Hi, I'm Seppel!

I, along with plenty of friends and wonderful artists, made Furoticon into a groundbreaking game that changed what people thought was possible. While there were many stumbling blocks along the way, by the end of its run it was culturally relevant — not only in the furry fandom, but in mainstream boardgaming as well. Not only did Furoticon have the largest booth at Anthrocon, but its top-grossing convention ever was GenCon! Over 2,000,000 physical Furoticon cards were created in the game's lifetime.

For 10 years, Furoticon was an indomitable force of body positivity and sex positivity in a closed-minded world. We helped a lot of people see themselves finally represented in a game. Unexpectedly, playing a game with a bunch of naked furries on the cards is a socially disarming experience, allowing friends and strangers alike to discuss topics they'd feel repressed to bring up in any other situation. In a way, it allowed players to be themselves, dropping the performative shields they otherwise needed for protection while navigating social situations.

So, where did all the money go? Much of it was reinvested in the artists who made Furoticon possible. At its heart, Furoticon was always about supporting the artists. At its height, the budget for Furoticon artists was higher than some of the most popular card games of the time. We know this, because artists who had previously worked for large corporations mentioned that the pay for their work on Furoticon was significantly higher than what they earned elsewhere. With the prevalence of AI in boardgaming these days, I wouldn't be surprised if it were even more imbalanced today.

The rest of the money went to keeping the core team fed and housed. The remaining profits were spent on getting Furoticon Online launched. However, the developers of Furoticon Online delivered a non-functional product and encrypted it behind their proprietary software, so even with the source code in hand, there was nothing we could do to fix it into a working game.

Furoticon is still beloved by many of its fans on the Furoticon Discord chat (I'm there too!):

https://discord.gg/mPse3U2

You can even play Furoticon there using Tabletop Stimulator!

There are still a few cards left for sale on the website, but they'll likely be sold out within a few months:

https://furoticon.com

So, what am I doing with my life now? I'm still making games. I can't stop making games. The only difference is that they're no longer adult-rated. Spending 10 years of my life and over a million dollars towards the creation of furry porn is a lot for one person, don't you think?


I'll leave you all with a few nuggets of advice:

- Making a good game takes ten times as much effort and time as you think it does. There are plenty of ways to cash in while making slop, but making something that you can take personal pride in takes dedication.

- Avoid dark patterns in your games. Your players will be much happier.

- Listen to the advice of others, especially about the decisions you vehemently oppose out of tradition or fear of change. Their advice is probably right.

- Pay people instead of mega-corporations as often as you can.


See you in another life, friends.

~ Seppel