Wait, About What?
An about page is supposed to be …. you know… about. So here goes.
Origin Story, or Why We’re Here
This is the origin story. The real one, not the one you see on TV*. This is about how industries change, and how their gears grind on, no matter who falls in between them, all in the pursuit of money and the dumbing down of everything. And this is about two unlikely idiots who took a chance on a big idea about doing something fun.
ANDY
Me, myself and I am Andy — and I’m an artist. I do photography, film making, design posters, dabble in t-shirts, TTPRGS, GMing, LED artworks and electronics. I seem to be happiest when I’m making something and at my worst when I’m not.
Eric is the other one. He and I have been friends a long time now. We’re close enough that he can poke at me and ask me annoying (but good/useful/necessary) questions, and I feel like I have to answer them b/c it’s Eric asking them (even if they are annoying). Anyway. He says something like (you’ll get his version of things below) “Hey, why aren’t you making something? You know, to sell? Because you like to make things and selling things is SO EASY that you’re just leaving money on the table you dope”
I might be paraphrasing. And misquoting. But you get the idea.
He also said something along the lines of “You know that there are other people who can help you do all the other stuff it takes to put out a cool thing you could sell, right? You don’t have to do it all yourself”. Which, I have to say, had not really occurred to me.
That all rolled around my head for about 10 hours and I got Eric to meet me up Baerlic on Alberta the next night. Upon which we drank a bunch of good beer and bashed around ideas for things that I could create that he could market and how we could work together to do something creative, and cool, and fun, and while hard work, would be creative cool and fun and totally worth it. We settled on some sort of casual-but sorta crunchy-card game aimed at D&D players who liked beer. Us, basically.
On the walk home, about 100’ feet from the pub, the name popped into my head. BEER KNIGHT.
I didn’t know what it was going to be, but I knew it was called that. Pretty sure I texted him right away. I’m not going to check b/c it makes a better story this way.
Anyway.
I woke up the next morning with a clear head and a very clear outline of what the game would be and started bashing out the rules. What we’ve arrived at here and now, which is the start of our “alpha testing”, is largely the same game that popped into my head last May. Which is freaking cool. There’s been a bunch of changes (all for the better) and the artwork has landed someplace way different than I first anticipated, again for the better.
The best thing is that each time we print a new copy and play it, I have fun. Like, laugh at my own stupid jokes and weird ass illustrations and ridiculous deep cut nerd jokes, fun. I’m pretty sure Eric is having fun too. Since he’s laughing at all the same stuff as me.
I’m not sure if this a one-off, or if it’s the start of a whole new chapter as an Artist (I used the capital A there, which is always tricky for me). I will say there’s a new game idea that’s been trying to find a way out of my head —it seems I’d better get comfortable.
—ANDY BATT, SEPTEMBER 2024
ERIC
This is Eric writing now. He’s authentically writing this, and is def. not a chatgpt clone of Eric that I made by feeding it his texts.
*We’re waiting on a Netflix/Hulu/Disney+ deal to come through… what? What do you mean they’re no longer throwing money at questionable things to see if they make a show out of it? That model is over? We’re too late? We’re not getting a limited series with an option for a movie? Damn.
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Also. Beer Knight is © 2024 Andy Batt - Legitimate Question Games
