Inspiration to get your game in front of people
“There are these times when you convince yourself that maybe you don’t need the other players, and you’ve got some idea that is so brilliant and good that if you can just articulate it, the players will show up. And those are moments, I think, of profound failure of imagination. It’s a failure to recognize the importance of players. The fact that the thing you’re making, the game, it isn’t really a thing that you’re making by yourself, it only comes into existence when it’s sat at a table and when it’s activated through play.”
Cole Wehrle, Decision Space podcast Episode 266
I felt inspired (and a little called out) by this quote. It’s a great reminder that all of our amazing ideas we keep shuffling and refining in our head aren’t worth much until we get them on the table and see how they resonate with players. I can’t count the number of ideas I’ve polished for hours only to find out the whole concept was flawed or unfun.
I see a bunch of posts here along the lines of “I’ve spent 6 years perfecting my game, how do I get it published, oh yeah and should I playtest it first?” I figure most of those folks aren’t reading a lot on the subreddit anyways, but if that particular straw man sounds like you, this is your reminder to stop worrying about copyright or NDAs or commissioning artwork and start getting your game on the table with as many people as you can.