The Dance and the Dawn was developed in the course of the “Iron Game Chef: Fantasy” contest, where participants had a week to develop a fantasy-themed game in a week’s time, using a number of pre-established elements, such as “Dawn” and “Island”.
I developed the game in a mad rush over a few days (1 2 3) when I should have been working on my exams, and yet I ultimately created a game I was quite proud of. The game was reviewed and ultimately earned the rank of 1st-runner-up.
The game has undergone a great deal of revision and playtesting since then, but I think it has the same charm. I’ve gotten good feedback on it. (Indeed, some friends of mine were inspired to make a LARP spinoff based on the game. That’s quite a compliment.)
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The Dance and the Dawn will be released at GenCon ’09 at the Design Matters booth, and I’m very excited. I’ve been collaborating with various game designer friends (including Elizabeth Shoemaker for copyediting and Nathan Paoletta for design), and I’m quite happy with the results.
