2011 in Review

For A'n'SR -entertainments, we usually stop putting games out by October so we can plan for the next year and play a whole lot of games ourselves. As such, we like to take stock of how we did each year around that time.

2011 has been a great year of A'n'SR -entertainments. We have finally got our footing under us and are doing better than we had hoped. So that you can appreciate our success as much as we do, here's a look at what we set out to do, what we did, and what that means for us. It's kind of like the Steve Jackson Games Annual Report (which we greatly admire), but not as cool.  

***The Goals***
When we began 2011, we set out with the following goals: 

1. Make $15 in profit to pay for the website we use. (same goal every year)
2. Release a new 8.5" by 11" version of -U- the Game of Stories to make it easier for people to print and play.
3. Release WyshMaykers the Game of Magical Stories. 
4. Release our new line of -U- Options books with at least 1 book. 
5. Begin the Powered by -U- line of products and branding. 
6. (optional) Do a new version of DiColumns and make a DiColumns deluxe for TheGameCrafter.com. 

***How We Did***
As of right now, here is where we stand: 

1. We made our $15 in our first month... we can keep making games.
2. We released our new version of -U- the Game of Stories. It's done pretty well.
3. We released WyshMaykers the Game of Magical Stories. It has done better than we expected.
4. We released not 1, but 3 -U- Options books. We're very pleased with that.
5. With the release of all the -U- Options books and WyshMaykers, we've begun our Powered by -U- branding for future games. 
6. We did nothing with DiColumns. 

***Other Accomplishments and Incidents***
In addition to publishing 2 more -U- Options books than planned, we also we forced to make some updates to other things that were totally not on the schedule.

• The Website. We got word that our website host was going to start charging $6.00 a month for services we didn't want in addition to the $15 we pay a year. Since we didn't want the extra services, we had to find a way to move our site to a new home for the same or less. We did not plan on building a new website, but we did. In 2012, we'll probably transfer the domain name to point to here properly.
  
• 100 Points 2nd Edition. This one really threw us for a loop, but a good one. TheGameCrafter, the folks that we publish physical card games through, upgraded their site. When they did, their tools changed (for the better) and forced us to re-look at our line of 100 Points Card Games. We totally halted everything we were doing, dusted off some old notes we had about a possible 2nd edition, and did a rush re-invention of the games. They came out awesome and more fun to play, especially 100 Points Poker and 100 Points Prediction.
  
• WyshMaykers Feedback. This one falls under the category of "we should have known better". Our original plan for WyshMaykers was to release the book as a stand-alone game with maybe 1 supplement in the next year. We knew we had a fun game, but we didn't know if anyone else would enjoy it as much. So, when a thread on RPG.net and some forum posts and a lot of e-mails started coming in, we were pleasantly surprised. In fact, we couldn't help ourselves but start participating in the discussions and creating a Designer's Diary article for RoleplayersChronicle.com.. It was a selfish enjoyment, we won't lie, but we did spend a little more time on it that the zero hours we had planned for. Silly us.
  

***Overall 2011***
Overall, 2011 was a really good year for A'n'SR. We accomplished all of our golas for the year, which is a clear win. Sales wise, it was our best year to date (2009 being 2nd runner-up and 2010 being the lowest yet) with September and August being our 2nd and 3rd best months ever in our history. Product wise, it was the fullfilment of a lot of dreams and work began on the dream that really started it all, our game about [redacted].