Interview: Sandstorm Productions
Sandstorm Productions is a new player on the game publishing scene and I made time at Gen Con 2010 to sit down with Jessica Blair, the VP of Sales and marketing for Sandstorm and chat for a few minutes. This 
Sandstorm Productions began in April, 2010 and immediately partnered with four game publishers. Glowfly Games, Closet Nerd Games, Wildfire and Posthuman Studios. It is important to understand that Sandstorm, while a traditional game publisher in many respects, also markets itself as a business service provider for small game publishers.
Business services that include:
- Business administration
- Sales & Marketing
- Convention support
- Production Management services
- Bookkeeping services
This is not a comprehensive list, but it gives you an idea the kinds of services available. All of these services are provided on an a la carte basis, so you pick which ones your company needs.
Sandstorm’s goal is to partner with between 7-10 game creators/publishers at any given time. As a game publisher becomes more successful, they “mature” out of the Sandstorm relationship and move on as independent entities. This model means Sandstorm is always looking for new game ideas and new publishers to work with.
At this point, we moved on to the game studios currently working with Sandstorm
Closet Nerd Games: Closet NerdVersion produces euro-style strategy and board games, and had its resource management/market board game “Globalization” for sale at Gen Con. Here is the game description:
Globalization brings the exciting world of big business into your living room. You are the head of a multinational corporation with one goal in mind: to make money. Outbid your competitors to acquire businesses within six different industries and grow your conglomerate.
Glowfly Games: “Hecho” is a new card game from Glowfly. Glowfly focuses on the educational game market and “Hecho” is a light, family game that introduces some Spanish vocabulary, basic math and lots of personal interaction.
Wildfire Studios: Publishers of the “Cthulhutech” RPG, branch out in to family games with their new “WildThing” imprint. “WildThing” launched with the award-winning game “Poo” and plans future releases in the casual games arena.
Posthuman Studios: “Eclipse Phase,” the oddly fascinating posthuman game with cybernetic octopi and orbital habitats made of bacon. Yes, bacon. I just finished reading “Eclipse Phase” and will have a review up in the near future.
Jessica also mentioned some secret, upcoming releases from the Sandstorm family. Including a new family game from Glowfly and a storytelling game that serves as a gateway for younger children in to role-playing games.
I would like to thank Jessica for taking the time to speak with me about Sandstorm and I will keep you apprised of their new releases.
Trask, The Last Tyromancer
