霍斯利是《正规赌博十大网站》的创造者, a deck-building board game that challenges players to build the most magnificent castle for the king.
“我当时在远程工作, 我需要一个有创意的出口,霍斯利说。, 谁主修机械工程. “我经常和家人朋友一起玩桌游, 有一天, 我决定试着做一个. I always wanted to play a board game about building a castle, and I took that idea and ran with it.”
白天, 霍斯利 is the leader of electrification new markets software and controls at General Motors, 他不打算在短时间内离开这个职业.
“It doesn’t pay the bills yet, but it’s a really fun side hobby,霍斯利说 about CastleScape. “The hope would be I could eventually turn it into something, 但是现在, 这很有趣, 有一些牵引力的创意出口.”
He’s sold more than 1,000 games and has about 1,000 more ready to hit the market.
类似于Clank! 和Dominion桌游, 《正规赌博十大网站》很容易学习, 霍斯利表示, 他补充说，一款典型的游戏持续一到两个小时. The game takes two to four players and is recommended for players 14 and older.
这种爱的劳动不是一夜之间发生的. 霍斯利 began designing the game in December 2016 as a creative outlet. After testing with fellow gamers, he started his business, Praetorian Board Games, in April 2018.
“My company name is the name of an elite Roman guard, Praetorian. I enjoyed a lot of games based on medieval times when I was growing up, 我最喜欢的一些是关于古罗马的,霍斯利说. “I want it to be a highly disciplined and finessed company, and the name Praetorian stuck out to me as a representation of that.”
From there, he began assembling a team to design all the materials. 他创造了几个游戏原型, 从家里的材料开始, 比如股票纸, stickers and markers and moved on to 3D printing pieces and having other pieces made for more professional prototypes.
2021年5月, he started a Kickstarter campaign to fund the game's production, 哪一项投资对他来说意义重大.
“这些天, you actually need a lot of money to bring something to Kickstarter and be successful unless you can do everything yourself,霍斯利说. “我需要艺术。, 平面设计工作, 广告, videography and more in order to have effective marketing for CastleScape. Everything to get it to Kickstarter was personally invested from savings.”
By the middle of June, the campaign ended, and had earned more than 200% of the funding request.
乔希·霍斯利，15岁
“这个过程非常具有挑战性, 但我学到了很多东西, and it’s been extremely rewarding to be a part of something that I’m passionate about,霍斯利说. “我鼓励任何有梦想的人去追求它. Even if it doesn’t work out, you still learned, and you still tried. If you never actually try, you won’t know if you could have made it or not.”
该游戏于2022年11月开始制作. 人们在2023年3月开始收到他们的游戏.
霍斯利说:“这让我很惭愧. “I did pour a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it, but also, so did a lot of other people. 我让超过100名测试者玩了这款游戏, 他们中的许多人投入了大量时间进行游戏测试, 试图打破它, trying to figure out the best way to balance everything to make it fun. 这让人兴奋，也让人谦卑.”
He credited Kettering with providing the foundational skills to build his board game company.
“它给了我逻辑思考事物的想法, 从头到尾计划好, 设计一个项目, 开发它, 做艺术, 组织的人, and I think a lot of the lessons I learned at Kettering and also through the co-op program gave me a lot of the skills that I needed to do it,他说.
霍斯利 recently returned to Kettering to talk to students about his journey and show them CastleScape.
“It was surreal to come back to Kettering and talk about the journey I’ve been on these last few years,他说. “I want to inspire people like me to go for that thing they are passionate about and to put in the time and effort to allow it to succeed. I only hope that my being there and talking about my experiences gave some hope and guidance for how to make it happen.”
任务完成.
“I was surprised to see such a young alum having made a board game,” said Ian Bacheldor ‘24. “It inspired me to follow through on my own creative outlets after graduation.”
Kevin Patterson ‘24 said he’d like to see a place on campus where all alumni’s products and innovations are on display.
“我认为看到这段旅程的结束真是太棒了,他说, “and see someone actually turn a hobby of theirs into a source of income.”
他们说这款游戏很有趣，很吸引人，也很容易上手.
“这个设计很有竞争力，”巴切尔多说. “It reminded me of some of the playing functions of ‘The Settlers of Catan,，通过构建资源来完成任务.”
Seeing the students from his alma mater play the game he designed was an “awesome experience,霍斯利说.
“Getting to share something I’ve poured a lot of effort and love into is always a scary experience because you never know how it will be received,他说. 话虽如此, 能和我这样的人一起打球, students who are now sitting where I sat less than a decade ago, is something that will give me motivation moving forward to continue to chase after the things I’m passionate about and to best share those experiences with others.”
霍斯利 计划部署扩展 of CastleScape by releasing additional game pieces and card packs, 提供新的关卡和不同的玩法. He said he also has other games in various stages of development, 包括3d俄罗斯方块太空主题产品.
“我采取了这种方法，就好像你不喜欢它一样, you might always wonder what it would have been like if you did. And I think while it has been a very challenging thing—it’s taken a lot of time—through it, 我学到了很多东西, I’ve met thousands of people that have really become a part of my life, 我也成为了他们生活的一部分,他说. “如果你不去争取，你永远都不会成功. 你可以思考和谈论一个想法一整天, 每一天, 但如果你不把笔放在纸上开始写, 这是不可能发生的.”
