In the Beginning Part 2

Last week, I talked about how I made the decision to start my own gaming company. Today, I will finish the story and explain how I actually chose to start the company, where it is now, and how I have gotten it to this point.

Once I made the decision to start a game company, I knew that I had a lot of work ahead of me. I had only the most basic of ideas for a game, very little game design knowledge or experience, and I knew almost nothing about starting a business. Despite all of these obstacles, I decided to go for it. The only problem was I had absolutely no idea where to even start, so I did what I tend to do when I have a problem, and just try to do everything at once. I started reading online about board game design and card game design, as well as business and entrepreneurship. I started listening to podcasts about these subjects as well, just trying to absorb as much information about these topics as I possibly could.

I had already signed up for an entrepreneurship class for the Fall 2016 semester, and that turned out to be a fantastic resource for me. During that entire semester the major project was to get together in a group and put together a working business plan, or at least an executive summary. I recruited a few other students to join my group for the semester, and through that class I learned so much about entrepreneurship and how to start a business.

As I was already putting together an executive summary for the class I decided to enter it into the K-State Launch Competition, which is a business plan competition for students who are trying to start their own businesses. Each group enters their business plans, and the winners could win a few thousand dollars for their businesses, as well as get the chance to enter into even larger competitions. I worked very hard to get my business plan into shape in time for the competition, and spent a lot of time putting together estimates on things like manufacturing costs, target market and market size that I probably would have been completely ignorant of without the competition to push me forward.

Unfortunately, I did not make it into the finals. While this meant that I didn’t earn any money for my new budding idea, it was overall a very positive experience that forced me to learn a lot and really examine and develop my idea. In addition, it introduced me to other opportunities. One of these opportunities was the Kansas State Venture Accelerator program, which is a sort of small business incubator that the university offers to help grow student-run businesses. I submitted my executive summary to them, and I was accepted into the program.

Through this program I have not only gained access to a big, beautiful workspace to develop my project, but it also presents great opportunities for learning, networking, and getting my name out there. Through this group I have met many other young entrepreneurs and learned about their projects, and I have gotten the opportunity to go to workshops and conferences I never would have had the time or money to attend otherwise.

And that is pretty much where I am today! Rempton Games is still in it’s infancy, and I am still developing it’s first game. I am still mostly designing it by myself, but I have gotten a lot of help from many different people along the way as playtesters, graphic designers, and advisors. That is my brief overview of the short history of Rempton Games, but stay tuned next week when I start diving into the actual process of designing my first game! Thanks for reading!

P.S. I am still very new to this, so please feel free to leave any comments or criticism in the comments down below! And let me know what you would like me to write about in the future on the topics of trading card games, game design, entrepreneurship, etc! Also, how do you feel about the length of these posts? Are they too long, short, or just right? Any feedback is very appreciated!