Workin' for the weekend

Long time no talk, friend! As I was hinting in earlier newsletters, I am now a full time boardgame developer for one of the big brands. It’s been quite awesome and enriching: I have already a few games that I care for and a few authors with which I work to help to get their works into a ‘cultural product’ (that’s the wording we use, I think i like it, it’s honest).

My days have been full of learning the craft, but also learning how to handle the corporate structure. Being creative in a large structure is hard, but I’ve realized recently that being bold and unapologetically yourself is probably a good idea.

It’s kind of the perfect job for me, and for you in a way, if you like what I do. All this accumulated knowledge will just make my work better and more rigourous and my craft more empathetic of whose hands will turn its pages.

One of the harder aspects has been finding time to work on that stuff. After a full day of developing and playing prototypes, refining prototypes, imagining concepts, problem-solving mechanical issues and all the while being a social human being surrounded by other human beings often presses all of the juice out of the juicebox. But it’s quite normal, it is still new, as i’m soon 5 months into this new job and finally finding my bearings. I’m spending a lot of time trying to find solutions to retain energy after work because I have to create to stay attached to reality. (tricks are welcomed!)

Not to say, though, that I haven’t been productive!

Driftwood is now out digitally! Check it out on itch! This has been my favorite thing to do in a long time. The 12 page constraint was really fun and I feel like I created a game that has the potential to be complex, profound and action packed all the while being mechanically light and easy to use.

Other projects currently in the works :

• Varia is a project that follows in the footsteps of Driftwood in the sense that it’s a low page count project for ease of mailing in this strange, strange time. I am not sure if I will be doing many issues of this or if it’s a one-off, but this first iteration has a completely system-agnostic mechanic that works with every ttrpg out there. I’ll be announcing it in may!

• Ghost Gate Chronicle part 2 : The Kodama Institute’s development is almost done and is now in the hands of Melanie for design and illustration.

• We’re also both working on a series of Cozy Roll & Writes inspired by our free ‘Fermentation Station’ game (which was my first game, be nice!) Scheduled for 2026 for now.

• Tower of the Vacant King will be a focus of mine to be able to ship the digital copies end of August! There’s quite a lot of work to do there, but I’m excited about delving back into it.

I’m thinking a lot about the time I have after work and on weekends and this endless thirst for creation and how to satiate it. In parallel, I feel like the current era of ‘online businesses’ is in flux and most of us creators are looking for ways to feel safe as we build our little corners of the void with a community of like-minded people. I’ll be experimenting in the next months with how to exchange with you more but also on how to create art that I value as art, but that can also double as Content. Ugh hate to say that word but just like ‘Cultural Product’, one has to be honest.

Here is what I have in mind :

• Once per month, a post on this newsletter will be a short story dedicated to learning more about the world I am creating for my games ( yep, it’s all connected).

• Amidst the Ritual Cuts social media accounts ( Insta, Blue Sky ), I’ll start posting exclusively illustrations that will sometimes be ‘repostables’ and sometimes purely art.

• On an as-of-yet-uncreated youtube channel I will be uploading music EPs and Albums made for background music for your ttrpg and board game sessions.

Hopefully I will find a way to not make this cacophonous but in stead an extension of our creativity and passion and a doorway to our bigger projects, mentioned above.

Thanks for your time, hope you’re good and well and remember, you can always reply to this email to chat or come to a very still and dead discord (some of your necromancy may have to be used to make it lively).

Vincent