Hi Runners,
I hope you had a great August!
I’ve been busy trying to take care of all the boring business stuff that goes into starting a board game publishing company, so that we can all get to the fun part that comes after! If you had the chance to read my last email, you know I promised to share the Outrun the Bear pre-launch Kickstarter page. Sorry to say, but that’s still a few days away as I write this tonight. I’ll explain what happened later on in this email. But first…
A Special Thanks!
As you may know I, like approximately 55,000 other game enthusiasts, kicked off August by having a blast attending Gencon. I was able to get in a bunch of playtesting for Outrun the Bear, connect with fellow designers, and meet with the future manufacturer of Outrun the Bear!
But one thing I hadn’t talked about was the opportunity to meet various content creators, people who work so hard to introduce us to our favorite games. As a player I’ve always enjoyed being able to learn about hidden gems that I might not have otherwise discovered. And now as a prospective publisher, I am so grateful that there are people out there who are willing to use the platform they built to introduce us to each other.
If you haven’t seen, Jesse and West of the Quackalope Youtube channel listed Outrun the Bear as one of 5 hidden gems from Gencon!
If that wasn’t enough, Kenny and Lee of Partytails have also been sharing their drink pairing recommendations for Outrun the Bear on their Instagram profile… and they claim to have Outrun the Bear!
(Image) This bear means business
If you’re reading this email because you first saw Outrun the Bear in that content, I’m so glad you’re here! There will definitely be more in-depth content about the game coming soon.
The Publishing Business
As fun as it would be to just design, print, and send a game to you, I’ve got to make sure that I do things the right way in order to design, print, and send a second great game to you.
Doing things the right way means a lot of legal steps to create a business, which has been a significant part of the last two weeks.
I knew going into this I would need to form an LLC in order to get the Kickstarter prelaunch page up and running. What I didn’t know is that in the USA, there’s some critical Business Stuff required that can only be done during standard IRS business hours.
Now this shouldn’t matter a whole lot… unless you know about my day job. See, I’m a self-employed pool guy in Southern Arizona, which means during the summer, my day starts as early as possible and runs until after dark. This is also why I elected to launch in October— to give me as much time and energy as it will take to tackle this project in a timely fashion.
So, long story short, I’ve arranged time to get this stuff taken care of. So watch out for that Kickstarter pre-launch page coming soon!
Now a very reasonable question to ask is “Why hadn’t I already created the LLC?” and the answer is pretty simple. Naming things is hard!
Game design and publishing is something I’m doing because I love it, and I wanted a name that reflects that. This was a real struggle to figure out, and something I’ve been working on since March(!).
Recently my wife, Kelsey, encouraged my to think about my Grandpa Steve who really cultivated my love of games. She asked if there was anything special from that to base the company name on. When I thought about that, I found what I was looking for: Around the Stump Games LLC!
To hear what that name means, I’ll be sharing the full back story in the Outrun the Bear Frontrunners Facebook group. For me it solidifies my mission to make games that help players build fantastic memories with the people they love.
Game News
While I was busy taking care of my day job and the legal stuff, the illustrator Andrea got us two steps closer to the finished product by taking care of the last two background pieces for the boards. This means he just has 3 card illustrations and the card back left. Speaking of the card back, I’ll need your help with that— yeah, you! Stay tuned for that.
Well that’s it for this update, except for one more group I need to thank which is all of you! Seeing how you’ve responded to the effort that has been put into this project really helps me keep on with motivation and joy. The brief times I’ve been able to chat with you in Facebook, Instagram, or Discord messages really keep me inspired, so thank you and I can’t wait to send you a great game as part of my appreciation.
Race you soon,
Sam Barmettler
Game Designer, Outrun the Bear