GameHole Con
From Left to Right: Kayla Walsh, Andy Schopp, “Night of the Cackling Man” Star, Jacob Young, Special Guest Chris!, Nick Peterson, and Eli Manthey
Greetings to the Galaxy!
Those of you waiting for our first news update, thank you for being here, and for the those looking back in the future, thank you for remembering our first spark!
We have been working hard to maintain a balance between life and work on our projects, and the time has come to start communications. We will be posting more regular news updates starting now.
To start things off, we will be briefly talking about GenCon 2024. For some among us, it was our first convention, and goodness it was a doozy! From my personal point of view, it was quite overwhelming at times. But, seeing so many passionate people, with such inspired ideas really pushed us to move forward at a faster pace. Fortune favored us, and introduced us to many influential people, who have been very encouraging to us in our starting efforts. But one person truly lit the spark in us when she invited us to our next talking point. GameHole Con.
Meredith Placko, CEO of Steve Jackson games among many other accolades, hosted a seminar at GenCon that we attended. We were lucky enough to meet with her afterwards briefly, and she invited us to attend GameHole Con.
Arriving at GameHole Con, the difference between this event and GenCon was tremendous. A fraction of the amount of people, but the visitors were both long time veterans in the industry, movers and shakers, and everyone who had the a flame burning in their heart for tabletop.
Our CEO, Kayla Walsh, recalls the variety of new ideas in game design and world building being so broad. Our eyes were truly opened to the possibilities. "La" also recalls meeting with Jim Lowder for the first time, commenting:
"He's been in the industry a long time and is full of knowledge that he's just jonesing to share and impart to the next set of authors and designers. I have never met someone so enthusiastic to lift up new people coming into an industry he loves." - Kayla Walsh
We look forward to working with such an inspiring person in the future, should fate be so kind.
And for those of you wondering about GameHole Con itself, our Project Manager, Nick Peterson, has a few things to say on the matter that I thought would do well to describe the experience.
"Gamehole Con was first, a very affordable and accessible experience. There was no lack of space, parking, hotel accommodations, and travel access, which made actually going there and attending a very smooth experience. The atmosphere there was very casual in spite of there being industry leaders from the past three generations in attendance; it was a really good place to go talk to and mingle with people who you would never expect to be able to meet in person." - Nick Peterson
He goes on to note how the event saturated with industry veterans and former executives, making meeting a star almost an inevitability, alongside noting that the sales floor being just calm enough that you can hear every aspiring creators unique story.
As for myself, the people at GameHole Con were so friendly and ready to meet others with similar interest, I never felt any kind of real anxiety when walking side by side with these giants of yore. I was lucky to have met many incredible people, as I love talking to new souls and hearing their own stories. One person that I recall quite fondly is Merle M. Rasmussen, author of the TTRPG Top Secret. I met Mr. Rasmussen after having noticed his unique outfit, befitting his espionage themed game. Merle and I talked at length about both our projects and our passions from the past that lead to this point, along side introducing one another to great projects that appeared at the convention. He left me with a tiny Top Secret brand flip book that I keep on my desk still, and will keep with me for the rest of my career.
In summary, GameHole Con was an absolute boon to us as a creators, and a memory that will forever make us smile. I encourage everyone with a passion in their hearts for tabletop to one day attend GameHole Con. As for those of you interested in 8th Day development news, you'll have to keep an eye out for the next news article.
This is Jacob Young, and I'll see you in the stars!
