Hey everybody, I’m very sorry that I wasn’t able to get a new article up last week. I have been traveling a lot this holiday season and that has made it difficult to keep up with everything, but I will be back to my regular schedule next week with a new design article.

This week, however, I am going to do something a little bit different. 2019 has just begun, and it is looking to be a very exciting year. Kingdom Hearts 3, the game I have been anticipating longer than any other, is finally going to be released, along with other exciting titles such as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, The Last of Us 2, and Pokemon generation 8 (probably).

While 2019 might be an exciting year to play games, it is also going to be a very big year for the Rempton Games blog and company. In this article I am going to outline some of the big plans, hopes, and dreams that I have for the upcoming year. Then, in next year’s resolution article I would love to look back at this article and see how well I stuck to the plan!

2018 Review

Overall, I believe that 2018 was a pretty good year for Rempton Games, but there is still plenty of improvements that could be made. While I started writing articles in 2017, 2018 represented the first complete year of blogging on this site. It is also the year that I moved this blog from a free WordPress site to it’s own domain, got a new logo, and got Rempton Games LLC officially registered as a licensed business. 2018 was also a huge year of growth for the blog, growing from a few dozen followers to a few hundred.

However, even with all of this happening in 2018 I still believe that 2019 will be even more exciting. Here are my 4 biggest resolutions for Rempton Games in 2019.

Resolution 1 – Publish at Least 1 Game

This is the big one. While I have been designing games seriously for the last couple of years I have so far not released anything to the public. My plan for 2019 is to change this. While I can make endless excuses about lack of time and resources, I know that the main thing that is really holding me back is myself, and this year I want to break through that barrier and finally share my games with the world.

To that end, I have recently been playtesting a new party-style tabletop game, and have various other games in different stages of design. Right now I think it is still too early to reveal too much information (as the design could still change drastically), but I’ll try to share more about this process as it goes along.

Resolution 2 – Start Releasing Video Articles

This is something that has been in the works for a while, and is something that I am equal parts nervous and excited about. I have wanted to try releasing video articles for a while, but I was concerned about the amount of time that releasing a video might take, compared to a written article.

That being said, I currently have a plan for at least one article that I believe would only work as a video, and am planning on releasing that possibly as early as the end of January. There is still a lot of uncertainty, however, regarding that article. I’m not sure whether it will be released as a single video or two, and I am unsure about the exact release date because I have never done something like this before. As always, I will keep you posted when I have more information.

Note: Even when I start releasing video articles they are not going to be replacing the written blog posts (at least not for a while). By the end of the year I would like to be releasing at least 1 video article a month, and the rest of the month will be written. However this may be adjusted as schedules change, or based on your responses.

Resolution 3 – Collaborate More

I am what some might call “cripplingly introverted”. I like people, but I find it hard to spend too much time around people, especially people I don’t know very well. Most of the time it’s just easier for me to hang out at home with my lovely wife, our dog and our cat.

This aversion towards all things social applies towards social media as well. I have never been one to post much on social media, or even to browse through it that much. In fact, I’m pretty sure that my Facebook profile picture is me and my wife at her Senior Prom (she is now a Junior in college).

All that being said, I am trying to do more with social media. In 2018 I wrote my first article that was based on requests from a poll on Twitter (A game designer spotlight for Reiner Knizia). That was my first baby step, and in 2019 I want to take more steps like this. This means I want to do more reader-requested articles, but I also want to take other steps as well.

One thing I have never done before is collaborate with another designer / blogger, and while I don’t have any current plans it is something I would be open to exploring in 2019. I also want to do more collaboration on projects such as the Game Designer’s Dictionary (which could still use suggestions for words, formatting tips, and other ideas to make it a more useful resource for designers).

Resolution 4 – Play More Games!

In addition to everything I have done with the blog and company in 2018, those were nowhere near the biggest changes in my life this past year. In Summer 2018 I graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in Computer Science, and in Fall I began working towards a Master’s degree in the same field. I also began working as a Software Accessibility tester, and during the last few months I have been working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in a Computer Ethics course.

With all of this happening in 2018, I haven’t had too much time to actually play games, and this is something that I hope to change in 2019. During this next year I am going to try to maintain a better balance of work/school/design/playing games. I also want to make sure that I am playing a good mix of new releases, old classics, and innovative indie titles.

Until Next Time!

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the blog and subscribe on Facebook, Twitter, or here on WordPress so you will always know when I post a new article. If you didn’t, let me know what I can do better in the comments down below.  Join me next week for an article on Player Morale, and join me next year to see if I followed through on any of these resolutions!