Once Upon a Game

Michael Kindred

Description

How do you get an idea for a game? What's involved in developing it and making an initial prototype? How important is play-testing, and whom do you involve in that process? What are the tips for writing rules? How do you go about trying to get your idea onto the marketplace? What are the important parts of a contract?This book won't provide all the answers, but it will give you an insight into the fascinating, and sometimes frustrating world of games inventing based on Michael's 55 years of experience of the successes and failures; the laughter and tears, the delight and the boredom. Along the way he met his wonderful wife, Maggie, and had a child who loves games - what a surprise! And worked with some great friends and colleagues. For about 30 years, Maggie and Michael and some of these people shared in the writing of books, mainly ones to do with groupwork, communication, teamwork and social care. You will also find out about a collaboration which saw a couple of books about cryptic crosswords launched.Book reviews online @ www.publishedbestsellers.com

Sujets

• Informatique
• Board game

Informations

• Publié par: Pneuma Springs Publishing
• Date de parution: 30 mai 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781782282907
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Once Upon a Game
My precarious career as a games inventor!






Michael Kindred
Copyright
First Published in 2013 by Pneuma Springs Publishing
Once Upon a Game... my precarious career as a games inventor!
Copyright © 2013 Michael Kindred
Michael Kindred has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this Work
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Mobi eISBN: 9781782282822 ePub eISBN: 9781782282907 PDF eBook eISBN: 9781782282983 Paperback ISBN: 9781782282686
Pneuma Springs Publishing E: [e-mail] W: www.pneumasprings.co.uk
Published in the United Kingdom. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher.
Dedication

To my wife Maggie, our daughter Cath, John, Norman, Malcolm, Marion, Derrick and Richard.
Acknowledgement
Thank you to all at Pneuma Springs Publishing for their encouragement and patient feedback.
Contents

Foreword
Introduction

Game on
A welcome interruption
How it all began
A motley collection!
My parents' creativity
Naive ideas
The move to Nottingham
Cubex Playing Cards
Stuff about contracts
The beginnings of the Quiz Card idea
Wordsworth, Pieces of Nine and Four Sight
Hot Dog

Some progress
The writing of rules
Joan Marson
Meeting Malcolm
The Quiz Cards washing machine!
Alcohol – What do you know? and Drugs – What do you know?
Industrial Relations
The meeting with Waddingtons re Quiz Cards
Keeping records
John Harris-Douglas and Southwell Diocesan Education Team
An idea for a game for CO-OP cereal packets
Meeting Maggie
Marriage
The Quiz Card syndrome
Wrangler 'Heritage' Quiz Card Game
Shredded Wheat promotion of Quiz Cards
Play the Quiz Quest, Master the Quiz Quest, Quiz Quest Challenge
Work or What? – A study kit on work, employment and redundancy
Consultancy work for other quiz games
Distorted expectations
When the cheque's on the mat!

Building up a track record
The ‘My Word tricycle’
Looking a gift horse in the mouth?
Dial Away
Game, Set and Match
Jailbreak
Odd One Out
'Making the Most Of' – Yorkshire TV
Malcolm blows his own trumpet!
Playmates
Group Leaders' Course and Once upon a group
Meet Me in Malaysia
Animal Tracks
Caesar's Game
Pair Up Puzzle – People and Pair Up Puzzle – Animals
Word Race Game
Wordsearch
Playing games at school with infants and juniors
Round a table
Tea towel: Rule of the Road
Make-a-Snake
Quiz Quest Computer Game
Super Cluedo Challenge
Waiting time before a presentation meeting
Old Macdonald
Beeline
Manhunt which became Cops'n'Robbers
Rally
The Bewitched years
How the trade seemed to progress concerning orders
'Shelf life'
Odds On
Using an agent
Snuggly Bugs
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Cat Burglar
Sherlock Holmes & Co
Ghostly Galleon

Ups and downs
Those that fell by the wayside
Feedback
Columbus
ONE - An enlightening and non-competitive game for Christians..
Qi – THE QUEST
Cryptic Crosswords and how to solve them
Consultancy work on crosswords
Radio Nottingham interview
XWD – A Dictionary of Crossword Abbreviations
Countdown
Media coverage
Another lean time
Hearing the Voice of People with Dementia
4M Publications

Semi-retirement – or not?
Moving experiences!
Part-time in France, then full-time
The move to Eymet
A Workbook for developing the local church
Malcolm has to pull out of our collaboration partially, then finally.
Quiz Quest on Tobacco
Quiz Quest on Alcohol

The future…
A brief look at creativity
The ethics of games inventing and writing
Making prototypes
"I've had an idea for a game"
Some further bits of advice for would-be games inventors and authors
Play-testing
Advice on trying to land a game
What now?

A game for you to make
Foreword
Rather than write this book in chapters I felt that the best format for an account of my wanderings through my successes and failures would be to describe individual games and books where possible - roughly in chronological order, interspersed with events, experiences, advice and information, and these are grouped into appropriate sections.
The never-failing love and support of my wife Maggie and our daughter Cath, enabled me to survive the various 'downs' that can accompany creativity, and so to celebrate the 'ups'. I treasure so many happy memories of our times together.
Sadly, Malcolm died while I was writing this book. He was my great friend and colleague for 35 years and there is no way that this story of the games, books and educational material we had marketed would have seen the light of day without his creative input and encouragement. With him I enjoyed endless collaborations, coped with many disappointments and rejections, survived various awkward moments, shared many laughs and a few tears, met some celebrities, plumbed the depths, and experienced a satisfactory number of highs.
I remember Marion being very witty and creative when she, Malcolm, Maggie and I were discussing setting up our publishing venture. She was a saint in her love and care for Malcolm during his protracted terminal illness.
John and his family made a most important contribution to my career as a games inventor and author, as they introduced me to Maggie! Also, I appreciated very much working with him on some training events and on one of the books described later.
I had a very interesting time working with Norman on a book which took a novel approach to helping people to learn.
The collaboration with Eric was a great chance to learn more about major problems in society, and Malcolm was in on the project as well.
Derrick was, and still is, a valued friend in the pursuit of our joint interest in cryptic crosswords. We have had many laughs together in devising themes, grids and clues, and in the dissection of the English language, which is necessary for the setting of crosswords. We had two books about cryptic crosswords published – long may such collaboration continue.
Working with Richard was an intriguing experience of collaborating on a project by e-mail and phone without meeting until afterwards. We produced a training workbook, where he provided the text and I devised some pin-person drawings to accompany it.
In writing this book, I came to realise that I have worked with a lot of people whose help I have valued greatly. I hope that those I have missed out will forgive me as they were too numerous to mention. I tried to contact all whom I have mentioned, to make sure that they were happy with what I had written about them, but in one or two cases I didn't succeed.
Introduction
Have you ever wondered, when playing a game with friends, who thought of that idea, how did they get it accepted, did the inventor make his/her fortune and what processes were involved from conception to appearance on the retailers' shelves?
Or perhaps you have had an idea for a game yourself and wondered if a manufacturer would take it on board – no pun intended! But how would you go about the whole business?
We hope that what follows will give you a glimpse into the world of games inventing based on my 55 years experience. On the occasions I have used 'we' throughout the book, I have tried to make it clear who the other person or persons were – I hope I have succeeded.
Part of this book traces the story of how Malcolm and I hoped to invent the next Monopoly, Cluedo or Scrabble, and how we didn't get there, but devised a lot of other games on the way. It may be that some of the ideas we describe will start you off on your own train of thought, and who knows, you may become a games inventor yourself!
Now an aside. If you do try to invent games, one vital aspect is testing out your ideas. The term which seems to be common in the trade is 'play-testing' – or is it 'playtesting' – or even 'play testing'? How can I possibly proofread this book correctly if I don't know? Maggie, who is a few feet away from me tapping away on her laptop is having a wry smile to herself as her obsessional husband dives for three dictionaries and thumbs away – he can find none of the three versions in any of them and gives up.
How we edged into writing books shows how creativity often runs over into other areas of life. We haven't yet merited the accolade of 'No 1 Bestseller!' blazoned across the front of any, but who knows, one day...
If you wish to see photos of the games and more details of the books, please look on our regularly updated website: www.kindredgamesandbooks.co.uk
We didn't get rich, the wolf came a bit close to the door occasionally, but we had some celebrations. All in all, a very worthwhile journey, which is still continuing. Watch this space…

Important note re the copyright situation for our games and books.
Although the majority of our games, and a few of our books, are no longer on the market, we hold the copyright on most of them. If any games manufacturers or book publishers would like to explore the possibility of revamping and relaunching any of the products, we would be happy to discuss the current situation. Please contact us via our website.
Game on...
A welcome interruption
"Phone for you, Michael." The receptionist's voice echoed up the stairs at the offices where I worked as a finance assistant in the early 70s.
"Who is it?"
"I think he said Invicta."
My heart leapt. About a month previously I had visited the firm's offices and demonstrated four games ideas to the Product Director. If he were simply rejecting the ideas, surely a letter with a parcel returning the prototypes would have been sufficient. Perhaps he was interested in at least one of them. So was this the breakthrough I'd