Part 2: GEN CON 2026: THE AFTERMATH

Saturday

Saturday morning I met up with Cole and as it so happened, my mentor Cardner, who were both gracious to do a playtest of Shrumans. Cardner and Cole being experienced game designer minds had me a little intimidated, but their down-to-earth personalities put me at ease. Also, when someone offers to do a play test, there is no time to be shy! I appreciated that the feedback was aimed at helping me improve upon the current game mechanics. The core issue with the gameplay for Shrumans is the “automatic” nature of making choices in the game with your hand of cards. In other words, not enough risk factor to force hard choices. One of the quick solutions was fewer choices for what a player can do on their turn, as the current game play allowed for about 4 different actions. The other piece of feedback revolved around making the “Morph” and “Utility” features playable elements—especially fungi-themed ones—and not just ways to form matching sets of Shruman cards.

A photo of "String Theory"-- a quirky board game set-up in one of the display cases at Gen Con 2026.

My next to-do was meeting with Mark from WinGo manufacturing. Meeting up with Mark cleared up some materials questions I had about using embossing, braille (a type of embossing), and spot UV. It was nice to have his word on eco-friendly mateials. I learned that spot UV is a better contender because it does not have the waste resulting from needing a mold that the embossing process has.

Saturday evening had a bit of excitement with the issuing of a tornado warning. This wasn’t my first rodeo having seen tornado conditions in Iowa, so I could gauge it being a low threat. I proceeded to the TTGDA gathering where I enjoyed connecting with a few designers before it was packed to the gills! I had no idea that there were so many indie designers at the con; we were spilling out of the hotel meeting room into the hallway and adjacent room. I learned about the great work that TTGDA is doing to protect the rights of game designers and providing a wealth of resources. They had a raffle of games, books, and merch prizes that seemed to magically replenish. 

My final event for Saturday was the Game Market where registered individuals could showcase their indie tabletop games, often in small batch prints and niche game themes. This had a different atmosphere than the crowded floor of the Exhibition Hall, where you could be bludgeoned by a board game backpack unsuspectingly. Here you could overhear ongoing demos and move about at your leisure. Shout out to Cardner’s success with Daytime Minutes at the Game Market!

Saturday’s takeaway: Getting my game in front of serious game designers showed me that Shrumans needs a little more pizazz in game mechanics and testing for accessibility.

No shortage of collectible dice or kawaii vibes at Gen Con.

Sunday

On the last day of the convention, I was a little burnt out! Still, I wanted to seize the opportunity and did my best to make my rounds of the Exhibition Hall. I watched more live demos for simpler card games and party games, which opened up my understanding of gameplay possibilities. I came across the cute cat-banana hybrid known as Bananya and the namesake for its card game, where you aim to collect each type of bananya card to win. Each bananya card type grants different playable attributes and I was thinking a similar logic could apply to the Shrumans’ “Morph” and “Utility” where collecting each type was the goal instead of matching. The experience since then left me with game mechanics fomo where I can see that there are way more avenues to take Shrumans' gameplay. 

The last hour gave me some surprising connections that made me glad I soldiered on. I came across the table for the new magazine for cozy games and fiction, Cozy Companion. I have been seeing posts about it and it reminded me how perfect it would be to submit Shrumans news to. The "cozy" category is increasingly popular in these modern, turbulent times and Shrumans fits well for its simpler mechanics and of course, the pudgy mushroom folk. The publicity aspect of launching Shrumans is a whole other beast to prepare for. 

Final Thoughts

Gen Con has so many opportunities if you plan a tiny bit. You also don’t and shouldn’t need to plan out every hour. The convention is aimed at playing games, so it’s best enjoyed with a buddy and a social disposition. One can spend all their time just by demoing in the main hall and playtesting in First Exposure. It’s even better when you are registered to have your own game playtested, but if you are just starting out, playing other’s games in your category is just as helpful. You can also talk to any number of game exhibitors to learn about their journey in designing and publishing their game. On top of that are a few game designers groups and events that I didn’t take advantage of ( just the one TTGDA meeting). Meeting and talking with manufacturers is also helpful if you want to self-publish. If you want to pitch to publishers, there are opportunities to pitch as long as you schedule that in advance. If I could go in with no plan and come out still digesting my experience, you can too! I had heard of incidents with attendees getting bothered by pushy vendors or rudeness from other attendees, but I am happy to report that I had no trouble there. This does happen for sure, so find a balanced view by learning from multiple accounts of Gen Con. It was too crowded for my liking, but there are ways to navigate around the clogged spaces. The upper floors of the convention center and participating hotels are great places to slow things down. A critique to Gen Con and a bigger critique for the gaming world is the lack of accessible game design. Tabletop games should be for anyone and can be feasibly adapted for ranges of sight. Hopefully we can increase awareness on the matter and make small steps toward making the gaming community truly inclusive.

Miniature painting and collecting was another big feature of Gen Con. This is a really bizarre dude from "Kingdom Death". The level of detail and quality is commendable even if it's the thing of nightmares.