Get into Games on air: Convention Season Paradice
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Transcript
Hello, and welcome to Get into Games on Air, a podcast about board games and the people who play them. My name is Craig, and joining me, as always, is Rebecca. Hello, how are you doing? Hello, I'm good, thank you. Good. Are you excited because convention season is coming up?
I am.
It's among us. It's around the corner. I feel like um you have the winter and you have the bad weather. We've just had lots of rain. Mhm.
and then I always look forward to the middle of March where
We get to go out and be indoors. No, but we go away, we stay at a hotel. Uh we take the girls, and it's like a fun weekend, and it's always good fun. And it's like a home away from home. Yes.
See our friends. Um and enjoy everything that convention has, and it's like the for me, it's like the the foot in the door to like get excited about UKGE. Yeah, absolutely. I think we start with that, as we spoke about uh a few weeks back, to Boldly Game. That's kind of that dipping your toe in the water kind of seeing some games, seeing your friends that you know, your your independent publishers and stuff like that. Getting a bit of that getting that taste of what the crowds and the buzz and the excitement about gaming, especially with family gaming, is about, and then you get to Aircon, which is the sort of the step into I always think of it as a step into stepping stone into UKGE. Evidently, it's its own its own beast at the moment. There's three different Aircons, I think, throughout the year. I like Aircon, Harrogate, because it's chill. Yeah.
There's a chill vibe. It's kind of it is a convention, but it feels like you sort of turn up, have a look at the stalls, buy yourself a seat, play some games, get up, go and see some friends, have another look at the stalls. Yeah. I found myself last time, I remember last year, just running around the place. Like one minute I'll be in the halls looking at the vendor halls, then I'll be sitting down playing a game, then I'll be getting back up and go, "Actually, I'm going to go and see a vendor." Or I'd get a message that I had to go and see someone at a specific stall and be like, "Right, I'll get to there at this time." Yeah, it was really good. It is the kind of place I know we take the kids, but it's the kind of place I don't mind sort of setting up camp, and then you do a bit of looking around, and I do a bit of looking around, and we take it in turns with the kids, and Yeah.
And it it just feels quite chill. This feels quite nice. Yeah, absolutely. So, there's that, and then that steps into, obviously, the the what is bigger and and is UKGE, which is getting bigger and bigger every year. Um but of course, leading up to Aircon, this is sort of that kind of those baby steps getting into it again is um you've got some really cool expos and conventions Mhm. uh coming up on, I think, May the 7th is uh Bedford uh tabletop expo, which is a really nice it's more of a
to try and go to that one. Yeah, it's not too far as well from us, really. It's um it's it's more of a war gamer one, but there is a lot still a lot of board game vendors and Yeah. And we know some people that go to that one as well. Um but this weekend, as of recording, uh so uh the 28th and the 1st of March is Paradise. And unfortunately, we're not able to get to Paradise this year.
a long way.
It is a bit of a distance. Um it is down in Worthing. We would we maybe would have gone, but we got other plans for this weekend, so We got some plans for the weekend. Um it is a bit of a a trek if we were to go. If we were if we were there to go there and back, Yeah.
we'd have to go there hotel, where we've already paid for a hotel for Aircon for Aircon, which
Yeah. hotels are over-expensive enough. Um or Airbnbs or whatever. So, it's it's one of those things, but um it does seem very very cool. Um and it is a really nice uh convention by all sounds. So, I'll tell you a bit about it. So, do you think we should get it introduced by the chaps from Worthing, and then we go on a bit about it?
All right, so I suppose so. Like my introduction would be no good.
So, our lovely folks the lovely folk over from bro ble ble bla the lovely the lovely folk over at Board Stupid um are will be there. Uh they always are. That is their local convention. It's just down the road from them. Um so um they have a little intro that we will uh we will play out for you, uh and then we'll get back into talking about Paradise. Hi, we're Board Stupid. My name is Wayne. And I'm Matt. And do you know anything about a town called Worthing? Well, Worthing is where we live, down on the south coast of England. There are three amazing things about Worthing. You've got the seaside.
Mhm. You've got amazing fish and chips. But most of all, you've got Paradise. Paradise is one of the fastest growing board game conventions. It's on the south coast with over 50 vendors, and it's on Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 1st of March. There will be an open gaming zone with a free-to-play library of over 200 200 games offered by our friends at SCGC. You're going to find RPGs and the Blood on the Clock Tower zone with some very special guests. Or maybe you're going to find your next favorite games in the bring and buy section. And me and Matt are going to be there doing a little giveaway.
So, when you see us, come and grab a raffle ticket.
And make sure to join us for some gaming. Paradise, 28th of February and 1st of March. I'll see you there at Okay, that's great. That's that's that's a little taster, but I'm sure what you have to say is more is better. We we we we've heard from Matt, we've heard from Wayne, we've heard from Elaine Butler. We've heard all of the information
me do that now. that we need. Um I misheard something once, and now now it's become a thing.
It's all right. Elaine is a very important part of the Board Stupid team. Yeah. So, Paradise happens at Worthing Leisure Centre. It is on between 11:00 and 6:00 on Saturday, and 10:00 and 4:00 on Sunday. There is a social deduction zone, there's a games library, there are role-playing games, there is playtesting, there's a quiet gaming zone, there's a charity raffle, there's a bring and buy, and they have a cafe and bar. So, what's not to like about that?
Absolutely. Um there are um some of our friends who are going to be there, but I was looking at the the little program online of what you could expect from it. And there's actually um a find the Paradise dragon, and you've got to try and take a photo, so that's a cool thing to to do. Um so, people that we know that going to be there, Attic King Games is going to be there. Nice. Very excited, because she's got a new game. Yes, um Malice Hortus will be for sale for the very first time. Which we have got, which we need to get to the table. Um so, that's exciting. Let's hear from her. Yeah. At Paradise, I will have all of my handmade gaming accessories with me, including jewelry and the board game survival kit, which you can now get in 15 different colors. I'll have my handmade games with me, including Mini Memory Mischief and all of the Playful Pets games. And for the first time ever, I will have Malice Hortus to demo and sell along with beautiful art prints that come with it. Please come and see Attic King Games at Paradise.
That's great. I'm glad that's that's a is there a She does some really cool stuff. I really like that her games are are great, and the little survival the the tins, the little your player color tins are are fantastic. So, and she does a really amazing jewelry that you you got some of her Yeah, so I got a like um it's a dice encased in sort of wire. It looks really cool.
And then we also got like a hair clip that's a rose that's got a a dice inside. It was really nice and neat. Like if you want to have um jewelry that from a distance doesn't look like board game adjacent Subtle. It's subtle, yeah. It's nice. Um the lovely guys from Half No More uh going to be there. Yes, absolutely. Hopefully getting to see some Tricky Landing and some Roller Disco. Yeah. Tricky Landing is definitely the hit of uh right now. So many times, people gamers and non-gamers come over, and we're like, "Do you want to play Tricky Landing?" And they all like absolutely love it. I think I had some school friends over, and we must have played well, at least 10 15 games of it.
Yeah, no, it's it's a great it's a really good really good game. Um But yeah, we'll have a hear from from Mike at Half No More, I think. Hey, everyone. It's Mike from Half No More here, and I am super excited to get back to Paradise. It's a fantastic event, and we can't wait to be in the trade hall with some of our really fun indie publisher friends. Uh we'll be showcasing a couple of our new games, so we'll have the opportunity for people to come and demo Roller Disco, which is a fast-paced card game where you are racing around a mirror ball trying to shed your cards quicker than the other players. It will definitely get you moving on up and getting on down. We'll also be showcasing our new dexterity trick-taking game called tricky landing where the aim of the game is to fire clowns out of cannons. We actually throw the cards to get them to land on the target.
We'll also have our existing games as a kind of stack and flower cards available. We really can't wait. So, if you're attending, come and say hello and play some games. See you there. Yeah, so super excited to hear uh and see what Mike has on offer. He'll be at Aircon as well. So, he's traveling around. Yeah, and it's he's he's always such a great personality to catch up with and um he um he's very personable, but he's he's a very happy chap. Yeah. And um yeah, love him. I always love catching up with him. So, if you do get the chance to chat chat to him, please please do do that. Uh Mystery Dice Goblin are going to be there and obviously they're a sponsor of the uh podcast.
Yep, up for all your dice needs.
Yeah, head over to www.dicegoblin.com/gettogames. Get yourself a little bit of money off. Um but yeah, visit them, go visit them, uh chat with them, get yourself some new math rocks. Math rocks. Ludus Vulpes are going to be there. Um they uh spent some time at AireCon recently. Yep. And um they're a lovely couple, got some really interesting games, and I really like their um their ethos behind they they make all their games in their I think their garage. Yeah. And they're all wooden games and they they craft them themselves and they they believe that you know, in their products and that's They're they're some great Yeah, some really nice little games.
And then I want everybody to tag me in all their Time Troopers experiences Yes. because I can't be there and my copy is on a ship somewhere and it's taking too long to get here. It really It really is. No, um yeah, so things happen and that's just it was Chinese New Year and things got slowed down and got stuck in transport.
So, yeah, it's it's one of those things, but um it'll be there. But the good thing is people get to go to Paradise and to experience two of the new games from Molyneaux Ares. Um and here's a little bit from Lee uh at Molyneaux Ares. Hi, it's Lee from Molyneaux Ares Games. We're on our way to Paradise where we'll be demoing Before the Rain, our new Kickstarter coming out in April. It's a push your luck game about bees and flowers. We're also demoing Time Troopers, a solo co-op game which you may have heard of. Hi, it's So, they'll be able to play it without me being in the way. Yes, absolutely. So, they'll actually be able to get some demos in without you around. So, that'll be nice for them.
have me going, "Can I just play now?"
Yeah, but um yeah, try and take photographs of yourselves playing Time Troopers. Tag Becky or myself in the in the post. We'd love to see people enjoying themselves. Actually, just tag yourself with any of those people.
because I couldn't do that one.
Yeah, no, it's um it's a good experience. So, definitely get involved with that. Um So, a couple of other things that are happening at uh Paradise are Descent Games are there. So, you can make your own game.
Yeah, Descent they're great. They were at the They were at Tabletop Gaming as well, weren't they? Yeah. And then uh there's an Awkward Showdown tournament which apparently is a 5-minute fighting card game. Cool. Um which is quite cool. And the other person who's going to be there is Ivan Brett. Oh, Ivan Brett is going to be
He's going to be doing games of Ivan Brett from The Traitors season one will be uh playing uh doing uh storytelling. What is that word? Blood on the Clock Towering. He he will be Blood on the Clock Towering. So, that's always exciting. Um But the other people who are going to be there who are like we recently met at Tabletop Gaming which was Yeah. uh nice. Um is Absolute Ascendancy. Mhm. And they are bringing Black Metro Yes.
to uh Paradise. This is, I feel, um a labor of love. Yes, I understand. This guy has poured his heart and soul into this game. There it he's self-published it, um created a a story to go with it.
He's created a world, yeah.
with books
And yeah, books and then there's expansions and I know they're looking into solo modes and things like that. Um so, Black Metro is set in a dystopian city uh and it's a competitive area control game. Um the ruler of the dark city is due to step down and you are trying to uh rise to power and claim the the title deed. The idea is that you dominate districts, you fulfill missions, you receive syndicate backing. And the way the game the game follows sort of an assignment phase where you assign your personnel. And then you see who has the most dominance in certain areas. And you resolve anything that needs resolving and then there's a standby phase where you sort of clean up and do what Um needs doing, but it sounds very exciting. He's very passionate about his products and um you were lucky enough to talk to him.
Yes. Um I I was otherwise engaged. Um so, I didn't get to get the chance, but um we shall hear Yeah, so I get to have a little chat a little chat with Emersh from Absolute Ascendancy. Here you go. And we have a super special guest for you this afternoon. He is a mathematician, a pianist, an athlete, a writer, a game designer, and a ninja, apparently. It's Emersh from uh from Absolute Ascendancy. I just tripped over my tongue. Tripped over my tongue with your alliteration here. Uh how are you doing? You all right?
Hey everyone. Yeah, I'm all good. Thank you, Craig, for that um inspiring introduction. I might have change that on my website That's your own words, your own words, my friend.
It is. It is. Yeah, I've been I've been brave on that one. Yeah.
No, cool. Uh so, yeah, Absolute Ascendancy is the um the wonderful game that is Black Metro that people may have seen uh doing the rounds at expos and conventions around the uh the UK um recently. Always does very It's always very popular. I always hear good things about it. Um and it's it's a honor to have you on board with on the Getting to Games on Air podcast for a little chat about things.
Okay, thanks so much for having me. But yeah, so uh first of all, I'd like to why not tell everybody a little bit about yourself and um yeah, introduce yourself and Sure. tell everyone. We've We've covered off the keywords, but um yeah, I mean
effectively I'm Yeah, I've I'm a I'm a game designer nowadays and yeah, Black Metro is the the my main project that I've that I've designed. It started off as a a project in lockdown, actually. And then I did worked on it for a good number of years, about over 3 years of development before I was like, "Yeah, you know, I need to like put a lid on this, otherwise I'm just going to be like developing this until the end of time." And yeah, end of end of 2024 actually was when I did my first like small print run. And then so, all throughout 2025, goes to different trade shows, different expos, that sort of thing, getting the word out there. And it's taken about a year. And then towards the back end of 2025 is where I slowly started getting some momentum.
And I'm hoping to carry that, you know, into 2026. So, I've been to a couple of trade shows already, including the National Space Centre at Tabletop Gaming, and then a couple weeks ago I attended Tabletop Gaming Live at Doncaster. I know you had this on your notes, but I might as well I'm not I'm not as good as you. Yeah, yeah. I want to go Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, this this coming week this
this coming weekend, I'll be at Paradise. That's down in Worthing. And then the weekend afterwards, I'll be in Bedford for uh Tabletop Gaming Expo in Bedford. That's more of a tabletop wargaming expo, but because Black Metro is kind of a strategy like combaty area control style game, it kind of there's a little bit of crossover with that. Then I've got a bit of a reprieve until UK Games Expo and that's kind of what it's looking like. You know, for the foreseeable future. Nice. In terms of trade shows. Nice. That's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, um yeah, Bedford's I've um a couple of them people I know go there quite often. Um but it is it's it's a bit of it's a nice mix.
It's a nice like a nice mix of um convention and board gamers and wargamers and that kind of thing which is really nice.
Oh, the Robin Drury, he's really cool. He's super cool. Excellent. Excellent.
Is it So, what got you what got you into it? So, so so Black Metro obviously is your is your baby. Is Is it Was there Was there Is there books as well that you were like it's a whole world that you've built and designed? Yeah, correct. Yeah, so I wrote There's a bit of a story behind Yeah, behind that as well. So, I started off, you know, developing the the game. And like a few months in, I just had all these like different ideas like the story, the law. Yeah. And it got to the point where I was basically like, well, I can't put this in a rulebook cuz if I do, what's it going to be like? You know, gay massive or whatever. So, I started writing a separate story like as a separate thing. Yeah. And then what ended up happening, right, was I was getting crossover ideas. In other words, some stuff that some game mechanics that were in the game, I'll start narrating them in the story.
And then conversely, the other way around as well, vice versa. I would have some stuff I wrote about in the story and I was like, wouldn't that be cool if this thing I wrote about existed in the board game? So, they I I I was like the working on these two separate things kind of like tan tangentially like side by side. And then the development for each of these was driving the other. It was It was actually Yeah, kind of interesting how that worked out for me. Yeah. No, that's cool. So, yeah, there was a there was a storyline as well. Yeah, yeah, that's all. So, going back to like your grassroots essentially, so what what made you want to design a board game? Are you Are were you into board games before? What kind of What drew you to making a board game?
Yeah, that's a That's a great That's a great question, Craig. So, I started off like in my teenage or early teenage years, I was all into my TCGs like Yu-Gi-Oh, your Pokémon. Didn't so much get into Magic Gathering, but mainly these other two. And when I was doing my university years, I met a friend and she kind of introduced me into board games. And until that point, I was basically board games to me were like, you know, you probably heard the story before like like your Monopoly, your Cluedo, you know, this mainstream stuff. But then I started getting introduced to like all these other ones and I was just like, wait, what? Kind of like opened a whole new world for me. So, yeah, then post graduation, you know, I was like I was really getting into board games. I was kind of kind of had enough of the TCGs like I won't go into too much detail, but like the mechanics of like the Yu-Gi-Oh and the Pokémon, they started to power creep and all that sort of all that all that sort of stuff. Just got way too much basically. I was like, you know what? I'm packing it in. I'm just not doing this anymore. And then I kind of shifted more into board games, started playing those a whole lot more.
And then yeah, then the whole like lockdown pandemic [ __ ] that had even happened, I was like, well, looking at my I'm looking at my collection of board games. I was like, well, why don't I just try and make one, you know? And I was like, what kind of what I looked at my collection like, what kind of games do I like? It was very obvious that, you know, strategy, area control, that's like the bread and butter for me. So, I just basically ended up taking ideas from a multitude of games in my collection. I I'll even name a few examples like Lords of Waterdeep, Blood Rage as a couple of examples. I took certain mechanics from these different things. And then applied like a sci-fi backdrop. I'm quite into my sci-fi. And eventually, yeah, that's kind of like how the early stages of Black Metro came about.
Nice. So, what what's your what's your favorite board game then? What's your favorite modern modern Obviously not Black Metro. We can't be biased. What is your
Yeah, I was going to say. Um Ooh, that's a It's a good question. There's There's a few that come to mind. Um Twilight Imperium. Although I don't play that so much these days cuz it's a bit of a bit of a time hog. Yeah. But there's definitely a time uh where I was Yeah, you know, you you can you play it online as well. So, I was just getting a few games. It was bad. It was bad. Yeah, it was a proper time sink. Yeah. Uh that's definitely one of them that stands out there. I also like like Tyrants of the Underdark. Nice. I know that's an area of control deck builder. I really I quite like that as well. Blood Rage again, another game I like.
Yeah, it's hard to pick just one, man. Like honestly, it's hard to pick just a few that I like. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You can And you can see the the love that's gone in from that's been taken from those games like you mentioned before and have gone into like kind of your game to kind of develop it and and other than other than your inspiration from other games like obviously sci-fi is a big big thing you mentioned like something you're really interested in. Um looking at Black Metro, you get kind of these real like Blade Runner-y kind of vibes to it as well, that kind of dark dystopian future kind of thing. What did any like IPs take any Did you take any inspiration from any IPs or anything any sci-fi genre stuff that that went into the game?
Yeah, so one one thing is so going back to my Yu-Gi-Oh days, there was this really busted card like completely broken. It's called Future Fusion. It's basically it's like this futuristic city and there's different rarities you can get off the Yu-Gi-Oh cards and one of them was called like an ultimate rare which basically applies like a dark holo foil effect. And that's That was like And that was like, this card is so sick. And it was like the easily the most powerful card in my deck back in the game. You could just play this turn one and like you almost You It's almost like a guaranteed win. It was just like good. Uh but also So, Final Fantasy VII, so you got Midgar and Neo Gotham City from Batman. And if you played Pokémon Black and White like post game, you can visit Black City which is again like a futuristic dark city. There's all these sorts of inspirations kind of came into the whole sci-fi mix. And also when I was, you know, younger, I used to be a be a family trips to the city like City of London and also City of Melbourne as well.
And so just walking around these cities at night and seeing all the just that atmosphere and all that sort of thing. It was really inspirational. Yeah. Nice. So, so how would you describe Black Metro to someone who's never heard of it before? So, what would What would be your description of the game? So, let everyone know what exactly what the game is about and essentially what you do. So, Black Metro is a strategy board game, two to four players. Takes around two hours. Six rounds, most points wins. Each round has four phases which broadly speaking to summarize, basically assign your personnel to these There's 12 districts of the dark city. And you're going to assign your personnel to these different districts.
And then you're going to contest dominance. So, every time you win a fight, you or you control the district, you get a point. Afterwards, you get to resolve the effects of districts which contain your personnel. And then finally, there's a standby phase where you have the syndicates. These are basically political objectives players are competing to score. You run through that loop six rounds and there's a final scoring procedure, most points wins. Nice. This is very cool. Um so from from like obviously you get that really that good theme and you've got that great production and stuff like that. When it came to actually So, it's a self-published game, isn't it? Or is it self-published or did it go to Kickstarter? Yeah. So, what was your what was your your thought processes on on self self-publishing over Kickstarting and Game Found and that kind of thing? How did you How did you find self-publishing?
So, it was tricky tricky either way. So, with regard to crowdsource funding, I'll I'll put it bluntly. Like you need to have a pretty big active user base. And you also need like a large amount of capital to do all the advertising and all and all that sort of thing. And plus, you need to have like marketing knowledge as well which I just don't have. I'm I've got a math background. I'm not a marketer or whatever you want to call it. But I did have the capital to do a small print run. And that's why I took that route instead. At least initially, right? Small print run. And that way, it's just quicker. I can I can just get out there. And I can really go for go to these trade shows and stuff and get that validation through that.
And then set up to do like maybe a crowdsource funded campaign or do even a bigger print run in in the future. That's kind of my line of reasoning with regard to that. Yeah, that's cool. I mean, what did you What was the What was the hardest hardest point you found in that whole process? What was What did you find the most difficult um step really?
Well, having to find Yeah, there's a lot of research you need to do to find like a suitable manufacturer. Yeah. you've got to get your components back. You know, get get all that sort of bang bang on bang on basically. And there's a lot of emails as well to keep track of. And there's just a Yeah, there's a there's a lot of nitty-gritty that goes around when you're trying to manufacture your own game. You know, first let's just say cuz I did I did look into the traditional publisher route as well. You know, I did do that like early way earlier on. And I I did get interest from a couple of smaller publishers, but the the thing with that though, Craig, is that they have like They're like, yeah, we're interested, but we have like this two-year backlog. Yeah. I can't mate. I can't I can't work with this.
I've been working six years in a lockdown. You need to get this out. You know what I mean? Yeah, so I there was potential for me to have taken up one of those offers. But again, I I just I didn't want to wait around basically. I was like, I can't do it anymore. That's That's that's two years before they even get a chance to look into manufacturing my game. Then there's the lead time to get all that Do you know what I mean? Yeah. So that that Yeah, but if you do go the traditional publishing route, right? Then obviously you don't need to worry about all these conversations manufacturers cuz the publisher would deal with all that for you and that saves you a lot of headache at least in that regard. But in my case, I was I wanted a quicker solution. And I had the time to do you know do the research and you know find manufacturers and that have these conversations.
You know that sort of thing. So that's why I went with a small self-published print run. Yeah. And and by all means and it's it seems to have been pretty pretty successful. I mean, are you So there was there's one expansion as you So you've already released one expansion for it. Um is there is there plans for more a more start more content for it? Have you got Are you still writing content for this epic saga that's going on? Are there new new games in the pipeline? Anything like that? There there The short answer, yes. Long answer, I've got to the stage where I want to just focus on what I currently have cuz I've got Yeah, I've got a base game, got a I've got a story, got an expansion.
And there's even like a luxury item in the neoprene mat. I've got plenty to be getting on with and I think my priority now is to just go out go out and just focus on my existing stock my existing products. Yeah. And in the back burner, I've got at least one more expansion for sure in the pipeline. Nice. There's potential for one more expansion, but that's that's a maybe. Like I've got ideas in my head, but I haven't committed to anything to to the paper. I haven't created any components for it, but ideas is in my head. Yeah.
And that's So that's that's the That that would be Sorry, yeah. That would be the final expansion. Like if I do that that other one in my head that I would That's where I draw the line. And then afterwards, I would you know if I I want to create like more games, I would want to set it in the same IP cuz I spent so much time building this IP up. It just makes way more sense to just you know compound that. Maybe I'll make a deck builder now. I don't know. There'll be some other Whatever other game I make deck deck builder, card drafting, whatever mechanics I want to use, I would I want to set it in the same universe and just keep
Yeah, it's a bit like um a bit like IV Studios have made Moonrakers and Moonrollers and Brink. It's all it's all set in the same universe. You've just got different styles of games. Exactly. Which sounds like a great idea. But yeah, and like you said, it's it's good to focus on that one kind of that game that you have right now um and get that one out into the public eye and and get people seeing it, get people playing it and then hopefully more and more people will want it and then you'll be able to run a a maybe run a crowdfunding campaign to get a second print run or another print run or get them get the money to go away or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, no. That's that's great. Um So that kind of answers the question of any other game. So that's what I was I was going to ask you as well if there was any other in the pipeline and whether you'd stick in the same like IP in the same universe. So um Yeah.
Yeah, I think that's that pretty much is is Is there anything else you want to let people know about um the about Black Metro? Um Where where where can we follow So we're going to find you at obviously the place you get Paradise um this weekend coming. Paradise then Bedford. 28th I think yeah.
Paradise, following weekend. Yeah, correct. Yeah, 28th of Feb to 1st of March is Paradise. Then 7th uh 7th to 8th of March is Bedford. Then there's a bit of a break until end of May for the UK Games Expo. Amazing. all the conventions for like at least the first first half of the year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Amazing. Cool. So yeah, I mean where can people find more information about Black Black Metro and where can people follow you on social media?
Yeah. Yeah, I think I can provide all that stuff. So the best the best place if you want more information in general would be absolutesanity.com/blackmetro. That that gives There's a huge page where I've just dumped basically everything like that you need to know about the game and all the all the links to like the like buy the game you know the digital versions on Tabletop Simulator, Tabletopia, Tabletop Playground. All those links if you want to try the game online first. All that is there as well. And in terms of handles, I'm mainly on Instagram, which is absolutesanity. Uh I technically have a TikTok as well, but I kind of dabble in that. And then my Facebook page honestly is pretty dead, but again on Facebook it's Facebook's absolutesanity as well, but TikTok I it's Black Metro Game.
@blackmetrogame. It's a bit It's a bit different from my TikTok. Nice.
um I'm mostly active on Instagram in terms of socials. So there there was one other question um really um have you thought about a Is there some kind of playlist uh that you could put like Spotify playlist or something along that line or with Black Metro? Or could you could you create using your piano a playlist a beautiful thematic playlist for the game? Have you thought about that as an idea? Actually, yes. So not not so much in terms of my own ability. Although funnily enough, there's um I did a I did a short piece on It's called It's called Black It's literally called Black City in in in Pokémon. And that has its own like soundtrack theme or whatever you actually enter. So I did a piano rendition of that, which is which is pretty cool. It's on YouTube. But in terms of actually creating like a soundtrack for the game and stuff, I was in I was in like this like a few years back, but I was in conversations.
I I have a friend who is He's like an audio engineer, right? And he introduced me to someone who does who He's like a composer for like like movie soundtracks and all that sort of thing. And we got to talk This This conversation unfortunately fell to the wayside, but it there was discussions about yeah, could we create like an accompanying like just like a play You know how people do like they do D&D sessions Yeah, yeah.
they'll stick a D&D playlist on. Exactly, something like that. But with sort of dark ambience like city themes that would be fit you know befitting of the setting for Black Metro. So there was there was conversations with that, but it kind of just it kind of just fell flat unfortunately. But yeah, in the future, yeah, maybe it might be something that we could pick up on. More more people are doing it weekly.
what I do sometimes Yeah. Yeah, exactly. We do we do all the time. We play we put music in the background. We try and theme music to to games like when we're playing Thunder Road we'll put the Mad Max soundtrack on. And when we're just it just brings a whole 'nother level of theme to the game and it is like it does it is such a thematic game that the gameplay fits the theme. It it really draws you into the game and I think that extra little layer as well would um would lift it even more. It's um it's a it's a stunning little job that you've done.
My friend said the similar thing. Yeah, my friend my audio engineer, he was like, yeah, you've got such a like a thematic game. I think just just adding that audio element to it as well. It's It's also for people who who play digitally as well, right? Having that audio track in the in the background or whatever can be good for one in that perspective as well. So maybe Yeah, you know what? I Maybe it's something I need to like reestablish the communication on.
There we go. Done. There we go. Put it in the notes.
Yeah. Cool. Well, yeah, but thanks so much for having a chat about Black Metro. I hope people will follow you and people will come and see you at the new at the other conventions. And if people especially for people who are going to UKGE, we'll link you in the bio of the of the podcast episode and stuff like that and share more content. But yeah, thanks very much for the chat. Thank you so much, Craig. Have a nice evening. You too. Cheers. So yeah, that was that was was a good a nice chat. Um some exciting stuff in the pipeline from them in the future. And I would say he's definitely someone to pop along and have a visit and try out the game, have a little tester of the of the game, see what you like. Um it will be available to buy um He always looks the part as well. Like he looks like he came from the dark city.
Uh dressed to impress. You know, it it it just adds to the um Yeah.
the theme of the game. Um but it it looks really interesting. We have We have a copy, but we haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I'm really I'm interested So you put out personnel, but it appears that you once you've put out personnel, you can't put any more personnel of your type in there. So it's like strategically where do you place your personnel? And then you're trying to assert your dominance over certain areas so you can do things, but you know, it's about There's been there's been like echoes of of like on a more contemporary game like Risk and Scythe and Lords of Waterdeep. So there's there's a nice mix. You can see where his games he's enjoyed and where they've bled into into the game that he's created. So that's always And he describes it as sort of a a sandbox type game. There's lots of different ways to win the game.
Um and you explore those routes to winning the game. Um So yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. There's lots of a lots of people to check out. Yeah, 100% Paradise it sounds like a really interesting one. It's definitely one that perhaps I've already checked out the dates for next year so perhaps we'll Yeah, we'll get down there. Get that into our convention calendar and go and see what it's what it's all about. What's all the fuss about?
Yeah, absolutely. Next year but we'd love to hear from people who go and if you didn't know about it but you just listen to the podcast Go quick. Yeah, run now. And if you're already down there go there. Yeah, if you live in Warwick Makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. Tickets seem reasonably priced as well so yeah, pop along and enjoy a good gaming convention. Um And yeah, that's that's us. That's the episode for today. It's a bit of a bit of a shorter one. Next week's episode might be about Aircon. Uh yes, two weeks to Aircon so maybe next week getting getting um our recommendations of how to survive Aircon with kids and taking small people and you know, all the stuff that we chat about. We got we've seen the map now so we know where things are. So things have moved around. But we'll save that
But we can save all that stuff. All that good stuff for the next All that good stuff for the next episode. So yeah, thanks very much for listening. It was a bit of a shorter episode this week but life is life. Um and but yeah, so so enjoy this episode and thanks for listening and remember to give a five star review. Comment if you're going to any conventions and what your favorite conventions are that you're going to. Or maybe you want to um recommend conventions we need to check out and then do podcast.
Yeah, what local conventions do you go to that we need to check out and we need to do podcasts about. That'd be great. Cool. Well, look forward to seeing you all hearing you all on the next one and thanks very much for watching and watching. Yeah, thanks for watching.
Watching. Thanks for watching with your ears. Uh and remember to get into paradise. Or other conventions. Hopefully everyone gets into paradise convention. Uh it depends on the if you're one of the four thousand Anyway, that's another story for another religion.
Anyway, uh click that button. Uh yeah, click that button. Uh thanks. Thanks. See you later, Mom. Uh I don't know. Mom? Yeah, I don't know. I was like I was on the phone. See you later. Yeah, yeah, bye. Just going to the shops. #ringingmom I'm going through a tunnel. Yeah, but #justringingmom if you get this far in the podcast and put it on the uh post. #justringingmom That'd be great. Remember to Remember to Get into time trippers. Time trippers on Tag Becky. Tag Becky. And remember to Get into Get into games. Get into games. Toodle pip. Ta-ta. I'm drawing something new. Toodle pip is my new catchphrase. Toodle pip. Toodle pip. I like it. Okay.
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