On The Horizon
- Sam Kennedy
- Jul 28
- 7 min read
Have you ever had to change course just to stay on course? I find it happens often in my life. I'll set out with a goal in mind and an imagined way to get there, but just a few steps in, and I'm already dodging left and right just to keep moving forward. Our plans just don't hold up against the constant onslaught of change. The only way to really see things through is to accept that the path may not look like what we originally imagined. (And neither will the destination.) You’ve got to learn to ride the waves, bend with the wind, and take more than a few punches on the chin.
I guess that's life, and this is a blog post.
I was originally writing about my creative process. How I do what I do here at JVS. But as I was making some big decisions about my release schedule, I decided writing some updates would be best. (The creative process blog post will be coming later this fall.)
JVS has an exciting year ahead. First up is Junicka Valley: Book One, the beginning of my weird fiction series, Junicka Valley. It’s the first of three volumes, and boy is it a doozy. Then next year, the two player strategy game, Children of the Sun, will be released in late Spring/early Summer. And after that, we've got Seadog Shuffle, a fun multiplayer take on the mechanics seen in Lock & Spell.
With the release of Junicka Valley, JVS is launching the new creative arts imprint: Callisto. It will serve as the storytelling half of the business, focused on fiction and narrative art. As the Junicka Valley series nears completion in a few years, we’ll be publishing the long-awaited Callisto Magazine, an anthology of writing, comics, games, and art.
While Callisto handles the stories, the original JVS label will keep cranking out the best board games around! (I’ve got to hype myself up sometimes...) Upcoming titles include surviving life as a shipwrecked crew inside a whale, managing a retro-futuristic robot factory, racing through a mythic Japanese kami tournament, and earning the coveted key to the city in a soaring, skybound metropolis.
It all sounds like a wild handful, but I wholeheartedly promise it's going to happen.
...That is, unless, of course, that constant onslaught of change has something to say about it. But you can be damn well sure I'll be doing my best to take it on the chin.
Junicka Valley and I go way back. Like, 10 years back to be exact. Around 2015 I started writing the novel. It took over my days and nights as I pounded away at the keyboard, trying to spill out this crazy story from my mind. From the get go I tried really hard to blend something really creative with a traditional story arc and structure. I think I accomplished that too. The story is far out and weird, yet stays coherent enough to read like a mass market novel. But a few missteps in my JVS journey let the book fall by the wayside. I'll let this excerpt from the book's history tell the whole story:
"I started writing the story back in 2015, and over the course of five or six years I had nearly finished it. Unedited, it came in at around 800 pages. Instead of publishing a behemoth book by an unknown author, I decided to split the novel into three volumes and release them over the course of a few years. My intent was to slowly build a crowd, but back then I wasn't very good at being slow. I edited the first book far too quickly, then released it with little to no marketing. (Plus little to no confidence!) It goes without saying that it flopped, and I abandoned the rest of the story so I could focus on game design."
This year I finally found the gumption to finish what I started. I went back to the first book and gave it a fresh edit, really cleaning up the voice and structure. (I wrote it ten years ago, and man have I grown as a writer since then!) I've also completely restyled the book's cover and design. It's looking so much more in line with what I intended it to be. The previous edition looked and felt like something self-published. This one will be a real book by a real publisher! (Hyping myself up again.)
I'll be releasing the books one by one over the next few years. When the last one comes out, I'll also release a box set containing all three. And then the following year or so, my plan is to release an omnibus edition with some illustrative artwork.
But, it all starts with Book One! The plan is to have it published by the end of this Fall. I'm just finishing up the edit and cover design, while also working on getting a good printer lined up. I found a local manufacturer here in Indy that I'm most likely going to work with. They're great at what they do, plus it align with my goal of working as locally as possible.
Be sure to stay tuned for updates on Junicka Valley soon! And keep an eye on the JVS Instagram. I've got some fun posts planned highlighting excerpts from the story.
For those of you who have kept up with JVS, you know Children of the Sun has been quite the challenge for me. Creating the Mesoamerican-inspired, two player strategy game has been a test of my design abilities, both in terms of gameplay mechanics as well as visuals. The greatest difficulty, though, has been manufacturing the game. While Lock & Spell can certainly stand tall in its own regard, it's still just a card game. Children of the Sun is my first big box production, and I've had to learn quite a few lessons. The first of which was a failed Kickstarter campaign last summer, which, funnily enough, I'm grateful for. The game wasn't ready yet, and I was charging head first into the same mistake I had made with Junicka Valley.
Thanks to my happy accidents, I've grown as a developer, designer, and publisher. The game has evolved so much since I first said it was "done", and now it really gets to shine. I've been playtesting the heck out of the game, refining the mechanics and cranking up the fun factor. I've cut a few aspects that were just getting in the way, and tweaked the scoring to make it much more balanced and tight. I've also learned a lot about manufacturing, budgeting, and component design, all of which are invaluable lessons for what I'm doing here at JVS.
Just like with Lock & Spell, I'm sourcing from multiple suppliers and assembling the game in-house. I'm even getting a die cutting press to punch the tokens myself! I'm very excited for the whole endeavor. It's one of the first steps to truly becoming an independent publisher. I would love to grow to the point where I can produce most of the components of my games either in-house or locally with trusted suppliers. I'd even love to help other companies make their games! We need more production capabilities stateside.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Children of the Sun will be getting a late Spring/Early Summer release next year. And at the start of 2026, preorders will open! I've got some fun ideas as to what that looks like, and I'll be sharing those as the time draws near.
For now, enjoy this updated look at the game's design!
Seadog Shuffle
Arrrgh! What say ye to a game starin’ swashbucklin’ jazz pirates? Scallywags with rhythm in their boots an’ brass in their bones! Aye, it tickles me barnacles just thinkin’ about playin’ a fine game like Seadog Shuffle!
*Ahem* Sorry... I’ve got a thing for pirates. Always have. I think it started with The Goonies and Monkey Island, which turned into a lifelong obsession with chasing treasure and sailing the high seas. (Neither of which I actually do.)
Pirates are the perfect blend of adventure, mystery, danger, and, of course, comedy. Which is why I chose them for the concept of my next card game. Except, I needed to add a little extra oomph to get the theme strong. Which is why I decided to make them jazz pirates!
Let's jam, ya salty dogs! I'm really excited to get this one out into the world. And what's really fun about it is the gameplay. It all came out of my experiments to make Lock & Spell a multiplayer game. L&S is a blast to play, but I always got the feeling that if I could somehow crank it up in player count, then it would really be a great game. The tactical, push-your-luck nature of it really blends well into a competitive multiplayer format. And even more so when its jazz pirates competin' to plunder the charts an' snag the most loot!
I don't have any artwork to show for it yet, and the mechanics are still in development, but I should have something to share with you by early next year. My plan is to release the game by the end of 2026, which would finally get me to my goal of publishing content more frequently.
Arrrgh! Be sure to subscribe to me newsletter if ya want to stay privy to the journey of Seadog Shuffle!
As my piratey self just mentioned, subscribing to The Jupiter Club newsletter is the best way to stay up to date with everything I’ve got going on. You can also follow me on Instagram or Facebook.
Later this week, I’ll be heading to GenCon. (Right here in my hometown of Indy!) I’m still attending as a spectator for now, but with each passing year, as JVS continues to grow, I can feel myself inching closer to having a booth of my own. I’d bet by 2027, you’ll see me behind a table. 😎
If you’re attending, feel free to reach out! I’d love to connect, and you can even give Children of the Sun a play!
Thanks for reading!
–Sam
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