fbpx

2022 Final Stretch and Looking Toward 2023

So far, 2022 has been a break-out year for me and our ventures, The Silverwood Chronicles and especially Silverwood Wood Designs. At this point last year, I was ready to give up. I had thrown numerous things at the wall hoping something would stick, and all we seemed to get was stained walls. It wasn’t until I started looking at the details, that I saw a glimmer of hope.

Current Inventory ready for the Christmas Fair 2022

I had told my family that unless we could demonstrate that the shows were profitable, or at least breaking even, that I was done. There was no since being upside down on these adventures any longer if they were not going to carry their own weight. Going into Q4 2021, it didn’t look good. We had poured a lot of capital into building out Silverwood Wood Designs and so far the performance had been just okay. Our two final shows, one of which was a startup convention, had to provide some serious lift to meet the predetermined objective of breaking even for the year.

After the dust had settled, we managed to eek out a small profit for the year. The final two shows had done it, and the startup convention really opened our eyes to what potential there was with Silverwood Wood Designs.

Starting in 2022, we decided to pull out all of the stops to see just what we were capable of. This meant more shows, new destinations and bigger risks. Keep in mind, we had been limiting ourselves to a key group of shows and central Indiana to help minimize costs. This we knew had to change and so we started looking for shows in surrounding states. We have so far done shows in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Florida this year. Next year, we are already looking at shows possibilities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Washington DC.

We had some great shows in 2022, and a few that were not so great. One thing I have found out about this business is that you are always learning. You can always see where we are headed next by visiting the Events page. While we continue to grow and expand, I’m doing what I can to maintain the fiscal standing that the business needs to continue to pay for itself and not tap into personal resources. By the end of 2022, we will have participated in 17 events. In 2023, we are hoping to hit 20-24 events.

I would be remise in mentioning that during this year, we have launched several new products in our Silverwood Wood Designs catalog. As such, this has limited my ability to write and design new games. That doesn’t mean there are projects on my mind or in development, it simply means that they currently are not taking precedence due to the fact that SWD’s products is what is creating the draw and paying the bills.

Dice Book
Dice Briefcase
Double Decker
Deck Book

As I mentioned earlier, we are expanding our shows into other states and moving to add some larger shows. A few that are already on the books for next year include the Midwest Gaming Classic up in Milwaukee and Atlanta Comic Con. It has been a wild ride this year, but we are looking forward to what is in store for 2023. Please tell your gaming friends about us and check out our new shop at http://www.silverwoodwooddesigns.com/shop

Indy Comic Con 2022 in the books

What a fantastic time we had at the Indiana Comic Con! My biggest regret was that it was on Easter Weekend and I was unable to spend that time with my family. I hope that Imaginarium will be a little more conscientious of this in the future.

Beyond that, had an awesome time. We met a lot of super people, and made some new friends. One of the funniest moments of the convention was when someone came up to our table and remarked about why there were so many dice towers around the con. We obviously didn’t think there were that many, but our response was that it was the item most requested the previous con.

Speaking of dice towers, we started out the show with 22 unique designs and ended with 7 towers. Dice trays and deck boxes were also a very popular item this show. All in all, I think we brought 104 items and returned with about 30. We were blown away by the response. Kat with Silverwolf Illustrations, is currently working on some new images and I have some new ideas for products that we will be working on for the next time around.

We also ran into some Silverwood Chronicles friends. It was wonderful to talk to many of you that had started the series and wanted to continue it. One of the challenges I have is trying to balance out the focus of our booth. I guess the bottom line is I am a creator and I love creating things. Books, games, accessories and the like. As such, I want to make available all of those things with our friends.

Right now, we have a pretty busy schedule this summer. Currently we have six shows coming up over the next 4 months and we have committed to going to Tampa Bay Comic Con in July. We’re always looking for smaller one day shows that we can squeeze in over a weekend, so if you know of one that is not currently on our events tab, please message or email me and I’ll look into it.

So, big thanks to all of the Imaginarium team, especially Lexie. It was a great show. Everything was very well run and it looked like everyone that was there had a great time! Looking forward to Tampa.

ItsNotACon Preview

Hi everybody. Our busy schedule continues as we make our way to a brand new gaming convention, ItsNotACon, hosted in Indianapolis. See our event section for details and locations.

For this show, we’re adding some much requested dice towers to our accessories line up. Below are some pre-finished shots of three of the towers. The tower’s stand 8 inches tall and can attach to any of our solid wood dice trays. We’ve also introduced a new exotic wood, Zebra wood. You can see the Nightfury dice tray and tower set pictured below. The wood’s natural striping is beautiful. I was originally worried that our etching would not show, but the presentation at this stage is really surprising me.

We are also experimenting with adding a small clear epoxy base to some of the dice trays. A couple of Kat’s designs, the Wolf head and the Phoenix Dragon, can create a measurable level difference in the wood that it could impact dice rolls. The epoxy layer would go on top of the finish to provide not only a harder surface for rolling (good for metal dice users), it should also level everything out.

Come see us this weekend. Its our next to last show of the year, and the last one in the Indianapolis metropolitan area, so I hope to see you there.

Finishing Touches before Indy Comic Con

I’m just putting the finishing touches on my latest hand-made dice trays. These will be available at the show this coming weekend or by special order through the my website. I started out favoring the purple heart wood, but the sheen I’m getting from blood wood has almost won me over. You decide which is your favorite. I’m using a Tung Oil finish on the dice trays to give them warmer, richer wood finish.

Deck boxes are being engraved now, and hope to have them finished early this week. I’ll post some pics of that later. The deck boxes will be finished in Polyacrylic for durability and speed.

Up Next, Indy Comic Con

2021 Indy Comic Con Exhibitors Map — I’m in Booth 1036

Well, its barely been two weeks since GenCon 2021, and we’re gearing up for the next big show, Indy Comic Con. It will be held likewise at the Indianapolis Convention Center. I believe there are still tickets available at https://indianacomicconvention.com/. This year’s guests include the legendary William (Capt. Kirk) Shatner.

As you can see, I’m busy getting new product ready for the show. I’ve added some exotic woods to the dice trays and deck boxes including, Bloodwood, Purple Heart, Padauk and Hard Maple in addition to the Poplar, Oak and Aspen offerings I already have.

We’ll also be demoing games along side our friend Scott from SnyderGaming.com, as well as a few surprises.

Come find us at Booth 1036, smack in the middle of the exhibit hall.

GenCon 2021 / The Game Collector Launch

It’s been two years and change since the last GenCon hit Indianapolis’ Convention Center. This week, it returns with tempered celebration. By tempered, I mean that there will be fewer attendees, fewer vendors, and fewer hours to spend during the Four Greatest Days in Gaming.

Still, I’m excited to be there in Author’s Avenue again. Come see me and Kat at booth J. In 2019, we ran out of Book 1 by early Sunday Morning. We’ve stocked up, but it would be really exciting to see it happen again this year. So, tell all of your fantasy reading friends, to stop by and get an autographed copy of Guardians of the Silverwood.

For all of you gaming aficionados, today I launched The Game Collector app for Android devices on Google Play Store and soon Amazon Market Place. This app allows you to store you personal board game/card game (any game really) collection, and keep track of players and games played.

If you can’t make it to GenCon, we are currently planning on attending Indy Comic Con in October along with Snyder Gaming. Looking forward to seeing old and new friends alike.

Is silent progress still progress?

The title of this post is in reference to the old adage, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, did it make any sound?” This is to say, I’ve not been actively updating my blog for some time. My absence should not equate to inactivity, quite the contrary. I have many projects I would like to share with you regarding updates.

Book 5 of the Silverwood Chronicles, Savior of Dayspring, is now in production. I have high hopes that it will be available sometime in September. This is huge for me as this completes the five book series that I started back in 2014. I can remember on several occasions during one of the many planning sessions with my creative consultant (also known as daddy-daughter dates), that I was never sure I could get to the end. I knew what the end would look like, sort of, but I personally was never confident that I would make it. However, after 82 chapters, 428,140 words and over 1728 pages (I don’t have the final page count for book 5), I made it.

Next on the list is in the area of game development. Designing and building games is a passion of mine that I thoroughly enjoy, but requires a different aspect of my brain than writing does. Super Computer, the card game, has been a fun project. Along with the Core set, I have been able to produce a small expansion that allows the players to attack other system builders. The latest expansion is a step back in time. Builders get to add retro parts to their computer builds to score big points. This expansion is nearly complete, and should be available through my distributor or this website in time for Christmas. I have an third expansion in the works as well dealing with the Internet, but that development has stalled as other projects have gained traction.

Staying with the gaming genre. I’ve been working on a Silverwood game. I’ve gone through several prototypes, and I’m finalizing the rule sets now. Look for demos and opportunities to see this game coming up at future shows.

Finally, I’m looking at an old manuscript and dusting it off to see if it can make a nice Novelette. It happens to be that first fantasy story I wrote long ago, but there’s something about that story now that is hitting me as worth polishing up an telling. We will see. All it takes is time and with Covid limiting the external excursions, I seem to have a little bit more of it than usual.

Where has he been?

That might be a question some of you are asking that don’t see me on a regular basis.  Suffice it to say, I’ve been busy, but not working on book three of the Silverwood Chronicles like I should.

Instead, I went back to a project that I started almost two years ago.  A friend of mine with Indie Ninja Design had told me of a game he was working on and wanted to know if I wanted to play test it.  Being the game nut that I am I said sure , couldn’t wait.  So it was that I was able to play test a very early variant of a game that he still has regrettably not released yet.  It was intriguing and even fun.  We talked through some suggested changes and that was pretty much that.

I did ask him where he got the printed components – the cards – for the game.  They looked amazing.  He pointed me to an online source where he was able to put this prototype together and that got me thinking.  I had previously put together some video game ideas back in my early early days of programming.

(Begin Rabbit Trail) How many of you out there that consider yourselves geeks or are into computers/programming hasn’t at least tried to program a game?  Be honest?  (End Rabbit Trail)

I checked out the website and my brain instantly started working on a project related to the Chel & Riley book series.  At first, as it does with a lot of my projects, I just wanted to see what I could put together.  But as I got into the design, I really felt like I had put something together that was fun and enjoyable.  We pulled together some play testers and ran it through several iterations and we finally found a pretty good balance when I hit a roadblock.

I can’t draw.  Unlike my friend at Indie Ninja, who is a very skilled illustrator, I’m lucky to draw a straight line.  If you want an ripples in the water, I’m your guy.  The proof of concept game that I had put together I used clip art off of Google images.  The big problem with that is most of those images are not public domain and therefore require some licensing.  The realization that I would either have to source every one of the 100+ images I used in my product completely derailed my efforts.  And so the game sat in a Ziplock baggy on my shelf 90% complete for more than a year.

About six weeks ago, I hit a writer’s block on Chapter 6 and looked for other ways to be creative.  Sometimes writers have to do this, I’m convinced.  As it happened I pulled up the files for my game and started playing around with it.  I decided that I would make an honest attempt to locate a image library on the internet where I could procure the licensing needed for the images or close facsimiles and release the game.  This was a daunting task.  If you’ve never checked out the myriad of image libraries on the internet, don’t, unless you want your mind thrown through a blender.

The cost was staggering to license the desired images.  I was ready to give up when I stumbled across another site that offered images under the Creative Commons licensing.  I was amazed and inspired.  I was able to drudge up most of the images I wanted and some that were better than my originals.  So, I’ve been applying myself to re-skinning the game with all of these CC0 images for the last several weeks, and the game is complete.  I will be requesting a beta copy from the printers soon and assuming the product quality is satisfactory, I will make a public announcement and release the information so that all two of you that read my stuff can go out and encourage me by buying a copy at a steep discount from me — meaning you’ll say you want a copy and can’t afford it so I’ll just give you one.

Here is a peek at the box cover.

Box Top

The good news is, I’m done, mostly.  The better news is, this means I can get back to writing book three.

Until next time.