Gumball gaming

Admission: I love the little toys in vending machines... especially ninjas.

That being said, I'm wondering if it has been considered/implemented to use the cheap little plastic figures that are sold out of them as game pieces...

Obviously, you'd need to buy them from a supplier, as it would look really silly to sit in front of a supermarket putting a sack of quarters into the same machine (and it would be expensive). I didn't need to say that, but the mental image was too good to pass up.

This could provide the pieces I need for the gameboard bag concept (rather than relying on glass beads and/or dice [the staples of little games]. Yeah, ninjas are more awesome than glass beads...

Note on Label: GDI stands for Game Design Industry... and has nothing to do with command and conquer.

Stencil update

That was quick.

I did a quick cutout of the moon stamp I had, then I painted the fabric paint (blue) through the stencil. It turned out with a clearer image than stamping, without the abundance of paint from the direct sponge shape method. Additionally, I can control the patterns much better than trying to brush the paint directly to fabric without guides)

By the way, I'm using 1" foam brushes for this stuff (they were 6 cents at Michaels this week).

I think this will work well (except obviously for shapes that are not good for stencils)

-Evan

Stencils

I think I can get more than a shiny ghostly shape if I paint the fabric paint on with a brush and stencil. I think I have some card stock around here to work with, so I'll try this and see how it goes.

-Evan

Pretties

Well the foam stamping is going well... On black fabric I'm able to make a shiny sheen pattern which looks neat.

I keep putting red saturns on things. (Ice-7 card holder, this dice bag I just made) I wish I could put an image of these things up here.

-Evan

Sketchup Icehouse update

After getting my pieces finally (wow, that must have been a few weeks ago at least), I can see some flaws to my sketchup models.

For instance, the pieces make contact at the point when stacked, rather than the base as I had assumed. Also, I now have an idea of how to place the dots, even if I don't really know how to display them in the software.

And I still need to figure out how to create anchor points for the pieces so they can be arranged to illustrate games and such without needing to flub with positions forever.

Of bags and things

So I had the idea a while back, inspired by cosmic coasters, to put a game board on a bag, and have the pieces of the game fit within the bag. This was also a branching out of my attempt to make my own chessboard bandanna (or cloth chessboard, not quite big enough to be a bandanna).

I suppose I should also apologise to the looneys before proceeding as there's a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism... and I have no idea where I am right now, but if I'm not over it yet, I'm pretty damn close. (For instance, seeing their wonderful products and wondering/attempting to do my own versions of them.)

Anyways, the gameboard bag ultimately won't be a cosmic coasters ripoff, but that's merely the sample standard I've chosen to work with until I can come up with something fun.

But I digress.

Anyways, cloth as a game material has come to be the focus of my obsession right now. I've been remembering all the really cool cloth maps, like the one that came with Neverwinter Nights, and some nice tile-bags from various board games... It seems like a really good idea, considering how many times I've seen paper/cardboard pieces and boards succumb to the dreaded spilled beverage. It would be nice to have game components be washable... if for no other reason than to alleviate my paranoia of yucky tables at public places (maple syrup, condensation from drinks, spilled coffee, to name a few)

And I knew that this could not be an original idea, but I never expected to see a patent so vague. Hmm... actually, they don't specify that the bag can be the board as well... In fact, that case does appear to contradict the patent as written (where the board fits in the bag).

Hmm... I'll have to keep searching. I may have found an idea that hasn't been run into the ground already.

Again, I digress... what was I talking about?

Oh yes. So with durable boards/pieces, I may be able to make some kind of portable game that people aren't afraid to play anywhere (except perhaps over a sewer grate)...

This needs more thought.

Plush icehouse/chess

So I was thinking of whether or not it would be easy/feasible to make a plush set of icehouse pieces (normal sized, sorry daddy oh)... I suppose I should first try and design a pattern for them.

The chess pieces idea came up though thinking about how to play with a cloth chessboard (without a bunch of pointy things)... I suppose I could merely make them out of cloth... or perhaps small pillows/bean bags rather than plush/stuffed.

Hmm... beanbag icehouse... there's an idea.

-Evan

Martian Chess Board

Here's a rendering of ee0r's tri-chess board (for playing martian chess with anywhere from 2-6 people).

It's arranged in a 3-player layout at the moment, and I had to run off before I could put some pyramids on it... oh well.

Sketchup Icehouse

I've been playing with sketchup and decided that a nice project would be to create an Icehouse Set since the plans were still available on the looneys' blog.

So far I have the three pointer done (no spots yet), and the other two should be fairly easy. From there I can make them into components and use them in other models. I wonder if there's a way to get the pieces to snap to preset points when they're stacked... I'll have to look into that.

Edit: It's a family!
I finished the two and one pointers, and proudly display them on a barren sketchup-scape.

Goings on

Not much work has happened on the hex game (currently 'Ainks) since the last post.

Not much work on anything regarding gaming has gone on really, except I did install Visual Studio C# Express to work on some XNA stuff eventually. The PC/360 cross platform compatability should be interesting.

Aside from that I've been obsessing over Icehouse. Not doing much with it, just obsessing (need income before I start buying such things).

That's all for now.

Mad Lab Rabbit

I would like to bring some easy/fun games to moraine today to demo after my interview, however I don't have any looney games (stupid water) to demo... so I guess I'll look for some other easy-fun-now game.

If such a thing exists... perhaps a card game like give me the brain...

Hex War

I've been working on a game off and on for a few weeks now. The executive summary is that it's a turn based game where players select their moves for each round simultaneously and secretly. Very much like roborallyee, but I want people to be able to not need to think 5 moves ahead every turn (and allow them to react).

The game will probably take place on a hexagonal grid. Each player will have a set of basic moves (like turning, forward, etc) and will acquire better moves/attacks through play and/or experience.

There will obviously need to be somebody to implement the initiative order (still working on how that will work), and to move the pieces on the board.

The initiave order is the main thing that is keeping me from moving to an early playtest stage... though I suppose I can cross that bridge when I come to it, or ask my playtesters for ideas.

Multiplication Game

I've got some framework rules down for the multiplication game... now all I need is some people to test it with...

Hopefully it will more enjoyable than flash cards (Not saying much... I know). It should at least introduce a reward element greater than "you didn't fuck up, good job!"

I so hated flash cards growing up...

Three point oh.

The usual group got together because Steve wanted to run something. All he had was the D&D 3.0 books, so I got to break out all the old broken spells and such again...

I should not be allowed to play wizards.

Anyways, I was impressed with his re-tracking of the train-wreck. He expected his band of bandits to get away and for us to face them one at a time in their base (they were all about CR 5-6, and we were a 5th level party), but we managed to catch up due to some quick horses and a 50min fly spell... So what ended up happening was that, one at a time, they tried to stop us from following them (they stole our cart for some reason).

So instead of 4 consecutive encounters, the adventure became one long drawn out cart-chase, but the nature of our pursuit made it so we would only face them one or two at a time (The priest's Turn undead helped a lot to keep one of the enemies occupied while dealing with the others)

The Minotaur was busy carrying the front end of the wagon once I shattered the front axle (shatter spell, a very good choice for the 2nd level wizard slot). Aside from this, the party managed to maintain the advantage of mobility since we were faster than the hobbled cart, and I was able to air-lift the rogue (we were both gnomes, and fly lets you carry up to max load with you)

But getting back to the main point, it was impressive how he kept the structure of the game intact when we managed to do so much unexpected.

DungeonBlog didn't get started, but the soul still burns.

I've had a few campaign ideas as of late...

1. The End of the World Dungeon
The characters wake up disoriented in a cave on the side of a shear cliff. At one end of the cave is a heavy iron door, the other end, except if you lean out and look back at the cliff face, is open to the night sky in all directions.

The premise is that the characters (and more or less everything else in the dungeon) were cast off the end of the world. The keeper then recovers the discarded objects and puts them into the dungeon. The keeper is an avian humanoid with winged arms, a rooster's head, and thin yet muscular body. If upright it would stand about 9'-10' tall. The keeper(s) also stops people from trying to climb to the surface via the cliff face.

2. Humorous game: a Douglass Adams Ripoff

This is probably the most preperation intensive idea I've had in a while, and the most demanding of the GM, but it seems like a lot of fun. The premise is that interesting facts about every normal DnD item/monster/town etc. are written down ahead of time, and at certian points I'd break into Monolog about them. I described it to someone over AIM:

[11:41] thelonegoldfish: I'm thinking of running a douglas adams style dnd game... (like a normal dnd game, but with random narritive monologs about the strange properties of certian things as the players come across them.)

[11:44] thelonegoldfish: "As you bash in the door you see a small thin reddish rust colored lizard standing in the room, obvously a kobold; Kobolds are quite possibly the second worst tasting creatures in the known world, so much so that not even spice grubs can make them palletable. While they don't smell bad or have any outward appearance to warn such, they leave an aftertaste so horible that some createures have been known to starve to death after taking just one bite of kobold meat."

[11:44] thelonegoldfish: "Drawing on their ability to be universally rejected as a food source, they have gone into the unsavory professions of banking and trade almost exclusivly..."

[11:46] thelonegoldfish: Of the seven saccred condiments, spice grubs are the most often requested for passing at the table of ambrosia, where the gods meet in uncomfortable silence every thanksgiving and christmas."

[11:47] thelonegoldfish: In fact, that's where the phrase "pass the grub" originated...

[11:49] thelonegoldfish: There is even a level of hell for bankers and salesmen, where kobolds are foribly devoured by non-koblold bankers... it's still debated as to whom suffers more in this arrangment...

[11:51] thelonegoldfish: Oh. almost forgot "Light Grog"

[11:53] thelonegoldfish: Light grog was not brewed for flavor, or even to make water drinkable, but rather for it's stability when teleported...

[11:53] thelonegoldfish: This led to it's availablility in almost any tavern in the known/unknown universe...

[11:55] thelonegoldfish: It may taste bad, but it's safe to drink and alchoholic, so it's drunk quite frequently... some customers even claim to have developed a taste for it... though it's mostly out of fear of trying something new and not being able to stomache the cheap and available light grog the next time they're forced to drink it....

3. Motives for an "Evil" game.

The premise I had for the evil game is that a Paladin and his party want to destroy the monsters and make the land safe for their people. The problem is, the players are the monsters.

I don't know how to get the party together, but I've got a lot of ideas as to why the PC's would really, really want to kill the Pally and his party, the main point being that the plan for eliminating all the monsters around the keep/city involves destroying an artifact in the center of the the planned area, thereby clear-cutting every living thing for a mile or two in every direction (the pally wants his city to be big, Pride being his obvious flaw)