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 Of
course, this was all before the really BIG snowstorm hit... on
Tuesday, the pyramids were buried by another foot of snow. But
they still look really cool, even when covered over by a blizzard.
And I'm sure it'll be a long time before they all melt away,
thus giving our neighbors one more reason to think we're all
nuts.
Last
September, when Iron Crown Enterprises filed for Chapter
11 protection, we were suddenly faced with a decision that we
didn't expect to be making until late in the year 2002. By filing
for bankruptcy, ICE
had automatically voided our contract with them, thus giving
us a choice: should we renew the license agreement, and allow
them to keep publishing Fluxx,
or should we take back the rights?
Our immediate decision was to let the whole thing coast for
awhile. At the time, we were just way too busy with things like
Icehouse, Q-Turn, and
the whole Xmas season to be able to think much about Fluxx. So
we told Pete (Fenlon that is - he's the head honcho at ICE) that
we'd wait and see how the holiday shopping season went before
making a decision, thus allowing ICE to continue publishing Fluxx
in the meantime, as if the contract were still in force.
But now that the Future has begun, and we've had a chance
to think it all over, we've come to a decision: we're not renewing
the contract.
Many factors helped shaped this decision, but nothing provided
more clarity of thought than the business plan we've been working
on for the past month. Leslie,
our friend from Texas, spent her winter break with us, drafting
our business plan, and as she worked up break-even analyses and
made 5 year projections of our future, it became very clear that,
from a business standpoint, we needed to be making more from
the sale of Fluxx than the royalties we were supposed to be getting
from ICE.
It also must be said that ICE hasn't done as well with Fluxx
as we'd hoped they would by now. Our main reason for partnering
with a larger company was to take advantage of their superior
distribution network, to rapidly get the game into stores nationwide.
But while ICE has gotten their edition of the game into some
stores, Fluxx has nevertheless developed a reputation as a cool
game that's difficult to find. (Of course, we may not be able
to do any better ourselves, at least in the short term, but we're
ready to give it a try.)
But the biggest factor was quite simply our own ever-changing
ambitions. Back in 1997, when we first signed the contract with
ICE, we were in a very different position. Kristin
was still deeply involved in the work of building TSI TelSys,
providing only spare-time-as-available support for Looney Labs,
and as an independent game inventor trying to make my mark on
the world, I wanted only to design and produce games, not to
run a business selling them. Like every amateur game inventor,
I dreamed of selling my game to a big game company, and letting
them do all the work while I enjoyed the royalties (and got started
on the next game). So at the time, the ICE contract was everything
I wanted.
But like many fantasies come true, this one had its downsides.
While we liked many things about ICE's handling of Fluxx, there
were of course certain times when decisions were made that we
didn't entirely agree with. But such is the way of it when you're
in the back seat... all you can do is enjoy the ride.
Looking back on it all now, the partnership with ICE was just
another of our many grand experiments. There are only two ways
to get a game you've invented onto store shelves and into game
cabinets: either sell your design to someone who publishes games,
or publish it yourself. Since our earliest experiences with Icehouse,
we've been doing it ourselves... but we've always dreamed of
licensing the rights to someone else and letting them do all
the work. The contract with ICE gave us a chance to test drive
that paradigm, and at that end of the day, we've come to the
conclusion that the age-old adage is true: If you want something
done right, you've got to do it yourself. On the whole, ICE has
done a great job with Fluxx, but after letting them drive for
the past 2 years, we've come to realize that we'd rather be the
ones behind the wheel, after all.
How will the transition be carried out? Well, that's
still being determined. At first, we were contemplating a major
revision, to include as many as 10 or 20 new cards (since there
are so many great ideas for new cards floating around out there);
but then we decided it would be better to minimize the changes,
and hold the new card ideas for the first Fluxx supplement (codenamed
Fluxx++), which we're just now starting to plan.
A few minor changes will nevertheless be made for the release
of the new Looney Labs edition of Fluxx, which we're now calling
Version 2.1. These changes will be almost entirely cosmetic,
relating mostly to the packaging. The new box will be larger,
with a more mass-marketable look, and more product information
on the back. It will hold the deck in two side-by-side halves,
and will feature a flap with a built-in hook, for use with pegged
in-store displays. The rules sheet will also be updated, and
minor changes will be made to the artwork on a couple of cards
(notably the Pyramid and the back of the Basic Rules card). But
otherwise it will be the exact same game.
When will Version 2.1 be released? Good question. As
always, we're frightfully busy: this week alone, we've been finalizing
the Business Plan (we gave the first copy to a banker-type last
night); preparing for the release of Q-Turn (the revised rules
are at the printers, so it should go on sale next week); designing
our booth for Toy Fair (Yikes! It's soon!); and secretly working
on the secret design document for Secret Project 39-C. But hopefully,
the slightly revised version of Fluxx will seamlessly replace
the ICE edition sometime during the next few months. Stay tuned
for more details as they become available...
In conclusion, I'd like to extend my deepest thanks to Pete
and everyone at ICE for everything they've done these past two
years to help make Fluxx a success. It's a shame things didn't
work out quite the way we'd planned, but we wish them all the
best for the future and we look forward to simply being friends
once again.
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