#BigBadOnline

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Big Bad Con 2023: What Inspires Us?

So as promised, I wanted to share some panels that really resonated with me from Big Bad Online 2023. I'll write a post for each one!

Vee (she/her) and Hayley (she/they) of Storybrewers Roleplaying fame asked 50 game designers where they got their ideas. I was so impressed with their interpretations and insights, and really enjoyed the surprising sense of community and togetherness.

For the most part, indie game designing can be pretty lonely work. Sure, I spend a lot of time playtesting and geeking out with a few folks as I work on a game. But the bulk of the time is spent alone, in the messy and solitary act of building and refining a game.

I felt the most lonely working on Apocalypse Keys, the sheer size of the game just demanded hundreds of hours (if not thousands) just spent writing and writing and writing into a google doc. But it was a strange kind of loneliness, because I'm always thinking about the players of my game, and their experience, and trying to reach out and connect to them from a theoretical and hopeful space.

It's funny because Apocalypse Keys is also the most collaboration I've done on a game! With Evil Hat's support, I got to work with consultants, artists, and lots of professionals. It was this really stark contrast! But Apocalypse Keys is definitely the exception, most of my games are mostly solitary productions from start to finish.

So it was really lovely to see how similar ttrpg designers are in terms of what inspires us, and how we act on that inspiration. I especially loved the personal stories, the glimpses into other creative minds and hearts.

I'm really proud to be a ttrpg designer, it means so much to me that I get to share this creative space with so many other artists. And this panel really reminded me of that connection!

I also cannot stress enough how much Vee and Hayley impressed me, this was a really great presentation! The commonalities they surfaced from the data was really cool, and together they painted a really cool picture of our space.