Welcome to Our World!

My name is Dan Verssen, and my wife Holly and I co-own "Dan Verssen Games (DVG)". We have been designing and developing tabletop games since 1989. Since then, we have had about 40 games published by different companies.

A couple years ago, Holly had the idea of publishing our own games. Side note: Holly is the one who usually comes up with all the big life changing ideas in our family.

At first I thought she’d finally lost all touch with reality, but then she went on to explain that we had worked on all the steps of game publication while designing games for other companies. At one time or another, not only had we designed the games, but also created the packaging, written the rules, handling marketing, prepped the files for printing, and everything else.

So, we launched the web site and put our first game up for pre-order “Field Commander Rommel”. She was right! Soon enough people started pre-ordering the game and within a few months we had enough pre-orders to pay the printing bill and start production.

We were a game company!

In the past six months we have sent three more games to print. We now have 3 games for sale, and the fourth will be delivered from the printer in early May.

All of our success is built on the faith and support of our pre-ordering customers. Without them, we couldn’t have started our business, and we never forget them. In fact, we’ve started a new thing in the gaming world. Every person who pre-orders one of our games gets to have their name printed on all the games boxes.

So, why start a blog?

A couple reasons. First, some friends, Kevin Carter and Mike Guadagnino suggested it as a cool way to talk back and forth with the world. Second, we have a regular “News” section on our web site, but we need to keep that formal and professional. We thought a blog would be a neat means of informal conversation.

Everyday in the world of game design is an adventure. You never know what new fortune or mishap is waiting with the morning email.

Reminds me of Sgt. Apone's pep talk in the movie Aliens... "All right, sweethearts, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the Corps! A day in the Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal's a banquet! Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation a parade! I LOVE the Corps!"

A side note of Aliens. When Holly was in the hospital giving birth the nurses asked if we wanted to watch a movie on their mobile TV system. I guess they were thinking of peaceful woodland scenes or something, but she wanted to watch Aliens. It wasn't long before the sounds of gunfire, and chest tearing screams, led the nurses to close our door. They said the other patients were finding the sounds "disturbing".

-Dan
www.dvg.com