Tech feature: Script Overview #2

Second part of the scripting overview.


Make sure to watch in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmQjO1C_Q90?hd=1

"My Favorite Game Console is a Table and Chairs" at Connecticon

Joshua Newman wore the My Favorite Game Console is a Table and Chairs shirt at Connecticon and shares this great story:

"Someone came up and told me that was exactly how they felt. They had this whole story about how they're not very good at video games. They were so happy they could actually tell someone sympathetic. I didn't tell her that I love video games but love my friends more. She just needed a shoulder to cry on."

D'aww. Yay!

» Photo by Robert Bohl

Amnesia Post-Mortem

A post-mortem for Amnesia is now up on The Escapist. You can read the whole thing here:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9011-The-Terrifying-Tale-of-Amnesia

While not short, the article is a bit edited and does not go into details on all events. Still it should give a pretty good overview of how Amnesia came about.

Thousand Year Game Design Challenge - June Update

It was another fruitful month for the challenge, with a very special guest now in the running. But first, some news: The deadline for entry is extended to August 31st. Hope to see you at GenCon and I look forward to showing off some of the entries so far.

Take-Back-Toe by James Ernest
Veteran game designer James Ernest submits this entry that actually doesn't have much in common with tic tac toe. It's more like a dice-driven mancala, with an elegant tension of constrained choices. The game suggests using poker chips on a mouse board, but you can play this with rocks or via forum post.

Antipode by Shane Hendrickson
Much like the classic game Hex, your goal is to connect two sides of the board. The twist is that the tiles are double-sided, as in Reversi/Othello. If your pawn passes over an opponent's tile, it flips to your color. Interesting mix of two well-loved abstract games. Usually those mashups don't fare well, but I think this one has strong potential.

Charing Cross by Mike C
In the tradition of many great games, Mike enters a chess variant that's actually a little more like Chinese Checkers. Each player has two pairs of chess pieces starting from two sides of a chess board, trying to reach their opposing side. I can immediately see the tension here. Interesting!

Saaguan by Andrew Cooke
With touches of Robo Rally, this game offers some more complex gameplay than the average 2p abstract. Robots move about the field, blasting each other with beams. Check out his automated and animated demo, too. Very cool.

Mint by Graham Walmsley
Graham actually withdrew this entry after some people told him they played a very similar game in school, but I'm putting it up here as sort of an honorable mention. With a bit of hacking and tweaking, the basic mechanics can still be used to create an interesting new game and I hope Graham submits a revised entry. Get on it, Graham! :)

Past Entries:
» January
» February
» March: (No entries)
» April
» May

Happy Birthday, Robot! - Nominated for Four Ennie Awards!

Holy crap! The Ennie 2011 nominees were just announced and Happy Birthday, Robot! is nominated in four categories!

Best Game
* Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions)
* Icons Superpowered Roleplaying (Adamant Entertainment/Cubicle 7)
* Legends of Anglerre (Cubicle 7)
* Mutants & Masterminds Hero’s Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing)
* The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )
* Honorable Mention: The Laundry (Cubicle 7)

Best New Game
* A Taste for Murder (Graham Walmsley)
* Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions)
* Icons Superpowered Roleplaying (Adamant Entertainment/Cubicle 7)
* The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )
* The Laundry (Cubicle 7)
* Honorable Mention: Stars Without Number (Sine Nominee Publishing)

Best Production Values
* Gatecrashing (Posthuman Studios)
* Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions)
* Legend of the Five Rings, Fourth Edition (Alderac Entertainment Group)
* Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2 (Paizo Publishing)
* The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )

Product of the Year
* A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide (Green Ronin Publishing)
* DC Adventures Hero’s Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing)
* D&D Gamma World Roleplaying Game (Wizards of the Coast)
* Gatecrashing (Posthuman Studios)
* Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions)
* Legend of the Five Rings, Fourth Edition (Alderac Entertainment Group)
* Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Player’s Guide (Paizo Publishing)
* Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide (Paizo Publishing)
* The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions )
* The Stork (DreamPunk Productions)
* Honorable Mention:Legends of Anglerre (Cubicle 7)

That's some tough and varied competition, but I'm still thrilled to be included in the company of Dresden Files and Gamma World. Yowza.

A game inspired by the Borrowers, Arrietty and the Littles?

The new trailer for Studio Ghibli's Arrietty has me thinking about the potential for a game inspired by that general premise: Hidden elflike people hide in our walls. Here are a couple quick ideas:

Your story is set inside the home in which you play the game.
Any pets in the home are hazards for your characters.
Character art is drawn at actual size. (About an inch or so.)

So what's the compelling situation? What is the common thread each time you play the game? What is different each time you play? Hm!

Tech feature: Script Overview #1

I just recorded a little clip about how scripting works in HPL3. In this film I just talk about the very basic elements of scripting and will follow up with another movie were I talk about some more complex features:



Make sure to watch in in HD: http://youtu.be/5OKFik2IEZU?hd=1

Final Assignment the redo

I added a lighting effect and also keyed in a flatline effect overlay into the center graphic. FYI, if anyone is looking for the lighting filters, like I was, they will not show unless cs5 is in native 32 bit. If you are running 64 bit you must switch it. I used ps in the past and was disapointed in this version that it did not have these filters but stupid me, I figured it out in the end of the semester!

Final Assignment

For our last assignment I chose to design a poster reflecting on the illegal street racing dilemna that plaques the streets of nearly every city in America. I chose the 3 photos to represent the during, after and well unfortunate end that could occur with this dangerous problem. I used several filters on the images to keep the warmness matching as well as to accomplish the hue I was after. The background image was achieved with stacking a few layers and again using film filter as well as overlays. The text is a cool font that my son actually found for a movie we are working on that I thought fit in the dynamic of the design.

It's real! Product Photos of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple

Here are some product shots of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple. An advance copy arrived on my doorstep. It looks gorgeous. (The game, not the doorstep.) Click any of the images to embiggen. We're on schedule to debut at GenCon!