Keko Chronicles - Journal
Origins: Part Four
The End of the Beginning
Sometimes, things just come together.
Keko Chronicles sat, untouched, in a pink box in the back of my closet for almost a decade. Until this past January when my oldest daughter came to visit. She had never played, nor seen, nor even heard of Keko Chronicles. Looking for something to do on a frigid day in the great state of Maine, on a whim, we pulled the pink box out of the closet and gave it a whirl.
At first, my son and I stared blankly at the cards trying to remember how to play. We stumbled out of the gate a few times, unsure of what order things were supposed to happen in, how many cards do you start with, and so on. But, eventually, it started coming back to us. And we all sat down and played a game of Keko Chronicles, teaching the one daughter who had never played and reflecting on childhood. It was a great family moment.
And then...in the middle of it all...we all made a realization. Keko Chronicles was still really fun. Like fun almost to the point of addicting.
I sent my son a text shortly after and asked if he thought Keko Chronicles was good enough to be a real game. His response: “I think it might be.” He introduced me to thegamecrafter.com where you could design your own card games and board games and set up templates for cards. He designed the card back and front to look like pages of a journal, which was perfect. He came up with the symbols for the different card types, which were perfect. We streamlined the wording on the cards and tweaked the rules and printed off some cards and started playing.
And then my wife suggested that we add some simple cards to balance out the more complicated ones. And my son came up with a set place for each of the different card types to go to better keep track of the cards in play during a game. And my daughter that had never played before wanted some cards of her own. And my youngest daughter worked with someone who was an artist who could do the art for the Character Cards. And my brother happened to have a week off from work and developed a website. And we tweaked a few things here and a few things there. And…
Sometimes, things just come together.
I have no idea if we are going to sell 1 copy of Keko Chronicles, or 1 million copies of Keko Chronicles. The safe bet is we will sell a number somewhere in between. And I am perfectly okay with that. I don’t plan to run myself ragged trying to push sales or promote. Oh, we will do a little. Because, hey, you never know.
But the cool thing is this:
Games were a huge part of my childhood.
I wanted my kids to enjoy games.
So I made a horrible one. That became a really good one.
That my kids have influenced. And my family has influenced.
And now we can share it with anyone and everyone.
I talked to my youngest recently. I told her, when she has kids, I am totally going to be the cool Grandpa that invented a card game and I am so teaching them how to play. And I’m going to show them no mercy, like my Grandfather did when he taught me how to play Cribbage. Let me clarify. My Dad taught me to play Cribbage. My Grandfather taught me how to cheat at Cribbage. That’s a story for another time.
Huge thank-yous to everyone who has been a part of this journey. And you all know who you are.
Sometimes, things just come together.
Welcome to Keko Chronicles.
Next: We are Go for Launch