Origins 2018 recap

That's me next to Dr. Hominoid, just this past weekend at Origins 2018 in Columbus, OH.  Origins is the one big game con that I try to go to every year.  In part because my brother lives in Ohio, so it's an opportunity for us to get together for 4 days, hang out, and play a lot of games.

This year Origins was special because I was able to show off a brand spanking new prototype of Infamous.  Eagle-Gryphon had to cancel a lot of their events at the con because they just didn't have enough volunteers/Wing People to help out.  But they didn't cancel Infamous, and we ran 4 demo sessions per day for pretty much the entire show.  I personally demo-ed or explained Infamous to over 50 people, and by the time the show was over, I was feeling simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated.

The public response to Infamous was universally positive.  Now, a big part of this is self-selection bias, since the people who came over to try it were probably most likely to enjoy it.  And there's a bit of cognitive dissonance working there too, since they did just spend 2 hours learning and playing a game.  BUT I observed a lot of smiling and laughing, and many people told me after playing how much they enjoyed the game and couldn't wait to buy a copy for their game group or family.  I choose to take them on their word.

Teaching people the game took right around 15 minutes.  Playing a complete 4-player game took another 90 minutes, on average.  We also ran at least one 3-player game and one 5-player game.  There were no particular rules that seemed to trip people up, although it's important to emphasize the timing of Scheme cards.  This doesn't really surprise me, because it's not a particularly complicated game and there isn't too much rules overhead.  I would periodically remind people to check and see if any of their rooms provided helpful benefits during contract resolution - and to hire Mercenaries if they were thin on henchmen.

[CLICK TO EMBIGGEN]

What did people enjoy the most?  Probably the theme, the flavor, the humor, and the smooth mechanics.  As I hoped, players immediately grokked and enjoyed the idea of building a base that attracts specific types of henchmen. I think people really enjoyed debating whether to send their lackey out on contracts to gain the free re-roll.  And people loved grabbing fistfuls of custom dice to roll.  This is not a brain-burner of a game, but there are fun decisions to make all the time and the game is regularly rewarding you with amusing text and great art.  I was particularly thrilled to see some father-daughter pairs play the game and really enjoy it, as I hope to play Infamous one day with my own two daughters (currently 7 and 1 years old).  Thanks to everyone who played, just in case you're reading this.

The state of the game is fantastic.  We just have to make a few finishing touches to the graphic design and hammer out a professional rulebook.  EGG is currently sending out protos to previewers/reviewers, so that we'll have some solid video coverage in time for the campaign.  We have our campaign and stretch-goal plan worked out.  At this point, I'd say with 100% confidence that we'll be ready to launch in early August.

Thanks, Origins!  See you next year.