With the concept for the art for Lords of Scotland finally coming together, it is good to know that all I really need to do now is to sell it. I am confident that I’m going to put out a good product… a solid enduring game design splashed with engaging art and a compelling storyline/theme. Now, to find those people who want what I sell.

Of course, the market for enduring card games is limited. Neither the casual card players, serious poker players, hobby gamers nor video gamers are usually in the market for original card games. And, the strategic element of the game makes it a tough sell for kids. That just about eliminates all the typical customers for games… and that seems to be my problem.

I design games that I think are good… but these are not the games that people are itching for. If you want to make money, you have to make a hobby game, video game or toy/game for the kiddies. I make ‘fillers’. Games that you can play in a short amount of time and keep coming back to, but not something that you make time to play.

So, to answer the question: what’s next? I have decided that I am going to start making games in the mediums/styles that seem to grab people’s attention. I will continue to work on Stacket, Stones and Houses of Orion… but my main efforts have now focused to the iPhone.

The smartphone is the gaming of not only the present but of the future. If it weren’t for my programming deficiencies, I would already be there for that reason alone. But, my incapacities are not going to stop me from pursuing the parts that I can. I am going to familiarize myself with computer, internet and smartphone game design by brute force of will.

The computer certainly opens up a lot of interesting game design ‘cheats’. You can now have the game motivate itself – you don’t have to rely upon player’s action to create complexity. The computer also can track/process tedious immensities – you don’t have to worry about having too many components. In addition, it can handle simultaneity well – you don’t have to reorganize play to keep players engaged when it is not their turns. But, it also opens up a whole new can of worms. Players expect much more art and animation. What is happening is no longer in the mind of the players, but must be presented to them.

All this amounts to a whole new mindset and a whole new set of opportunities. It is sad that the design space for the digital area is so small. Most games are puzzles or fit into the convenient RTS, FPS, MMO, RPG genres. Traditional boardgames are being ported, but in truth, there is a lot of aspects of the smartphone that have yet to be explored from the standpoint of player interaction.

But that doesn’t mean that they would sell either. It seems to me that despite all the nifty properties of the iPhone, the truly revolutionary component is its simplest: its portability. People want to be able to play their games wherever they go, whenever they have time. And it’s this convenience that will primarily drive the dollars.

Despite all my personal fascination with a portable GPS unit strapped to your game console, it is the fact that people can access the same thing wherever they go which will have far greater impact in the immediate future.