It has been a good year! Over forty rulebook-related projects, comprehending writing, editing, proofreading, translating, and commenting. Regular collaborations and a fresh batch of new, promising ones. In addition, I did some editing and provided feedback for a book about the uses of wargames, plus a couple of playtests. It also marked my first international convention – Festival International des Jeux, at Cannes, with game demoing included! And, of course, the Portuguese ones at Leiria, Estarreja, and Viana do Castelo, with a workshop on rule book development at the latter.
My portfolio is expanding fast. The dots are connecting. The lines are traced by so many people, sometimes in unexpected ways. From Apex Legends: The Board Game to Unconscious Minds, courtesy of Thanos Argyris. A significant boost regarding new collaborations thanks to Paul Grogan, who generously keeps recommending my work to different publishers :) And to Paulo Soledade, who did just the same one year or so ago. Truly appreciated. Thank you so much!
The momentum is building. And that is why I decided, by late May, to roll the dice again, this time choosing a different action space to place the pieces, taking this journey one step further: the full-time day job became part-time. One more full day for working on games. Let’s see how it plays out!
It all started not longer than five years ago, when I decided to dive a little more into the hobby by creating this blog, In Black and White. Writing. In Portuguese and English, to reach different audiences. Photographing. Collecting. Playing.
At that time, I did not know the board game scene, let alone the industry behind it. I was wandering in the land of games. BoardGameGeek, Kickstarter, gaming groups and conventions, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Virtual and physical interactions. Soon after, the first rulebook translation. Then, a couple more. Playtests. New contacts. Connections.
A sense of direction was shaping in the form of rulebook work. Growing from one year to another. Gaining recognition. Gradually mutating from the hobby perspective to working in this lifelong passion. From 2022, and especially during 2023, the number of collaborations exploded, from full-fledged work to more limited contributions to game development.
The range of collaborations is diverse, and so is the range of geographies. Cultures. People. Creators. Gamers. Across the world.
Portugal and Spain as the natural starting points. Across the Pyrenees into the East and the North. Across the Channel to the British Isles. To the far east, reaching Taiwan and Japan. To Oceania. Across the Pacific Ocean to South America and the USA. And back. Juggling time zones.
With English as the primary common language. Communicating also in Portuguese, Spanish, and French. Learning German (and already making sense of sentences in rulebooks and more 😉). Juggling languages.
The prospects for the sixth year in this new era in the land games are promising. The ongoing collaborations are further developing. New exciting projects are already lining up. And there is a world of new contacts to explore.
The stars seem to be aligning!
Find more fragments of this journey at:
In Black and White (2018)
"Not all those who wander are lost" (2019)
Two years of encounters (2020)
In the eyes of others (2021)
Far beyond the horizon (2022)
