Gameplay that requires finesse, strategy and angle/gradient perception. The better you are the luckier you get.
Gameplay that requires finesse, strategy and angle/gradient perception. The better you are the luckier you get.
We're ready to "Pivic" so share your thoughts.
Going back to 1994-ish when shop class still existed in middle school (my middle school anyway) we were tasked with building a funny game called Penny Hockey. My science teacher in 8th grade would award bonus points if you could beat him. A buddy of mine, Hunter and I got pretty competitive over it and likely got a better grade because of it... I'm certain I did.
2008 I went to work at a place called Georgetown Tool and Mfg Inc. There I found an assortment of precision ball bearings. Immediately I knew there was a game to be made. Although lost within one of my books on a shelf there is an original drawing from about that year.
Late 2017 I spent 50 bucks at a local Lowe's purchasing the bare minimum materials to get a physical board in my hands. It was terrible! My shop teacher would have been utterly embarrassed at the craftsmanship. But it allowed me to test the game play and rule sets. From there I commissioned a cabinet maker to build out a more refined board. Several of my friends including Hunter met me at a local cider brewery for an off the cuff test play. The feedback was good. Their wives were my heroes that day!
2018 My daughter was to be born that November and I freaked out in January and started looking for a better playing surface and balls. This certainly wasn't the saving moment in life I'd hoped for so back to work I went.
2019 My most supportive woman, Mandy Berscheit, my love and the mother of my daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer. Life got real, real fast.
The board came out when we set up a fire pit on random weekends, the older girls played with me from time to time. I tinkered with it on and off for several more years on lazy, available weekends. It was a hobby with no tangible viability.
2023 October 15th, the day after my daughter turned 5 we lost Mandy to metastatic breast cancer. Work and survival was all I had in me. Those moments when thoughts run in a direction you'd rather not had to be replaced with something else. Mandy was fond of the game development and insisted on calling it "Maddie Ball" after a cat that took to the original board. But later I learned it wouldn't stick. I almost lost the game to the name "Finger Pool" or Finger Ball!
January 2024 Almost as if being pulled back to it I pursued a custom furniture maker to construct a full-size table that would be set up in my office at work. James is one heck of sport for playing with me almost daily where I work 800% Elite Automotive Club. A distraction from conundrums and life I was able to test the actual skill needed to play. This full size demo table has been modified to encompass a full blown vision.
March 2024 I met a CNC guy, Doug who is currently finishing the designs and manufacturing processes. It's still being pursued much like a hobby but it has become a life long pursuit entangled with the ups and downs of life itself. The game should be dramatic as well.
August 2024, after hundreds of iterations including the help with AI the name Pivic was unearthed. Which by the way was NOT an AI suggestion but a combination of suggestions that lead to the pivic itself. Not a real word by the way. It did however encompass every aspect in a single word that I was aiming for and provided space for creating the definitions the game desperately needed.
I look forward to cashing in a $350 dogecoin investment that almost bought us a house, to facilitate the initial manufacturing stage.
I also look forward to sharing it with the world and the stories it carries as well as the memories I hope it makes for others like it has me.