We're Back! (Almost)

Crossing the Niagara Falls border with snow brush in hand

Good Day Internet!

We missed you! We’re sorry we’ve been gone for far too long. It’s been quite the journey.

Since we last gave a life update over a year ago (oh gosh, how’d that happen?!?) a lot has happened. We’ve moved multiple times, but we finally purchased our own place. Unfortunately, it’s quite the fixer upper and it will be a few months still until we can move in. We also got a new car! But not by choice. On our way to a family wedding in the USA last year we were hit off the road and our car had to be written off. Luckily, no one got hurt, but we did have to walk across the border with a snow brush in hand in the middle of July (by far our easiest border crossing). As a result of losing our car and not having an immediate replacement, Kevin was forced to quit his job, but luckily found work at a toy store that sells board games. Our fall was spent in less than ideal living conditions and therefore our purchase of a fixer upper house. Overall, life has been just a hectic and stressful as ever, but things are looking up...we think.

Although we’ve struggled and have had heavy burdens placed on us, we realize that in many ways we’ve been so lucky to have a core of family and friends who have supported us and helped to carry some of that burden.

What does this have to do with game design? Nothing really. What does it have to do with the blog? A great deal.

We started this blog as a way of helping new designers hone their skills and be successful. To this day that’s still our vision for what the Dancing Giant Games website has to offer, but we’ve been hindered in delivering on that vision by personal circumstances. However, we realize that we soon will have the opportunity to once again help new designers and to pass on some of our knowledge and the goodwill that’s been given to us.

If you follow us on social media, you’ll know that we are planning to start a podcast that in many ways will be a replacement for this blog. Allysha is still determined to post new content when she gets the chance, but for the most part the podcast will be our main media content. The reasons for this is that it’s a medium we’re more comfortable doing together (specifically Kevin) and it will be less demanding on both of us. As for when the podcast will begin to air, that’s all dependent on when our house is finished. Below are a couple of pictures of what we've been working on recently. 

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Currently, we’re working on 8 different episode ideas and have the outline for our first podcast: “What is a Game?” ready to go. Not only that, we’ve already done a test run of that episode and it’s by far the best content we’ve ever done (disclaimer: we may be biased). Regardless we’re very excited for when (not if) the Dancing Giant Games podcast launches!

On to the opportunities!

This summer Kevin will be attending Protospiel Michigan in July, GenCon at the start of August, and ProtoTO at the end of September (unfortunately Allysha has other engagements to take care of during these times). Except for some volunteer work during these conventions, Kevin will have a lot of free time and we’d like to put that time to good use.

We’ve come to recognize from our own experience and those of others that there are many reasons beyond one’s control that can prevent new designers from pursuing their projects. We want to devote some of our time to pass on knowledge, advice, and resources to those who haven’t been given a fair chance by no fault of their own to succeed as designers. We want to do our best to start bridging these gaps and not just help new game designers, but to help there be more new game designers.

If you fit into that category, will be attending any of the above conventions, and would like help with anything game design related Kevin would be happy to put aside a couple hours for you to talk, playtest, advise, or whatever it may be. Send us an e-mail at dancinggiantgames@gmail.com, message us on Twitter at @TheDancingGiant, or on Facebook (Dancing Giant Games) and let us know what convention you’ll be at, when you want to meet (day and time would be lovely), and (only if you’re comfortable talking about it) what you’re struggling with or what you want to discuss.

We hope to hear from you and meet you soon!

Take Care!
Allysha & Kevin