Dear friends,

first of all, let me briefly intrduce myself. I am Peter Struijf, born and currently living in Holland, although my real life (working in humanitarian aid) has taken me all over the world in the past 12 years. I am also the game designer and self-publisher of "Kraków 1325 AD", which you can find here on Boargamegeek and on its own website, www.krakowgame.com

I just wanted to share a small moment of joy and awe in the life of a game designer/self-publisher. After more than two years of game development (as a pastime outside normal life), I got serious and have spent the last six months fully devoted to publishing the game through my own company, Geode Games. These six months have been full of stress, worries, excitement, turmoil and especially the hard grind of real work.

This week I have been able to view the website, where the printer in Poland has placed the complete print files for the 64 Intrigue Cards, which are the engine of the game. There are two language versions (Dutch and English) and each will be printed in an initial run of 1,000 copies. Since the game also includes a mapboard, lots of wooden and plastic pieces, some special components and a beautiful game box, you can imagine this gamble represents most of our life savings right now .

To open that file and to see all these colourful cards lined up for a print run, each with its own picture hand-drawn and painted by my friend Melchior van Rijn - is an awesome moment of awe. I know and love each of these pictures (and the stories behind them) so dearly and remember every hour and day we put into making them. The idea that someone in Poland only has to push a button and these 2,000 card games roll out at the other end of a large machine is strange and amazing.

I can also tell you that the last four weeks of the process, after we had sent the complete files to the printers, have been some of the most difficult. Deeply frustrating has been our uncertainty about the quality of files we made (we have of course never done this before), about the final date of delivery (which of course shifts in only one direction, away from the viewer) and the possible reaction of "the market" to our wild gamble.

But sitting in front of that screen, filled with 8*8 amazing pieces of art, and knowing whatever comes next, WE MADE IT THIS FAR.....has been a real thrill.

To all my fellow game designers and self-publishers, I can only say: I wish you determination, resolve and a reward like this at the end of it!

Cheers

Peter Struijf
Geode Games

Awesome story, thanks for sharing and good luck!

Note that some stores in NL allow you to sell self-published games. I only know of one (The Joker, Utrecht), but there may be more.

It's a game about Kraków, Poland, being printed in Poland, with versions in 2 languages (English and Dutch), but there's not a Polish version?

"You forgot Poland!"

Anyway, congratulations, sounds like an exciting experience!

Thanks for sharing the story and good luck for the rest of your adventure in game publishing!

Hi Nikku,

with regards to distribution, I actually managed to reach an agreement with a pretty large Dutch boardgames distributor - they will buy 120 copies and should be able to get them into well over 100 (specialised) shops selling games.

This is really great, because several people told me this would not be possible or viable for a self-published game (at quite high unit costs). My returns will be really low on this distribution channel, of course, but the opportunity to get the game "out there" in front of the public (rather than in my cellar!) is magnificent!

Will keep you posted...

Cheers,

Peter
Geode Games

Hi Russ,

believe it or not - a Polish version is under discussion!

There was a great preview & interview published on the Polish Games Fanatic blog (in August and the game really generated some buzz in that country. I hope we will be able to agree and produce a Polish version of the game...which is still beyond my wildest hopes, anyway.

Cheers,

Peter
Geode Games

That's a very nice deal ... it'll get you some nice exposure in the market. Best of luck to you Peter!

Congratulations!

I'm really intrested in seeing your game, will you be showing it at Essen?

Good luck and fingers crossed

Hi Suzan,

yes, I have made an arrangement with Reiver Games (an independent English boardgame producer) for sales and demo actions of my game at Essen. I will be there throughout to meet my "customers" (a real scary word you can imagine!) and see if there's an interest in foreign distribution for the game - and just experience the event of course.

The details of Reiver games' stand at Essen are on my website, under News - I will make sure to bring a few Dutch copies there as well !

Cheers,

Peter
Geode Games

The game looks very interesting - I am definately going to have to take a look at the rules. Until this thread, I had not heard of the game.

Good luck on your release!

I've been to Krakow. It's a beautiful place.
The game looks good and Jack (Reiver Games) is a top bloke.
I wish you all the success you can get with this venture and of course there should be a Polish translation!

It's fascinating to hear a story like this. Thank you for posting it here.

I wish you all the best!

Edit: I took a look at the website and saw one of the Intrigue (correct?) cards from the game. I love the artwork! The text is interesting too.