A year ago this week, Jen and I boarded a plane for Hartford. We were taking a trip to, what we thought, was going to be 3 or 4 days of meetings with our production partner, GPI. We packed up, got all of our sales, marketing, and prototype materials in order. Neither of us knew what to expect. I imagined us having to make presentations or sales pitches so that someone – anyone – would take us on.
Jen and I landed and the adventure started before we even left the airport property. When we went to rent our car, Jen found a wig and a change of clothes in the women’s restroom. We spent the next hour coming up with what could have possibly happened.
Even though we got to our hotel early, we could barely sleep that night. Jen because she can’t sleep at night anyway. But you add the excitement of meeting with people that can make your dream into a literal product and…well, we were a bit excited.
We were forced to drive through New England in the late summer to get to the rep’s office. FORCED, I tell you. And while it’s not as pretty as the autumn, it’s still pretty amazing. We arrived a couple of hours early because we didn’t want to be late. We found the offices so we’d know for sure where to be and then went to grab lunch. We ended up at Subway.
Yep, in the heart of New England and we go for Subway.
I managed not to spill anything on me and by the time we sat by the fireplace inside this fancy Subway and went over the products one. More. Time. We were ready.
GPI has some really cool offices in an old manufacturing building. Boston charm and exposed brick had Jen and I completely jealous. We met up with Matt who gave us a quick tour of the main office; but Jen and I were ready for business. We sat at a conference table in the middle of the office. Matt totally wowed us with his knowledge and GPI’s capabilities. Every question we had was met with an answer, an “I don’t know but I can find out” or Matt quickly jumping up and grabbing samples from all over the office that gave us something we could hold and feel.
Matt exhausted all of our questions around the two-hour mark. After that, he gave us the grand tour of the office and showed us the cardboard foosball table along with the showroom of games they have produced. We were even more jealous and hungry to be among them some day.
We left GPI’s office with no further meetings and 2 more days in New England. Shoot. I guess we can find something to do.
We ended up driving to Kennebunkport, ME, which is a quiet little town where nobody famous resides at all. Kidding: it’s famously home to the Bush family. And at least one Bush was home, though the not-so-nice men we asked wouldn’t let us go to the front door to find out which Bush it was. I was really hoping for Barbara.
We traveled up and down the highway, visiting little tourist towns, eating lobster rolls, and imagining how Steven King could write such dark material in a place so beautiful. We also ended up at a beach where we sang Moana songs way too loudly.
A day off, then back to it. We found a Barnes & Noble the next day and worked on our games: Jen laying out the business plan and strategy and me designing the graphics. When we could avoid our hotel no longer, we went back and finished up our work before flying home the next day.
Fast forward 52 weeks and we’re awaiting our shipments from our production games. We’ve been able to finalize the gameplay, place orders, and make sales so that you can buy the games in stores THIS YEAR! If you pre-ordered, your games are in a container on their way.
To say the least, it’s been a crazy year.