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Barrie Game Exchange 2019
Give credit where credit is due
First off, I’d like to send a big THANK YOU to Barrie Game Exchange (BGE) for putting on another outstanding show. My first time visiting this amazing event was when I exhibited back in fall of 2018. I’ve seen and heard about it for years but never thought it was going to be anything more than a game swap. Boy was I wrong.
I’d also like to thank the board and video gaming community for coming out and supporting such an awesome show, the various vendors (like me) and giving Barrie something unique to celebrate 2x a year. Yes! You heard correct. This show happens twice a year. One in Spring, the other in Autumn.
What’s new with ADLi
Traffic was slow for me at BGE 2019, and I know a large part of that has to do with the fact that I don’t have any industry recognized media or merch. At a glance I’m just some guy with a Go/Checkers looking game and a bunch of words on cards. The thing I’ve come to accept with the 20+ years of game and fan conventions (on both sides of the table) is that a glance is all it takes. In that moment, can I capture an interest. It’s either provide something people have seen and love, or something so abstract they can’t help but take a closer look. I don’t offer neither so that is my challenge.
The show itself offers a lot. The vendors there range from full on games shops to collectors unloading stuff from their basements. The amount of people I saw selling game manuals, game cases (no games included) and empty console boxes was insane. Yes. People buy empty boxes for retro consoles. It’s a thing. That’s all on the video game side of things. There were also retro and vintage collectors hawking their old board games, clocks, electronics, dishware (I know) and anything else the geek culture would find fascinating.
On my end, as an indie designer with unique unknown games, I’ve been surprised at the general interest I’ve received. Yes, it’s primarily a video game swap but there are a lot, and I mean a LOT, of tabletop enthusiasts who visit these shows. Games are games and I believe I’m in the right place. Providing a more general interest in merch is my current goal for 2019. Some of those items include more novelty ideas like custom coaster, shot glasses, vinyl stickers, better keychains, wearables/jewellery and more. Keeping them in the realm of tabletop or maybe expanding into the video games may help get more bodies to the table. Then I can hook them on the wonders that are StormGate and Word•a•Bout.
There are more conventions to come this year and I can’t wait to get behind the table again. BGE 2019 is a refresher every year. The next big show is the CottageCountryComicon (CCC) in Orillia on May 19. For more info check out their site. Below is a little gallery showing some of wares created for the show. Here’s to a successful and delightful 2019 season. Check out more social posts at my Facebook page and Instagram (@adlinteractive). OH! And keep an eye out for PostPlay Novelties. I’m finally getting into the accessories and merch game with up-cycled and tabletop inspired goods.
Welcome to 2019
The Convention Scene
Thinking back on last year’s events, outings and sessions, I really didn’t do much. The 2017 convention in Orillia was amazing. There were small hiccups but nothing show stopping. There was even time to take a few pictures. Now, there aren’t many as I was working my table more than working the lens. The organizers are doing it again this year because this one was so successful. I was so jazzed after the show that on my way home I had a few nice things to share. We, Kurtis, Dean and I, registered for tables again. That time it was a 2 day con and it’s in June. [added: May 21] For more on that check out the deets. Going into 2019 there is a lot more going on than just CottageCountryComicon. I am attempting to register for the Spring edition of the Barrie Game Exchange, aid a good friend of mine at Anime North, do CottageCountryComicon again, maybe hit up a few small cons as visitors, and then close out the year with another small con exhibition just North of me. Who knows. I may actually sell out of the current stock of StormGate and Word•a•Bout I have floating around. This years comic scene is going to be met with caution though. I’m still in the hobby business phase of this board game design thing, so no need to break the bank. I just love the scene and being with the gaming community.
Game Design
Working through the holiday season was a blast. Well, mostly because of the free time. I normally take the 26th Dec. through to the 2nd Jan. It’s the best to time just turn off and not give an eff. I figured I’d have all the time in the world to work on games. WRONG!!! I was mostly lounging and filling my belly with food and drink. I did dabble in a bit of game refinement but never got through anything substantial. Kinda sucks because I was so looking forward to that time and I ended of faffing around. Oh well. I guess we all need rest once in a while. The last thing I posted in 2017 for dev was game concepts I was working on in Oct. That was it. I assure you I’m working on things, but I don’t have anything I’m confident in sharing quite yet. That may change next month.
Renovation Nation
The year end holidays saw me working mostly in my basement. Renovation season is 365 and I know this better than most. I’ve been in perpetual renovations since 2013 and somehow I don’t feel any closer to the end of it all. When one thing’s done, one more pops up in its place. Have you ever heard of someone say they’re tired of learning? Well, I got there a couple times since 2013 and it’s a terrible feeling. Like letting go of the rope that tethers your hopes and dreams, allow them to disappear into the void like an echo on the wind. Spacing them out is the key. Either way, they are not conducive to me working on my passion hobby. I’m sure some of you can relate.
Other than that it’s been the same old grind. Nothing new, Stew. I just look forward to coming home after work, clearing my inbox, browse a couple art community posts, eat dinner and then hit the sack. It’s so hard to stay motivated all the time but when that motivation turns to obsession and ruins your nights – a couple 4am stints and an all-nighter will kill most people. I used to be a nighthawk. High school saw a couple memorable 36 hour runs. I think there was a 40 and a 48+ hour moment in there as well. Not healthy for the mind or body. When you start to hallucinate midgets playing soccer, or a fat lady getting hit by a bus, or black birds swarming around you throughout the day, you might as well call it.
Now in my older years, one 24+ hour run ruins me for the next 3-4 days. But when you’re working on something you absolutely love (or watching something you absolutely love) it’s hard to stop. No more Netflix or CrunchyRoll marathons for me. Everything in due time. Just like my game designs, a theory I promised myself to put into practice. Well, some of the time.
Build your own TCG 4 – Printing
In Part 4 of the Build your own TCG series, I’ve decided to add on some finishing options. In this day and age it’s now possible to run a complete production in your own home. You can print at home, and not just movie tickets, vouchers, or grocery coupons, but full quality high finish prints and documents. As always you have your local print shop for those on the go. If tools aren’t readily accessible, achieve that professional glossy look and feel for a price with Print-On-Demand services.
There are many print shops who are willing to print custom playing cards but they may want to run you a minimum of 250 pieces. Promotional imprinters, or Print-On-Demand (POD) offer services per deck. There are more and more of these type of printers available on the web now than a decade ago, but you obviously save if you bulk order more than 10. That usually means if you’re trying to maximize your investment you’ll have to agree and pay upwards of 100 pcs (1 deck = 1 pc) of your card game. With so many options to choose from what determines your course of action? Well, that’s pretty simple when you narrow it down to a few things; Quantity vs. Quality, Margin, and Accessibility. My suggestion would be to start small, invest wisely and opt for quality first. Shop around. Have sample kits sent to give you an idea of the materials and print quality. This will be your first impression and your final product, so make it count.
Printing at home
There are many things to consider when printing at home. Great news is most of the prep can be carried over to setup for profession printing which goes back to my first post about publishing tools. Assuming you want to have your stuff professionally printed at some point, best set up your files so you are print-ready for the big day. This will alleviate several hurdles in the future.
File setup
There are a few varying ways to do this, and depending on the printer you’re working with you may have to modify your print settings; colour, grain, saturation, etc. But all printers require the same formatting setup for your files – 300 dpi, quarter inch bleed and at least an 8th inch safety margin.
Printing
If you have specific type of paper or your printer can support a heavier stock of paper, use it. Full colour, vibrant artwork will need a good paper to transfer that impact onto. Especially if using an Ink Jet printer.
Cutting & mounting
Printing to colour copy paper adhearing it to card stock. Many ways to go about this. Either using scissors or hobby knife, or you can use a rotary cutter or guillotine. Once the cards are printed, mounted and cut, sleeving them is the next best thing.
Sealing/Sleeving
If you’re not producing artwork directly to a finished card stock, sleeves are imperative to protecting your work as much as it is for shuffling. Nothing says trading card like sleeves. Simply head down to your local game shop or search the web for “card sleeves”. You can also flip open Amazon or Ebay to narrow your online sleeve search. Trading card sleeves come in all different sizes and colours so be mindful. Choose the ones that work for you or that are common among the type of games your TCG falls inline with. You’re choice during your setup will determine the sleeve size. Different styles and types of sleeves are available. Artwork, opaque or transparent backings are just some of the options.
Printing locally
Printing locally may seem like a chore for some, but may be a breeze for others. I’ve been dealing with printers and vendors for so long I’m fairly familiar with what their looking for. If you don’t know, ask. They are usually very helpful as they want your business as much as you need their service. Finding a local printer to print your game cards specifically will be tough (at least it was for me here in Toronto), but there are ways around this. With a little creative setup and a good share of manpower, 2 or more people can knock out a 40 card deck in an afternoon. Use a local printer and print as many cards as you can (double sided) on the largest heavy stock they have. Then cut and sleeve. Bam! TCG ready to run.
A few large sheets of cards carefully planned out may be able to cover a whole set or deck of your game cards, and with the print shop quality and speed, you could create very impressive prototypes or personal decks with this finishing process. It provides your players a close-to-production experience of your game(s).
Printing on demand
There are many many many services online that print and ship your custom created cards to you. Be it your TCG/CCG/LCG cards, supplement cards for a board game or flip card learning material for classes, kids and more. On-Demand printing is definitely the way to go for quick, professional output. The list below outlines some of the POD services I’ve either used or reviewed.
Printer’s Studio
These folks are another Print On-Demand company, creating custom playing cards along with blank cards that you can add your artwork too. They are my go-to at the moment. Providing a very good quality card with better than average digital printing as a reasonable price per deck. Over the last 5 years though, the pricing everywhere has gone up as there is a spike in indie game development. Part of their service is a template creator. It allows you to upload your front and back images to a list of 54 cards. The tool is useful for when you need to update a particular card. Just upload the new art instead of sending the whole file again.
The Game Crafter
Probably one the most popular POD shops for board and card games in the USA. They specialise in low-run or one-off table top game produced in full quality. Shipping to Canada from is a bit pricey and brings up the cost per deck, so I’ve stuck with what I’ve known. No doubt though, I’ve played card games produced through them and the quality is top notch.
Panda GM
Probably the biggest name in the North American industry for indie and professional game manufacturing. This company has grown exponentially since the tabletop boom a few year back. They are more of a large quantity production house, usually dealing with minimum order quantity of 1500 pcs. But if you’re game is ready for the big league, these are the big boys you should be dealing with.
Shuffled Ink
Formally QPC Games, this company has been in the game for about 2 decades. They print card games, develop game components and other elements to bring your game to life. I remember coming across them back when they were under QPC and printing quality is superb. A great alternative to Panda GM because of their custom order quantity, but maybe not as budget friendly as The Game Crafter. Definitely worth getting a free quote.
MPC
MPC, like Printer Studio, provides a template tool to upload your cards to. What makes this service provider stand out is their history. They traditionally produce actual playing cards. Using their pre-loaded common templates, you can achieve high quality Print on Demand (POD) game cards. Choose from varying colours and styles, or upload your own artwork to be printed. They state their online card maker is arguably the best in the industry for detecting low-res images and positioning. I’ve had playing cards made once for a non-TCG but never used any tools since I used another application to build them. This route would be great for the TCG enthusiast who has an established set of cards or someone who prefers a high quality finish to their printed deck and are not too keen on designing it themselves. Definitely worth a look.
Find all the links to the whole series right here. And for any tools and services that you feel are worthy to mention, please let me know in the comments below.
- Part 1 – Desktop publishing
- Part 2 – Online tools
- Part 3 – Handcrafting
- Part 4 – Printing
Designer Divergence
Oh why, oh why can’t I ever finish a single thought?! I have a couple theories.
1. Every idea is golden
This is a straight up fallacy that a lot of people share. Especially the creative and artistic type. New ideas come through every minute. I can easily switch between reading about literal rocket science to how beer is made, then find some odd pattern somewhere, then get an idea to design an trick taking game where astronauts take tricks from 99 bottles of beer in a rocket ascending into space. There! New awesome idea. Yeah… No. The feeling that an idea is unique and fresh is the illusion that it’s golden. Like everything else it starts out unpolished. Time and effort and energy need to be put in to buff that bitch to a high gloss shine. And even then you may buff out the surface before getting that sweet smooth finish. I say every idea is like an egg. Incubate and foster it and it may grow up to be that golden goose you’ve been looking for.2. Nothing’s ever good enough
The evil twin of the first point, ‘nothing is ever good enough’ may come from a lack of confidence in oneself. Or maybe just a lack of persistence to see something through to the end. Early adopters of ideas have a difficult situation. Move from flower to flower as each new opportunity blooms, or stay on something until something better comes along. Well, that latter part is the persistence issue I’m talking about. In my younger days I was that guy. Doing the new cool thing until I found something “newer” and “cooler”, apparently. Never staying on one thing long enough to see it through. And when I did, I had too many things on my plate. Now I’m in my late 30s and STILL doing the same shit. Lucky for me life filled in a lot of the gaps so I only have limited space for the things I love. I now have a huge appreciation for those that play the long game to better hone their skills and deepen their interests.3. Time is on your side
Oh, the creator and destroyer of everything. Managing time is key as one gets older. Life, as I’ve mentioned, fills in a lot of slots leaving the bare minimum of free choice – for the lot of us who don’t have exorbitant amounts of money – and it’s necessary to get your act together or you’ll be spinning wheels for a long time. And when you’re in your late 40s you look back and realize SOOOO much time had been wasted. I’ve learned to slow down and “make” time to do the things I like at no cost to my obligations. Family, friends, work, food, sleep, commuting (for some). These things munch up a lot of the 18 waking hours we have on the average week day. As I say to my 6 yr old son all the time, “sometimes you gotta do the things you don’t want to do to get to the things you do want to do. So eat your dinner. I don’t care if you don’t like it!” My parents channeling though me, I suppose.4. Blast from the past
Ever had an idea for something you have been fiddling or fumbling with for some time, but then left it alone? Yeah. I’m like that ALL the time. More so with my creative story writing and board game designs. That hurdle you just can’t get past. Can’t seem to see the forest through the trees. It’s hard to realise something when you’re too close to recognise its use. Jumping from game idea to game idea works well for me because I’ve done it so naturally with a lot of other things in my life. Sleeping on it sometimes help. Refocus by no focusing at all also works. Sometimes those treasures lie in another box you haven’t opened yet. Moving around helps keep things moving, keeps the gears lubricated. I’ll usually burn hard and deep on an idea until I feel myself reaching and manipulating answers just to fill in gaps. Best to stop there. If it’s not intuitively or mathematically apparent then you might just be bogging up a good idea. Why be convoluted when you can be clear and concluded.5. Leggo my Eggo, I mean Ego
That big balloon of gas we all call ego. Speaking to some I’ve heard that ego is ultimately a bad thing and not necessary for people to better themselves. I look at it as a supplement. Not like drugs or anything, but I guess you can relate it to that. A self esteem enhancer so to speak. A steroid. I understand the ego’s plight and we can all agree there is a fine line. The key is to stay humble while being close enough to that line that you can dabble in its head swelling greatness. ‘Everything is good’ so it’s on to the next pasture, even though it’s sometimes clear to everyone else this effort is half-assed at best. Toiling and tinkering away is not the egoists. Though one of the many facets of egoism is obsession. Well, that’s when good ole OCD comes out the play, but we’re not talking about that. Lack of ego groups you in point #2. Too much ego groups you with point #1. How does one balance the scales? Self reflection, honest feedback and accepting failure is a start. Failure is a catalyst to greater things, and a little humble pie does the body good.I started this blog a month ago with a title and the first line. I had so much running through my head I wasn’t able to get it all out in words. As of this posting I sat for 20 mins and just dumped it all out in one go. No re-read, no skim and edit, no restructure. I wanted it to be a reflection of some of the things I’m sharing about myself and how I view my work ethic and creative process. A lecture based on self reflection. Excuse the grammatical hiccups I’m sure this post is laden with. Hopefully some of you might find a nugget or two of truth here and realise you’re not alone. Stop. Breathe. Play a video game. Hug someone you love. Eat, sleep, take a long hot shower. Then sit down at your place of creative expression and just let it all out. Feels good, doesn’t it? Cheers.
Build your own TCG 3 – Handcrafting
Draw, colour, cut and paste your way a playable TCG. You may, however, not know where to start or require a little inspiration to get the engine roaring. Have no fear. As a lifetime crafter I can tell you it’s a lot less daunting than you may think. Don’t have artistic abilities? No worries. Don’t have any of the “pro crafting goodies” you see tubers and other artists use? No problem. Starting is a breeze and acquiring the materials is even easier. Most times I may not cost you a dime. YA! FREE is good! But if you don’t mind spending a little something, get the materials that matter.
Dollar and discount stores will be your source for inexpensive, useful materials. From scissors, glue, cardstock, paper, colouring and writing tools, tape and stickers. You name it, they got it (for the most part). If you don’t have any drawing abilities you can always print from the web, cut and paste artwork to your cards. Classic crafting 101. Add cool boarders, character art and symbols to make your card ultra custom. Your checklist of the base materials are below.
Common materials
There is no real list of tools per say to use that you don’t already know about. Pencils, pens, markers, scissors, glue, tape and some creativity are standard requirements.
Cutting tools
Most of the materials required at this stage will probably be kicking around any common house. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE should have a scissors kicking around. Whether your printing these cards our or drawing them on loose leaf paper, it is a must have. If you happen to have a guillotine or hobby knife, then you’re a little better off. Quick, straight, long cuts can be achieved with a metal ruler and an X-actor blade. When it comes to a few cards, scissors should be enough, but working with a sheet of cards? Get the blades out.
Blank paper
It is what it is. Blank paper for writing and or printing on. Have designs already on the computer and just need to print them off? You’ll need paper. I find myself printing just a template of the cards and penciling in the details so I can tweak them later if need be. Combined with card sleeves, you got yourself a playable, editable deck of cards for prototyping you very own game.
Index cards/Poster board
Either or gives you a card type foundation for your design work. They take marker and pens well, but don’t shuffle as nice as natural playing card. If shuffling isn’t a game breaker then drawing on blank index cards are great. Whether it’s for prototyping or for hand drawn final card, this is a winning approach in my books. For a better shuffling experience, and to provide protection to your precious hand drawn work, card sleeves for the win.
Drawing tools
You have to draw something! And you have to colour it… maybe. If you do, make it cool, make it fun, make it yours. For those that have drafting chops, get to the art my friend. Sketch, ink, paint, colour, accessorize with stickers and glitter or foil or whatever you thing is super cool. Hand-made game cards are collectible and incredible. Don’t be limited by your tools.
Adheasives
Glue. Tape. Two primary uses; 1) binding the front and back of the cards together, and 2) pasting cool add-ons. Now double sided tape is preferred for instant bonding, but glue stick or white glue can work just as well. Heck, even if you had spray adheasive you can go that route – though it can get messy.
Playing Cards
Cheap playing cards from a discount store or ones you may have lying around the house are a great foundation for prototyping. They also make good backing cards to your handcrafted designs. Marking them up with non-smudging pens or inks is a sure fire way to get your details down on card so you can get to play testing early. This is by far my favourite way to get to play testing phase without worrying so much about visual presentation. It’s a good practice to make sure the game works first before investing time to create/curate art.
Blanks
Let’s say you don’t want to fuss with all the cutting and pasting. You just want to get to the point. Well, blank playing cards can be purchased at your nearest education materials or art store, or on your nearest internet enabled device. Places like Amazon or Ebay have tons of blank trading/poker cards. Just Google the term and you will find more options than you can shake your bank book at.
DIY and How-To
Now it’s time for the inspiration. DIY tutorials are a plenty on the web. Here is a short list of places to help you get started and even polish the greatness you have brewing inside.
Instructables – You can always find amazing tutorials here from other creators. This search turned up many but the first 3 (during the time of the search) are valuable tutes for information and process.
- http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-TCG/
- http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-your-own-TCG-Trading-Card-Game/
YouTube – There are thousands out there. You already know how to use YT to find cat videos and movies, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding tutorials and tips on creating TCGs. Hint – keywords to use are “diy + tcg + trading cards + how to”. Here is a great search list: https://tinyurl.com/yavxrgr4
wikiHowTo – Another DIY / How To site with great users and easy to follow resources. Make use of this place as well as Instructables. Images and step by step walk-throughs may not be for all, but it’s a great place for ideas and construction. Here is a general search list: https://www.wikihow.com/wikiHowTo?search=tcg
And as always any search engine will provide you billions of hits. The purpose of this post is to narrow down some of the more popular (in terms of search results and user feedback) tools and resources to access. That should be it for now, but as always, have fun and stay motivated. The best TCG/CCG/LCGs are produced from patience and the love of gaming. Game on, my friends.
Find all the links to the whole series right here. And for any tools and services that you feel are worthy to mention, please let me know in the comments below.
- Part 1 – Desktop publishing
- Part 2 – Online tools
- Part 3 – Hand crafting
- Part 4 – Printing
It was the best of times
… It was the worst of times.
In all honestly the Cottage Country Con (CCC) in Orillia this year wasn’t all that bad. Reviews online may be a bit over zealous, but there is no doubt the show was plagued with amateur mistakes. From a setup perspective, space management and visitor flow, execution was a tricky, but doable for this venue configuration. Accommodations for special guests, a whole other topic of discussion, and just the overall feel was lacking. And this coming from seasoned con veterans, not some 1-a-year conboy vendor like me. And only after hearing all the opinions of those affected and understanding the real gripes that vendors had with the show, it was apparent. CCC went too big too soon. There were a lot of good points as well which I share in my post covering ADLi’s 2nd successful show.
Flashback
The Orillia Comic Con 2017 was an eye opener for the Muskoka region. Young and old geeks and fans of game and comic media showed up in droves to enjoy the North-of-Toronto convention. It was their first year and it was great. Small rec center atmosphere, limited space and guests, but a solid first year for any show. I’ve been to a couple first and second year cons, and this one felt very tight and promising. Yes, a lot of artists and vendors didn’t make bank, but it’s a super small show. Those who craft or draw for a living can’t sustain off small shows like this so a lot of them stated they weren’t coming back. Understandable.
Moving on, the show had good numbers for a fledgling con. The organizers were ecstatic and wanted to go big for year 2. Changing the name to CottageCountryCon (which is more encompassing of the area) they moved to a bigger venue. A sports complex with two ice rinks. The space works as a convention centre, but as mentioned in my opening, was not utilized to it’s best potential. Cosplay and gaming were also two big factors I feel this show was lacking. It was heavily catering to the casual con goer and maybe its lack of niche stuff like inviting professional cosplayers or a gaming room really didn’t lend itself to the crowd they were hoping for. People won’t make the trip for an average con. It must be extraordinary! CCC really only had the movie cars and creators as 2 of many things a general fancon must leverage. I hate saying this, but more pandering required.
Consensus
I look at the bright side. The show was good overall. I won’t let the poor experience of others ruin my opinion of a good show. It felt like a big con. It’s had the heart and space of a big con. It just didn’t have the numbers and guts of a big con, and that’s where I see the cracks. It is a totally different community north of the GTA and it’s hard to get a community of con-goers who are used to Fan Expo and Anime North to travel 1h 30m north to visit a fledgling show. Marketing had to be beyond average. They had the stars, they had the cars, they had the interest, they had the space, they had the energy, they had a great first year. But, the outreach, the hype, they pre-show prep, and the acknowledgement was good… but not great. Pulling people out of their convenience is a very hard thing. If we had the cosplayers and the gaming community willing to make moves I believe Orillia would have had a better turn out and this situation would be mute.
It’s disheartening to see that a local fan con such as this get flak and discredited from a lot of vendors. It may possibly hurt the show’s rep. The con vendor/exhibitor community has mixed feelings, and once the word spreads next year’s show may suffer. I doubt there won’t be a 3rd year, but big vendors from the GTA may be gun shy about ever setting up in Orillia again. I, for one, will do it again IF they keep the pricing relative to this year and sort out the follies they made. Learning from mistakes is possibly more crucial than learning from other’s successes. Funny enough the same organizers have another convention set for August in Bracebridge. This one is a Comic and Toy convention primarily, but those that missed CCC may second guess going to Muskoka Con due to the backlash. I’m going to roll through the Muskoka con either way as I enjoy going to those events. I’ll be observing how this one works out, from a con-goer’s perspective, and look out for some of the artists that may have been at CCC. I’m not a comic guy but I do like toys and collectibles. And cons are like family gatherings for me.
I’ve kept the review and my opinion of the con light hearted as I really don’t want to get into the politics that is convention exhibiting. You can watch my post-con thoughts below and share with me what you think. If you were at the show I’d love to hear your point of view. I share my opinion of the bad stuff for only the first minute and seventeen seconds. To get to the ADLi experience skip to 1:18.
[youtube id_video=”IUnAPK-uTtI” autoplay=”false” ]
Like with any community there is a lot of drama, usually founded around experience, expectations and bias. Bottom line, it had its faults and didn’t live up to the hype and expectations according to some. Here’s hoping the Muskoka Con is a good one and Orillia can bounce back from this fumble and get back to small town con roots. I’d love to have a convention in my neck of the woods.
Fingers crossed.
Orillia Comic Con 2017
An exciting day at a new convention for ADL Interactive, Altered Earth Studio and Silli Philli Produktionz. We had a blast and can’t wait to do it again in 2018.
Convention season is here
And guess where I will be? Not at home, I tell you that much. I’m a busy beaver right now trying to get my stuff together for the 2nd Annual Cottage Country Comic-Con. Last year it was named the Orillia ComicCon and I had a blast. This year’s convention is extended to 2 days and moved to a larger venue. Dean, Kurtis and I were pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out last year that we pre-registered for this year’s event. Check out a few pictures from our 2017 convention outing.
When and Where
JUNE 23-24, 2018 @ Rotary Place (Orillia Sports Complex)
Saturday from 10am-6pm & Sunday from 10am-4pm
Tix, details and directions
Table information has not been released as of yet, but when it does you can find that info here on ADLi, or follow me @adlinteractive on socials (which get updated. Not regularly, but updated none the less).
Facebook – https://twitter.com/adlinteractive
Twitter – https://twitter.com/adlinteractive
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/adlinteractive/
Showcase
This year I’ll be offering to the con gods three of my actively designed games.
- Word-a-bout: the word card game where you battle for points by spelling words with the fragments.
- NUPUGA: a colorful puzzle game where you pair up colors and numbers to build squares that earn you big points.
- StormGate: capture the flag meets chess in this head-to-head battle between two kingdoms.
It’s going to be pretty exciting. This is a big year for me as I now have 2 games ready for self-publishing, and a third close behind. If you are North of the GTA or the Casino Rama area, stop by. It truly is a show for all ages, all tastes and all fans.
Hope to see you there.