Mark Anticole of Eye-Level Entertainment was a participant in Cheese Weasel's GenCon 2006 Meta-Game. What the hell was the GenCon 2006 Meta Game? It's a type of scavenger hunt that the Cheese Weasel folks put together. Instead of collecting items, you participate in a game demonstration. Participating companies donate a selection of prizes and participants have the opportunity to walk away with a boatload of games and game related merchandise. Really, it's quite amazing.
Mark was kind enough to answer questions for us about Gencon 2006, the Meta Game, Eye-Level Entertainment, and their Nature of the Beast game.
Mark Anticole: Hi, this is Mark Anticole, one of the co-creators of Nature of the Beast. Here are the answers to your GenCon questions. Thanks for the opportunity to share a bit about who we are and where we’re headed.
Spewgilist.com: Tell us about how GenCon 2006 is going/went for you including highlights, disappointments, anecdotes, etc
Mark Anticole: GenCon was a great experience both professionally and personally. Getting to walk around in the Exhibition Hall before doors opened for everyone else was cool. I also got to shake hands with the legendary Larry Elmore, probably my earliest artistic role model.
The only real disappointment was the need to rest and recover each night! So many new games to try and too little free time!
Spewgilist.com: Tell us about your Meta-Game Experience.
Mark Anticole: The Meta-Game was another very positive experience. Anything that brings a lot of people to a booth is going to be a boon, especially since Eye-Level Entertainment is such a new gaming company.
Spewgilist.com: Tell us about you company including size, principals, outlook, etc.
Mark Anticole: Eye-Level Entertainment is a youthful company composed of three brothers, each adding their own field of expertise. We have played many, many games over many, many years and are dedicated to the prospect of making the kind of games we would like to play ourselves. Our motto: "Focus on the Fun". Our outlook: freakin' awesome.
Spewgilist.com: Tell us about your product(s) including when it/they was/were developed/released, how many releases, updates, etc.
Mark Anticole: Our debut game is "Nature of the Beast". It is a non-collectible, strategic card game where players take command of an animal army fighting in the shadows of humanity. The two Battle Boxes are each a complete two-player game. The initial habitat pair-ups are "City Vs.Suburb" and "Farm Vs. Forest." A lot more information is available on our website: http://www.nobthegame.com/
Nature of the Beast has been in development since the late 90s and was released for mass consumption in December of '05. (And there was much rejoicing.)
Spewgilist.com: Tell us about your target audience and how you determined your product fit
Mark Anticole: As the box says, "recommended for ages 12 and up (or really smart kids under 12)". The game has some serious strategy so think chess more than checkers.
We are having positive responses throughout the age groups. Younger games like tweaking decks and maximizing different game mechanics. Older players enjoy that here are no boosters, no randomized cards, and no card rarity to worry about; if you buy both Battle Boxes, you get all the cards.
We are also finding a niche as a couples game. We hear a lot of, "my partner doesn't really like to play games, but he/she will play this!"
Spewgilist.com: Tell us about your views of the state of your target industry, the good, the bad, the annoying, the inspiring, etc
Mark Anticole: We have been very fortunate with the gaming industry. Nearly every aspect of the process from our printer to our distributors, from game reviewers to gaming stores has been a positive experience. Most importantly it has been awesome to meet our customers and hear how they enjoy the game.
For our first crack at this, I can't think of anything 'bad or annoying'. Everything takes longer than you think it will, but that happens anytime you have to rely on other people.
In the 'inspiring' category, interacting with game reviewers and game designers has been a blast. Most of the ‘famous’ folks in the industry are very nice and very helpful people. It is a nice field to work in… assuming you don’t go broke.
Spewgilist.com: Tell us about your distribution channel(s), local, retail, Internet, etc and how it/they is/are working for you
Mark Anticole: Our primary online distributor is Key20 (http://www.key20.com/) and we are available through most of the other major distributors (ACD, Alliance, BlackHawk) and even a few overseas.
Customers can buy the game on-line from Key20, or through one of the brick and mortar stores listed
on our website.
Having a variety of means to get our game to the customers has worked out well. We are meeting our
growth goals at a steady rate and anticipate a strong finish to 2006.
Spewgilist.com: Tell us about personal views, background, inspiration that drove you to start your company or create your product(s) or choose it/them for distribution.
Mark Anticole: Well, as stated above, we've played a lot of games at Eye-Level. A LOT of games. We liked CCGs, but there were always things about the individual titles we didn't like. More for fun than anything else, we mocked up a very simple game that would become the basis of Nature of the Beast.
It sat around for a couple years in hibernation as we got degrees, jobs, etc. It eventually bubbled back to the surface. As we tinkered with it, adding cards and new elements, we really came to believe in the idea of the game and the universe the game took place in. It is entertaining and immediately engaging. We decided it was time to ‘punt or get off the field’ and committed to bringing NOB to market.
We took our time and the game went through years of revisions and playtesting. As a result, we dodged a lot of the problems that plague a rushed-development game. We are very proud of game reviews that cite NOB as an extremely polished and well-balanced game, especially considering that it is our first release.
Spewgilist.com: Tell us a little about your job and life history
Mark Anticole: We are astronauts. Just kidding. We’re a part-time game company. Two of us are teachers and one of us is in the business world. Advice to game designer wannabes: It helps to have a steady paycheck from the ‘real world’ while you’re launching a game company.
We spent a good chunk of our teenage years (both financially and time-wise) hanging out in gaming stores, meeting other gamers who would go on to become lifelong friends. and saving the world many, many times… in games, that is.
Spewgilist.com: Any last words or other information you'd like to share with folks?
Mark Anticole: With the summer convention season behind us, we’re actively seeking new “bricks ‘n mortar” game stores to carry NOB in preparation for the holiday retailer season. In addition, we’ve got the ‘Nature of the Beast’ World Championships being held at Pittsburgh’s GASPCon again this year this November (http://www.gaspgamer.com/). Finally we’re headed back to the lab to develop a new NOB expansion for next year as well as working up ideas for our next new game. Keep an ‘eye’ on Eye-Level Entertainment’s website for the latest updates (http://www.nobthegame.com/)!
Thanks for the interview!
Mark Anticole
Eye-Level Entertainment, LLP
Spewgilist.com: Thanks for your time Mark. We're putting the finishes touches on our Nature of the Beast review, but we'll give everyone a hint:
DAMN!
In a good way.