Movies/Shows Based on Games & Crowdfunding Hopes

0:01 Hey Mitchell. Hey Jamie. Jamie, you and Mitchell are here today to talk about games and things that we love. How are you doing today? I'm doing I'm doing well. Uh this is really really cool. Now this is our first time. By the way, welcome to Positively Board Gaming. Uh as Jamie said, Jamie Stegmaier, Mitchell Whitfield, we talk about games and life and things and you might be surprised by the things we talk about. Um but it's always appropriate. Don't get Don't get nervous. Uh Jamie, this is our first ever episode where you are recording from your new studio. Have you gotten used to it? Does it still feel It looks great and you sound great, so that's out of the way. Platitudes out of the way. How does it How does it feel for you on your end? Cuz this isn't your first video from that location. I I know you've done a few. I've seen them. So how does it feel to you? It it it feels really good. And I and I I love that my last recording at the at the condo was with you. It was the very last one. After that I I literally packed up my computer after doing that recording. I was worried I'm always worried when I transfer a computer You know when they like you update your computer or even when you just move your computer. I'm always nervous about that. But that worked out fine. And I now have carpet in here. This is probably someone's bedroom at this house previously. But the carpet I think helps buffer the sound a little bit.

1:14 Okay. Yeah. So I I'm excited about that. And Walter, my cat, loves the carpet. He's been finding all sorts of spots to lay around in here. Here I'll make a big for a second so people can see his spot. Yeah. So he's been He's been laying over there. How's he adjusted because I know that was a big not a worrying point, but that's something he's a member of the family like you and Megan you want to make sure and I know you reached out and got some information about cats adjusting to new environment. So how's his adjustment process been? He's comfortable? He seems to be very comfortable. I think he is in in a good way almost over stim over stimulated stimulated by um by the outdoors because there are now we have a number of um floor-to-ceiling windows slash I guess doors doors slash windows. And so he is everywhere he walks around on the first floor where he is looking outside at squirrels and birds and bunnies and plants and leaves every And so I think it is just it's a lot for his little brain to process. And I think he's likes that, but I've noticed him also napping more after he does that.

2:12 It's probably It's probably It can be a little tiring. I'm sure that that mental fatigue sets in like, "What is this?" But I like you know as long as he's eating, going to the bathroom, showing affection, showing joy cuz you can sense, you know, our animals our partners, you know, what any cat level of being they are you can sense their level of joy. Um in different ways. So that that's really cool. That's really cool. Again, You have a puppy update speaking of that? You haven't talked about your puppy in a little while. Oh, Blue. Blue is outside with with my son Ryan right now. With Blue and Bella are outside. Blue is fantastic. He has been um he's adjusted a thousand percent. He is so happy. And Bella, who's much older, Blue is like ten almost ten months old. Bella is nine years old. And it's the it's a different dynamic like we with our older puppy who passed away, Jake, Bella was the young one trying to poke him to play and he was like, "Ah, leave me alone." And now it's the opposite dynamic where, you know, Blue is the baby and Bella's like, "Leave me alone." But she's still the nine years old. She's still able to run around and play with him. And they have so much fun, but it is yeah it's exhausting to watch. You watch them and you feel like you need to take a nap. Cuz they're two pit mixes that just love to play. They love to snuggle. And at night, you know, they play hard and they they they sleep They work hard and they play hard basically. So yeah, he has been amazing. Thank you for asking. We are just loving him. It's It's one of those things where after you have your new animal companion for sometimes it just takes a few hours or a day you're like, "How did I ever live without this creature?" Yeah. Yeah. I don't I can't remember our lives without these creatures. Where do I can't even You know what I mean? So I know there You know, there's some people that don't like animals that you don't want animals

3:43 or don't want kids or different things for different reasons and they want the freedom to be able to go places, but animals especially there's just this to me no downside. It's You're having a bad day. You have your your your pet friend with you. It's like everything sort of melts away. It's like, "Oh, I can just relax." It's just like a calming thing. I just It's the best. Thank you for asking. He's wonderful. If you don't mind me ask I I one other question about about Blue. It Do you uh what is the most unexpectedly smart thing or unexpectedly dumb thing like maybe comically dumb thing that he does? Any anything really smart or really dumb? Uh really really smart The really smart thing about him is it's it's it's a it's something that I look for in people, too. My mom always said to me years ago, "You can make the I think I told you this, too." And it's a great it's great wisdom. I don't know where she heard it from or if it was hers originally. I don't know. She said, "You can make a million mistakes in life. Just make a million different mistakes.

4:40 Don't make the same mistake over and over. Make a million mistakes. Just make sure they're different and learn from them." And uh which I think is is smart. It's really, you know, makes sense. So Blue, to his credit, the times that he's been naughty and done things that weren't optimal, we'll say that, he didn't repeat He's never repeated them. And it's not because we were like vicious to him like, "Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah." We scared him about it. We We had a talk.

5:02 And uh I think he knows by our reaction that he felt bad and he he's very good about learning from things that he does that, "Oh, they don't like this. Okay, let's not do that." Doesn't mean he won't do a million other goofy things where like, "What are you doing? I should have said don't do that, too." Um and the the most ridiculous not so bright thing, he's very athletic. You know, he's a pit mix. He's really strong. He can really jump. But he hasn't quite gauged the front paw region yet. So he'll jump, but instead of jumping up, he'll leap forward. So when he goes to get the couch, instead of like from ten feet away he can get on the couch, but he'll forget that his paws are going to get are going to hit the cushions and he'll just face plant. So Ryan was like, "Oh my god." He just like It's like sliding into home. It's like watching, you know, Mets Cardinals or something. It was terrible. Um so, you know, he's a little bit He doesn't really judge his jumps well in terms of his body and where his legs are cuz he'll get his legs caught and then do a face slide and then come up with like his tongue hanging out like, "Ta-da." Looks like a cartoon. So Yeah.

5:57 It's a That's great. It's comical. At least, you know, he's not hurt. He's happy, but it is it is quite comical, Jamie.

6:05 That was great. Ah. Okay, so I have to ask you. Yeah. Yeah.

6:09 Do you happen to have uh I didn't have I I had some blister peanuts last night. Blister back peanuts. They weren't great and I know they were fresh. They just didn't They didn't sit well with me. I don't know what it was. Can you give me Can you give me some sort of treat that you've had recently that will uplift me away from my blister peanut incident of 2026? Well, did you happen to see um the April Fools' treat that I I showed on Wednesday of this Yeah. You're talking about not the edible. Uh the edible one. Yeah.

6:38 No, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't.

6:39 Okay. Oh, yeah. So I mean our treat is still myer as I revealed. I think we revealed it last week. Um it was the soap. But uh a local cupcake place does this thing in the vein of the show Is It Cake? where they make a cupcake that looks like something else. And they I thought really outdid themselves this year. I unfortunately I don't have it to show to you. It's on Instagram if anyone wants to check it out. But it is a it's a hot dog. They made something that looks exactly like a hot dog.

7:05 I did see that. You did see that. I did. You probably saw it on Instagram. I thought it was a hot dog. It really looks like a hot dog. It's icing. The whole hot dog was just icing. Um and then they had toppings on top. They for one of ours they forgot to put the toppings on, but I'm kind of glad they did because we got to see what a a hot I an icing hot dog would look like. And it was delicious. Like it it was it was a cupcake in Oh, that's awesome. but it looked like a hot dog. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. I'm always impressed by food that looks like something completely different, but still tastes good. Yeah. Um yeah. Yeah. You know what? You just reminded me of something. Yeah. Uh cuz Ryan is very into fitness and eating healthfully and he um who doesn't love mac and cheese? I mean it's like a guilty pleasure that celebrated, you know, everywhere. Um everywhere around our parts at least.

7:51 So um I guess there's something Is it called gazoodles or what is like vegetable based noodles? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And okay, you've heard of this. So Ryan's been eating these and I'm like, "Ugh, what are they going to taste like? Vegetable based Cuz again, pasta is very hard to replicate. And people say like zucchini pasta. No, it's squiggly zucchini. Let's be honest about it. And you could pour put sauce or demiso different kind of flavors that make it palatable, but in no way does it have the texture. And to me pasta We've talked about texture. Yeah. How that important is, you know, even with like um uh you know, different sort of like um plant based protein. It's It's usually [clears throat] the texture that will throw you off. It's like, "Oh, okay. They So I was like, let me try these I think they're called gazoo What are they called? I'll have to ask Ryan. Gazoodles or something like that." I was like, "Let me try it." I was like, "It's I'm going to be horrified, right?" I took it and it was like It was like Kraft macaroni and cheese.

8:43 Not that that's like the best but it's it's just familiar. So you know, there's like a baseline that you can compare it to. I was like, "I would not know this was not like Kraft macaroni and cheese." And to me that was a huge win. That's huge. So it really it really replicated that. I don't know what they're putting in those gazoodles or whatever the heck it's called. But it is pasta delicious. I I was very pleasantly surprised. So yeah. Now yeah, I stopped thinking about this blister peanuts and I'm fine. I'm blister back peanut. I'm fine. Ooh, wash that off me. Wash that Wash that experience off of me. Um You have been in your home now for a week. Yeah. A week. Last Friday was moving day. Yeah, so almost exactly a week now. We're recording this on a Friday. Um what's the most ridiculous either realization you've had or ridiculous thing you've done as a new homeowner? If there is one.

9:29 Most ridiculous

9:31 that sort of that like, "Oh, okay. I didn't anticipate this." Something Something It could be something unexpected un anticipated. And I'm only leading with this because I have something that I wanted to share with you. Yeah. Yeah, but I'll I'll wait. Yeah. I offhand I'm trying to think if I have anything Okay. Well, actually no, I kind of do because one of the things I've learned about the moving process is as much as So I anticipated this. I anticipated that there would be things that I wouldn't I would I would not lose, but I wouldn't know where I packed them or I put them. So, I was very intentional about whenever I brought stuff over, car loads of stuff, or whenever we unpacked on Friday, I unpacked right away and I put things in what I considered to be the most intuitive places for them. Okay. Um however, despite that, me trying really hard to do that, I have still uh it's still been like a a murder mystery of like where did I put the things? What was Jamie 1 week ago thinking when he put his door stoppers somewhere that I still know where they are.

10:27 I solved one mystery involving an extension cord that felt very good. Like I went I really was going back steps like working through the forensics of where I might have put this thing and I found it, which felt good. But the door stops remain a mystery. Okay, are we talking about the wedge door stop or the door stop you put on the back of a door when it hits the wall with a spring? You talking about the wedge? The wedge Yeah, those are invaluable. Isn't it funny like how old school tech becomes the most like how I can't live without it? Like certain things just, you know, it doesn't have to be high tech to be extremely useful and functional in our lives, right? Yeah.

10:57 Um I thought of you. Okay, so I thought the reason I brought up is cuz I thought of you and I was going to bring it up to you and say, "Well, this is how ridiculous." Now, again, as I'm about to tell you this story, again, I always like drool on myself, which is attractive in some way. Uh I know that I have sort of like tendencies toward the obsessive-compulsive. I I acknowledge that. So, I understand that when I get focused on something, the focus can be sort of it can become like a hyperfocus and I get that. So, I'm telling you this this in advance of my story so that I'm not, you know, I'm not fooling myself that you know, that that could it could very well just be a me thing. So, we have these um what do they call the style of light? Uh almost like a lantern style fixture in the front of our house on the two posts on the wall in front that you walk up to where our door is. So, there are two of these lantern style fixtures uh that are mounted to the wall, then one is hanging by our door, one is hanging on the side of the house, and then another one around the side by our side gate. So, we have like uh five I think five of these in total, right?

11:59 Yeah. And I always thought as I drove by our house, "Oh, it looks so pretty." But the lights that I put in were these LED Edison style tall tubular lights with a standard, I think it's about E26 base, whatever the standard base is for a light bulb that you screw in everywhere, right? But they're tall and they're LED and they're Edison style. So, you can see the filament. It's meant to be able to see the filament, give a nice glow. But they're always super bright. Right? Okay. And I was like, "You know, when people drive by our house, I'm like, 'Ah, it's like Mogwai bright light.'" I don't want to blind anyone or I wanted it to be a little warmer both in both literally and figuratively, okay?

12:32 Okay. So, I was like, "You know what? I'm going to experiment with some different bulbs." And Tracy's like, "It looks great." I'm like, "Yeah, let me do my thing and then tell me what you think and if you hate it, of course I'll go back, but let me I think I'll you'll like this better." It's all like it's in my head. So, now for those of you don't know, lights have a temperature and it's based on the Kelvin scale, right? Usually in the thousands, like from 1,000 to 6,000. I think there's a range somewhere in the Kelvin scale of temperature of light. So, the higher the number, the brighter the light, the lower the number, the warmer the light. Okay. The higher the number, the brighter the light, the lower the number, the warmer the light. Okay, there we go. We can make like a little thing out of this, right? So, I think what I have is like a 3,000, which is middle middle to warm. Uh-huh. I needed I needed warmer.

13:17 So, I I went to Amazon and I was like, "Okay, I'm going to get a 2,700, I'm going to get a 2,200." And this is this is like this is the slippery slope I was on. Sure. And I started experimenting, putting the light bulbs in, looking, "Oh, that's what Yeah." Side by side, it was ridiculous until I found

13:33 You could see me and I was like, "I wonder if Jamie knows like what awaits him in homeownership." And I was like, "No, no, this isn't a Jamie homeowner thing, this is me. This is me [clears throat] getting nuts about light temperature." I settled on the 2,700 in the front, left it 300 by our door so it was brighter for security. Uh And that's what I obsessed over and I thought about you like, "This is what homeowners do." And then I was like, "No, no, this is what Mitchell does as a homeowner, not what every homeowner does."

13:58 But I'm I'm just so if you're out there and if you're listening or watching, make please make me feel a little better. If you've like focused on something very seemingly trivial to the rest of the world, but it was important to you, let me know what silly thing you had laser focus on, whether it was with your house, with your life, with your car, something that everyone's like, "What are you doing?" You're like, "No, no, no, it's going to make a difference. I promise. Just just wait. I'm going to show you." And that's why I thought of you. There you go. And this is Mitchell's lighting corner, our new weekly segment. That's right. Welcome to Positively Lit. Well, that actually sounds pretty cool and it sounds like cool cuz lit is like a cool term for the young folks, yeah.

14:33 Which I'm not. Uh Jamie, would you like to talk about uh something this week? I do. So, I have a little hint. I've been I've been wearing a Dune shirt today because um as of we're recording this, the new Super Mario Galaxy movie is in theaters. And so, I thought I would talk a little bit about games that have made their way into either the theater or onto the big screen or the small screen. Um both a few of my favorites and then I have a question for discussion with you about what it would look like for um one of our specific games I think to translate to the big or small screen. Okay. Okay. So, before I get there, let me make name a couple of my favorites and then if you have any favorites that jump out. And part of this is coming from the fact that both Ticket to Ride and Catan are getting either movies or shows in the near future. Oh, that's interesting. That's really Okay. Yeah, I don't know what they're going to do with it. But uh like Mario is out there. I I thought the first Mario movie was it was good enough. It was I know a lot of people worked on it to make it very hard. I like it wasn't one that I rewatched, but I thought it was good enough to bring the world to the screen.

15:40 I enjoyed it. Um but a three that I loved, the Dungeons & Dragons movie from a few years ago. Yes, with Chris Pine. Yeah, Chris Chris Pine. Yeah, I I have rewatched that. I genuinely even without the IP, I thought it was the action was great. I thought it was funny. I thought it was the characters were fun to watch, that it was well acted. Every single bit of it. They they clearly put a lot of love into the movie and didn't just phone it in. Did you watch it and so? I I loved it. It's funny because I don't think it was and I'm not saying this to, you know, to be negative. Again, we're positively board gaming. I don't think it was so well received critically, which is interesting to me because again, I really enjoyed it. And they had Easter eggs if you were a D&D player, if you were a D&D fan, there were so many Easter eggs with both the visuals and the references. I I've gone back and watched it multiple times, too. People are like, "You watching that again? I never watched it once." I'm like, "That's on you. I had a great time watching this movie." I felt the same way. I was delighted by it. Um on the animated front, the show Arcane, which is on Netflix, two season arc, completely done, story's done. This is based on the League of Legends tabletop game that or that world, which I know almost nothing about. So, this wasn't one where I was excited about the game first.

16:51 But I thought the show, the animation was stunning and the storytelling was really really good, too. Have you seen Arcane? I have not, but you can tell that, you know, I'm I'm I'm always into your suggestions. And if you're listening and not watching, I'm holding up a lovely red pen and a piece of paper and writing down Arcane, the animated show, okay? Arcane, the animated show.

17:10 truly, I mean, stunning animation. Stunning animation by a French studio. And the last one, again, this is one from a game that I haven't played, um but the the Fallout TV series I have really enjoyed. I like the aesthetic they chose for it. The world building I I know the world that was all there, but they depicted it in a way that I thought worked really well. Are you familiar You've I think we talked a little bit about it. You I I mean I've played the games. I love the games. And the funny thing is both my nephew uh and multiple other friends and I think a few other family members have told me I need to watch it cuz I would love the TV show. And they said especially having played the game, you would definitely love it. So, all I hear about is how well done it was, um how how good a job they And again, that just goes to show you, Jamie, it doesn't the medium almost doesn't matter. Yeah. Because great storytelling can transcend multiple mediums. I mean, you can you can have a great story. I mean, a great board game, a great movie, a great TV show, a great book, the storyline is going to follow through and those that storyline can carry through multiple mediums. So, I I I always believe that if you have a great story, great characters that people want to visit and live with, you can translate that into multiple platforms and that's it. I think it rings pretty true.

18:19 I agree. I Well, and that's where so with with that said, here's the puzzle I have for you today. I I had a great time talking about taking Fringe into board game form the other day. We're going to go the other way. Wingspan. Wingspan is by far our best-selling game. Wow. But the and the world of Wingspan is the real world. It's real birds in the real world. So, it's not like a Dungeons & Dragons world, not like Fall It's not like you're trying to capture a different world on the screen. Right, right, right. If you and I this front of mind because someone connected to to Hollywood and whatnot mentioned to me recently, they were like, "Have you ever tried to pitch Wingspan to a producer?" And I was like, "I haven't because I don't I don't know what it would look like." So, Mitchell, what would it look like? Is there a world where there is a Wingspan show or movie and what does that look like? The The answer is The answer is absolutely yes. Okay. The The way that we get there is going to be what's challenging and interesting because if you look at Wingspan and the type of game that it is, it's it's an engine builder, okay? It's It's It's an engine building game and it's a tableau engine builder and that's at its crux. It's not based on a story.

19:29 It's not an adventure. You're not going to Yeah.

19:31 on its world or on a story or an adventure. Right, exactly. Yeah. So, it's very it would be very different in how we approach it. So, it would have to be made more about obviously the birds and me giving the feel of playing the game. Okay. Um whether that is something more in the sci-fi world where people are using birds or This is Now, this is interesting. I'm going to have to start thinking about this. Combining birds in order to generate an engine and how that would translate to a TV show. Well, I think I think it would lend itself to something sci-fi. Okay.

20:11 I I For some reason, I'm thinking sci-fi. I don't know why. It could Cuz again, you don't want to make it to to be as simple as collecting. It can be. I mean, listen, Pokémon has made multiple movies and TV shows and properties and games based on that collecting universe. But again, I think there's more of a through story with the trainers and the characters. That has characters and trainers and locations that people Wingspan is more almost always about the birds. And getting them together and generating and creating. Oh, this is interesting, Jamie. Now, my mind is like There's also

20:44 you thought Have you thought about this? Because I'd love to hear what you think. Cuz I'm You know, you know You know what I'm saying though? The challenge because it's not story or adventure-based. How it's more based on how you play than the world or the birds them So, it's really challenging. What would What do you What have you thought about that? Well, the the You asked like what what do what is the feeling of Wingspan? And um part of it for me is the just seeing the birds. Like there even though it isn't a bird watching game, it has a little bit of a feel of noticing birds. And yes, you are bringing them into your habitat. But it has a little bit of a feel of bird watching. Like noticing birds, finding birds that look pretty to you and pulling them in. Um And there's part of that I think is also it there's a cozy comforting element to Wingspan.

21:34 And I I I'm trying to think if there are any cozy comforting shows or movies uh that just capture that that warm comforting feel. And And there is a bird watching movie The The Big Year, I think has has Jack Black in it. Okay.

21:50 Um I don't know. Do either of those directions make any No, absolutely. So, now I'm trying to Now, again, but this is again, this is how this is like You would know as part of the design process. You're taking an element of the feeling that this evokes and this game evokes mixed with Okay, how do we get there? Because we don't have the traditional story or character based to work off of. We're working more on collecting and generating things, right?

22:15 Right. Right. That's why I sort of started going to the the sci-fi side. But I also don't want to become about capturing birds and having them power something for you and have it become something like

22:26 I will capture all the birds and generate my own power. I don't want to be something like goofy like that. But I know some people are saying, "That's genius. That's not goofy at all." Um we'll have to think about this. And I think this is going to generate You know the nice thing is it's going to generate some amazing comments from people. And please let us know if you guys out there have any feeling about this because I I'm Yeah, now I'm super into this. I'm going to Thank you. You gave me something else other than Kelvin light temperature. Just to obsess about that over the weekend. Thank you so much, Jamie. You'll be getting a pointed email from Tracy. Oh, yeah. And I I agree I I look forward to that. And I look forward to the comments. Like yeah, pitch pitch us a Wingspan TV show or a movie in the comments. And uh who knows where it'll where it'll take us.

23:04 Who knows? Oh, wow. This is awesome. Mhm. All right, Mitchell. What What gaming Or yeah, what What's on your mind this week? Um you know what? Uh we did something many episodes ago. We were both young lads. Want to go into Deckard Cain. It's only Jamie knows that's my

23:20 [clears throat]

23:20 Deckard Cain voice. That's right. Usually, I say inappropriate things. Jamie's praying I won't. I won't. I won't say inappropriate things. I promise. Whenever I talk about like Deckard Cain is a character from Diablo if you're listening or watching, I always have the urge to say something naughty. Cuz with that voice saying something naughty is just funny. He's an older gentleman and a wizard and he does all this stuff. And he I always say bad things and it makes Jamie giggle. And that's our thing. That's right. You know, I'm not a perfect person. You should all know that right now. Um I wanted to talk about something that we talked about many many episodes ago, which was uh what I have that I'm waiting for through crowdfunding. Games that I'm waiting to arrive cuz that's that's something that's constantly in flux. And there always new games to talk about, which I I love doing cuz I tend to sometimes get focused on the games that I play all the time. And I like talking about different games because my favorite game might not be your favorite game or Jamie's favorite game. So, I like mixing it up.

24:09 So, I thought I'd look um on Kickstarter and mostly Kickstarter and Gamefound. I know some stuff is done on other platforms, but that's that tends to be where the most of my game crowdfunding lives on those two platforms. And I I I love when there are new ones that come up because it's good. It's good for business. I like that. But So, there's a game um called Have you heard of Base on Board? The baseball head-to-head baseball game. I've heard of another head-to-head baseball game, but not this one. Yeah, no, tell me about it. Okay. So, it's Basically, if you look this up, Jamie, you will see some of the visual appeal of this is that I think I don't know if part of it is the box, but it looks like when it's on the table a mini stadium with your meeple players. And it looks beautiful. It's a dice-based Okay. Uh it's a dice-based baseball game that is visually stunning.

24:58 It just captured my captured my attention when I saw it. It looked great. And then I started reading about it and what the developers and designers were trying to do with this game and really simulate that feeling of playing a baseball game and that back and forth, that pull. And that that's one of That's one of those sports where there is a back and forth. Top of the inning, bottom of the inning, top of the inning, bottom of the inning. And there's no real Well, I guess cricket Is cricket like that, too? The closest other thing that's played that is not baseball in other countries. Does cricket have an inning system like that? I don't know. I'm not a cricket person. Also, the games the games can last like days. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if there's like a a top and a bottom of the inning like But it's an interesting dynamic in baseball that I don't know many other sports that have that. Uh that push-pull. And for board gamers, that makes sense. It's something we can relate to, that push-pull in a game, right?

25:44 Yeah. Uh and it looks stunning. It I think it plays They say it plays in under an hour, like 50 minutes Okay. uh for a full game, which for baseball is fantastic. Although, I will say that real regular baseball has done a great job of modernizing itself in terms of getting quicker and easier to watch cuz I think the newer audience today is more uh quick fix and less tolerant of a game where that's used to be sort of everyone sits back. It's very very laid-back game that they've made a little bit more exciting by speeding it up for the newer generation, which I think was a smart move. Purest may not love it, but I understand why they did it. So, yeah, this is a Base on Board. And I think the company's actually Base on Board as well. And that should be delivering sometime in the next two to three months. I'm very excited about that. And Jamie, I want to also throw this back to you and I'll throw it back and forth. Have you heard of Spirit Fire from Orange Nebula? Spirit Oh, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

26:33 Um it's an open-world exploration adventure game, which, you know, I thought would also, you know, be interesting to you because you might have some experience in that world. I don't know. It could have been many years you had experience in that world. Um and if you don't know Orange Nebula, I think they made Vindication, I think is one of their most popular games they made. Uh very good game. Um and this one open-world fantasy different characters and character progression and things affecting you in the game that have consequences as the game progresses. I'm a big fan of that. Mhm. Um and this is one They've been working on this for a while. They were delayed for a while, but I know it was a huge undertaking. It's something It's bigger than they've ever done. And I don't I don't know it it Like you Like you said, you know you've done open-world adventure, Jamie. You know this is not an easy thing. Oh, we're We'll work on it this year and then it'll be out the next year. That's not the way these games work. Am I correct? Yeah. You are correct. Yes. Yeah, very much so. Yeah. You spent eight years on Vantage?

27:29 Long time on Vantage, yeah. And And I know the the Spirit Fire folks, they they they want to put the best product forward.

27:36 Absolutely. Yeah. And I I don't begrudge anyone that. I love, you know, even in the video game world, like uh I'm trying to think there there are some companies that just say the game will be ready when it's ready. I think Rockstar is one of those with the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. It's like when it's ready, and people know when the product is good, it's worth waiting for. So, yeah, that's another one. Um before I go on with a couple of mine, is there anything that you have off the top of your head off crowdfunding that you're waiting for? That you're waiting to come in that you're excited about? Well, just yesterday I did receive one that we talked about briefly before called Crits and Tricks. It's uh You got yours? I did get I did I Yeah, I got my my copy just Yours is coming. I I don't think

28:16 So sad. Um I'm really excited to play my copy. I opened it up. It looks beautiful. And then I think coming very soon is a game called I believe it's called Spirited. It's from um Gar I always misspell I mis say it. Is it Garphill? I think it's Garphill Games. See that or Garfield Games.

28:35 Gar Garphill Games. Yeah, I think so. One of those. Yeah. Um but yeah, they make fantastic games. This is outside of their standard series of West North South series of games.

28:43 Paladins, yeah. But this one looks like a lot of fun. So, I I am Okay, you get Spirited that I bought. Maybe it's a different one. It's No, it is different. It is This is They make a couple games that I'm excited about. And this is one of them. Whatever this one is that I'm that I'm forgetting right now. But a game from them is coming on the way soon that I'm excited about. Is it Shem Phillips? Is that the designer? Is Shem Phillips the designer?

29:02 Shem and Sam are the two main designers. And I am messing this up. I don't think Spirit is the one I got. It This is one about Oh, it's it's secret societies. That's the one that's

29:10 Okay. There we go. Yeah. You know, you have to do it like I did, Jamie. Secret society. It's like all of a sudden blurted out unattractively and let's frighten people. Like, "Ooh, Jamie's excited about that." Well, Jamie likes that. Secret society. Okay. Okay. I thought it looked really good. Yeah. What else What else are you Okay. So, uh one thing that I have talked about is Pocket RPG. Yes. Yeah. Which is basically the idea of having uh portable terrain, characters, maps in in the palm of your hand and in your pocket. It's uh this basically this portable board. I think they're doing it out of metal. I haven't seen the final tooling of it, how they've done it. Basically, this it opens up and inside is almost a binder where you can flip the map pages over for different environments. And all the characters and terrain are have many magnets in this.

29:57 They stick inside the actual box. And it actually comes with some pre-done adventures if you don't have your, you know, 5E or D&D or Pathfinder compatible adventure that you want to do. And it's compatible with all of these. Basically, you could apply any, you know, any sort of RPG uh system that you want. And this would be your terrain, your characters, portable, everything. It's really cool. Even little mini dice. It's great. So, um it's just to me again, I I have such a thing for RPGs. And I love tabletop adventure RPGs as well. And I'm always intrigued when people make beautiful designs when it comes to maps and terrain and how how we interact physically with our games. And the one the one downside to RPGs is they can be kind of, you know, sprawling in terms of tabletop depending on how how into it you get with the visuals. That having a portable version, you don't think of that as being a portable thing.

30:49 You can go to a friend's house with your character, with your book, and, you know, with your miniature and your dice, but the setup is not portable. But with with Pocket With Pocket RPG, the setup is now portable. It's like that That's not the kind of ad we would do. Don't do that, please. Um So, yeah, that is that is one um And you know what How are we doing on time? You know what? We're getting We're getting close on time. So, I will end with Yeah. I did the I did the new campaign. I did the new campaign for the Old King's Crown. Um Yes. This is a game um this is a game that Jamie really got me excited about. Um where different factions are competing that that that king is gone and now you are competing to take over as the new as the new king uh with the different factions.

31:36 I was very intrigued by that. And also, if you ever see this game, even the base game It's stunning. Yeah. The art is beautiful. Oh my gosh.

31:44 And the same the designer The same designer is the illustrator. It's incredible.

31:47 Which is pretty incredible. That's, you know, you know, that that that really is incredible to me. And they did something in this campaign that I thought was really cool. And I wish I wish more companies did this. When they did the reprint, Mhm. they gave people enough cuz the reprint included, as it almost usually does, you know, um more content for the game, you know, either an expansion or extra content. So, it gives you something more if you're an existing It gives existing [clears throat] people to come back to to buy more stuff, right? Right. They did something called the quick ship option. Said, "If you missed the first campaign and you just want to and you just want the game that we're reprinting without any of the new stuff, we're doing, you know, just pay your pay your thing here with quick shipping. And when it's done, it'll come out in June. This June, it'll be out to you.

32:33 If you want the new stuff and the old stuff and you want it all shipped together, you have to wait until the new stuff ships next year, which is fine. Which is totally fine. But if you do want to get the And it gives people the option. If you want to pay if you can't wait and you want the new stuff I wanted both the new and some the old stuff, which I did the quick shipping for, and some bits that I could wait until next year for that I didn't mind waiting for. Yes, I'm paying a little extra for shipping, but I wanted that copy that game now. And or at least sooner than later. And it gave me the option to do that. So, you know, bravo for doing that. I love that that companies do that. They're not the only company that's done that. But it's a great option to have. Till And and again, I think that's a great thing because it doesn't hurt the publisher because people are paying for the separate shipping to have it done quicker. Right. Um so, it sort of covers all bases. There's not a lot of downside, is there?

33:19 There isn't. Yeah, I I This is a new thing on Gamefound that I really applaud. I I think it is really cool. I think it's like like you just said, you were so excited about it. It serves you, the customer, so well if you want it now. If you want to play the game now and play it for a while before then you can get re-excited about it later when the new stuff comes in. It gives you the best of both worlds. And maybe for some people who don't want to pay for shipping twice, they wait for it. Yeah. Um that's fine, too. It gives you the option. But I It also shows that how committed the publisher is to making this game because it means if they're shipping this in June, it means that they started printing it a few months ago. They They have a probably had a very specific number of copies that were available for the quick ship as a result. I think it's awesome. Yeah.

33:59 It's great. And again, as Jamie has said, both as a, you know, a publisher and a designer, you you like to know you like to think that it's going to sell this amount. But at the end of the day, games Any anything we are creating a product that is selling to the public things will surprise you. There will be unexpected demand. Things could be unexpectedly slow at a certain point. Then all of a sudden, boom, it takes off and it you can't keep it in stock ever. So, the ebb and flow judging the ebb and flow of the consumer it is a game that, you know, retailers and creators of things have been trying to gauge for years. Um so, being able to put stuff out there, put new product out, knowing that you have an audience for it, and then giving people the option to get it sooner rather than later, even if they want the new stuff. It's just It's really smart. And I like the fact that that this model kind of works. Yeah.

34:45 And again, this game was became super I don't know if it was word of mouth Well, a lot of times it's word of mouth. But this game became super popular very quickly and very hard to find. So, uh I'm happy for them. They get to sell more games. But get more people get to enjoy it. And I'm going to get my copy sometime maybe June or July. I don't know. I'm very excited.

35:02 That's amazing.

35:02 I sound like such a snotty I'm going to get my copy soon. I think it I hope I do. I hope I do. Clearly, the gods of What's Crits and What is Crits and Rolls? What is Crits and Tricks from Inside Up Games. Right. Right. Um Is that Pete's game? That is Pete's game. Yeah, Pete who I worked on the origin story with.

35:18 Yes. Yes. So, I'm very excited to get that. I late pledged, by the way. So, I'm sure I'm going to get mine much later than you anyway. Jamie, yay, Jamie got his copy. Tell me how it Tell me how it is. I'm excited. I'm I'm very I'll live vicariously until I get my copies. There you go.

35:31 Yeah. Um Well, let's go I guess Anyone in the comments who has something again that they are anticipating getting on crowdfunding, um let us know what what you're really excited to get soon. Whether maybe it just arrived or it's arriving soon or or if you're patient and you're waiting for a year or so. Yeah. Yeah. And if there's anything you'd like us to talk about, again, we always encourage We always find stuff from your comments anyway. So, uh let us know. And by the way, that This is called a back slate. Normally, you'd say, "Okay, this is take three." And then you do it. But sometimes when you don't do that, you have to slate it at the end. So, this has been episode 55. This is 55, right? I'm not Back slate. Yeah, that's a new term. I didn't know that. Yeah, back slate. Yeah. Yeah, cuz normally when you're recording something, you say, "Okay, this is Mitchell and Jamie, and this is take one." And then you start recording. But if you don't or you forget or you just start recording, you can always slate it at the end, which is called the back slate. Okay. We're here for you with knowledge you may never use.

36:19 I like the lingo. It's from my world. It's from the voice world, too. So, anyway, thank you, Jamie, for doing this, as always.

36:25 Yeah, good to see you. Uh good to see you, too. I'm excited that you're in your your new space. You sound great. The carpet really does a great job, too. It does really absorb. Yeah, you're you're you're in great shape there. So, uh let's do a 56 in a week. I I'll be here for it. Me, too. I'll see you then. I'll see you. Take care. Bye.