CanCan the Game

CanCan is a creative project. CanCan is an art project. CanCan is a game. Now CanCan the Game is an App!

As far as I’m concerned, I have completed the project. My goal was to get CanCan out into the world, as living art accessible to everyone. “Everyone is an artist” is the tag line. It is done. It expresses what I set out to express. It’s out there,it’s available,  it’s in the app stores, it’s on Google Play, and the Apple frikken store. I did it!

Here are the links to get it:

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.CanCanElectronic.CanCan

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cancan-the-game/id1356591352?ls=1&mt=8

But nobody knows about it, hardly.

The original impulse was “You can read the world”. Long ago I created an oracular deck of cards that consisted of just National Geographic photos, to that end. (I have been reading those cards for many years.) But you can look out your window and read the world, if you are looking. Everything you see consists of color and shape. Everything. Color and shape communicate feelings and qualities. Look, feel, and know.

“Everyone is an artist” is a subset of this knowing. Given units or increments of color and shape, and a method for connecting them, everyone can make pictorial art of an open ended and sophisticated and surprising quality. Everyone can participate in the divine project of creating something from nothing. Something of beauty, to boot. It is a game, because it is alive and moving, ever-changing.

But who wants to do this? Certainly I do, I have been going in and playing CanCan the Game quite habitually for thirty odd years as a board game, and of course since I finally launched it as an app. So have a few others.

Now, there is a significant part of me that does not care if anyone gets it, or buys it. 

This is the artist part of me, the part that continues to create, and doesn’t linger sentimentally on that which has been created already. The part that understands that life is a sand-painting. Persuading others to look at what you have created is an entirely different part of you than the creative part. The creative part is on to the next thing.

This is the issue I must contend with now. Because another part of me does of course care, and wishes to extend the reach and range of this wonderful activity, and also to create some revenue and pay back my investors, at least! This part of me understands that we must promote and market the game app.

To that end, here is the plan.

Make a How to Play video… Tweak the game design to be even more beautiful, even less compliant with the dominant cartoon-y, gadget-y aesthetic of many apps… Hone my perfect user, who is of course me and others like me:

Female, introverted, stare-y, dreamy, sensitive, arty, serious, conscientious, successful, powerful, bossy, creative, intentional, beauty-loving and -making, restorative, healing, smart, brilliant, good…

Right?

We are successful creatives in a linear black and white world, who can do the STEM stuff, do the left brain stuff, run the company, run the government, close the sales, deliver the argument, but want and need color and beauty and flow and complete release also. We care. That’s us. Any comments to help me finesse this vision will be much appreciated…

So if you’re reading this post, and you haven’t yet, download the app, it’s free, with in-app purchases available. It is maximized for the user who will never pay a dime. It contains ads. But you can buy your way out of those. Most people don’t. So if I get enough users, one day the ad revenue will start to come in.

Tell your friends.

There is a realm of experience that can barely be expressed, so ephemeral and quiet and vulnerable and hidden is it…it would be called the yin realm…the realm in the manifested of silence, of the hush in nature, of animal eyes, of innocence, of the unwillingness or inability to ASK…even in the face of huge desire. Asking is the province of the active….demanding is the province of the indignant active.
In the realm of the quiet, *asking* or *telling* is absurdly impossible. There’s only being. And if the being can’t be seen and known, the quiet simply continues, unacknowledged…or is destroyed, so powerful is the muteness of the quiet…
It’s not the quiet part that asks for anything, even for silence. It’s the noise part. The noise, if aware, asks for silence on behalf of the quiet.

CanCan is a messenger from the Quiet. It’s a pointer, finger to lips, ssssshhhh, toward the Quiet.

I’m the kind of person who prefers reverie to focus…but only a little…that is, reverie might be my default mode , but when focus kicks in, it is laser like. Maybe I’m a little scared of the power of it. Maybe that’s why I go to the heartbreak place, where there’s no brain left at all, to where I focus like my life depends on it, which it does.
Ahem.

Are you puzzled? Need a game change? More color? Less info?

Can you imagine a game that floods you with color and peace?

Are you tired of playing to win? Want to play just to play?

Imagine a game that makes you feel like an artist.

If only there was some activity that could take my mind off all the bad news!

I wish there was an activity that was like a meditation that I could show my kids.

How do I teach my kids how to calm themselves?

How do I calm myself?

What is meditation in action? Is there a tool?

Why do we need to meditate? What good does it do?

What if you could meditate while playing a game?

What if you could create something beautiful without thinking about it?

What if there was an easy way to make something beautiful?

What if there was a creative way to meditate and calm down?

What if there was something you could do that made a beautiful thing and felt as easy as staring out the window?

What if you could play a game and end up calm, and a work of art to show for it?

I wish I had an activity that I could easily lose myself in.

******************

“Brain” stuff is super trendy right now. There are numerous stores, companies, websites, focused on Brain activities. I have submitted CanCan to a couple of these, Mindware , Marbles the Brain Store , and been told that we’re not a good fit.
This is such interesting information.
CanCan is definitely a brain game. But it’s not THAT kind of brain game. What they told me a year ago at Marbles, the Brain Store was

“Thank you for taking the time to submit “CanCan” to Marbles, but unfortunately we have decided that it is not the best fit for our stores. This is not to say that your game is bad in any way, just that it does not meet our requirements for products carried by Marbles: The Brain Store. The general feedback we received after thorough playtesting was:

Likes
All the bright colors and patterns on the tiles
The weight of the box and number of pieces – definitely seems worth $32.99
All the possibilities for patterns and final board creation
The easy to learn instructions
Concerns
The number and size of the pieces – it seems that the fun of “CanCan” comes from playing it and building out the final board, but the pieces are so large that it would be hard to demo that build out in-stores, and because we demo every game in our stores, we worry that “CanCan” would not receive the attention it deserves because we would not be able play enough of it with customers.
There’s no “Aha!” moment to “CanCan” – When games have too many pieces to demonstration in-stores, we rely on “Aha!” moments for our Braincoaches to recreate for customers so they can reach an unexpected twist to the game within 20 seconds even without having to play the full game: something that makes the game feel new, different, and (most importantly) better than something that they have already played. We know that’s a lot to ask of a game (and it’s part of the reason we have so few products in our stores), but we have found the strength and timing of the “Aha!” to be the number one prediction of future sales.”
and,

“Thank you for understanding. I know how disappointing it can be when it seems like someone doesn’t like your game, but please know that is not the case here! We playtested your game many times, and I totally understood that the idea was to create and find links between pieces as an artist, and as a fellow artist, I really appreciated and enjoyed that; but unfortunately, placing such an artistic game in our stores next to a game requiring speed, slapping, and pattern recognition, would mean that “CanCan” would not get the attention or love it deserves (which I hope you agree would not be fair to you).”

and my slightly miffed reply

“Thank you much!
I will just cheerfully remind you that the brain has an active side and a receptive side, and I look forward to the day when the two modalities are equally appreciated for their own merits! I strongly believe that games are models of the way we see the world and engage with it, and all that speed and slapping, while interesting and exciting, represents an attitude of engagement that doesn’t fill the whole consciousness bill.”

Let’s just say CanCan is the gentle reminder which emerges slowly, quietly, serenely, beautifully. On its own terms.

My blog writing has slowed since I discovered Pinterest.
I think I’m normalizing with that now though…

New developments for CanCan. I’ve been doing R&D. (Reading and Dreaming) Here are a couple of inspirational titles for my CanCan thinking at present:

The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram
The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist

My excellent friend Larisa Goldin (www.dreamclinic.com) says we all have our weak points and our strong points. She says I’m a little shaky on the business end, but I know how to make a wonderful cozy home.

Home is where the heart is. Home is where you feel safe. Where you go to heal. Where you rest and recoup. I run a couple home-centered businesses.

CanCan is a home-style game. It’s restful, soothing, relaxing, restorative, nourishing, and fun.

I’m dedicated to the idea that business, or at least my business, can be home-style too. (Omigod, I bet there’s info on this on Pinterest!!! But I digress…)

Meanwhile, I’m filing for S-Corp status, writing my business plan, doing game demos and promos, marketing in my own low overhead style, and working my favorite day job at Nowakoski Painting. Taking care of business my way… I’ve GOT to, mister.

Umpqua Bank, local to the northwest, has a program of promoting local businesses at its branches, called Local Spotlight. CanCan has been chosen to be the business in the Umpqua Spotlight for the fourth quarter of 2014. Holiday season! This will be a wonderful marketing opportunity for us, and I’m switching to Umpqua Bank as soon as my Corporate status is finalized.