Hey Reader! Emily Vincent here. Surf's Up! Released in US, Australia, and New Zealand Congratulations to Jay Bendixen, whose first signed game, Surf's Up! has now been released across the US, Australia, and New Zealand. Surf's Up! is a bluffing card game in which you play as surfers trying to catch the best collection of waves while scoring bonuses from matching your surfboard to your waves and avoiding bluebottle stings. Your goal is to win the wave without tying, which causes you to wipe out, while also managing your energy and "Respect." When you win a wave, the energy you used is trashed and can't be used again that game, so you have to pick just the right time to go big. You can use your "Respect" as a tiebreaker or to buy extra energy and surfboards. There are a lot of opportunities to go big or go home in this tricky bidding game! Jay tested this game at multiple Protospiel Online events under its previous name 'Stoked'. All that testing paid off, as the game found its publisher and is now on retail shelves as of May. Jay credits the feedback from these events as helping shape the game to what it is today and he can't thank everyone in the community enough! I myself played Surf's Up! at a recent PO, in what I think was its near final form. It was a great gameplay experience and I couldn't be happier for Jay! It's awesome to watch a game like this evolve and to know we all helped Jay get it onto a shelf near you.
📣Announcements Announcements Annooouuuncements! Happy Pride everyone! If you're attending Origins Game Fair June 19-23 and looking for the Protospiel Online folks, check out the Unpub room! A number of our folks will be testing games there in person and would love to see you. You'll also find some of our designers at booths in the hall, including:
Heather Newton will be attending Protospiel Michigan June 28-30. If you're in the Michigan area, perhaps you'd like to attend as well! That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more awesome events, community opportunities, and updates about games tested at Protospiel! ~Emily P.S. If you have something you'd like to see featured in our Community Newsletter, you have 3 options -- either submit an official feature request, reply to this message, or, if you're a current attendee or alumni, post in the #🙌share-your-wins channel in the Protospiel Online Discord server to let us know the details. We'd love to celebrate you! |
We love helping our community of game designers and playtesters find encouragement and connection through our virtual conventions and the supporting content like our Twitch streams, YouTube channel, and Community Newsletter. It lights us up to see all the amazing milestones Protospiel community members are reaching with their game designs.
Hey Reader! Emily Vincent here. I know many of us are looking for help in getting our games out there, whether it's connecting to a publisher or self-publishing. There are a couple of cool opportunities in the next month that might help you on these journeys, so today I'm sharing these opportunities in case you missed them! Panda Next Big Game Giveaway (Gen Con) Panda is looking to manufacture the Next Big Game. This is a contest that's specific for folks who are attending Gen Con, since the...
Hey Reader! David Kessler here. July is an exciting month for games tested at Protospiel Online. Two games from the early days--we're talking 2020--have found a place in the world this month. Scattered Nexus was tested at PO in October 2020, and again in May 2023. Sinoda was brought to PO in July 2020, and later in January 2022. Congratulations to the creators of these games! The 2024 Edition of Scattered Nexus is live on Kickstarter Scattered Nexus is an ongoing passion project that will...
Hey Reader! Emily Vincent here. Some of you know that last year I decided to branch out from game design into game publishing. I see so many great designs in our online community and wanted to become a part of bringing those games to tables around the world. As part of this process I applied for and was accepted to the GAMA Horizons Fellowship program, an accelerator for emerging publishers and retailers from historically underrepresented groups in the tabletop industry. I'm excited to share...