Brainstorming in an open forum

When we first published, many of our friends told us we had to have a Reddit. It's an amazing way to get people talking about your game" and all that jazz. I did my research, found out how to create and promote articles on Reddit and made our first forum. By the time we'd organized the Reddit page, our book sales were nearly 20 - mostly to family and friends.

We waited anxiously as people discovered our page and began talking about our system. And they trashed it. Most of the people who were talking about it were simply feeding off the negative comments of others and contributing their own - all without ever having laid eyes on our product. It was a discouraging turn of events.

I allowed the negativity to continue for nearly 3 full weeks before shutting down the whole page. The blast of unprovoked verbal abuse was disheartening and nearly led to the closing of our newly formed company all together. After all, who would ever pick up a book of ours after such a smear campaign?

It was our first experience with internet trolls. The point is this: once you create something, it is not really yours anymore. Anything created to be shared (or sold) falls to the criticism of those using the product. Most creators of games, art, and other such products must step into the arena knowing this. The incident with our reviews getting trolled forced us onto a crossroads: develop a skin tough enough to withstand it or shut down. 

Obviously, we chose the thick-skin approach. I started circulating among the various comic cons, anime cons, and game conventions throughout the south east region of the United States. We found that those who actually sat at our game table and tried the system really liked it - and for a wide range of reasons. 

Fast forward to early 2019: The game mechanics Artice and I worked on needed serious redesign. I was ready to introduce vehicles, flight, and a host of new creatures into the system. All of which required vast amounts of art. One of the artists I'd commissioned a few pieces from suggested I join some of the forums on Reddit. My insides lurched at the memories.

Fortunately, desperation will cause me to do some unthinkable things so I went back to the media. The forums I'd joined were far more positive and closely regulated - better enabling a constructive environment. I managed to pick up a few more artists to cover the creature illustrations and got in contact with a few more game developers. 

Through their guidance, I'd managed to create a few new spells, potions, and abilities. Although I'm not ready to release the details on the 2.0 version, I have gotten some good suggestions and tips when posing questions to the group. The shared experiences of the group has shown me that not only are my hardships shared, but we inadvertently developed similar solutions. 

For anyone just getting into this madness, I strongly suggest finding interest groups having traveled down the road you are about to travel on. Find out what pitfalls they faced and how they solved them. Don't think for a moment I've managed to solve every solution with a winning attitude. I've made mistakes. Learn from them.

For those already walking this road, keep in mind: we are stronger as a unit. We can network and find common ground. Competition doesn't always have to be a negative thing nor does it have to produce losers.

Special interest groups have proven to be a haven for myself. I am not alone nor are these issues faced by me alone. I'd like to thank Daniel Watters (Cactus Totem Games), TacticalDM, lunaras13, mustang255, MrDavi, and Galleros for their aid and council when my own imagination fell short.

Thanks again, guys! 

K. B. Kidder

If you are checking out this post for the first time, you may access our website by clicking here: Tortured Earth

If you are interested in the creature development process, you may submit your own creatures by filling out the following form. We will review the forms before publishing the creatures to the website. Creature Creation Form

If you would like to see what Tortured Earth looks like, the GM portion of the rule book is available as a free download on the Tortured Earth Home Page. Tortured Earth Beta GM Guide