Diamond Summit

Can't remember if I mentioned this earlier, but I was in Baltimore this weekend for the Diamond/Alliance Retailer Summit.

Man what a blast! My head exploded. Bits of it are still in Baltimore.

I learned a LOT about the comic industry, and it still intimidates me. But with my best friend's help (and the support and advice of my fellow retailers), I should be okay. I just need to learn enough to not make any grievous errors in the beginning, and I think I'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. Unlike games, you have to really be on top of periodical comics, and the lead times are several months in advance. At least you don't have to have a new game in every Wednesday.

Speaking of games, I saw a lot of great ones at the summit. The standard gamer icons were there, but I got to see offerings from the more family-friendly companies as well, which is more of what I want initially. I need a good family/kids section for the store considering how community-friendly and involved I want to be. All the more mature gamer stuff will be there, of course, but the goal is to pull new customers in and slowly convert them to the gaming hobby. You've got to start 'em young, they say, and a kids section helps.

The seminars were very helpful, especially the "50 cheap and easy promotions" one. Lots of fantastic ideas in there. I also met a lot of really nice folks very willing to help me out, including pretty much all the major game retailers in NJ. It was nice to see a bunch of familiar faces, and have them express pleased surprise at my game/comic store intentions. They were very warm and inviting, and I'm thankful for that. After all, retailing in this industry is a community. New Jersey is dreadfully understored, and the more (successful) retailers we get out there, the more exposure the industry gets, and comics and games are on the cusp of become accepted and welcome by mainstream culture. Look at all the pop culture lately - sci-fi, superheroes, fantasy, all of that stemming from comics and games. And then there are tons of popular and critically acclaimed films that were actually graphic novels, but nobody knew that. The industry is about to see a renaissance, especially with Disney buying Marvel. That alone shouts legitimacy.

Okay, so I went on a tangent. But I'm excited. Even not knowing much about comics, I'm still excited. There are big things on the way, and even though I'll miss the holiday season this year, there will be tons of event opportunities for me to take advantage of when I do open the store.

Now that I have the name, incorporation will follow soon, and so will membership to GAMA, the Game Manufacturer's Association. If the locations I like pan out, I can get moving on lease negotiations. Things are starting to really move.

More to come.

Paper Heroes Comics & Games

The official name of the store will be Paper Heroes Comics & Games. The name passed the "I like it" survey, and it looks to be available for incorporation. The only drawback is that both paperheroes and paper-heroes are taken as domain names. I'm planning on registering both paperheroesstore and paperheroescomicsandgames as well as promoting the sites in the various search engines. Online presence is crucial. I'll probably use blogspot for the store blog and link to it from the store website.

I guess I need to get better at blogging, huh?

And podcasting. Need to learn how to podcast.

I'm excited. This is going to be a fun ride.

Still not great with the blogging, but I'm trying. Less than a month between posts is pretty good for me.

Lots has been happening. Lots and lots.

I'm going over to Drew University for a day to be a vendor at the university center. Hopefully that will do good things for me.

In the meantime, I've been working like crazy on the business plan for my game store, which is now a game and comic store. It still doesn't have a name, but everything else is starting to fall into place. My rough trajectory for the store is:

• December - first draft of business plan finished and incorporate to an LLC
• February - settled on a location and begin build-out (and quit my job)
• April or May - Soft opening, trying to take advantage of free comic book day.
• June (after the already scheduled and booked vacation) - Grand opening.

I'm still wrapping my brain around what kind of demographics I'm looking for and why the demographics I think are good aren't actually as good as I think they are.

I've registered on this wonderful resource called (appropriately enough) the Game Store Resource Forum, and I've met a lot of wonderful people and gotten a lot of support. This is really going to happen. I have to keep pinching myself... this is taking on a life of its own now and all I can really do is keep stumbling forward so the momentum doesn't knock me down.

Going to a trade show in Baltimore next weekend to meet a few of these guys and attend some seminars. Hopefully I can get the business plan to a point where I'm comfortable showing it to people and discussing. These guys would be more than happy to help me refine it. I think that's not an unreasonable goal, either. I'm very close to having it at a stage where I feel comfortable with people reading it.

I'm excited. Maybe this time next year I'll be blogging from my store. That'd be nice.

I've decided that this blog will be turning into a Simply Fun-oriented blog, with various mentions of the game store I want to run sprinkled in for good measure. In short, it's a games blog.

Most self-help speakers identify the idea of journaling and accountability. I've been all over the place with journaling, and I'm not a big blogger these days, but I think the idea has a lot of merit. I'm more likely to stay focused and on track if I've got a support group of people looking over my shoulder wondering what I'm doing next. That might seem a little big-headed, but the world of blogging has always been somewhat about self-glorification. With thoughts on display for the world to see, more often than not, the world answers and gives you the idea that it cares. It may be a bad type of caring, but it's still attention.

Personally, I like the good type of caring.

Anyway, I'm making the effort to journal my exploits in game retail. If and when the store happens and gets a website, the blog will move there. For now, it has to live somewhere.

I just had my first real Simply Fun party last weekend, and despite being a little shaky, it was a pretty good success. Fun was had by all, and I got sales. A winning combination. I think things will continue to be slightly shaky as I get rid of my jitters and figure things out. The presentation I wanted to make looked good on paper, but never really felt right coming out of my mouth. I have to go back and keep working until I find a style that works for me. The first phase of the new drawing board is a list of all the points I need to hit. I know I missed a few on Sunday, but we did all right anyway.

More blogging later... might do a post-mortem on the party, might discuss some of the games... guess it depends on how I feel. :)

Simply Fun

So if you're a friend of mine on Facebook, you're probably sick of hearing about Simply Fun.

I really like this company, and I have a great time playing their games. Their mission is to promote the value and power of play in out everyday lives, and they use a direct sale/party model to do it.

I had signed up years ago to be a rep for them, but was never able to devote the time and energy to it that it deserved. I now have said time and energy, so I'm giving it another shot. I don't think I'll exactly hit the ground running, but I'll do all right. I think once I have some momentum going, the business will pretty much build itself. Playing games is my natural habitat and anyone who knows me knows that if the "product" is right, I'm a natural salesman. If it's something I like and believe in.

I think what I like most about this one is that I don't actually have to "sell" anything. All I have to do is introduce the company, the games, the various host benefits and rep opportunities, and then we play games. The best way to sell a game is to have people play it. It's a win-win situation, really.

You would think that in this economy, people wouldn't be purchasing games, but it seems that board game sales are on the rise as people spend more time at home and less time going out. It's actually cheaper to buy a $50 game than to go out every weekend. It's kinda weird how that's working out. This whole past decade has seen events that influenced families to stay in and get closer and spend more time with each other. And also in an economy where it's hard to get a job and people are getting laid off, if you can afford the startup money, you can start building your own business. Not that I have any illusions, but it'd be nice if this pulled in a bit of side money to help me get rid of my credit cards once and for all. I'm not entirely crazy enough to dream of it replacing my full-time job, but anything's possible. You just have to get out there and do it.

Anyway, I'm excited for this. I think it's going to be a lot of fun, and maybe even turn out to be something I'm good at. If you're interested in hosting a party, or joining me as a Simply Fun rep (I'd say host a party first to get to know the games), let me know. This company has been around a while, and I'd say it's pretty darn legitimate, not like most MLM/direct sale companies *cough*cough*knives*cough*phone service*cough*, and it's a product people won't balk at on sight.

I'm gonna go play some games now.

Free Realms: Impressions

There's this free MMO that just released this week called Free Realms. It's a casual, kid/family friendly somewhat-fantasy based game that revolves around minigames.

Visually, I think it's very pretty, and far above anything you'd think of when you hear "free to play." The character models are well-rendered and the art style is cartoony, but in that stylized way that adults can appreciate. I like it, and find myself stopping consistantly to admire the landscape.

There's a lot to this game, and I've only played about half of it. There are several different profession minigames, and a trading card game. The games I haven't played yet are the trading card game, the tower defense game, and the two kart games. Oh, and there are game boards scattered around for checkers and chess.

There are no set classes in Free Realms. Instead, players can unlock a number of professions and can switch between them at any time. In fact, when going to play a minigame, you will automatically change into the profession that belongs to the minigame, if you've unlocked it. The default profession is "adventurer," and it's the generic "I'm just hanging out" profession. Any experience (represented by star power) you earn is earned toward your current profession at the time. You earn experience by doing quests and playing minigames, and since each profession has its own questline and minigames, there's plenty of experience to go around.

The games I've played so far are the two for cooking and the two for mining, and the combat "game," but more on that one later. For both professions, you have a gathering game, and a creation game. Both categories of games are variations of the same. The two gathering games are match-3 games that require you to link chains of consecutive tiles. The harvesting game just needs you to remove the tiles, each different tile being a different plant. The mining game adds ores to the mix, and you have to remove the tiles to drop the ores to the bottom. Same principle, two different strategies. The creation games are like that, too. The cooking game puts you through different stages to prepare the meal - slicing meat or smashing fruit, then watching as the food turns colors to indicate how well it cooked. The smelting game (turning your mined ore into bars) puts you through stages the same way, but again slightly tweaked. For instance, when smashing fruit, you have a power bar. A perfect hit will yield a smashed fruit, while a good hit will have to be repeated a few times to smash the fruit. Smashing ore is the same, except the ore splits into smaller parts, and you have to keep smashing until it is completely crumbled. There's enough variety to make the two games really feel different. And somewhat surprisingly, it's kind of satisfying to smash and then cook (or pour liquid metal) and yield a virtual item.

Free Realms is a fantasy adventure game. But one in which combat is completely optional. There are several different combat classes, only two of which are available to free players (more on that later). I've been playing as a brawler since I haven't found the ninja trainer yet (appropriately enough). To initiate combat, you go up to the monster and click on him, or you click on a door or gate signifying the entrance to an area. All combat is instanced and handled like a minigame. So you don't have to worry about getting interrupted by other players and some of your loot stolen (I'd say ninja'd, but there are ninjas in this game and they don't do that). The combat feels a lot more Diablo than World of Warcraft. For instance, you have a belt that holds four items - potions and food and whatnot. You also have up to four ability slots, which you activate by pressing the number keys (or clicking on them). The combat itself is just go up and beat on the monster like the Diablo-inspired action-RPG genre. But it feels deep enough to me to yield some satisfying gameplay, especially when grouped with other classes. This morning, I ran through a yeti cave and with a couple other people at my side, I bet we could've had some serious battles instead of me just carefully going one-by-one. It is a clickfest, yet (or a button-masher), but a fun one. And the objectives present in the combat minigames drive the play and make it feel a bit more important than just "I have to kill this thing." There are bonus objectives in all the minigames which give the game a bit more challenge if you want it.

So far, I really like Free Realms. Hopefully I'll start making friends soon and get to explore the social side of the game. I think it'd be fun to have some light social roleplaying going on, and this is certainly a good venue for online parties. If I want serious roleplaying with dramaz, I'll do World of Warcraft, but Free Realms is all about good clean fun.

The business model is part subscription and part micro-transaction. A good portion of the game is free. I think I read the devs saying something like 60/40 free/paid. The better stuff, higher level quests and gear, and some professions, are only available to paid members. But at 5 bucks a month, that's not really such a blow. Especially since the card game is free. I haven't seen the micro-transaction stuff yet, but I hear that all the pets for the pet trainer profession (which is free) are only available through Station Cash, which is Sony's micro-transaction currency.

I'll go into more detail on various aspects of the game as I play. For now, I'm really enjoying it, and if I can find the social side of things, there's a good chance that I'll pay that 5 bucks a month.

NY Drivers

I need to get something off my chest.

Can anyone explain New York drivers to me? Let me elaborate:

I commute to work via the turnpike/Rt. 78. Now, invariably, and at least once, there is a car in the left lane doing 10-15 miles slower than everyone else. And invariably, this person is from New York. Is there a reason that they can't get into the right lane, which has NO CARS in it and let the ten cars behind them go the speed they want to go? This leads to people then getting into the right lane to pass, usually during on-ramp merges and other messy situations, because Jersey drivers are reckless and stupid. But the Jersey drivers aren't at fault here - they're just doing what comes natural. It's the NY drivers causing the bottlenecks and recklessness by not being in the correct lane.

Now, you might say that this is my Jersey bias coming out, but let me give a particular example of the New York obsession with the left lane:

There's one stretch of 78 East between exit 56 and whatever exit 1-9 is. This stretch is a condensed two lanes, no shoulders, and has two on-ramps almost right on top of each other. Bottleneck city, and I'm surprised there aren't more accidents there. So we're going 75mph, normal traffic speed. We pass the two on-ramps, and then all of a sudden this car goes from the right lane to the left lane and SLOWS DOWN to about 55-60 mph. There were no cars in front of him in either lane. No fork in the road forcing him to choose a lane. No reason for this whatsoever. He just decided to get in front of a flowing lane of traffic and make them all hit their breaks. When he finally did get back into the right lane and I passed him, I noticed: NY.

WHY???????

Don't even get me started on PA drivers... they're just crazy.

Painting Day

I'm posting this from the computer that's now hooked up to our awesome 40" HD LCD TV. Unfortunately, I need to get a new mouse for it. It seems that the mouse that used to work upstairs no longer works after hooking the computer up downstairs. So I have one of my wireless mouses hooked up, but it's no good for gaming because it doesn't play well when I'm using the wireless internets. The signals kinda interfere with each other.

I'm waiting for paint to dry, and I figured blogging and generally being productive elsewhere was more fun than watching said paint dry. Actually, it's primer, not the actual paint coats yet, but I'm just getting started. I'm finally painting the front wall in the living room that connects into the dining room (there's no doorway, but there's an open walkway that looks like it might have contained at least an archway or doorway at one point). The dining room half of it is painted, and just cuts off at the border with the living room. I'm finally getting off my ass to do at least that much of the living room. Painting the rest of the living room is a daunting prospect because of all the furniture that has to be moved... not to mention the fake brick and the wood paneling. But I kinda forgot that I actually like doing this, especially with the computer down here so I can log into Pandora and have all sorts of music playing, and I can do stuff like blog while I wait between coats.

I'm also taking pictures of my craft stuffs so I can get them listed on Etsy tonight finally. The battery for my kickass camera is charging at the moment. There will be pictures eventually in my other blog for Crifmer Creations (http://crifcreations.blogspot.com). Maybe I'll put up a picture of the living room wall, too, just because I can. :) Not in the CC blog, but in this one. It's kinda silly to put it up there.

Time to go check the first coat.

Blog? Blog blog? Blog blog blog bloggity blog?

I saw this and thought it might be neat.

I'd been thinking about blogging again, but I generally have nothing to say. Facebook disappointed me with their simple notes system. Not really set up for blogging.

I don't know why I'm not staying with Livejournal. Maybe I'm just giving Blogger a trial run and it'll turn out to not be as good as Livejournal. Then I'll go back to not blogging at all.

Although it seems like I can have multiple blogs on here all linked to the same account, which is nice, because I want to do a Spore blog. Write about my adventures in Spore from the perspective of the creature, with pictures. Maybe even get feedback and evolve by committee.

Anyway, I has a new blog. Whee.