Interview with Gather Round Games

Gather Round Games successfully funded their initial game, Someone Has Died, and the game is still available for pre-order until the end of July (link here). I sat down with Liz and Adi from Gather Round Games for a chat about Someone Has Died, their process, and their future plans.

Raphael

So first off, the most obvious first question is how did you all come up with the concept of the game?

Adi

I came up with the idea as part of a game design class. We were prompted to make social game and were given werewolf & mafia as examples. In those games, people die every round, so we decided to start with a dead dude. The idea of a will arbitration shortly followed.

Raphael

So was the game always a lighter look at the morbid concept of will arbitration?

Adi

Yeah. We got very silly with it right off the bat.

Raphael

Awesome! How long did it take for you to figure out the concept that you ended up bringing around and play testing?

Adi

When I originally made it, it was a homework assignment. I didn't foresee myself working on it for the next two years. But I was graduating and the class really enjoyed playing the game. So summer rolled around and I decided to keep going with it and went about finding playtest groups in the city to see if I could make this a real thing.

Raphael

Is that how you got involved Liz?

Adi

Yeah, I brought her in to help me out in December of that year (2016)

Liz

I'd say the original iteration was pretty close to what the game became. There was obviously a ton of rule changes and streamlining everything. I think we had the rules set sometime in Jan of 2017, so a little after I joined the team, and after that of course came play testing the individual card ideas

Raphael

How many cards did you have in the original version?

Liz

Specific? Adi?

Adi

I have no idea. Less than now!

Raphael

Has the idea always been the arbiter comes up with the dead person and the inheritance?

Liz

Originally we had the estate keeper make up the dead person entirely, rather than drawing an identity card like now. I forget exactly when we added that, but yes, the estate keeper was always the one to set the stage by telling everyone about the deceased

Raphael

How many playtests did you all go through before finally deciding to publish?

Liz

[A LOT.]

Adi

Yeah, a lot. because not only are we testing overall gameplay, but also individual cards and how they work with each other

Raphael

Were you always planning on going to Kickstarter with the game when you thought it was ready?

Adi

Yes. Crowdfunding through Kickstarter was our go-to solution for raising the funds. It's what a lot of our other game designer friends had been doing and it’s an amazing community-building tool.

Raphael

If I remember right, you guys were going to shows too before Kickstarter, we met at PAX East 2017, how many shows were you demoing at? Any fun stories from those shows about play testers?

Liz

We had been doing local events in NYC for a while, mostly through Playcrafting. PAX East 2017 was the first big event where we had brought the game. We participated through Indiemegabooth, and it was a completely exhausting and exciting weekend. After that, we've also done PAX West, PAX Unplugged, Connecticon, and Indiecade

Liz

My favorite demos to run are when really quiet people sit down and just knock it out of the part

Raphael

Ha! I bet that's like totally unexpected

Liz

Or when a kid sits down to play with some adults and totally outdoes everyone

Raphael

Were those convention experiences your first?

Adi

I had gone to New York Comic Con a few times-- even once exhibiting with a company I was working for at the time. But PAX East was insane.

Raphael

How quickly did you get to your initial funding goal?

Liz

We hit our goal in 5 days and were very shocked

Adi

Agreed

Raphael

What do you attribute that to?

Adi

We worked hard to put ourselves out there at the conventions we were attending to build our mailing list. We build up to the Kickstarter launch date and frequently provided updates as we were hitting more milestones. And we also got lucky. At PAX West we met a bunch of influential people who really took a liking to the game and helped us spread the news. But if there's anything I've learned it's that you don't get lucky without working hard first.

Raphael

Did you have stretch goals in mind before posting the Kickstarter? How quickly were you able to figure that out?

Liz

We spent a lot of time hashing our stretch goals, but it was really just a matter of figuring out what our ideal game looked like (two piece box, more cards, an expansion pack) and what we could afford the game to look like if we reached our minimum goal (tuck box, less cards, etc.)

Adi

I mean you have to plan stretch goals ahead of time. Even if you reveal them after hitting your goal

Liz

Our last stretch goal was harder to come up with, because we had hit all our previously planned goals, so we kind of had to figure out on the fly what other goal we could offer to incentivize people

Raphael

So how many did the backers end up hitting?

Liz

We hit 4 stretch goals, and then we added a fifth that we didn't hit, which was a digital players handbook in the style of tabletop RPGs like Fiasco

Raphael

How far are you in production now? When we spoke at ITTD, you said you were waiting to test another type of cardstock, any updates?

Adi

Yep! We got our second mock up in the mail and approved it! So printing is under way!

Raphael

Do you think you'll still make your expected date?

Adi

We should be delivering in August!

Raphael

Were there any challenges in the middle of production that came up aside from the card stock options?

Adi

Just some tricky graphics layouts I guess, unless you count learning how to manufacture a game in the first place. For noobs like us that was a challenge.

Raphael

So now that you've got your first published design under your belts, what's in the future for you?

Liz

Hopefully making more games! We'd really like to continue to make games that promote collaborative story-telling

Raphael

That's awesome, any rough ideas rolling around?

Liz

We have some super, super rough ideas, but since we are so new to this, we're trying to keep our focus on production

Raphael

Cool and I guess the last question would be any advice for any would-be game designers out there?

Adi

Get out and meet other game designers. They will help you whether you want them to or not. But you probably do!

Liz

And ask lots of questions from people who know more than you. They want to help!