October 14, 2010: Bringing Cthulhu To Life

His latest avatar is our new Cthulhu Dice Bag . . . now in the warehouse, and shipping soon. Like so many of our projects, this one started with random chatter, but the design and development process followed a drastically different path from what we take with games. Step 1 was talking to Alex. This was immediately followed by Step 2: Alex locking himself in a dark room and practicing dark magic. You can see the result: Alex's concept artwork. You'll want to embiggen (Urban Dictionary) the image to properly enjoy it.

Step 3 involved several of us drooling on the artwork. It's a good thing Alex didn't show us the original, because all of that drool would have ruined it.

As soon as the drooling stopped, we shipped the art off to the factory. After a few months of back-and-forth, they sent us a bright green Cthulhu Dice Bag that wasn't at all the color we were looking for. (And it's the only one in the whole world in that color, and you can't have it.) But the actual design looked fantastic, and a few more e-mails led to the final version of the plush and the exclusive Warehouse 23 purple design.

And now, about 11 months after we started, we get to the last step: getting it into your hands. The final version is gorgeous. It was a real treat to work on another plush toy, and I'm personally hoping this does well so that I can talk Steve and Ross into letting me take a step toward vinyl toy production. (Imagine a vinyl Munchkin or Chibithulhu toy. I can't be alone in wanting at least one of those.)

But for now it's back to games and maybe even another plush design. I can hear Alex casting a spell, and I can't wait to see what he conjures this time.

-- Phil Reed