Making a Game

Standard meeple army

Okay, its time to make a game. Specifically, a table top board and or card game. This series going to mostly be a design diary, but if I get a really strong interest in moving forward.... Who knows. Lets get started.

First things first, I need some basics. I could go with a very complex or a very simple game. I'm going to try to keep it simpler. First, its just me play testing this game later. I cannot play test enough for a complex game like say Warhammer 40,000 or Magic the Gathering. So no to tactical miniatures, and collectible card games. I want to stay away from lots of tokens and draw decks. some are fine, too many can make the game take more time to set up and clean up than to play. Long setups can stop a game before it starts, and long cleaning ups will cause either lost pieces, or be the last thing you remember about a game. I want player turns to be relatively quick no more than 1 min or so per turn, with a total playtime of 20 to 40 min. Longer games will likely run afoul rules complications and such. Do I want a board for this game? I suppose I will find out later.

Ralph breaks the Internet

So, I saw Ralph Breaks the Internet last night, and enjoyed it pretty well.

Taken in a vacuum the show comes off endearing, mostly well thought out, with some pretty good morals/ life lessons being thrown in. However, It does not compare as well to Wreck it Ralph as I wish it did. It hits many right notes: Making fun of Disney, Internet Culture, showing off the duality of how the Internet can be both used and misused. Showing how it brings us both together and apart. More so it does all of this without even hinting about Adult content out there.

The movie throws enough Internet culture out there that almost anyone can find some meme they like. The crew clearly know what buttons to push to show "we know this culture and we can show it off." Again, it does better in a vacuum as it felt a bit more forced and used as advertising rather than a homage like it did in Wreck it Ralph.

The show does take some liberties with how the Internet works, but it makes for a very good primer for what you should and shouldn't do while on the Internet. More Spoilery points below the break.

Beware!

Keyforge Review

Taken from Fantasy Flight Games Website
used without permission

So, Spent some time playing Keyforge since the pre-release this weekend at my local Brick and Mortar. It was fun, we played a sorta tournament thing and I ended up undefeated over 4 games. Turns out with some games later this week I still am. So that almost never happens. My track record with card games like these is normally weak deck building so this might be a place where I really shine, who knows. But lets get into some immediate thoughts on the game.

First, some info: The game is played with pre-constructed decks built by computer algorithm. The whole process happens at the factory, and each deck gets a custom generated name and card back as well, to enforce the not changing decks. The game play spends quite a bit of time finding ways to do common things card games do and doing them absolutely opposite. I and most Magic players will find they are always doing things the wrong way, for instance: