You probably heard about it already, but for the sake of updating this blog and in case you might have missed it over the holiday stress:
0 A.D. got a pretty massive update to version 0.8 "Haxāmaniš"!
The release news have all the details including the possibility to listen to the very nice soundtrack of the game. Oh and the developers are requesting to mention that they are still looking for contributors!
Otherwise? Well there are some even older news regarding the Megaglest project:
First of all, we didn't mention their new release yet: version 3.6.0.2. It's mostly a bugfix and various smaller improvements release, but they also significantly improved the modding support. In releation to that I guess they also made the .blend sources of much of the content available. Something they are not required by the CC-by-SA btw, so many thanks to those guys!
Other upcoming news for Megaglest are the inclusion into the official Debian repositories and an option to play scenarios in multiplayer mode. No real news on the merger with GAE yet though it seems... a pity really if this isn't progressing...
Thứ Sáu, 30 tháng 12, 2011
Jerusalem Session Report and wishes for 2012
The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Nile, Agricola.
I had a difficult and tumultuous 2011, with a few bright spots. I hope you all had an easier and happier year, and I wish you all a happy, memorable, and peaceful 2012.
I had a difficult and tumultuous 2011, with a few bright spots. I hope you all had an easier and happier year, and I wish you all a happy, memorable, and peaceful 2012.
Thứ Tư, 28 tháng 12, 2011
True Hearing
A non-gamer hesitating on his first turn in a simple filler game with me recently made the following comment: I don't like not knowing what to play.
The very act of calculation against the unknown possibilities was not fun for him. I wanted to explain that decision-making was the definition of fun; I had to fight myself to listen to what he was actually saying: I don't find this fun. It was a difficult, but important, struggle. I think of decision making as the heart of a game and the heart of the fun. This is not the case for everyone.
Some people don't enjoy games, period. Some enjoy the company. Some like to watch what happens, and may even be excited about the game as it happens; they just don't want to guess. Let them pick a card or tell them to roll the dice. Give them a skill to perform or all the information they need for a quick calculation, but don't force them do math or memory or decide whether or not to buy something with a hidden value.
We need to listen to our gamers, just like we need to listen to our children or our parents when they tell us something. We can't just think that they're not seeing it the right way.
The very act of calculation against the unknown possibilities was not fun for him. I wanted to explain that decision-making was the definition of fun; I had to fight myself to listen to what he was actually saying: I don't find this fun. It was a difficult, but important, struggle. I think of decision making as the heart of a game and the heart of the fun. This is not the case for everyone.
Some people don't enjoy games, period. Some enjoy the company. Some like to watch what happens, and may even be excited about the game as it happens; they just don't want to guess. Let them pick a card or tell them to roll the dice. Give them a skill to perform or all the information they need for a quick calculation, but don't force them do math or memory or decide whether or not to buy something with a hidden value.
We need to listen to our gamers, just like we need to listen to our children or our parents when they tell us something. We can't just think that they're not seeing it the right way.
Raanana Session Report
Participants: Laurie, Daniel, Ellis, Jon, Rochelle
I arrived as Laurie set up a filler game Piece o Cake for Ellis, Laurie, and me to play. This was the first play for all of us. It's a simple food-themed game of set collection with a divide and offer mechanic. There are five piles of cards.
Cards are worth a small number of points if they are "consumed" as soon as they are acquired, or nothing if not consumed; if, however, you have the most in a set of unconsumed cards, you gain a larger number of points. For instance, a cherry pie slice may be worth 7 points for having the most unconsumed slices at the end of the game (it doesn't matter how many of them you have, so long as you have the most), or they may be worth 2 points each if you simply consumed them. Note that if you will acquire all the cherry pie slices during the game, your best move it to consume all but one of them: the 6 slices will then be worth 2 points each consumed, and the remaining slice will be worth 7 points as the majority holder of unconsumed slices.
On each turn, someone opens a stack of 11 cards and arranges them into a circle without changing their order. The player then divides the cards into groups by the number of players; the division must not rearrange any of the arcs, but the division does not have to have an equal number of cards in each circle. Players then, in turn, select a group and consumes or not each of the cards in the group. Repeat for 5 turns. Score.
On turn three I had essentially reduced the game to its math, including how many points I was wasting trying to maintain majorities and how many slices were left in the deck so as to determine whether I really needed to keep one more slice unconsumed. Even with tracking, the game still holds interest, since you don't know the order in which the cards will turn up or how the other players will divide them. Ellis consumed nearly all of his slices. I squeaked out a win by 1 point over Laurie.
I then taught Rochelle, Ellis, Laurie, and Daniel how to play Amun Re. Of course, I changed the theme of stage four, and also changed the power card that lets you correct the offering value. In the latter case, I let players decide to use these cards after seeing the results of the offering and also to act in collusion. Even with these boosts, the cards were used only once to boost the offering from level 3 to 4.
I won the money war in the first half, and I was tied for the lead in points. I messed up round four by not buying the best province, ceding it to Daniel instead. I spent a lot of money to build my pyramids in the second half. On the last round, I wasn't able to complete four complete pyramid sets by a few gold. In fact, completing the sets lost me so much gold that I received no bonus points for money at the end. Meanwhile, Ellis solidified his points in the second half. On the last round, his bribe bonus was two power cards, both of which gave him extra money from the harvest, which was enough to bump his money holdings to first place. He was five points behind me in scoring, and then he took his six point bonus for money and ended the game one point ahead of me.
Daniel ended one point ahead of Laurie, about 8 points behind Ellis and me. Rochelle brought up the rear. The game took just shy of three hours to teach and play.
P.S. The JSGC had a game day on Hanukkah. Games played: Highland Clans, El Grande, Egizia, Princes of Florence, Louis XIV, Year of the Dragon.
I arrived as Laurie set up a filler game Piece o Cake for Ellis, Laurie, and me to play. This was the first play for all of us. It's a simple food-themed game of set collection with a divide and offer mechanic. There are five piles of cards.
Cards are worth a small number of points if they are "consumed" as soon as they are acquired, or nothing if not consumed; if, however, you have the most in a set of unconsumed cards, you gain a larger number of points. For instance, a cherry pie slice may be worth 7 points for having the most unconsumed slices at the end of the game (it doesn't matter how many of them you have, so long as you have the most), or they may be worth 2 points each if you simply consumed them. Note that if you will acquire all the cherry pie slices during the game, your best move it to consume all but one of them: the 6 slices will then be worth 2 points each consumed, and the remaining slice will be worth 7 points as the majority holder of unconsumed slices.
On each turn, someone opens a stack of 11 cards and arranges them into a circle without changing their order. The player then divides the cards into groups by the number of players; the division must not rearrange any of the arcs, but the division does not have to have an equal number of cards in each circle. Players then, in turn, select a group and consumes or not each of the cards in the group. Repeat for 5 turns. Score.
On turn three I had essentially reduced the game to its math, including how many points I was wasting trying to maintain majorities and how many slices were left in the deck so as to determine whether I really needed to keep one more slice unconsumed. Even with tracking, the game still holds interest, since you don't know the order in which the cards will turn up or how the other players will divide them. Ellis consumed nearly all of his slices. I squeaked out a win by 1 point over Laurie.
I then taught Rochelle, Ellis, Laurie, and Daniel how to play Amun Re. Of course, I changed the theme of stage four, and also changed the power card that lets you correct the offering value. In the latter case, I let players decide to use these cards after seeing the results of the offering and also to act in collusion. Even with these boosts, the cards were used only once to boost the offering from level 3 to 4.
I won the money war in the first half, and I was tied for the lead in points. I messed up round four by not buying the best province, ceding it to Daniel instead. I spent a lot of money to build my pyramids in the second half. On the last round, I wasn't able to complete four complete pyramid sets by a few gold. In fact, completing the sets lost me so much gold that I received no bonus points for money at the end. Meanwhile, Ellis solidified his points in the second half. On the last round, his bribe bonus was two power cards, both of which gave him extra money from the harvest, which was enough to bump his money holdings to first place. He was five points behind me in scoring, and then he took his six point bonus for money and ended the game one point ahead of me.
Daniel ended one point ahead of Laurie, about 8 points behind Ellis and me. Rochelle brought up the rear. The game took just shy of three hours to teach and play.
P.S. The JSGC had a game day on Hanukkah. Games played: Highland Clans, El Grande, Egizia, Princes of Florence, Louis XIV, Year of the Dragon.
Chủ Nhật, 25 tháng 12, 2011
38 Years of Bridge With These Guys
I stopped in for a quick dinner at my brother's house, attended also by my other brother's family and my mother (and my son).
I've been playing Bridge with my brothers and mother for 38 years now. It's surprising how poor I am at the game (well, mediocre, actually) after all this time, especially since the skills I learned from Bridge help me to do fairly well at most other games. Still, it's nice that we're still playing together after 38 years.
As far as holidays goes, Hanukkah is a pretty nice one' hope you're having a nice one if you celebrate it. Merry Christmas to the rest of you.
Some Hanukkah vids:
I've been playing Bridge with my brothers and mother for 38 years now. It's surprising how poor I am at the game (well, mediocre, actually) after all this time, especially since the skills I learned from Bridge help me to do fairly well at most other games. Still, it's nice that we're still playing together after 38 years.
As far as holidays goes, Hanukkah is a pretty nice one' hope you're having a nice one if you celebrate it. Merry Christmas to the rest of you.
Some Hanukkah vids:
Thứ Bảy, 24 tháng 12, 2011
Guests or Not
Bill and Shirley came for shabbat, bringing decadent donuts from Roladin. These are donuts with fillings, icings, decorations, and even little syringe tubes with more filling that you can inject into your pastry moments before ingesting them. Over the top, but tasty.
Rochelle came over for lunch. After lunch, we all played Tichu. I taught them, we played two hands, and I won both hands. Then I taught them Apples to Apples, which I also won. Then I taught them For Sale, which I also won. Really, guys, I don't win every game I play, it was an accident. I tried throwing Apples to Apples rounds by playing cards that couldn't possibly get picked, but they started going for ironic or ridiculous choices and picked my cards anyway. It's hard to throw a game of Apples to Apples.
Anyhoo, after shabbat my guests left and I prepared for a small party I was throwing, my first in Raanana. I had sent invitations to everyone I currently know in the area (and some I don't). The only replies I got were from people who were not coming. I heard tell of three people who might come, and some people said that they might try to drop by toward the end.
Only one person (other than my kids) came. We talked a little and I showed him my Hanukkah Jeopardy game for this year. And these were probably among the best latkes I ever made, and some pretty good brownies, too. More for me, I guess.
Huh, I think there's something wrong with my belt.
Rochelle came over for lunch. After lunch, we all played Tichu. I taught them, we played two hands, and I won both hands. Then I taught them Apples to Apples, which I also won. Then I taught them For Sale, which I also won. Really, guys, I don't win every game I play, it was an accident. I tried throwing Apples to Apples rounds by playing cards that couldn't possibly get picked, but they started going for ironic or ridiculous choices and picked my cards anyway. It's hard to throw a game of Apples to Apples.
Anyhoo, after shabbat my guests left and I prepared for a small party I was throwing, my first in Raanana. I had sent invitations to everyone I currently know in the area (and some I don't). The only replies I got were from people who were not coming. I heard tell of three people who might come, and some people said that they might try to drop by toward the end.
Only one person (other than my kids) came. We talked a little and I showed him my Hanukkah Jeopardy game for this year. And these were probably among the best latkes I ever made, and some pretty good brownies, too. More for me, I guess.
Huh, I think there's something wrong with my belt.
Thứ Sáu, 23 tháng 12, 2011
Modern retro-graphics: RetroBlazer
Short call for help: Awesome looking retro-graphics game is looking for a Darkplaces QC programmer.
So far only two screen-shots have been released (and no word on the license of the media):
I am loving the style... so here is the other:
So if you know your way around Quake's QC scripting language try to get into contact with them :) Otherwise you can still follow the progress of this game over at QuakeOne's forums.
Oh and taking about Darkplaces... Xonotic finally implemented client-side networked players in their most recent development release. Meaning that there is now client-side movement prediction and thus less (visually) laggy game-play on slower netspeeds!
So far only two screen-shots have been released (and no word on the license of the media):
Oh and taking about Darkplaces... Xonotic finally implemented client-side networked players in their most recent development release. Meaning that there is now client-side movement prediction and thus less (visually) laggy game-play on slower netspeeds!
Crowd-Sourced Portraits ETA: February 2012!
New fantasy portraits by Justin Nichol [more here]
Remember Justin Nichol's crowd-sourced fantasy portrait commission?
In a recent announcement the artists reports, that the collection of 35 portraits will be finished by February 2012, as they will be exhibited some day that month somewhere in California, USA.
Thứ Tư, 21 tháng 12, 2011
Why we need a stronger copyleft for artists, and how this might be accomplished.
Currently, art copylefts are weak with respect to code. If I'm a programmer and I want to write code that's specifically for use in libre software, all I have to do is slap the GPL on it and I'm done. If someone uses my code in their program, they either have to GPL their program or I can force them to stop distributing it.
Artists don't receive the same protection. If I want to make a piece of art (be it an image, model, sound file, etc) for use in libre software, I'm out of luck. As it stands, all the people using my art have to do is share their modifications to my art and they're free to do whatever they want with the code. There aren't currently any acceptable libre licenses that cover a situation in which a program loads a specific art file. (Mind you, as an artist, it doesn't matter to me if someone loads my file in a proprietary editor, the same way it wouldn't matter to me as a coder if someone loaded my GPLed code into a proprietary text editor. More on this later.)
Over the last couple of years, a number of artists who have been frustrated by this particular issue have come to me and asked me what could be done about it. Many of them have asked me to include a noncommercial licensing option on OpenGameArt to address this issue. Unfortunately, NC licenses are incompatible with free software and as such I'm not able to include them on OGA without seriously violating the stated mission of the site. NC licenses do somewhat address this issue (although mostly by accident), but the problem with them is that they're far too broad about how you can use the media in question. A better solution is needed.
So, a few months after OpenGameArt.org was founded, I had a discussion on the debian-legal mailing list about licensing that would expand the copyleft for artists by (in short -- please read the details of my plan before criticizing) forcing the programs that load a specific piece of media to also be licensed with a strong copyleft.
At the time, I was politely shot down. In their defense, at that point I was just a random person off the street with yet another random idea for yet another random license. Two and a half years later, I'm now recognizable by at least two or three members of the FOSS community (making me a small-time contributor instead of just a random dude) and I've had long discussions with people about the specific provisions of what exactly a license like this would require and how it would interact with free software.
Now, the key here is that for something to be free software (or compatible with free software), it can't prohibit "bundling". Bundling in this case is the idea of including multiple separate programs in the same archive. For something to be free software, the license must allow it to coexist peacefully with proprietary software.
In any case, for the purpose of this discussion, I'll refer to this hypothetical media license as the Foo License. Any media released under the Foo License would require that any code that specifically references that piece of media be licensed under a strong copyleft (such as the GPL or the Foo License or others -- we can define these by enumerating them specifically or just listing a set of requirements). If a program does not specifically reference the piece of media covered under the Foo License, then the program would not trigger the share-alike requirement.
To give specific examples of this, if I write a game that loads a certain sprite that's covered by the Foo License, my game code would need to have a strong copyleft. Conversely, if I distribute an image viewer (or editor) along with a bunch of images that are covered by the Foo License, the image viewer would not fall under the sharealike clause because there's nothing in the code that tells it to reference a single, specific Foo Licensed image.
Now, some game engines are clearly generic. If you run that engine on a specific data file or point it at a specific tree, the resulting game could be completely different from one stored in a different data file. The Doom engine is a specific example of this, although there are many, many others. In this case, the engine itself is completely generic, and would fall outside the scope of the Foo License. What is not generic here are the scripts and data files that define the actual game. In these cases, while the engine itself is generic, the script layer is not, because it has to reference specific items in order to load them and tell the game engine what to do with them. A generic engine like this is essentially a VM, and much like the GPL, the Foo License would not cover that the VM that runs the code.
One argument I've seen against this is that it's possible in some cases for people to construct specific, inconvenient examples of how you might skirt the requirements of the license. I can't deny that those situations exist, however the same sorts of situations exist for the GPL, and coding around them is a fairly effective deterrent (not to mention the fact that deliberately circumventing a license puts you on shaky ground anyway). It's been done, but it's not done all that often and it tends to make things inconvenient for both programmers and their customers. In any case, no edge case like this that anyone has brought up before has rendered the license non-free, so even if the Foo License is imperfect, it would still, like the GPL, work in most cases.
So, I'm looking for comments on this, but before you comment, please make sure you've read this carefully. Below is some copypasta that I'll use to answer you if you ask a question that I've already addressed. Please consider these answers before you ask, and if you're guessing that I'm going to respond with one but you believe it doesn't apply, explain why. :)
- [ ] While your example could conceivably get around the intent of the license, it would be inconvenient to implement and doesn't render the license non-free. In any case, the GPL has similar edge cases.
- [ ] The program you mentioned is a generic viewer/editor and is not programmed to reference *specific* media files.
- [ ] In your example, the engine would not be covered because all of the media is referenced in a completely separate script layer, which *would* be covered.
- [ ] In your example, the engine would be covered because it references the media in question by name.
- [ ] I understand your wariness, but the fact that this hasn't been done in the past don't make it not worth considering.
- [ ] Just because there are multiple ways we could decide how to address this issue, doesn't mean that it's ambiguous. It must means we need to talk about which way would be best and settle on a decision (see additional comments).'
- [ ] While it may initially seem that the GPL would cover this case, the FSF has clarified (see "Non-functional Data") that art is data, and the linking requirements in the GPL do not apply in the case of art. Thus, even if the art itself is GPLed, the FSF doesn't consider it "linking", and the share-alike requirement is not triggered. (Added 12/28)
Bart Kelsey
OpenGameArt.org
Trepidation 2011-12-20
Trepidation is an open source first person shooter based on the IOQuake3 engine. It was originally conceived on April 9, 2006 with the intent to build a free first person shooter with a sci-fi theme. The idea was initially developed by members of the Star Trek Elite Force gaming community.Yesterday, the first development release since 2007 was released. It's mostly fixes but gameplay is affected. For example the sniper scope is more reactive and missing sounds are now in place.
There are 141 MB downloads for 32bit Linux and Windows. For 64bit Linux and other systems there's svn:
svn co https://trepidation.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/trepidation trepidation
I haven't had the time to figure out whether or not I need Quake 3 or OpenArena for Trepidation to work. Besides the project page there is a blog and a forum.
Thứ Ba, 20 tháng 12, 2011
Open-Sourcing Canabalt was a Success
The results of this decision, though not what we expected, have been very positive.
Let's hope the discussion doesn't turn into a hairsplitting war about "free"/"open" and "game"/"engine". :)
By the way, I found this news via reddit.com/r/gamedev in this comment thread. If you're into reddit as well, feel free to submit and cross-post relevant open source game (dev) news on /r/opensourcegames!
Thứ Hai, 19 tháng 12, 2011
Ludum Dare, Game Jams and Licenses
Olofson's LD22 game
Free, open source licenses are underrepresented at game jams and contests.
This weekend's Ludum Dare ends in a few hours and it already counts 754 entries. The following authors mentioned open source licenses in the context of the compo/jam:
- roschdal plans on "releasing the game as open source on Github"
- Riley Adams's project is already there (GPL3)
- Agon's code is as well ("LICENSE: TODO")
- mcc released LD code as open source before, maybe it'll happen again?
- Olofson's (of Kobo Deluxe fame) failed submission is available (under LGPL)
- Furyhunter submitted a jME game (Not sure but seems to be GPL)
- kragniz's GPL game requires pyglet and pymunk
- lorancou made a HTML/Canvas game called lonekitty (GPL)
lonekitty
Here are some non-submission projects discovered on Ludum Dare:
- dwrensha released a SDL framework (GPL)
- KhaoTom mentioned the Spacescape skybox generator
A *lot* of other submissions use GitHub but have no license info. :(
I found above projects using this advanced Google search. Hopefully, there will be more results in a few hours, which would mean another blog post.
kragniz' in-progress
Here's a quick list of ideas how free licenses could get more attention in such events.
- Organizers could recommend free code and asset licenses
- Developers could offer porting non-cross-platform submissions in exchange for release under free licenses
- Participating developers, who already use free licenses, could advertise these in blog posts and announcements (more)
Let us know of any freely licensed game jam/competition entries which we didn't cover!
Thứ Bảy, 17 tháng 12, 2011
I Had a Busy Weekend
First off, last week's Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club's session report is up, in which they play Train of Thought too seriously.
Thursday evening was my my only niece's bat-mitzvah. I picked up my kids and we drove out to the boondocks to their little community of Kochav Hashachar. The bat mitzvah was small but nice. Sis-in-law gave a heartfelt speech. Niece read a nice dvar torah (written in part or more by other sis-in-law).
After the bat-mitzvah, I slept in Jerusalem. Friday morning I was supposed to meet someone, but she cancelled. I found myself with some free time in Talipot right next to the wedding of a Facebook friend, a wedding I didn't think I would be around for. I dropped in to say hi and stayed to see the reception.
Friday evening I went to my old Carlebach shul and said hi to half the community that I had left when I moved to Raanana. Nadine joined me at my mom's house for dinner. After dinner, I read the first two chapters of Another Fine Myth to Tal, whereupon she finished the rest of the book. Classic.
Sat I went to the other shul I used to frequent and said hi to the other half of the community. Lunch was at Nadine's with the games gang and sundry: Nadine, me and Tal, Bill and Shirley (visiting from the US), Eitan and Emily, Shani and Shachar, Adam, and some moms. After lunch, a couple played Glen More, a group played Small World Underground, and I taught Shirley, Adam, and Nadine to play Inca Empire.
I hoped IE wouldn't take more than two hours, just like the people playing SWU hoped it would be a short game. Each of them took about 3.5 hours. I won IE with some major road playing at the end (I was forced to do this, since I was low in workers, but I was receiving a number of bonus roads from the played cards). I netted a good 20 or so points from this.
Nadine looked like she was winning for most of the third age, having played the card that let her (and only her) net 7 points a round from one of the temple/cities. But in the end she only ended the third age a few points ahead of me, and my board was stronger.
Adam suffered greatly from the loss of many roads in undiscovered areas (I warned everyone, and most of us (including me) lost a bunch of roads to this card several times). Shirley was pretty close to Nadine's position.
Sat night I went to see a showing of The Golem, the 1920 movie, playing alongside a live trio playing musical accompaniment to the silent film. The Golem is a good movie from a historical perspective, much in the way that a talented five year old can produce something quite enjoyable to look at, but not really be in the caliber of something objectively good.
The acting and direction is beyond bad; it's that stereotype of old silent films that is so weird that you wonder if the actors on film are actually Martians. They exhibit emotions and make movements that I've never seen any humans make in real life. What were they thinking? This was probably the height of good acting and directing in its day, and it looks ridiculous (I will mention in contrast that Charlie Chaplin films hold up quite well, even today). I was trying not to laugh out loud during the smoldering romantic or hysterical wailing scenes.
The story is well formed, though entirely straightforward and unsubtle. The cuts are kind of erratic, and, of course, they knew little about smart camera work or sensible lighting. It's supposed to be a horror movie, but it's not scary in the least. Except for its insulting portrayal of Jews.
And why is everyone, even the romantic leads, so ugly?
The live music was nice, though a few parts were kind of loud. The musicians are brilliant players; I prefer to simply hear them play their music without them having to sync it to a movie.
Thursday evening was my my only niece's bat-mitzvah. I picked up my kids and we drove out to the boondocks to their little community of Kochav Hashachar. The bat mitzvah was small but nice. Sis-in-law gave a heartfelt speech. Niece read a nice dvar torah (written in part or more by other sis-in-law).
 |
| Saarya, Tal, and me; pic by sis-in-law |
Friday evening I went to my old Carlebach shul and said hi to half the community that I had left when I moved to Raanana. Nadine joined me at my mom's house for dinner. After dinner, I read the first two chapters of Another Fine Myth to Tal, whereupon she finished the rest of the book. Classic.
Sat I went to the other shul I used to frequent and said hi to the other half of the community. Lunch was at Nadine's with the games gang and sundry: Nadine, me and Tal, Bill and Shirley (visiting from the US), Eitan and Emily, Shani and Shachar, Adam, and some moms. After lunch, a couple played Glen More, a group played Small World Underground, and I taught Shirley, Adam, and Nadine to play Inca Empire.
I hoped IE wouldn't take more than two hours, just like the people playing SWU hoped it would be a short game. Each of them took about 3.5 hours. I won IE with some major road playing at the end (I was forced to do this, since I was low in workers, but I was receiving a number of bonus roads from the played cards). I netted a good 20 or so points from this.
Nadine looked like she was winning for most of the third age, having played the card that let her (and only her) net 7 points a round from one of the temple/cities. But in the end she only ended the third age a few points ahead of me, and my board was stronger.
Adam suffered greatly from the loss of many roads in undiscovered areas (I warned everyone, and most of us (including me) lost a bunch of roads to this card several times). Shirley was pretty close to Nadine's position.
Sat night I went to see a showing of The Golem, the 1920 movie, playing alongside a live trio playing musical accompaniment to the silent film. The Golem is a good movie from a historical perspective, much in the way that a talented five year old can produce something quite enjoyable to look at, but not really be in the caliber of something objectively good.
The acting and direction is beyond bad; it's that stereotype of old silent films that is so weird that you wonder if the actors on film are actually Martians. They exhibit emotions and make movements that I've never seen any humans make in real life. What were they thinking? This was probably the height of good acting and directing in its day, and it looks ridiculous (I will mention in contrast that Charlie Chaplin films hold up quite well, even today). I was trying not to laugh out loud during the smoldering romantic or hysterical wailing scenes.
The story is well formed, though entirely straightforward and unsubtle. The cuts are kind of erratic, and, of course, they knew little about smart camera work or sensible lighting. It's supposed to be a horror movie, but it's not scary in the least. Except for its insulting portrayal of Jews.
And why is everyone, even the romantic leads, so ugly?
The live music was nice, though a few parts were kind of loud. The musicians are brilliant players; I prefer to simply hear them play their music without them having to sync it to a movie.
Thứ Năm, 15 tháng 12, 2011
Hale Review & Flare 0.15 Video
 |
| Hale RPG |
A very fine read is this review of the TBS/RPG Hale. Its first comment was written by the sole developer.
Flare 0.15 introduces outdoor areas. Translation submissions are welcome now as well. Look for instructions and examples in this post.
Freedroid RPG recently released the second candidate for 0.15. Soon it will be ten years since registration of the freedroid project on SourceFroge.net.
Checking on Scourge 2, another open source RPG title, there has been no development for eight months.
Thứ Tư, 14 tháng 12, 2011
Raanana Session Report, in which I play Settlers with two Rochelles
Participants: Laurie, Daniel, Jon, Ellis, Rochelle, Rochelle 2
Game night at Laurie and Daniel's as usual. Rochelle 2 is a friend of mine who was willing to try something new; she has no previous experience with games as an adult.
Dominion+
Jon 27, Laurie 11, Ellis 10, Daniel 6
Scores approximate. I brought over my box of four Dominion games and selected a random assortment from all of them.
Kingdoms: Market, Great Hall, Masquerade, Swindler, Ironworks, Sea Hag, Tactician, Bishop, Bank, Expand. No Platinum or Colony.
This is the first play for any Dominion expansions by the others. Actually, they're all still in single digit plays for Dominion altogether. Turns are still kind of slow going. There was a lot of trashing, of course. Swindler has the side effect of causing piles of cards to disappear rather quickly, which is why the game ended up with three piles gone, rather than the usual Provinces. I managed to nab three Provinces before the game ended, all by using Tactician.
An interesting combo was Ironworks to take Great Hall, which gave two out of the three bonuses with no drawbacks. Swindler also handed out a lot of curses, mostly to Daniel.
Settlers of Catan
Jon 10, Rochelle 7, Rochelle 2 5
Rochelle had played this once before but had forgotten many of the rules. So it was essentially a first play for both of them. They both picked it up without much difficulty. The resource distribution was pretty even, and so were the dice rolls. No one had to toss out cards from a roll of 7.
Rochelle took Longest Road fairly early. She also acquired a port mid-game, but it wasn't one she could use. Rochelle 2 built a few settlements and was often one road away from taking Longest Road from Rochelle, though she never threatened to do so. Luck was against her, and she often rolled up a resource right after she had traded for it.
I built an early settlement and then city on the ore, and then city on the brick. I had a port for brick and used it nicely. I ended the game with my ninth board point and a revealed development victory point.
Race for the Galaxy
Ellis, Daniel, Laurie
I didn't see how the game (or games) went. They actually play with an expension or two thrown in, though I don't know which.
Game night at Laurie and Daniel's as usual. Rochelle 2 is a friend of mine who was willing to try something new; she has no previous experience with games as an adult.
Dominion+
Jon 27, Laurie 11, Ellis 10, Daniel 6
Scores approximate. I brought over my box of four Dominion games and selected a random assortment from all of them.
Kingdoms: Market, Great Hall, Masquerade, Swindler, Ironworks, Sea Hag, Tactician, Bishop, Bank, Expand. No Platinum or Colony.
This is the first play for any Dominion expansions by the others. Actually, they're all still in single digit plays for Dominion altogether. Turns are still kind of slow going. There was a lot of trashing, of course. Swindler has the side effect of causing piles of cards to disappear rather quickly, which is why the game ended up with three piles gone, rather than the usual Provinces. I managed to nab three Provinces before the game ended, all by using Tactician.
An interesting combo was Ironworks to take Great Hall, which gave two out of the three bonuses with no drawbacks. Swindler also handed out a lot of curses, mostly to Daniel.
Settlers of Catan
Jon 10, Rochelle 7, Rochelle 2 5
Rochelle had played this once before but had forgotten many of the rules. So it was essentially a first play for both of them. They both picked it up without much difficulty. The resource distribution was pretty even, and so were the dice rolls. No one had to toss out cards from a roll of 7.
Rochelle took Longest Road fairly early. She also acquired a port mid-game, but it wasn't one she could use. Rochelle 2 built a few settlements and was often one road away from taking Longest Road from Rochelle, though she never threatened to do so. Luck was against her, and she often rolled up a resource right after she had traded for it.
I built an early settlement and then city on the ore, and then city on the brick. I had a port for brick and used it nicely. I ended the game with my ninth board point and a revealed development victory point.
Race for the Galaxy
Ellis, Daniel, Laurie
I didn't see how the game (or games) went. They actually play with an expension or two thrown in, though I don't know which.
Thứ Ba, 13 tháng 12, 2011
Whats happening in OpenDungeons?
Hello, I am one of the OpenDungeons (OD) developers and I wrote this blog post for FreeGamer.
I bet you're all very excited about whats been going on lately, and I can assure you that a lot of stuff have been made for OD. We have new music for you to enjoy while annihilating your foes, we've got new concept art for the Human and Undead faction, a new forge and a completely new tile set. We have also begun working on the AI and a XML specification for creature stats.
Music and trailer
Recently timong join the forum and asked about some musical tasks to perform. He started working on a main theme for the game and came up with this :) While he was at it he also made a nice trailer for us which you can find in the about page or watch it below:
New concept art
We have also received some very nice concept art from the OpenGameArt competition for the Undead faction we got art for these creepy characters:
and for the Human faction we got art for these noble folks:
Code updates
Of changes to the code and features we have begun implementing a basic AI and making a XML specification for creature definitions, which should make life a lot easier for artists which want to try out their new model in game and for balancing the stats of each creature.
New tile set and forge
We also have new tile set made by Skorpio (although it is not in the game yet):
You can find more pictures of the new tile set in this forum thread.
Finally we also have a new forge to make devilish traps and impenetrable doors :)
Current tasks, problems and needed help
A new release is planned once a bug that is crashing the game is fixed. We are also looking for more people/help for the project, especially when it comes to coding. You can see more details about the crasher bug and what skills we need from new people here in this blog post.
Chủ Nhật, 11 tháng 12, 2011
An Irresistable Plea
A game company is asking - begging - me to change their game to make it better. To add some "zazz". They're offering me (a currently unspecified amount of) money to do so.
It's a children's educational game. The thing is that the game is actually already pretty good. Yeah, it's roll and move with parent/child discussions about the topic interrupting the game flow, but it has nice components, a decent flow, quick turns, catch-up mechanisms, some clever collection mechanics, and engaging ideas. The topic is interesting and universal. In fact, there are three games in the box, and at least one of them (what appears to be the throwaway third game played only with the game cards) looks like a lot of fun, even for grown up game geeks like me.
The game has already won several industry awards and recommendations (some of these are handed out just for showing up, I think) and garnered good reviews from players and educational professionals alike. Of course I can throw some modern game ideas at them, but I am constrained by being not allowed to change the board or cards, only the rules.
I'm not sure what I can do for them, but I'm thinking it over. Even with the constraints there is a lot to work with.
It's a children's educational game. The thing is that the game is actually already pretty good. Yeah, it's roll and move with parent/child discussions about the topic interrupting the game flow, but it has nice components, a decent flow, quick turns, catch-up mechanisms, some clever collection mechanics, and engaging ideas. The topic is interesting and universal. In fact, there are three games in the box, and at least one of them (what appears to be the throwaway third game played only with the game cards) looks like a lot of fun, even for grown up game geeks like me.
The game has already won several industry awards and recommendations (some of these are handed out just for showing up, I think) and garnered good reviews from players and educational professionals alike. Of course I can throw some modern game ideas at them, but I am constrained by being not allowed to change the board or cards, only the rules.
I'm not sure what I can do for them, but I'm thinking it over. Even with the constraints there is a lot to work with.
Thứ Bảy, 10 tháng 12, 2011
A Growly in the Garden
For lunch I had a guy and his three kids (ages 14, 9 and 7) and a single woman. The guy and kids (and his wife, who couldn't come) are homeschoolers and game lovers. They are hoping to have me over some time to play Settlers with them 4-player. The 14 year old was suitably impressed with the game collection and took some time to look through some of my Magic cards.
After lunch, I taught them Pit. The woman (who is not really a gamer) didn't care for it, and the youngest one had some trouble with it (actually, all of them kept forgetting that you couldn't pass the bear alone). But the others really liked it.
The family then taught me a game that they had brought over, A Growly in the Garden. It's a cooperative kid's game with some interesting risk calculation. There is a 4x4 grid you have to fill with flowers (tiles), and a ring of spaces for tiles around the grid. You gradually flip tiles, and must place them as they appear. Some of the tiles are growlies who eat flowers in a row or column, unless they are scared away by scarecrows or get the special item they need to go back to bed. Your job is not only to preserve as many of your flowers as you can, but also have the growlies get their items without going away sad. I told them that I thought it had a subtle ecological theme.
Like most coops, it's easy for one player to dominate with his suggestions to the other players. Unlike most co-ops, or any games, for that matter, there is no clear win or loss at the end, only a final score.
As kid's games go, it's pretty good. Still, I wish there had been some more tension. Co-op games have become more interesting since Dr Knizia tinkered with them, and there's no reason that kid's games can't adopt a bit more of that interest.
After lunch, I taught them Pit. The woman (who is not really a gamer) didn't care for it, and the youngest one had some trouble with it (actually, all of them kept forgetting that you couldn't pass the bear alone). But the others really liked it.
The family then taught me a game that they had brought over, A Growly in the Garden. It's a cooperative kid's game with some interesting risk calculation. There is a 4x4 grid you have to fill with flowers (tiles), and a ring of spaces for tiles around the grid. You gradually flip tiles, and must place them as they appear. Some of the tiles are growlies who eat flowers in a row or column, unless they are scared away by scarecrows or get the special item they need to go back to bed. Your job is not only to preserve as many of your flowers as you can, but also have the growlies get their items without going away sad. I told them that I thought it had a subtle ecological theme.
Like most coops, it's easy for one player to dominate with his suggestions to the other players. Unlike most co-ops, or any games, for that matter, there is no clear win or loss at the end, only a final score.
As kid's games go, it's pretty good. Still, I wish there had been some more tension. Co-op games have become more interesting since Dr Knizia tinkered with them, and there's no reason that kid's games can't adopt a bit more of that interest.
Thứ Tư, 7 tháng 12, 2011
Raanana Session Report, in which I teach Agricola
Participants: Laurie, Jon, Daniel, Rochelle
Ellis was in the middle of moving. He should be back next week.
Race for the Galaxy
Laurie 40, Jon 38
I arrived early and Laurie chose this as a two-player game for us. We played with no specific two-player rules, just one role each round.
I picked too many 6 point cards early on and had to toss most of them out. Still, I didn't fare too badly. I played the 6 pointer that makes other developments cost 2 less early on, and then I mistaken played a development which I thought gave me another 2 discount on further developments, but I noticed later that it gave 2 discount on worlds, not developments. That put a kink in my plans.
Laurie meanwhile started taking victory points early and ended the game when I only had 9 buildings out. My second mistake was not to realize that this was going to happen and to build in what was sure to be the last round, instead of uselessly produce. Really, the only thing that bothers me about this game is the way that it suddenly ends and the way one player can rush the ending out under another. I would like the game a lot more if it simply went 12 rounds or something.
Agricola
Daniel 34, Jon 29, Laurie 26, Rochelle 23
We started the explanation for this at around 8:30 and finished the game at just before 12. It's an odd game in that it has a lot to explain, and even during the game there is a sense of being overwhelmed, but the basic flow is easy to grasp. This is in contrast to other games that are difficult to explain but not overwhelming once the game is in play, like Princes of Florence, or remain overwhelming and also hard to understand the flow, like Puerto Rico.
Daniel insisted that we draw and keep our fourteen cards, rather than do something to ameliorate the luck factor, since it would only do to help the newer players. In fact, I drew reasonably well; nobody had any real game killers.
I played unusually with a lot of occupations and minor improvements, all of which helped me get points but not food. I didn't have a good food engine and so occasionally had to scramble for food at the last moment. I played a card early on that gave me four wood but also gave any player who ended the game without any negative points a five point bonus. That seems like overkill, since the person who has no negative points is typically winning anyway. I often end the game with no negative points, so I thought it couldn't hurt me.
Unfortunately, in the last two rounds when I needed at least one of the Plow actions (I had an improvement that let me plow three fields, rather than one), both were taken before I could get them. Not only did this leave me with negative spaces, it also left me scrambling for food, lacking points in the food items (I was also going to plow them, and no one else could effectively plow), and forced me to give up several other items since I had to use my actions elsewhere. It represented at least a 10 point loss for me.
Laurie also experienced people blocking what she needed on various occasions. She finally took the Start Player action, but didn't feel like it did much for her. Daniel is the only one who finished with no negative points, and the five points he got from my occupation card handed him the clear victory.
Ellis was in the middle of moving. He should be back next week.
Race for the Galaxy
Laurie 40, Jon 38
I arrived early and Laurie chose this as a two-player game for us. We played with no specific two-player rules, just one role each round.
I picked too many 6 point cards early on and had to toss most of them out. Still, I didn't fare too badly. I played the 6 pointer that makes other developments cost 2 less early on, and then I mistaken played a development which I thought gave me another 2 discount on further developments, but I noticed later that it gave 2 discount on worlds, not developments. That put a kink in my plans.
Laurie meanwhile started taking victory points early and ended the game when I only had 9 buildings out. My second mistake was not to realize that this was going to happen and to build in what was sure to be the last round, instead of uselessly produce. Really, the only thing that bothers me about this game is the way that it suddenly ends and the way one player can rush the ending out under another. I would like the game a lot more if it simply went 12 rounds or something.
Agricola
Daniel 34, Jon 29, Laurie 26, Rochelle 23
We started the explanation for this at around 8:30 and finished the game at just before 12. It's an odd game in that it has a lot to explain, and even during the game there is a sense of being overwhelmed, but the basic flow is easy to grasp. This is in contrast to other games that are difficult to explain but not overwhelming once the game is in play, like Princes of Florence, or remain overwhelming and also hard to understand the flow, like Puerto Rico.
Daniel insisted that we draw and keep our fourteen cards, rather than do something to ameliorate the luck factor, since it would only do to help the newer players. In fact, I drew reasonably well; nobody had any real game killers.
I played unusually with a lot of occupations and minor improvements, all of which helped me get points but not food. I didn't have a good food engine and so occasionally had to scramble for food at the last moment. I played a card early on that gave me four wood but also gave any player who ended the game without any negative points a five point bonus. That seems like overkill, since the person who has no negative points is typically winning anyway. I often end the game with no negative points, so I thought it couldn't hurt me.
Unfortunately, in the last two rounds when I needed at least one of the Plow actions (I had an improvement that let me plow three fields, rather than one), both were taken before I could get them. Not only did this leave me with negative spaces, it also left me scrambling for food, lacking points in the food items (I was also going to plow them, and no one else could effectively plow), and forced me to give up several other items since I had to use my actions elsewhere. It represented at least a 10 point loss for me.
Laurie also experienced people blocking what she needed on various occasions. She finally took the Start Player action, but didn't feel like it did much for her. Daniel is the only one who finished with no negative points, and the five points he got from my occupation card handed him the clear victory.
Thứ Ba, 6 tháng 12, 2011
Minimal puzzles: Search for Smodrick 1.3.1 and Black Obelisk
Search for Smodrick 1.3.1, a simple ncurses-based game, was recently uploaded to SourceForge.
 |
| Nearly dead in Search for Smodrick 1.3.1 |
The gameplay consists of finding an optimal path to get to the next level and avoiding/deflecting enemy androids. Game turns appear to be mixed-real/turn-based
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| No monsters yet in this match of Black Obelisk 0.2 |
I was reminded of the JavaScript game Black Obelisk by Starinfidel, in which your task is to destroy hidden obelisks while avoiding or luring deadly monsters. Hint: input is via mouse and you start playing by pressing black tiles next to non-black tiles.
Both games are single-player puzzles with minimal visuals.
Thứ Sáu, 2 tháng 12, 2011
Aleph One 1.0 released
Hard to believe, but after 12 years of community development, the guys from the open-source engine based on Bungie's Marathon trilogy Aleph One have finally released a version called 1.0!
If you are lazy, you can watch this first part of a long set of "let's play" videos to get run through this FPS classic:
But honestly? This thing even runs on your cell phone (unless you have a talking brick like me :p ), so no reason not to play it yourself.
Edit: *hust* that was shoddy investigative journalism by me again :( In fact Aleph One does not seem to run on cell phones yet.
If you are lazy, you can watch this first part of a long set of "let's play" videos to get run through this FPS classic:
Edit: *hust* that was shoddy investigative journalism by me again :( In fact Aleph One does not seem to run on cell phones yet.
Thứ Năm, 1 tháng 12, 2011
Raanana and Jerusalem Sessions Report
Raanana
Participants: Daniel, Laurie, Ellis, Peleg, Tal, Jon
Back in the group for the first time in a few weeks. The games are currently held at Laurie and Daniel's house, so that they don't need to get a babysitter.
Finca: This game was set up and being explained as I arrived. Tal's eyes were glazed over, so I took her place. Daniel and Laurie played as a team.
Like the first time I played it, the game feels pastoral and mathematical, despite the pretty board and nice wooden fruit bits over which Laurie sat adoring. I don't mind it - not very high praise, but not damning either - and the calculations aren't that great, unless you want to start calculating what each of your opponents plans to do, which you really should but which I couldn't be bothered. As a result, I lost out on my final delivery.
Daniel and Laurie played slowly, but they also won by over 20 points. I came in last (actually Peleg left mid-game).
Dominion: We played with cards from the base set only, and it wasn't an inspiring set: Moat, Workshop, Bureaucrat, Gardens, Remodel, Thief, Laboratory, Library, Mine, Witch.
Actually, a Thief/Workshop/Gardens combo might have done well. But note that there are no extra buys and only Laboratory gave an extra action, and that only one. I played with the most Labs, with Moats, Gardens, and Remodels. I won by some 6 points over second. Ellis did poorly; I think he needs to play it more.
Jerusalem
Participants: Gili, Eitan, Jon, Estzer
My first play at the JSGC in quite some time, I just happened to have to be in Jerusalem on Wed evening. Knowing that Estzer cane from Hungary, I brought her a game that I received from someone while I was in Hungary but which contains no English instructions. I hope she will be able to translate the rules for me (BGG has been no help in this regard).
Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix: I had played this at the Dallas games group on the night before my first BGG.con, and had been interested in picking it up ever since. It's rare to find a mid-weight strategy game that works well for up to six. It worked fine with four, too.
I read the rules briefly, but messed up a few of the rules, without any detriment to the game. For one thing, I allowed people to move cars in any order, rather than in the order listed on the card. This provided more, rather than less decision making, so I don't think it was a bad thing, but also made more cards more useful. I also allowed people to immediately play a movement card together with a switch card and had the switch card expire right before their next turn. Apparently this is a good thing, as none of us would have been willing to sacrifice a turn to play a switch card, otherwise.
I also had the last round give a double payout, bit Eitan (who was leading before the last round) objected to this after the fact, since it makes a lucky swing of events in the last round too punishing.
Our biggest objection to the game was that people whose car had already finished (and sometimes even those whose cars had not finished) had too much kingmaking power on the final results. In the case of players whose cars have all finished, I could solve this by having them play their cards randomly and the cars moved in the order on the card (which is how the game is supposed to be played). However, this doesn't address all kingmaking situations. It remains a flaw in the game, perhaps a small flaw if you go into the game accounting for this.
Otherwise, we all enjoyed the game experience, though I lost very badly. Gili won.
Hearts: I wanted to teach Team Hearts, but it turns out that Estzer hadn't even played Hearts, so it was enough for her to learn just the rules for the regular game. We played two hands; in the second hand we played with teams, but didn't use any particular passing conventions.
Participants: Daniel, Laurie, Ellis, Peleg, Tal, Jon
Back in the group for the first time in a few weeks. The games are currently held at Laurie and Daniel's house, so that they don't need to get a babysitter.
Finca: This game was set up and being explained as I arrived. Tal's eyes were glazed over, so I took her place. Daniel and Laurie played as a team.
Like the first time I played it, the game feels pastoral and mathematical, despite the pretty board and nice wooden fruit bits over which Laurie sat adoring. I don't mind it - not very high praise, but not damning either - and the calculations aren't that great, unless you want to start calculating what each of your opponents plans to do, which you really should but which I couldn't be bothered. As a result, I lost out on my final delivery.
Daniel and Laurie played slowly, but they also won by over 20 points. I came in last (actually Peleg left mid-game).
Dominion: We played with cards from the base set only, and it wasn't an inspiring set: Moat, Workshop, Bureaucrat, Gardens, Remodel, Thief, Laboratory, Library, Mine, Witch.
Actually, a Thief/Workshop/Gardens combo might have done well. But note that there are no extra buys and only Laboratory gave an extra action, and that only one. I played with the most Labs, with Moats, Gardens, and Remodels. I won by some 6 points over second. Ellis did poorly; I think he needs to play it more.
Jerusalem
Participants: Gili, Eitan, Jon, Estzer
My first play at the JSGC in quite some time, I just happened to have to be in Jerusalem on Wed evening. Knowing that Estzer cane from Hungary, I brought her a game that I received from someone while I was in Hungary but which contains no English instructions. I hope she will be able to translate the rules for me (BGG has been no help in this regard).
Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix: I had played this at the Dallas games group on the night before my first BGG.con, and had been interested in picking it up ever since. It's rare to find a mid-weight strategy game that works well for up to six. It worked fine with four, too.
I read the rules briefly, but messed up a few of the rules, without any detriment to the game. For one thing, I allowed people to move cars in any order, rather than in the order listed on the card. This provided more, rather than less decision making, so I don't think it was a bad thing, but also made more cards more useful. I also allowed people to immediately play a movement card together with a switch card and had the switch card expire right before their next turn. Apparently this is a good thing, as none of us would have been willing to sacrifice a turn to play a switch card, otherwise.
I also had the last round give a double payout, bit Eitan (who was leading before the last round) objected to this after the fact, since it makes a lucky swing of events in the last round too punishing.
Our biggest objection to the game was that people whose car had already finished (and sometimes even those whose cars had not finished) had too much kingmaking power on the final results. In the case of players whose cars have all finished, I could solve this by having them play their cards randomly and the cars moved in the order on the card (which is how the game is supposed to be played). However, this doesn't address all kingmaking situations. It remains a flaw in the game, perhaps a small flaw if you go into the game accounting for this.
Otherwise, we all enjoyed the game experience, though I lost very badly. Gili won.
Hearts: I wanted to teach Team Hearts, but it turns out that Estzer hadn't even played Hearts, so it was enough for her to learn just the rules for the regular game. We played two hands; in the second hand we played with teams, but didn't use any particular passing conventions.
Thứ Ba, 29 tháng 11, 2011
Long time no update from...
...FreeGamer? No not this time :p It's rather that the Spring RTS engine ran into some trouble with their long overdue 0.83 version and now decided to release 0.84 instead ;)
Along with it comes also a new Zero-K release (0.9), which prompted one of their players to make a nice new trailer in anticipation:
So...that's it for today ;)
P.S.: Check out Zero-K's Planetwars metagame too.
P.P.S.: Also Spring related... someone on their boards is looking for people to take over the development of another quite nice RTS game: Conflict Terra.
Along with it comes also a new Zero-K release (0.9), which prompted one of their players to make a nice new trailer in anticipation:
So...that's it for today ;)
P.S.: Check out Zero-K's Planetwars metagame too.
P.P.S.: Also Spring related... someone on their boards is looking for people to take over the development of another quite nice RTS game: Conflict Terra.
OGA challenge: Mobile, Become WTactics a Character, Illes' Game Music Album
First 'mobile devices' contest submission by Mumu
The current OpenGameArt challenge is 'mobile devices' and ends on Monday, December 5, 2011. The contest before that was low on participants and a survey was started to figure out how to get more people involved.
Becoming a WTactics character
Taken from OGA: WTactics is currently offering a chance to have your likeness on a WTactics card in order to raise funds for the continued development of thier project. From their website:
Give our artists a picture of you or your beloved one and become a part of the game! The artist will create a nice portrait with your chosen class, clothing and equipment, making it an everlasting part of our game and the open source communities, turning it into an immortal memory.
This reminds me of the Fantasy Portrait Kickstarter project, which produced some pretty portraits but unfortunately still istn't finished yet.
pzi's album cover
Pal Zoltan Illes of jClassicRPG fame released the game music album A Mantle Of Games under CC-BY-SA. Feel free to use and leave a comment here.
Thứ Bảy, 26 tháng 11, 2011
Open Source RPG News, Freedroid and IrrRPG builder
The wayward Goat strikes again!
Freedroid 0.15 rc 1:
The plucky, 'puter punching penguin hack 'n slash RPG stalwart has had a new release recently, reaching the 0.15 rc milestone (how many years will it take them to get to 1.0, I wonder?)
It adds lots of things, new quests, new guns, new abilities, UI fixes, editor tweaks... Lots of development happening there, so check it out!
EDIT: Thanks to shirish for pointing out that it's still at rc 1 stage, and thus not a final release.
IrrRPG Builder Alpha 2
A project that looked promising, and that I almost forgot about, is the RPG game IDE, IrrRPG Builder. Finally, a basic battle system is implemented, and the scripting system was improved as well, so it's getting pretty close to being feature complete.
Freedroid 0.15 rc 1:
The plucky, 'puter punching penguin hack 'n slash RPG stalwart has had a new release recently, reaching the 0.15 rc milestone (how many years will it take them to get to 1.0, I wonder?)
It adds lots of things, new quests, new guns, new abilities, UI fixes, editor tweaks... Lots of development happening there, so check it out!
EDIT: Thanks to shirish for pointing out that it's still at rc 1 stage, and thus not a final release.
IrrRPG Builder Alpha 2
A project that looked promising, and that I almost forgot about, is the RPG game IDE, IrrRPG Builder. Finally, a basic battle system is implemented, and the scripting system was improved as well, so it's getting pretty close to being feature complete.
Thứ Ba, 22 tháng 11, 2011
BREAKING NEWS: Doom3 source code released!
Ha, you probably read it here first, since it is just an hour ago that it was uploaded!
https://github.com/TTimo/doom3.gpl
Have fun tinkering with it!
P.S.: A good dev forum for it is Doom3world.
https://github.com/TTimo/doom3.gpl
Have fun tinkering with it!
P.S.: A good dev forum for it is Doom3world.
Thứ Hai, 21 tháng 11, 2011
Day 19-20: A Round of Applause
Sunday morning my friends dropped me at the Westin and began their trip back to KC.
Pax
I wandered around the gaming area looking for something short to play and finally joined a game of Pax. Pax is a short card game about contesting Rome. It's a set collection game with one of two objects. If, between all players, at least one player beats the board in at least four of the seven categories, then each player scores the points on their board and the player with the most points wins. Otherwise, players score only the points in one category (intrigue) and the player with the most points wins.
They call it semi-cooperative, but it's not really. I didn't understand all the rules until the end of the short game, so I didn't fare too well. It's not a bad filler, from what I could tell. I need to try it again to see if there's anything to the game.
BGG.con was very enjoyable and, as usual, amazingly well run. I and my friends all had a great time. I end up playing less games than it would seem time would allow, but more than it would seem possible. I meet many other gamers, people who know games and aren't puzzled or confused as to why I play them or how to play them. But mostly, I simply meet nice people, people whose work I admire and/or the occasional fan of my own blog or games.
Flights
I caught the 10:00 am shuttle to DFW. People on the shuttle discussed games they played. At the airport waiting for the flight to Toronto they discussed games they played.
I saw a redhead in line, and asked her if she was Jewish, divorced, around 40, and hoping to live in Israel, just to be sure I didn't miss my last opportunity to find one on my trip, but no such luck. While waiting for the flight, I heard a sustained thunder of applause that continued for ten minutes; it was a group of American soldiers returning on some flight, I assume from Iraq.
I watched Unknown, a thrilled about a man in Germany whose life is suddenly co-opted by someone else (even his wife appears not to know him) and his struggle to figure out what's happening. It was ok, well acted, and January Jones is always a pleasure (though she doesn't have much to do). Similar to The Bourne Identity series, but a little less so; doesn't add anything new, anyway.
Bought some Canadian Club in Toronto, used the free wi-fi, and then flew to Israel. I watched Bad Teacher. No one to root for and not funny enough. She supposedly undergoes a little personal growth by the end of the movie, but it was hard to see when that happened. I watched Hannah. It was quite good, with good attention paid to the cinematography, something they sometimes forget about in American made movies. Well acted, it's at or near the top of the pile for assassin movies.
I also watched some Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. I didn't sleep much. In all, I was awake from Sunday morning 6:00 am Dallas time until Monday evening 8:00 pm Israeli time, with about an hour of dozing on the plane.
All my kosher food was in place on all my flights, and I experienced no delays.
The Haul
Games I hauled back include Navegador and Inca Empire (secret santa gifts sent to my hotel), Troyes (bought with box damage from Z-Man), Innovation, Amun Re, Detroit Cleveland Grand Prix, El Capitain (these four acquired through the virtual flea market), Highland Clans (aka Mac Robber), Train of Thought (these two from registration), some Magic cards, and one other game which I'm forgetting right now.
I return to massive amounts of cleaning, bill sorting, and all the other mundane tasks of life, jetlagged and still a little sick from my chill in Ireland. The trouble with vacations is that they come to an end.
Nadine blogs
Nadine has blogged the trip as well here.
Pax
I wandered around the gaming area looking for something short to play and finally joined a game of Pax. Pax is a short card game about contesting Rome. It's a set collection game with one of two objects. If, between all players, at least one player beats the board in at least four of the seven categories, then each player scores the points on their board and the player with the most points wins. Otherwise, players score only the points in one category (intrigue) and the player with the most points wins.
They call it semi-cooperative, but it's not really. I didn't understand all the rules until the end of the short game, so I didn't fare too well. It's not a bad filler, from what I could tell. I need to try it again to see if there's anything to the game.
BGG.con was very enjoyable and, as usual, amazingly well run. I and my friends all had a great time. I end up playing less games than it would seem time would allow, but more than it would seem possible. I meet many other gamers, people who know games and aren't puzzled or confused as to why I play them or how to play them. But mostly, I simply meet nice people, people whose work I admire and/or the occasional fan of my own blog or games.
Flights
I caught the 10:00 am shuttle to DFW. People on the shuttle discussed games they played. At the airport waiting for the flight to Toronto they discussed games they played.
I saw a redhead in line, and asked her if she was Jewish, divorced, around 40, and hoping to live in Israel, just to be sure I didn't miss my last opportunity to find one on my trip, but no such luck. While waiting for the flight, I heard a sustained thunder of applause that continued for ten minutes; it was a group of American soldiers returning on some flight, I assume from Iraq.
I watched Unknown, a thrilled about a man in Germany whose life is suddenly co-opted by someone else (even his wife appears not to know him) and his struggle to figure out what's happening. It was ok, well acted, and January Jones is always a pleasure (though she doesn't have much to do). Similar to The Bourne Identity series, but a little less so; doesn't add anything new, anyway.
Bought some Canadian Club in Toronto, used the free wi-fi, and then flew to Israel. I watched Bad Teacher. No one to root for and not funny enough. She supposedly undergoes a little personal growth by the end of the movie, but it was hard to see when that happened. I watched Hannah. It was quite good, with good attention paid to the cinematography, something they sometimes forget about in American made movies. Well acted, it's at or near the top of the pile for assassin movies.
I also watched some Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. I didn't sleep much. In all, I was awake from Sunday morning 6:00 am Dallas time until Monday evening 8:00 pm Israeli time, with about an hour of dozing on the plane.
All my kosher food was in place on all my flights, and I experienced no delays.
The Haul
Games I hauled back include Navegador and Inca Empire (secret santa gifts sent to my hotel), Troyes (bought with box damage from Z-Man), Innovation, Amun Re, Detroit Cleveland Grand Prix, El Capitain (these four acquired through the virtual flea market), Highland Clans (aka Mac Robber), Train of Thought (these two from registration), some Magic cards, and one other game which I'm forgetting right now.
I return to massive amounts of cleaning, bill sorting, and all the other mundane tasks of life, jetlagged and still a little sick from my chill in Ireland. The trouble with vacations is that they come to an end.
Nadine blogs
Nadine has blogged the trip as well here.
Fan made trailer contests and other FPS news
So it seems Red Eclipse is having a "contest" for creating an official trailer for their upcoming 1.2 release. Nothing to win (except fame), but the guys from Sauerbraten (also Cube2 engine based, like Red Eclipse) recently did the same with a quite nice result:
So if you want to participate, have a look at their rules and check out these nice open-source tools for video capturing: GLC (short tutorial by our qudobup) and editing: PiTiVi or KDEnlive (sorry for being Linux centric here :p ).
In other news I can report that the Xonotic team is following up on their promise to report more news and developments on their Blog :) Check out the latest entry for a log read and many nice pictures.
Personally I am currently most excited about the mod "Overkill" with tries to take some features of the well loved instagib mode (sadly so much that it is sometimes hard to find anything but instagib games :( ) like right click laser jump etc. while keeping a variety of weapons that are a bit more appealing to non-instagib players.
Well, check out the more detailed description and pictures at the bottom of the post linked above! Oh and you can already play the mod by joining the test server with a vanilla Xonotic version (all needed files will be auto-downloaded).
P.S.: Here is a small video to show how it currently looks:
New official Sauerbraten trailer
So if you want to participate, have a look at their rules and check out these nice open-source tools for video capturing: GLC (short tutorial by our qudobup) and editing: PiTiVi or KDEnlive (sorry for being Linux centric here :p ).
In other news I can report that the Xonotic team is following up on their promise to report more news and developments on their Blog :) Check out the latest entry for a log read and many nice pictures.
Personally I am currently most excited about the mod "Overkill" with tries to take some features of the well loved instagib mode (sadly so much that it is sometimes hard to find anything but instagib games :( ) like right click laser jump etc. while keeping a variety of weapons that are a bit more appealing to non-instagib players.
Well, check out the more detailed description and pictures at the bottom of the post linked above! Oh and you can already play the mod by joining the test server with a vanilla Xonotic version (all needed files will be auto-downloaded).
P.S.: Here is a small video to show how it currently looks:
Xonotic Overkill mod (early WIP)
Thứ Bảy, 19 tháng 11, 2011
Day 18: Shabbat in Dallas
Shabbat
Shabbat was with my friend David. He made a vegetarian meal for us (pizza, with a tofu one for me). Friday night we also went to a "tish" reception for a visiting rabbi. Many of the other synagogue members were away for another member's wedding (or something), so it was a low-key reception.
At the tish the ewish geography was thick. I think there comes a point in Jewish geography when it's just a way of turning the conversation back to yourself. "I went to Cornell and ..." "(interrupting) Oh! I have a cousin who went to Cornell!"
Lunch and several shiurim at the synagogue, and I still felt sick, so I slept for nearly the rest of shabbat. We packed up and raced back to BGG.con with the expectation that I was supposed to finish up the scoring and present the award for Spare Squares.
Back at the Con
Like my arrival on Tuesday, everything was already done by the time I got back. Participation in the game was good (over 50 submissions). Most of the entries were in track A, which had 12 perfect scores. The rest were in the other tracks, each of which had a single winner. Owing to wanting to get through the awards ceremony as quickly as possible, Aldie simply announced the winners. I didn't get to tell a joke I had prepared for the announcements.
Still, I shook hands with the winners and heard some good things about the game, which appeared (despite the color problem) to have gone fairly well.
After this, I finally got in touch with the remaining people who were selling me used games.
Nadine and I played a game of Agricola with Jim Ginn and Chris Brooks. Jim played some amazing food production cards, but didn't follow through with the rest of the goods (animals, farm spaces, etc). Nadine didn't seem to move anywhere, except for her clay house. Chris did well with animals and house, etc, but I managed to squeak a 2 point victory over him in the end.
It was a good game, especially the company. Chris and Jim are just two of the nicest people I know.
We left early to go back to the hotel room, eat some kosher frozen dinners, repack for tomorrow, and sleep.
Shabbat was with my friend David. He made a vegetarian meal for us (pizza, with a tofu one for me). Friday night we also went to a "tish" reception for a visiting rabbi. Many of the other synagogue members were away for another member's wedding (or something), so it was a low-key reception.
At the tish the ewish geography was thick. I think there comes a point in Jewish geography when it's just a way of turning the conversation back to yourself. "I went to Cornell and ..." "(interrupting) Oh! I have a cousin who went to Cornell!"
Lunch and several shiurim at the synagogue, and I still felt sick, so I slept for nearly the rest of shabbat. We packed up and raced back to BGG.con with the expectation that I was supposed to finish up the scoring and present the award for Spare Squares.
Back at the Con
Like my arrival on Tuesday, everything was already done by the time I got back. Participation in the game was good (over 50 submissions). Most of the entries were in track A, which had 12 perfect scores. The rest were in the other tracks, each of which had a single winner. Owing to wanting to get through the awards ceremony as quickly as possible, Aldie simply announced the winners. I didn't get to tell a joke I had prepared for the announcements.
Still, I shook hands with the winners and heard some good things about the game, which appeared (despite the color problem) to have gone fairly well.
After this, I finally got in touch with the remaining people who were selling me used games.
Nadine and I played a game of Agricola with Jim Ginn and Chris Brooks. Jim played some amazing food production cards, but didn't follow through with the rest of the goods (animals, farm spaces, etc). Nadine didn't seem to move anywhere, except for her clay house. Chris did well with animals and house, etc, but I managed to squeak a 2 point victory over him in the end.
It was a good game, especially the company. Chris and Jim are just two of the nicest people I know.
We left early to go back to the hotel room, eat some kosher frozen dinners, repack for tomorrow, and sleep.
Thứ Sáu, 18 tháng 11, 2011
Day 17: Half-Day, Actually
We are leaving in a moment from the Westin hotel to go to my friend David for shabbat.
This morning I played:
- A game called "Goblin Market" using a special deck of cards called Decktet. The cards each have two or three suits out of six them, and the numbers go from 1 to 10. The game was a simple auction game, where your score is the number of suits symbols you have in three suits minus the number you have in the other three. You gain money in a couple of ways during the bidding. I enjoyed it, though I realized mid-game that it was going to be hard for anyone to get more than 5 or 6 points, and that the maximum score was 14.
- Inca Empire: On my wish list, and I've always wanted to try it. It took a lot longer than I expected it would, or maybe it only felt that way, but it was still a very good solid game of route connection and resource management (with a punish the leader catch up system that works well). I thought that one of the rounds could have been eliminated.
I'm having a tough time finding the people I am selling games to/buying games from, but I'm down to only two left. They don't answer their phones. Hopefully I will find them on Sat night.
Ok. Shabbat shalom.
Yehuda
This morning I played:
- A game called "Goblin Market" using a special deck of cards called Decktet. The cards each have two or three suits out of six them, and the numbers go from 1 to 10. The game was a simple auction game, where your score is the number of suits symbols you have in three suits minus the number you have in the other three. You gain money in a couple of ways during the bidding. I enjoyed it, though I realized mid-game that it was going to be hard for anyone to get more than 5 or 6 points, and that the maximum score was 14.
- Inca Empire: On my wish list, and I've always wanted to try it. It took a lot longer than I expected it would, or maybe it only felt that way, but it was still a very good solid game of route connection and resource management (with a punish the leader catch up system that works well). I thought that one of the rounds could have been eliminated.
I'm having a tough time finding the people I am selling games to/buying games from, but I'm down to only two left. They don't answer their phones. Hopefully I will find them on Sat night.
Ok. Shabbat shalom.
Yehuda
Day 16: Many New Games
Games Played
Belfort: A worker placement, area control game by Tasty Minstrel Games. with a fantasy city building game. Actually, the only fantasy element is that you have elves, dwarfs, and gnomes as workers, instead of humans with specialties. The artwork is pretty but very busy, making the game appear to be FFG level complex when it's really straightforward worker placement.
Place guys to earn money, resources, more guys, or bonuses, including private worker placement locations. use resources to buy buildings in the five areas. Reward control in the areas after rounds 3, 5, and 7. Works fine, but nothing new.
Nefarious: Another game by Donald Vaccarino, designer of Dominion. Yesterday's other new game by him (Kingdom Builders) was pleasant enough spacial manipulation, but not really special imho. This one is better.
It's a bare distilled Race For the Galaxy/7 Wonders with a very light invention theme. The game is nothing but cards. Each round, all players select one of four roles to play and reveal. Each player ears money for the roles selected by his neighbors if he has assigned meeples to that role on his board. Then the players do the roles in number order. 1) assign meeples to roles. 2) pay money to play invention cards. These give points and usually a benefit like earn or lose cards or money. 3) take 2 coins and an invention card. 4) take four coins.
Repeat until someone has 20 points. One more thing: each game, two random special rules (out of 30 or so) that modify the game are revealed at the beginning of the game. That's it.
It was quick (20-30 minutes normally), challenging, and essentially perfect. However, in our game we drew the absolute worst two special rule combination possible (I checked afterwards, and I'm not exaggerating). After every invention was played, everyone other than the one who played the invention lost all of his or her money. It made for some frustration, but some humor as well. Plays for up to five, I think. Unfortunately, FunAgain was charging $60 for this card game, which was way too much.
Tanto Cuore: Nearly an exact clone of Dominion, except it's from Japan, so the game is themed about hiring maids with various skimpy outfits (nothing too salacious). It was being demoed by a girl wearing a skimpy outfit, too; she must have been freezing in the hall. The cards were unique to the game, at least, and there were a few minor rule twists, but nothing that changed it from being Dominion.
Meltdown 2020: A "rescue all your guys from the board" game, usually seen in a fire or volcano themed game. This one had hexes with scattered nuclear plants, which melted down. The more they melted, the more damage they did to neighboring citizens. Each citizen could take three cumulative points until dead. You had three vehicles of various sizes and capacity to rescue them. And the entire game ended if the plants hit a certain level.
It's a light filler route planning game, although I expect it's marketed and priced as a full meaty game. It was good. Didn't inspire me to buy it, but I'd happily play it.
7 Wonders: I joined yet another game, and played straight blue again. This time I was entirely straight blue, earning 15 points from my wonders, 37 points from blue, and -5 from military. That was it. I came in third with 47. The two winners each has 53.
Walnut Grove: By Lookout Games. This is a meaty western themed town and farm game. It was late, so I don't feel I gave it my all. There are eight rounds (years) to the game. Each year has four seasons: pick farm tiles and add to your farm, allocate workers to produce goods on the farm (one good for every contiguous tile in an area), move your guy in the large town rondel to buy stuff with your goods or buy more goods (worker placement, pay money every once in a while), pay your farm hands in food and heat.
It's a tough system, and you're (at least I was) constantly struggling for food and heat, making progress very difficult. There are many avenues for victory points, most of which I never had time to explore.
If you enjoy the Alea games, this will fit in nicely; if you don't, you'll probably be tired of games with pastoral themes and pushing cubes about. I'm happy to play again until I can get a handle on the game, at least.
Indian Food
For lunch, my friends and I went to Dallas to the one of three kosher eateries in Dallas, the Madras Pavilion. It's veggie Indian, authentic enough that most of the people eating there were Indian rather than visibly Jewish. It was also pretty spicy but good (better than my constant stream of cold cuts and peanut butter, anyway).
Belfort: A worker placement, area control game by Tasty Minstrel Games. with a fantasy city building game. Actually, the only fantasy element is that you have elves, dwarfs, and gnomes as workers, instead of humans with specialties. The artwork is pretty but very busy, making the game appear to be FFG level complex when it's really straightforward worker placement.
Place guys to earn money, resources, more guys, or bonuses, including private worker placement locations. use resources to buy buildings in the five areas. Reward control in the areas after rounds 3, 5, and 7. Works fine, but nothing new.
Nefarious: Another game by Donald Vaccarino, designer of Dominion. Yesterday's other new game by him (Kingdom Builders) was pleasant enough spacial manipulation, but not really special imho. This one is better.
It's a bare distilled Race For the Galaxy/7 Wonders with a very light invention theme. The game is nothing but cards. Each round, all players select one of four roles to play and reveal. Each player ears money for the roles selected by his neighbors if he has assigned meeples to that role on his board. Then the players do the roles in number order. 1) assign meeples to roles. 2) pay money to play invention cards. These give points and usually a benefit like earn or lose cards or money. 3) take 2 coins and an invention card. 4) take four coins.
Repeat until someone has 20 points. One more thing: each game, two random special rules (out of 30 or so) that modify the game are revealed at the beginning of the game. That's it.
It was quick (20-30 minutes normally), challenging, and essentially perfect. However, in our game we drew the absolute worst two special rule combination possible (I checked afterwards, and I'm not exaggerating). After every invention was played, everyone other than the one who played the invention lost all of his or her money. It made for some frustration, but some humor as well. Plays for up to five, I think. Unfortunately, FunAgain was charging $60 for this card game, which was way too much.
Tanto Cuore: Nearly an exact clone of Dominion, except it's from Japan, so the game is themed about hiring maids with various skimpy outfits (nothing too salacious). It was being demoed by a girl wearing a skimpy outfit, too; she must have been freezing in the hall. The cards were unique to the game, at least, and there were a few minor rule twists, but nothing that changed it from being Dominion.
Meltdown 2020: A "rescue all your guys from the board" game, usually seen in a fire or volcano themed game. This one had hexes with scattered nuclear plants, which melted down. The more they melted, the more damage they did to neighboring citizens. Each citizen could take three cumulative points until dead. You had three vehicles of various sizes and capacity to rescue them. And the entire game ended if the plants hit a certain level.
It's a light filler route planning game, although I expect it's marketed and priced as a full meaty game. It was good. Didn't inspire me to buy it, but I'd happily play it.
7 Wonders: I joined yet another game, and played straight blue again. This time I was entirely straight blue, earning 15 points from my wonders, 37 points from blue, and -5 from military. That was it. I came in third with 47. The two winners each has 53.
Walnut Grove: By Lookout Games. This is a meaty western themed town and farm game. It was late, so I don't feel I gave it my all. There are eight rounds (years) to the game. Each year has four seasons: pick farm tiles and add to your farm, allocate workers to produce goods on the farm (one good for every contiguous tile in an area), move your guy in the large town rondel to buy stuff with your goods or buy more goods (worker placement, pay money every once in a while), pay your farm hands in food and heat.
It's a tough system, and you're (at least I was) constantly struggling for food and heat, making progress very difficult. There are many avenues for victory points, most of which I never had time to explore.
If you enjoy the Alea games, this will fit in nicely; if you don't, you'll probably be tired of games with pastoral themes and pushing cubes about. I'm happy to play again until I can get a handle on the game, at least.
Indian Food
For lunch, my friends and I went to Dallas to the one of three kosher eateries in Dallas, the Madras Pavilion. It's veggie Indian, authentic enough that most of the people eating there were Indian rather than visibly Jewish. It was also pretty spicy but good (better than my constant stream of cold cuts and peanut butter, anyway).
Thứ Tư, 16 tháng 11, 2011
Day 15: Games and People
I woke up early and slipped out to BGG.con at 7:00. The lines were just starting for registration that officially opened at . I parked my games and lunch on line and promptly left the line to go volunteer. For the next two hours I unpacked boxes, shelved games, and broke down boxes.
A number of others also volunteered, and all of us received our registration and goodies early. I left my stuff on the registration line anyway, so that Bill and Shirley could take it when they arrived (which they did at around 9:50). I didn't have a place held for Nadine, so she took a longer time to get through registration.
Nicer than all the games was seeing so many people again and having so many people come up to me to say that they know me from wherever.
What I Played
Agricola: I started with a game I already knew. The other three also knew the game already. Everyone was convinced that my RHO was going to trounce the rest of us, and he definitely had a huge improvements advantage. However, he also had no fields and 7 empty farm spaces. He came in third with 43 points. I won 47 to 46 over second place, also with a hefty improvement bonus.
Kingdom Builder: A new game from Queen by the designer of Dominion, this is a simple settlement/route creation abstract on a multi-terrained map. Think Through the Desert meets Taluva, perhaps. You place three guys on the selected terrain every round, but you always have to place your guys near your already existing guys if you can. You can earn special actions that let you split your settlement areas into multiple areas.
The trick is to find ways to split your territories and leave yourself with the flexibility of where to put your pieces each round to score best. Scoring is similar to TtD, but three special scoring optiona are available each round.
I thought it was good, but nothing special. The people I played with liked it more than I did. We had misinterpreted one of the special scoring cards, and so some of us were going for one type of area control while others were going for a different type; as a result, we weren't really playing the same game. I definitely won using one interpretation, but probably would have one with the other type as well.
The Manhattan Project: A new game from Minion Games (we played on a game that was half actual and half prototype components. It's a worker placement game of building atomic and plutonium bomb. The story was the same as it was for Kingdom Builder: I thought it was ok, the other players liked it more. There was an odd mechanic of getting your workers back and then spending them all in one turn on your buildings.
And once again it ended partially unresolved. I saved up and won the game with two bombs, only to discover that I only had 48 points, not the 50 needed. I easily had those other two points by taking an action on my previous turn, bit I didn't bother to take the action because I thought I had counted to 51. The others decided to give me the game, even though I was willing to continue, without rewarding my stupidity.
7 Wonders: Joined a game with 2 other experienced players and 2 newbies. I produced almost no goods and came second: Scores 55, 50 (me), 48, 43, 40.
Tichu: I wanted something short, so Rick Thornquist agreed to partner with me and we found two other players (Aaron and Sean). This was the shortest and most insane Tichu game I ever player. In half an hour - five hand - we lost 1000+ to less than zero. Our opponents bid and made three grand tichus. On on hand, opp opened a ten card straight that included a five card straight bomb. I bombed it with four jacks, opener bombed with four aces, and my partner bombed the aces with a straight flush. And they still succeeded with the grand tichu.
Crokinole: Jim Ginn and I played a game. We traded scores back and forth for a while, and then it took me four or five rounds, 5 points at a time, to finally win.
It's Alive: I taught this to some people. I lost; LHO won with the five point bonus.
Tobago: I stopped to teach this to three others, including the rep from Mayfair. I won, entirely due to my experience with amulets. We played with the curses, but said never again (with the original curse rules, anyway.
Nadine's Plays
Nadine played K2, Power Grid Sparks, Coney Island, Flashpoint, and Niagara. Bill and Shirley spent the entire day playing a single war game with each other.
A number of others also volunteered, and all of us received our registration and goodies early. I left my stuff on the registration line anyway, so that Bill and Shirley could take it when they arrived (which they did at around 9:50). I didn't have a place held for Nadine, so she took a longer time to get through registration.
Nicer than all the games was seeing so many people again and having so many people come up to me to say that they know me from wherever.
What I Played
Agricola: I started with a game I already knew. The other three also knew the game already. Everyone was convinced that my RHO was going to trounce the rest of us, and he definitely had a huge improvements advantage. However, he also had no fields and 7 empty farm spaces. He came in third with 43 points. I won 47 to 46 over second place, also with a hefty improvement bonus.
Kingdom Builder: A new game from Queen by the designer of Dominion, this is a simple settlement/route creation abstract on a multi-terrained map. Think Through the Desert meets Taluva, perhaps. You place three guys on the selected terrain every round, but you always have to place your guys near your already existing guys if you can. You can earn special actions that let you split your settlement areas into multiple areas.
The trick is to find ways to split your territories and leave yourself with the flexibility of where to put your pieces each round to score best. Scoring is similar to TtD, but three special scoring optiona are available each round.
I thought it was good, but nothing special. The people I played with liked it more than I did. We had misinterpreted one of the special scoring cards, and so some of us were going for one type of area control while others were going for a different type; as a result, we weren't really playing the same game. I definitely won using one interpretation, but probably would have one with the other type as well.
The Manhattan Project: A new game from Minion Games (we played on a game that was half actual and half prototype components. It's a worker placement game of building atomic and plutonium bomb. The story was the same as it was for Kingdom Builder: I thought it was ok, the other players liked it more. There was an odd mechanic of getting your workers back and then spending them all in one turn on your buildings.
And once again it ended partially unresolved. I saved up and won the game with two bombs, only to discover that I only had 48 points, not the 50 needed. I easily had those other two points by taking an action on my previous turn, bit I didn't bother to take the action because I thought I had counted to 51. The others decided to give me the game, even though I was willing to continue, without rewarding my stupidity.
7 Wonders: Joined a game with 2 other experienced players and 2 newbies. I produced almost no goods and came second: Scores 55, 50 (me), 48, 43, 40.
Tichu: I wanted something short, so Rick Thornquist agreed to partner with me and we found two other players (Aaron and Sean). This was the shortest and most insane Tichu game I ever player. In half an hour - five hand - we lost 1000+ to less than zero. Our opponents bid and made three grand tichus. On on hand, opp opened a ten card straight that included a five card straight bomb. I bombed it with four jacks, opener bombed with four aces, and my partner bombed the aces with a straight flush. And they still succeeded with the grand tichu.
Crokinole: Jim Ginn and I played a game. We traded scores back and forth for a while, and then it took me four or five rounds, 5 points at a time, to finally win.
It's Alive: I taught this to some people. I lost; LHO won with the five point bonus.
Tobago: I stopped to teach this to three others, including the rep from Mayfair. I won, entirely due to my experience with amulets. We played with the curses, but said never again (with the original curse rules, anyway.
Nadine's Plays
Nadine played K2, Power Grid Sparks, Coney Island, Flashpoint, and Niagara. Bill and Shirley spent the entire day playing a single war game with each other.
Thứ Ba, 15 tháng 11, 2011
Day 14: A Long Drive, A Welcome Return
We woke early for our nine and a half hour drive from Kansas City to Dallas (actually, Irving). We miraculously fit everything in the car (including all of our food and snacks until Sunday). We drove south the entire way on I-35.
Kansas was flat and dull.
Oklahoma turned into some pretty territory after we passed Oklahoma City.
We didn't see much of Texas between the state line and Irving, but it was all steakhouses and other urban sprawl.
BGG.con
We arrived, unpacked, and walked over to the Westin. It was a heady, joyful feeling to be walking into a conference where I know I will have a great time, where a few people know me, and where I have a new game ready for people to enjoy.
I went straight to the administrative area, said hi to some good friends and the BGG admins and took a peek at the game cards for Spare Squares. As I had been told, the green and blue colors did not come out quite as I had expected (or as the graphic files look) and are closer in appearance than they should be. However, they are distinguishable when placed next to each other, so I think the game is still playable. Everything had already been packed up and placed in the kitty bags for registration, so I had nothing to do but play some games.
I showed Nadine how to play Crokinole. Then the four of us ate some dinner. Bill, Nadine and I sat down with someone who looked a little lonely to play a game of Roll Through the Ages. It's a dice-based game, so not one that's usually on my list. However, like many modern dice-based games, they try to make it so that nearly all the dice results are useful in some way or another, so that the choices you make are of primary importance.
You roll dice on your turn, adding results to complete bonuses: bonus points, bonus dice, bonus special abilities, etc, until the game is over, typically within 45 minutes. It was nice. However, there is barely any interaction in the game; a few attack results wouldn't have hurt the game (if the attacks could be handled in a manner that didn't end up in one player getting picked on).
I ended up winning, to my surprise.
Nadine and I then wandered around and found someone willing to teach us Troyes. A fourth person joined us as we learned the rules. It's another game of assigning dice for results, though quite different than the way Alien Frontiers handles it. It's actually quite complex, and the available options for gaining points is also complex, which makes it hard to wrap your head around. I thought I kind of figured out where it was going by mid game, but I ended up in last place. Nadine asked the most questions, and she ended up winning (I think, to her surprise; definitely to mine). I quite liked it, and hope to pick up a copy.
Kansas was flat and dull.
Oklahoma turned into some pretty territory after we passed Oklahoma City.
We didn't see much of Texas between the state line and Irving, but it was all steakhouses and other urban sprawl.
BGG.con
We arrived, unpacked, and walked over to the Westin. It was a heady, joyful feeling to be walking into a conference where I know I will have a great time, where a few people know me, and where I have a new game ready for people to enjoy.
I went straight to the administrative area, said hi to some good friends and the BGG admins and took a peek at the game cards for Spare Squares. As I had been told, the green and blue colors did not come out quite as I had expected (or as the graphic files look) and are closer in appearance than they should be. However, they are distinguishable when placed next to each other, so I think the game is still playable. Everything had already been packed up and placed in the kitty bags for registration, so I had nothing to do but play some games.
I showed Nadine how to play Crokinole. Then the four of us ate some dinner. Bill, Nadine and I sat down with someone who looked a little lonely to play a game of Roll Through the Ages. It's a dice-based game, so not one that's usually on my list. However, like many modern dice-based games, they try to make it so that nearly all the dice results are useful in some way or another, so that the choices you make are of primary importance.
You roll dice on your turn, adding results to complete bonuses: bonus points, bonus dice, bonus special abilities, etc, until the game is over, typically within 45 minutes. It was nice. However, there is barely any interaction in the game; a few attack results wouldn't have hurt the game (if the attacks could be handled in a manner that didn't end up in one player getting picked on).
I ended up winning, to my surprise.
Nadine and I then wandered around and found someone willing to teach us Troyes. A fourth person joined us as we learned the rules. It's another game of assigning dice for results, though quite different than the way Alien Frontiers handles it. It's actually quite complex, and the available options for gaining points is also complex, which makes it hard to wrap your head around. I thought I kind of figured out where it was going by mid game, but I ended up in last place. Nadine asked the most questions, and she ended up winning (I think, to her surprise; definitely to mine). I quite liked it, and hope to pick up a copy.
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| The Mayfair rep |
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| Part of the library, not including Essen releases |
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| The main room |
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| Troyes |
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