One of our top comments made about our game is, “It breaks the ice in a dorky way.” In fact, we loved this comment so much that we put it on the cover of our beta back. It’s something that expresses one of my favourite parts of our game, or of any game rather, and that’s the social element.

For example, yesterday we went to the Brouwerij ‘t Ij again to play our game. What started off as a game to be played among our group of 4 quickly expanded into a full group of 7 as our usual Drmunk antics caught the eye of another table. BaRPG thus escalated into it’s usual chaos.

Admittedly this meant that our game was lagged a bit by little bursts of distraction as strangers met with strangers. Moreso as more people came to join us. Soon enough the numbers became way more than our little game could handle. Not exactly the way we expected the night to go, but hey, the more the merrier.  

By the time we did eventually have a winner, everyone seemed to be getting along quite nicely. Of course after the brewery closed we decided to keep the vibe positive with some burrito followed by a Beerio-Kart party at our place.  Who knew that one little game could result in us hosting a spontaneous house party on a usually quiet Tuesday night.

However,  it’s not just about the people you meet while playing any game, but rather, it’s also about the deeper social network you can find while developing a game as well.

This brings me to our next story. Last weekend marked the official release of Revenge of the Dictators. To celebrate this developers Black Box Adventures hosted a party in Sittard, Limburg on Sunday and had invited BaRPG to come along.

I’m very grateful for the opportunity to participate in this event as it gave me the chance to meet a lot of other developers – developers I will be talking to again this Thursday at Spiel in Essen.

After the event, Black Box Adventures invited us out for drinks at their local pub. It was good to chat with them and even better to be given the opportunity to pick their brains. We were very grateful to  any advice they could offer, and offer they did.

In reflection, this proves just how kind the game developing community is. I think for most of us, game developing is a hobby and so it isn’t really about the prospective business as much as it is about creating. This generates a really open air when it comes to talking with other developers, who’ve experienced a similar story and who are for the most part are excited to see others succeed.   In thinking of business I’m reminded of 80’s villains who manipulate their way to the top – but that’s just not the way it is here in game-dev world.

Anyways, as I mentioned before our next big target is Spiel, where we will be spectating but not fully participating, since we don’t have a booth. This is good because it gives us the chance to mingle around a bit without fully worrying about BaRPG. Quite honestly, I’m looking forward to the people I will get the chance to meet.

Till then, keep questing you fine BaRPG’ers

Phil & Johno