Colours and time…or colours and something else…part 2

I am a big fan of Dr. Who and have always wanted to come up with a time travel mechanic and thought that time travel could be represented by the colours.  Obviously the colours in the picture below are way to garish and would be muted or maybe just an outline of colour would be needed on each area.  It might work if tertiary colours are added.  Each line below represents a different time line – the primary colours could represent major events or places and the secondary colours steps along the continuum.  By playing a combination of different coloured cards you can move back and forth along the time line – back and forward in time.  When landing on one of the colours an event card/action or something takes place (remember this is just an idea right now).  The secondary colours affect both primary colours – therefore affecting history and future events (tertiary colours could just affect future events or the primary colour they are closest to??).  The only way you can jump onto another time line is by playing a primary colour and its complimentary colour.  Feedback welcome.

Colours and time…or colours and something else…part 1

I have this idea…in fact I have too many of them…but I think this idea is a good one!

The idea revolves around primary colours and secondary colours (and maybe tertiary colours and complimentary colours.  Imagine a card game where you create six piles.  These piles form a pyramid with primary colours at the apexes and secondary colours on the sides (see picture below).  Red cards are played on the red pile, blue on blue and yellow on yellow.  These have a positive effect on the colour they are played on.  The secondary cards are placed on their matching colour but affect the two primary colours that they neighbour – the effect can be either positive or negative depending on the action on the card.  If you place a primary card sideways then it will affect the two secondary colours that it neighbours.  The goal is to ‘promote’ one of the primary colours – the most ‘powerful’ primary colour wins.  Potentially each player would have a ‘secret’ mission to support one of the primary colours.

Life gets in the way…

Hey – sorry no posts – though I don’t know who reads this apart from me and sometimes D.  Amazing how life gets in the way.  Hopefully I will have some interesting posts soon!

Redemption City and Small Talk rule changes

In conversations with D, my co-designer for Redemption City, a few tweaks have been made to both Redemption City and Small Talk.

I hope to have the rules posted sometime – it is amazing how life gets in the way of things you want to do  🙂

Monthly Update

Here is an update on the state of my games:

Redemption City: RC is a Western game where you play an infamous gunslinger walking the streets of Redemption.  It is a game of recognition and quickness.  Each player has a hand of cards with each card representing a different item available to them.  As the scene cards are revealed players react by drawing the correct card from their hand.  Be the quickest and gain fame, be the slowest and be prepared to be wounded.  This game is at the initial play-testing stage and receiving good feedback with obvious critiques.  Changes are being made for more play-testing.

Renaissance Man: RM is a Euro that involves worker placement with a cool stacking mechanic and three ways to score your way to victory.  As a player, you take on the role of one a great scholar.  You are preparing for an annual contest whereby you present to an esteemed panel of aristocrats.  The player who has the greatest and most well rounded intellect wins fame…until the next contest.  I am drafting rules for this game – thanks to Metz and D for some fine ideas!

Small Talk: Ever been to a party where you know no one?  Or met someone in the street that you don’t really want to talk too?  This party game places you and a partner in a situation where you have to ‘small talk’.  Complete a quick conversation in the allotted time while hitting on all the discussion topics and watch the points roll in!   The first set of rules has been drafted for this game and is awaiting feedback from some friends.

Ant’s Picnic: Ant’s Picnic is a two player themed abstract where players play ants racing to snatch food of a picnic table.  This game is prototyped, needs more play-testing.  Stay tuned for a video review of this game (I just got a new Sony Handycam!)

Broadway Producer: A card game that involves rummy-esque set collection.  Take a show from Off Broadway to Broadway.  The most productive show wins.  Has some similarities to Colosseum.  This game is prototyped but has not seen the table yet.

I have some other games on the go – these will be posted on soon.

A new book for the library

Was in Chapters getting the Valentine’s gift for Pam and I found a book in the computer section on game design.  While the book maybe for video gamers, I believe a lot of the information will translate to the making of board games.  Below is the description from the Chapters website:

Challenges For Game Designers

by Brenda Brathwaite, Ian Schreiber

Charles River Media | August 21, 2008 | Trade Paperback

Welcome to a book written to challenge you, improve your brainstorming abilities, and sharpen your game design skills! Challenges for Game Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers is filled with enjoyable, interesting, and challenging exercises to help you become a better video game designer, whether you are a professional or aspire to be. Each chapter covers a different topic important to game designers, and was taken from actual industry experience. After a brief overview of the topic, there are five challenges that each take less than two hours and allow you to apply the material, explore the topic, and expand your knowledge in that area. Each chapter also includes 10 ‘non-digital shorts’ to further hone your skills. None of the challenges in the book require any programming or a computer, but many of the topics feature challenges that can be made into fully functioning games. The book is useful for professional designers, aspiring designers, and instructors who teach game design courses, and the challenges are great for both practice and homework assignments. The book can be worked through chapter by chapter, or you can skip around and do only the challenges that interest you. As with anything else, making great games takes practice and Challenges for Game Designers provides you with a collection of fun, thoughtprovoking, and of course, challenging activities that will help you hone vital skills and become the best game designer you can be

I hope to share some of the exercises on here and maybe challenge the game designers on boardgamegeek!

Renaissance Man takes shape (in the mind and on paper)

While Redemption City is being tweaked for more play testing, Renaissance Man has come to the fore.  Renaissance Man is a Euro game (surprise, surprise!).  In this game you take on the role of one of the great scholars in a contest to prove your intellectual brilliance.  Much studying has been done and now there are two weeks between now and the unveiling of your knowledge to an esteemed panel of aristocrats. Are you the best mind history has seen?

In the Great University there are many rooms in which you can study, exhibit and share ideas.  Visiting these rooms allows access to knowledge – this knowledge is then stored in your knowledge deck, memory deck or pyramid of experience.  The game involves worker placement with a neat stacking mechanic and the manipulation of cards.  Clever set collection and discarding of cards will allow you to maximize your fame.  The player with the greatest overall knowledge of the worldly subjects will win.  Don’t get caught being an expert in one subject.  A true Renaissance Man is a true master, a true polymath.

The game will play 3 to 5 players and should take around 60 minutes to play.  This will be a tough game to prototype due to over 180 small cards being created.  Stay tuned for more details…

A new gamer joins us!

Congrats to my co-designer for Redemption City, David, on the addition to his family.  His family now has a fourth gamer!  Welcome to this great world!

Pics of Redemption City (first play test)

Below are some pics of Pam, me and friends playing Redemption City for the first time – I apologize for the quality in advance  🙂

Mock up of a box for the game.

 

 

 

 

Box opened to reveal poker chips (Fame Points and Bullet tokens) and cards.

 

 

 

 

Side of lid with contents.

 

 

 

 

Niki (the fastest gun in the West) in the role of Sheriff shuffling the scene cards.  Red chips are her level of Fame and white chips are her six bullets.

 

 

The winning cowboygirl showing off her characters scene card

 

 

 

 

Pam showing off the many wounds she took while trying to defeat the other gunfighters.

Redemption City v.1.0 and v1.1 hit the table (pics to follow)

It’s my party and I’ll play what I want to!  It was my birthday on Friday so I got to choose (most) of the games that we played all weekend.  Games that hit the table were Endeavour (great game!), The Adventurers (present from my wife – enjoyable, quick game), Qwirkle (wife’s gaming choice), Word on the Street, Abandon Ship, and most excitingly – Redemption City!  A game David Short and I are designing.  This was played on Friday and Saturday!  The comments below won’t make a lot of sense to those who have not seen the rules.  I will post the rules soon – it is more a notation for David and I.

Friday v1.0 – 4 player game – 40 minutes – Niki won the game easily while Pam had so many wounds she could hardly hold her cards!  Good things – fun.  Not so good things – wound deck easily out-exhausted fame points, forgot to flip bullets, played longer than expected, card revealing was clumsy until people got the idea, wagons were useless, sheriff time too long.  Suggestions – A doctor card where players draw a wound card and can get healed, a script for the sheriff (dealer), more outlaws etc so that there would be more victory points available.

Saturday v1.1 – 5 player game – 30 minutes plus – Niki won again!  Changes from v1.0 – Added Doctor card.  Player who drew wound card first discarded all wounds.  Made sherrif say ‘hands’ to get players to put hands flat on table and after reveal to say ‘bullets’ as a reminder to flip bullets.  Added 2 more outlaws, dynamite, crosshairs and one more player cowboy card with wagon on same card.  Good – fun!  Niki likes the game (but she won both).  The Doctor card worked well.  Lot more draws due to new cards.  Not so good – time still longer than expected.  What to do when more than one player on the street? The poker chip does not come into play nor does the second pistol.  Suggestions – use elongated blank cards to cover scene card events that have been resolved.  To get poker chip in play have a saloon card or a picture of a poker hand – draw the poker card and take a fame card away from another player.  Jail card – for use by sheriff.  He can play this on a player who is drawing incorrectly (moving cards to hand not hand to cards) – player pays a penalty of missing x number of scene cards.  Also, to shorten sheriff’s role – instead of three blank scene cards use only two before exchanging roles.

Overall people had fun and gage good feedback for the game.  A friend who has played many, many, many, many games was excited and surprised when the game was explained to him.  He could see it being published (though he did not play).