Unpublished Prototype Review

My 2,700th game played since March of 2006 was an unpublished prototype and so it gets the honor of being a review of mine in the Every 100 Games Series.

The Excitement
Like many gamers I've dabbled in making my own games for a long time. I even won the county fair grand champion in 4H for the Do Your Own Thing category with my game Kingdoms, which was pretty much Axis & Allies, with some changes on a airbrushed and hinged piece of wood. I played a lot of games of it in Junior High and High School and still actually have it. 

Then fast forward to college and I try my hand at making a CCG type game, I can't remember the name, it had knights, took a ton of my time, I never played it with anyone, and it just sat there. But I was having a blast doing it. 

Now I'm on to another design called Den of Thieves, which is a quick filler type game, and have been playing it a lot with which is why I'm writing this review. It was my 2,700 game played and the game right before was Deer Season, a prototype of a friends. The point here is that there is just something exciting about creating a game and working on it with friends that are in the mood to create as well.

The Hit or Miss
Creating your own game is exciting, but what about playing others prototypes, that is where it can get sticky. Sometimes you find that hidden gem that you know one day is going to be the next big thing board gaming land, but if we're honest with ourselves, most of the time they won't be that good because well their still being worked on. Now, this still being worked on phase is pretty cool when it is your game, but it is less cool when it is someone elses. So this is where I've decided to make sure it's a compromise. You play my game, I'll be willing to play yours, both games get played and we both feel like we've made progress.

Don't Push It
Finally, the bad about unpublished prototypes. You get stuck in that stinker of a game and waste 2 hours of your life that you won't get back for a game that will likely never see the light of day again (I've done this with several of my own games throughout the years, I mean you don't see a designer badge here do ya?). Instead you could've been playing the perfectly balanced game of El Grande or enjoying some Warhammer Invasion. Instead though, you forced yourself or maybe it was your buddy who asked...begged you to spend those 2 hours, the only 2 hours away from kids, work, car repair, soccer games, and the in-laws you've had all week, to play a game written on index cards with blue ink and pizza smudges.

Overall
The world of unpublished prototypes is an unknown one, which I think is why it has such a draw for us gamers. I mean, after all, Twilight Struggle started somewhere.

Eragon Gets His Inheritance

Usually, I do my best not to get involved in book series that are in the process of being written. For example, I started Lord of the Rings 40 years after it had been written, just to be sure no sequels were coming. I waited to read Harry Potter until the summer that the 7th book was coming out, since by the time I finished The Half-blood Prince, The Deathly Hallows was all done and waiting for me.

I buy even less books than series I read that aren't finished. Not sure how much sense that sentence makes, but this week I did something I've never done before. I pre-ordered a book. Now I've pre-ordered the board games before, and video games, and even the LotR Blu-Ray set, but never a book. However, Inheritance, the 4th and final book of the Inheritance cycle, which I've been reading since 2004 is coming out in November. The first two books, Eragon and Eldest, I have in paper back. I bought Brisingr in hard back within the first couple weeks it was out and now I've pre-ordered the last. I'm reading Brisingr again, for a second time to get prepared for the end, and it is even better than I remember it.

So, if you like fantasy books and coming of age stories, then you should get on this boat. You are in the great place that I'm not in, you can pick up book number 1 and begin reading and by November they'll have the final book ready for you to jump into and finish about the same time everyone else does.

Also, on a side note, Eragon the movie, sucked. They really blew it with that one and I wish someone else would pick it up and do it right, invest in the story, and don't try to shorten it into a 1.5 hour fantasy romp of a movie, but make it as epic as the books and at least 2.5 hours long for each of the 4 movies that would have to be made.

Quick Thoughts

1. Alternate Reality Fantasy - Thought of a couple other things having to do with Dracula. The Fury of Dracula a board game where hunters are chasing Dracula a few years after the Brom Stoker's book. Dracula really didn't die, instead he is terrorizing Europe again. Anyways. Good game. Also, along the same vein (hehe...get it?), is a book called the Historian, which is also about a alternate Dracula story.

2. Den of Thieves is already taken for a game name. So I've got to think of something else.

3. I watched The Last of the Mohicans the other night. Good movie. Good book.

Den of Thieves Update #2

Okay, it has now been 2 months since I got the game design bug and it has picked up again. Enough so that I have now set a goal for myself to have a self-published game by January 2012, with a medium for would-be buyers to purchase it, and it have an entry on boardgamegeek.com.

This week saw quite a bit of progress. Not only did I decided on the theme of thieves attempting to steal magical items in a 12th century middle eastern country, but I also made my second prototype. I did change a few things up, the biggest thing going from hexes to regular playing cards. I liked the hexes, but after doing more research into getting that produced, it would just cost me too much to have the hexes made. Since this project is to just get the game made, not shop it around to would be publishers, I figure cards will be easier to get produced, still look good, and still be good game play wise. One thing that I did find switching to cards is that since you can only move in 4 directions now, it is a lot easier to block your opponents thieves from moving.

Also, I talked to my good friend Jeremy, who has a graphic design degree I believe and enjoys drawing. He has officially been commissioned to do the art for the game. By commissioned, I mean asked to do a few sketches for me, if he wants to do so. Commissioned sounds much more cool though.

Also, I've been thinking about company names, because after all you never know, maybe this will get huge and Rio Grande or Z-Man or Mayfair will buy it from me. Or maybe they won't. It'll just be fun to have a company name. I'm leaning towards two different ones. First, is Antler Games. Why you ask? Well, I like Antlers and killing the things that have them. Second is Ekka Board Games. Where does Ekka come from? Elanor Kaylee Krista Adam.

Again, like before, if you are interested in play testing the game, let me know. I've got a couple lined up already, but I can get you play test copy so you can tear the game apart and help make it better.

The Looking Glass Wars

I’ve been reading a book recently called The Looking Glass Wars, which is basically a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland. I all just finished watching Tin Man, a 2007 mini-series about the Outer Zone, which you quickly realize is the land of Oz from the classic story.  I’ve also enjoyed, though apparently most didn’t, the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I’ve decided to give this genre of fiction a name. Let’s call it Alternate Reality Fiction (ARF) fiction.

Now there can be alternate reality fiction, for instance a lot of Fantasy Flight has Taunhauser, a board game about that is themed about the World War continuing. That isn’t what I’m talking about. That is taking real life events and saying how would they’ve have been different if this happened. What I’m talking about is taking a classic work, say Sherlock Holmes or Oliver Twist, and tells a different story set in their universe.  Maybe Moriarty isn’t really a bad guy and him and Holmes team up? Maybe Oliver grows up to be some spy that sneaks into the Ottomans in the late 19^th century to gather information for Great Britain? There are a ton of possibilities for this genre that haven’t been explored yet. I’ve heard of a book called Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. That is what I’m talking about, taking classic literature (though it could be argued if Pride and Prejudice is classic literature) and turning it on it’s ear!

So, lets get back to a quick review of the book.  We find out that the story everyone knows about Alice isn’t really the truth, instead her name is Alyss and she isn’t a child of this world, but is actually from Wonderland where she her evil Aunt Redd has taken over the queendom. I’m not done with it yet, but I’m really liking it. I’ve read both Through the Looking Glass and also the original Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and I’ve got to say, he must’ve been high when he wrote them. The Looking Glass Wars is good thus far and I recommend you take a read, even if you aren’t a fan of the original works.

Kgeekaboo

I know this blog tends to be about theology or board games or sometimes some geeky things I’m doing,

but in reality it is also about life. Though life can be all these things, it is much more than that. So I

wanted to write a bit about something that I’ve been doing with Kaylee for the past few weeks when I

come home from work.

I pull in the drive from work, get out of my truck, and come through the garage door into the dining

room. Kaylee is usually there, pretty excited about seeing me. I’ll usually give her a hug and kiss and then

go give Krista one too. Eventually, maybe after checking my email or talking with Krista or just sitting on

the couch, I make it back to the bedroom to change out of my work clothes. This is when Kaylee wants

to play “kgeekaboo floor”. First she insists that I put her up in the bed, then she wants to be covered

up. Next she asks me to lay down with her and get under the covers. I tickle her a bit and she and I play

peek-a-boo with the covers. Eventually though she starts saying it, “kgeekaboo floor daddy! Kgeekaboo

floor!” What this means is she wants me to slide, under the covers the whole time, off the bed on the

floor. Then squiggle around to the other side of the bed and jump up and yell “boo!” while maybe

tickling her. She greets this action with squeals of delight.

So that, my readers, is life.

Economic Value

Economic value has always fascinated me. First, let’s define the term. According to thefreedictionairy.com is “the amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for something else.” Being about as pure of a capitalist as one can be (minus a few things such as private military or the selling of organs and probably other things I haven’t thought about), I’m looking at this term from a pure individualistic standpoint.

What has got me thinking about this again was a discussion I had with a friend. They were telling me how their family recently purchased some art and had me guess how much they spent. I guessed $200, thinking that was an extravagant amount of money to spend on art. In reality they’d spent about 3 times that much. Which I, of course, thought this was crazy (my friend actually suggested I write about this in a blog, so they know this is going to be discussed). So then I got to thinking, what would be worse for me than buying some random art from a local art fair for that amount of money? First thing I came up with was the opportunity to follow my neighbor’s dog around with a poop-scooper. I’d rather spend my goods, services, and money on art than that.

What other things though amaze me that people give a large economic value to? Name brand clothes is one thing that jumps to mind. People are willing to give a lot of money for a shirt if it has a specific logo on it. Concerts are another one. People will spend a ton of money to go listen for a few hours to some person sing (or lip-sync in the cases of a lot of ‘em) and after they are done, what do they got to show for it? A couple pictures on Facebook. Finally, Coldstone Creamery. That’s right, I’m calling them out. The amount of economic value that they place on their ice cream is similar to the economic value I would place on a large gold nugget. Too bad for them I don’t place the same economic value on their ice cream as I place a couple bent quarters, let alone a gold nugget.

I can’t leave though without admitting that I place economic value on some items that most of the world doesn’t. In particular, I’ve been willing to spend $88.50 for a board game before.  Then there was $12 Japanese popper fishing bait that I bought in Wisconsin, because we were hard up for top water baits thanks to the Muskies taking them all. Then of course there is the immediate agreement to go eat at Yats should anyone ask.

This brings me to my final point. Economic value is a very personal point of view. My friend’s art purchase makes no sense to me, but you slap that art onto the side of a boat and maybe you got me thinking about upping its economic value. Economic value not only depends greatly on who the person is, but what that situation that person finds themselves in. Let’s take the Cold Stone example I gave above. I recently (about 3 months ago, which is recent for a Cold Stone visit by me) took my wife there when her parents were in town. Why?! Because the goods and services I traded (extravagant amount of money even with a half off coupon for ice cream) was worth in my situation the goods and services I received (making my mother-in-law and wife happy and keeping peace in the world).

Maybe my next blog will be about economic value from a theological standpoint. Now that ought to be something.