‘Backer’ is a term that is commonly used to describe someone who supports a crowdfunding campaign.  Although my father won't be a backer of the Countdown To Blastoff campaign (he passed away about five years ago), he was my first backer in my efforts as a game designer.

I started designing games seriously when I graduated from college.  While I wasn’t successful in having a game published, I’ve always thought that I did have some creative successes; some of those games are still on my game shelves.  I’m grateful to my father for his support and encouragement during that time.

After a few years, I returned to college to earn a master’s degree in mathematics, then became a college math instructor.  But I continued to design games as a hobby.  When I showed my dad Countdown To Blastoff, he quickly became its biggest supporter.  He told me many times that I should publish it – that it would become a popular game.  I wish that I had been able to do so while he was still with us.

Happily, he did play a role in the creation of the game.  He would sometimes become frustrated when someone played a Stuck On Hold card on him, delaying his countdown.  “There ought to be a way to protect against that,” he would tell me.  One of the fun things about being a game designer is that I can respond to such feedback.  So I added the All Systems Go card to the game, which pleased him greatly!

So while my dad isn’t with us here on earth, I believe he is looking down and smiling as we at OMG finish our journey of publishing Countdown To Blastoff!

[My dad, Ray "Skip" Otto, playing an early prototype of Countdown To Blastoff, probably around 2008.]  {read less}