Friday, December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas!
Tonight (Christmas Eve) I'm going to try to play one of my prototypes and either Tobago or Pandemic. Tomorrow will probably include Dominion and whatever Santa brings. What are you playing this holiday season?
Friday, December 17, 2010
Kingdom of Solomon
Just a quick note in case you missed it. Kingdom of Solomon is my new game coming in Q2 2011 from Minion Games. We already have a BGG page with a few teaser images on it. Stay tuned for more updates.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Ready For Christmas
Christmas is nearly here. I've bought several games for presents this year--mostly cards games, Lego games and Forbidden Island
for a certain relative (hope you're not reading). Should be a very Merry Christmas!
In other news I've been involved in tweaking the rulebook for Kingdom of Solomon. The art work is dragging along but progressing. We are currently discussing card layout. The "official" layout guy won't be free to do his thing until mid-January, but I'm guessing the art won't quite be done by then anyway.
Also, my daughter, Isabel, has made a nice little children's game called Tiger Stripes. I got a quote from Blue Panther to make 50-100 copies at the beginning of 2011. I'm going to have Isabel pay for most of it (she's loaded) and keep all the books, etc. This will be a great learning experience! And she might even make a few bucks if all goes well.
I might also be doing a small run of my simple puzzle game called Square Off. I really don't want to be a publisher, but this will be a true turnkey solution. No more cutting and gluing in the basement to fulfill orders! I'll let you know how this all goes in the weeks ahead.
Guess that's about it. Have a Holly Jolly Christmas! Play some games!
for a certain relative (hope you're not reading). Should be a very Merry Christmas!In other news I've been involved in tweaking the rulebook for Kingdom of Solomon. The art work is dragging along but progressing. We are currently discussing card layout. The "official" layout guy won't be free to do his thing until mid-January, but I'm guessing the art won't quite be done by then anyway.
Also, my daughter, Isabel, has made a nice little children's game called Tiger Stripes. I got a quote from Blue Panther to make 50-100 copies at the beginning of 2011. I'm going to have Isabel pay for most of it (she's loaded) and keep all the books, etc. This will be a great learning experience! And she might even make a few bucks if all goes well.
I might also be doing a small run of my simple puzzle game called Square Off. I really don't want to be a publisher, but this will be a true turnkey solution. No more cutting and gluing in the basement to fulfill orders! I'll let you know how this all goes in the weeks ahead.
Guess that's about it. Have a Holly Jolly Christmas! Play some games!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
In other news, my Hippodice entry did not make the cut. They got 190 submissions and took 50 (I think). They said, "This years´ limit was at a mark of 2,67 on an 6-mark-scale." Not sure what that means, but maybe I've give it another shot next year! In the meantime, I happen to have a really cool game just itching to be published . . .
Anyway, hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving. Ever if you're not American. I'm sure God occasionally blesses people from other countries, too, so be thankful! And eat some turkey!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Revolution! Castigated On BGN
Well, maybe that's not exactly the case. Apparently, BGN contributor Kris Hall had a really, really, bad experience with Revolution! recently. He managed to score only 30 points in his first game. Having played my game hundreds of times, I can attest to the fact that this can certainly happen once in a while--people can just get brutally trounced. Does this happen because the game is completely random?
A commenter had a similar experience, noting: "To me it seems that the best strategy to have in this game is no strategy at al, just place your tokens randomly." He is both right and wrong. There is no "best strategy" in Revolution! except to stay under the radar and avoid too much direct confrontation with the other players. If you develop too strong of a pattern (particularly from game to game), the other players will (or should) punish you for it. The corresponding maxim to this is that any strategy will win if left alone for long enough.
The key to Revolution! is that you are not really playing the board as much as you are playing the other players. It's not a question of the best move, but rather a question of what the other players will do. As Wil Wheaton has noted in his BGG rating comment, Revolution! should be played like Poker. Not everyone likes Poker and not everyone likes Revolution! I'm okay with that. Lots of other people do.
One thing that might help reluctant players was suggested by another BGN commenter. Use the Bid Refund Variant. Under this system, players get their tokens back if they lose or tie a space. This assures that you pay exactly what a space is worth and not more or less, though there is the penalty of lost time. And it helps reduce feeling "like one of those mice who are subjected to random electric shocks in cruel psychological experiments." I suspect the SJG people like the other way because they're sort of into cruel electric shocks, but that's a topic for another day.
So is the game completely random? That depends on who you play with. I think you'll find that, over time, Revolution! is much less random that you first thought.
A commenter had a similar experience, noting: "To me it seems that the best strategy to have in this game is no strategy at al, just place your tokens randomly." He is both right and wrong. There is no "best strategy" in Revolution! except to stay under the radar and avoid too much direct confrontation with the other players. If you develop too strong of a pattern (particularly from game to game), the other players will (or should) punish you for it. The corresponding maxim to this is that any strategy will win if left alone for long enough.
The key to Revolution! is that you are not really playing the board as much as you are playing the other players. It's not a question of the best move, but rather a question of what the other players will do. As Wil Wheaton has noted in his BGG rating comment, Revolution! should be played like Poker. Not everyone likes Poker and not everyone likes Revolution! I'm okay with that. Lots of other people do.
One thing that might help reluctant players was suggested by another BGN commenter. Use the Bid Refund Variant. Under this system, players get their tokens back if they lose or tie a space. This assures that you pay exactly what a space is worth and not more or less, though there is the penalty of lost time. And it helps reduce feeling "like one of those mice who are subjected to random electric shocks in cruel psychological experiments." I suspect the SJG people like the other way because they're sort of into cruel electric shocks, but that's a topic for another day.
So is the game completely random? That depends on who you play with. I think you'll find that, over time, Revolution! is much less random that you first thought.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Revolution: The Palace Ships Next Week!
According to Twitter, Revolution: The Palace will ship next week. Just to recap, this addition to the base game allows you to play with 5-6 players (or play with 4 using the new stuff). It adds 4 new spaces on the expanded bid card and an awesome new building! The gameplay experience goes from sweet to super-sweet! Don't miss this one. Makes a perfect gift for anyone who has the original game, or give both for a truly amazing Christmas!
I got my royalty statement for Revolution! and it looks like sales are doing quite well. The last two quarters, in particular, have been very nice.
Also, I received word that Wattsalpoag really likes the prototype I gave them. I may have to wait until 2012, but they seem to be very interested in adding it to their lineup!
I'll leave you with this, my original Palace tile for use with the homemade version of the game:
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Essen and Other News
Well, Essen is over and, once again, I was not there. This really is starting to become a "thing" with me. Anyway, at least Revolution! was there (both versions plus The Palace):
SJG had a booth this year and demoed The Palace. It even made it onto the BGG Geekbuzz list! The current ETA is mid-November for the release. Apparently, I will get my copy of the German edition at the end of the year.
In other news, Revolution! made Melody Vasel's top 100 games list. We'll have to wait and see if Tom also likes it that much. Also, I have entered the prototype passed over by Z-Man into the Hippodice competition in Germany. I'll find out in a couple of weeks whether they will need a copy mailed to them. At the very least, I'll get some nice quality playtester feedback.
This week I've been working on a new economic game. I finally finished the initial prototype and even got in one 15 minute-first-turn-only playtest with encouraging results.
Finally, the artwork for Kingdom of Solomon (Minion Games) is filtering in. I got to see some color art for the first time just the other day. Once the cover gets finished I'm cleared to begin releasing more information and talking about how it all works. Still waiting on Jolly Roger Games and Wattsalpoag for word on my other games.
SJG had a booth this year and demoed The Palace. It even made it onto the BGG Geekbuzz list! The current ETA is mid-November for the release. Apparently, I will get my copy of the German edition at the end of the year.
In other news, Revolution! made Melody Vasel's top 100 games list. We'll have to wait and see if Tom also likes it that much. Also, I have entered the prototype passed over by Z-Man into the Hippodice competition in Germany. I'll find out in a couple of weeks whether they will need a copy mailed to them. At the very least, I'll get some nice quality playtester feedback.
This week I've been working on a new economic game. I finally finished the initial prototype and even got in one 15 minute-first-turn-only playtest with encouraging results.
Finally, the artwork for Kingdom of Solomon (Minion Games) is filtering in. I got to see some color art for the first time just the other day. Once the cover gets finished I'm cleared to begin releasing more information and talking about how it all works. Still waiting on Jolly Roger Games and Wattsalpoag for word on my other games.
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