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:
***How We Did*** As of right now, here is where we stand:
***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.
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]. So, the 2nd Edition of all of our 100 Points games are out (see http://ansr-entertainments.weebly.com/100-points-card-games.html). But what's different? What's changed? A few things.
** The Most Changed: While a good potion of the games stayed the same (BlackJack, Hold'em, and Four Square), two games got a near-complete overhaul: Rummy and Prediction. Rummy and Prediction required a single deck of cards per player and used the cards to keep score of their wins. We thought that was kind of an odd "mechanic" for a family card game, in retrospect. Plus, we made a concious decision that any 100 Points game should be able to be played with a single deck of cards. This was very important in our 2nd Edition redesign philosophy. Also, we changed Predition from using a six-sided die in the game to using a four-sided die. The game works much better now. ** 36 cards: The new editions of the 100 Points card games are all based on a single deck of 36 cards. In 1st Edition, they revolved around 48 cards (for Four Square, Hold'em, Poker, and BlackJack) or more (for Rummy and Prediction). We moved from 48 to 36 to take advantage of the Game Crafter update to the way they cut cards. It is cheaper to cut 36 than 48. Plus, we found that the math of 36 cards made for a more compelling game in all categories. For instance, in Poker, the hardest combination of 100 Points cards to get used to be 50, 20, 20, 10. Now, it is 40, 20, 20, 20. This changed the way you play 100 Points Poker drastically, and made it more unpredictable and fun. In a round about way, the new cutting rules forced us to find a leaner, better way for our games. ** Tokens: In some games, we used tokens and in others we did not. We liked the tokens, so for those games that needed it (Rummy and Prediciton), we added the use of tokens as score keepers. The only game that doesn't need tokens is Four Square and it's priced at $6.99 on TheG. ** More fun: In general, these games are just more fun to play. We believe that less is more effective, and these 2nd Editions prove true to that mantra. We are pleased to announce an unexpected surprise in this year's schedule: 100 Points 2nd Edition! If you've been reading any of the posts lately, you already know that the Game Crafter (the folks we print our physical copies of cards with) redid their site. One of the cool things they did was go from 16 cards per sheet to 18 cards per sheet. When they did that, it made our games cost a little more than we like. So, we took the opportunity to redo all of the 100 Points card games we had to fit in the new rules. In truth, we were planning on doing this anyhow, this just sped up the process.
Check out the Printed and Print2Play editions of our 100 Points line of games at: http://ansr-entertainments.weebly.com/100-points-card-games.html. Well, like most US gamers this weekend, we are GenCon bound. Don't look for a booth, though. We are there to simply have fun (like the last few times we've gone.) We're looking forward to fun and shopping and seeing all the pretty booths. Of note, we really can't wait to shake hands with DriveThruRPG and TheGameCrafter companies that publish our games for us. Great sites and great folks.
Speaking of http://www.TheGameCrafter.com, if you poke around on their site, you will see the new 2nd Edition versions of all our 100 Points card games. We wanted to get this out on Game Crafter before we went to GenCon so that it wouldn't be bugging us in our (lack of) sleep at the Con. Feel free to get in on the new 2nd Edition goodness now, before we go and market it for the rest of the world (and update our website accordingly). You can get 100 Points Four Square for $6.99 + shipping now! We have fully migrated all of our web site/web page information to our new website hosted by Weebly.com. With the migration comes new toys, and we hope you'll try them out (we have had fun making them.) Check out:
All-in-all, this is a good move, and by the end of 2012, even more changes will come. Thank you Weebly.com for making a great place to call home, and thank you, Gamer/Reader for putting up with a bit of a mess. We proudly publish our professionally printed non-role-playing games through the Game Crafter. They do a great job. As of this week, they are now out of their Beta stage of their website and upgraded to their full version (Yeah!)
Sadly, however, this means that all of our printed games on their site will have to be reviewed and redone to take advantage of their new tools and tweaks. So, for now, our 100 Points Card games are in Print2Play editions only. Don't worry, we'll get the printed versions back up and going soon. We've been busy working on the new website and figuring out all the new toys it has. So far, All the -U- the Game of Stories supplements are live and ready for you to peruse. Check them all out from the Entertainments page. We have:
A'n'SR -entertainments is moving its website from its current provider to a new one. Why? A few more bells and whistles, price,... the usual reasons people move stuff around. Be on the lookout for some great new features that we intend to use on this new site like:
Thanks for the patience while we make the changes. |
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