figured putting them on sale while I talk about them would be a solid move.
It hasn't gone like I've expected. Before I go into why, here's the link to the itch.io store. Also DriveThruRPG.
In the week that I've been doing these threads, I've sold one copy of one game on DriveThru. None on itch. On itch, I've also seen no appreciable increase in views on the game pages. I'm a similar vein, I've gotten a very small response to a recent attempt to sell some Magic cards.
Visibility has long been an issue for independent artists. Doesn't matter what you create, getting eyes on it is a challenge. Right now, it's worse than I've ever seen. Every major social media platform has been enshittified to the point that being on them takes more than it gives. I've moved from Twitter (I refuse to call it the other name) to Bluesky, but I posted my Magic card sale on Twitter because there are a lot of Magic folks still there.
I have 5,391 followers on Twitter, as of this writing. How many people saw my sale post?
154.
Unless you pay for Twitter Blue, the algorithm surpresses your post. Or if you include an outside link in your post. These platforms want you to not leave them, for anything. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, they're all moving to squeeze whatever they can out of the people who use it.
Bluesky is my main social platform now, but it remains small. It also has no algorithm at all, no finger on the scale to adjust what you see or not. But that means if people aren't replying to your posts or re-postong them, it's a small number of views, too.
Twitter used to be my primary promotion platform. When I would run a Kickstarter, 30-ish percent of my backing would come from Twitter links. I don't think it would be that way any longer.
It's not just sales numbers, though, it's connection. There are always people you lose touch with when a major platform fractures. This boom-and-bust cycle isn't a new thing. However, Twitter was a place for real-time news. A place to organize. A place for grassroots movements. It was a major source of connection for me and it makes me very sad that it's functionally gone. Posting there is very nearly shouting into the void again.
Billionaires exercise their capricious whims and leave smoking craters behind them. Still pretty sure that capitalism was a mistake.
The Value of Connection
To end this on a positive note, I'm going to share a little about a lovely family Christmas we had yesterday.
I'm one of three children. We can all get together only a new times a year because of distance and individual family obligations. Yesterday, me, my wife, and kids were able to go to my folks' place and hang out with my two sisters and their families. My family is good. We've had our share of interpersonal issues over the years, but as we've all gotten older, we've each become better at discussing and resolving things.
Yesterday was awesome. It was fun, joyful, and exactly what I would hope a family gathering would be. I think that these kinds of things are going to become more common as the years go on. That's my hope, anyway.
It's good to be reminded where you come from and to rebuild relationships where things had gotten brittle or broken. To remember that there are people who have always loved you for who you are, even if you'd forgotten that.
That's a pretty good way to usher in a new year. I hope anyone reading this, I hope you get some of that for yourself in these early days of a new calendar.
See you next time,
Tracy