Props, Micro May, and scams!

If you read the title twice, I won’t be surprised. Things have been pretty wild of late. Let’s take you through my days!

Props

Have you ever used props to enhance game experience?

I made the most of an electrical outrage that took place in my block last week, by taking out the LED candles that I bought last Halloween. And they turned out to be the perfect touch while playing Escape the Living Library!

With no electricity for almost 6 hours, I invited my neighbors over to try out the game - and they had a great time! It’s been just over a month since I released the game, and I’m thrilled to hear such positive feedback from many of you who’ve bought it. It’s not a perfect game, but I genuinely enjoy playing it; and I love watching others play it too.

If you’re interested, check it out!

Micro May

I bet I’m not the only one who's pumped for this!

The Micro May campaign on Kickstarter is a month-long celebration highlighting microgames (including PNP), typically easy to learn and quick to play. It runs throughout May, giving creators a platform to showcase compact, creative projects.

In other words, tons of PNP games will be released in May!

I already got early access to 3 of the games that I’m playtesting with my team; I’m hoping to release their reviews by late April or early May.

Hint: I’m ‘spotting’ something adorable, involved in an arena combat, and I have a dragon by my side!

Get a fresh dose of adrenaline by checking out the games featured in this campaign.

Scams

This is wild, and absolutely outrageous.

I’ve been in touch with PNP game designers, many of whom have voiced their concerns about this. So this bit goes out especially for the game designers and publishers who are currently running, or planning to launch a campaign on Kickstarter, BackerKit, or Gamefound.

There are scammers who are literally replicating the Facebook profiles of renowned game publishers and designers. Their goal? To point you towards the marketing agency (fake) who was behind their success. They’ll convince you to get onboard, take your funds as ‘fees’, and vanish.

How do I know so much? Because I almost fell for it.

To know about how Kickstarter campaigns work, I reached out a game designer to know about the process; one with an excellent track record. What I didn’t realize was that the Facebook account belonged to a scammer- and it would fool almost anyone. The way they communicated and the detailed knowledge they had about the game made it nearly impossible to believe it wasn’t legit.

I talked to the scammer for almost 3 months, after which I started noticing shady behavioral patterns - the way the scammer kept pushing me to get onboard with the marketing agency for my game, an AI generated answer which once got exposed ( they mistakenly sent me the prompt as well, amateur), etc.

You know the worst part? Even after discovering 2 fake profiles of a couple of prominent game designers, mass-reporting them didn’t work. They are maintaining their profiles far too perfectly to be put down. Sigh.

So what can you do?

• Try reaching out to game designers/publishers through official sources: Kickstarter page, email address on their website, verified Instagram account, etc.

• Notice if you feel pushed towards a marketing agency. If so, block away!

• Watch out for duplicate profiles in the PNP community and spread the word if you encounter a scammer.

And that’s all for today. Happy gaming!