Velocimancer Games

I've made some progress on Project Smatter (Neon Fight? Neon Flights? Neon Static?) but I think it needs more work than I can really give it to make it contest-ready by the deadline.  But we'll see! I really like the game (the big scary change I'm considering making is giving one action per player per turn, instead of two.  Dunno if I'm smart enough to play that game, much less design it) but I frankly don't play Go, Chess, Tafl, even Checkers; none of the heavy abstrategy games.  So I'm sort of paralyzed by that.  And there's only a month left in the 2P contest.  I may just mess with For King and Country, polish that up and submit that. So what have I been working on instead? Probably nothing, right? I mean probably.  Except that I've got this bug in my head for a solitaire 52-card game.  It's inspired by my reading and commenting on a lot of design stuff on the BGG Design forums, and you can definitely see fingerprints from others' (unfinishe

Today's post is a short one, which is fitting as it commemorates an achievement of no great note, beside personal pride.  Today I wrote up a little more on my BGG thread about Project Smatter, outlining the boards.  Recently, I've been obsessing over whether the boards should adhere to multiples / exponentials of three or two, trying to thematically link the layouts of the boards to overarching numerical motif blah blah blah.  Writing stuff down in the BGG thread, I had contrasting information.  Whatever.  Nail down the basics, talk about some possibilities, but not for too long, because nailing down the basics means you have enough of a foundation to start playing. And after writing it up, with pictures and bolding, that's what I did: I just started playing.  I got out the pieces, I set up the boards, and I started playing myself.  I got confused, so I got out a turn marker.  I got stuck in a back-and-forth, so I restarted with one of my possible mechanics; sPawn upgraded

What? Two posting days in a row? Is he back, folks? Is he back? Well, we'll see. I wanted to coalesce some thoughts I've had for a two-player semi-abstract game.  Its working title is Project Smatter, as it involves cyberpunk and chess elements.  Well, chess-ish. That's the thing.  The game as I will envision it will push how we envision abstract games, while also utilizing different mechanics from the oldest games of the genre.  I especially want to play with: Pieces that change into other pieces. Different capturing types: Jumping, a la Checkers Taking, a la Chess Hammer-and-anvil / surrounding, a la games of the Tafl family. An unusual board Right now, it's a 2-player game where each side starts with 8 pieces, all of the basic type - sPawn (Can move 3 spaces, hammer-and-anvil style conversion, turns enemy pieces into friendly sPawn).  Ideally, sPawn can be (optionally) upgraded under certain conditions to become cRooks (Can move 2 spaces, jump to conver

As promised, I am come out of hiding.  And today, so soon after my last post (the wonderfully poorly-received Sweet Game), I have yet another complete(ish but largely untested) fast little game design for you! Here's For King and Country, a game to be played between two players, using the standard 52-card poker deck.  I designed it for the Dice Hate Me Loves Cards contest, not realizing that they were looking for games that used custom decks.  As my game used existing 52-card decks, it was not an eligible entry. I'm still pleased by the game, however.  It's a quick, rough thing, but I like the 'spread' mechanic, and it's also an homage of sort to Sid Sackson, and some of my other favourite designers. Anyhow, if anyone's interested, the game can be found here .  It includes the rules and scoring for For King and Country, and also for the 2+ player variant, For Love or Money. Slan!

Bit of a stretch, eh? Well, my last post came two days before being laid off from my cushy 9-5 job.  I immediately had to change gears and start looking for a job.  I've since been working multiple jobs to cover rent, bills, loans, etc.  BLAH BLAH SOB STORY, I've been getting by alright, and I've also been as busy with theatre stuff as ever (perhaps even more so) so in general, I haven't had time at a desk to sit and update this.  But I've certainly still been turning the gears; in fact, my primary place of employment right now is the fabulous Cat n Mouse Game Store, here in Chicago.  I was incredibly lucky to get the job, especially so soon after being laid off, and it's meant a great grounding in all things to do with games, puzzles and toys.  Unfortunately, it's not a desk job, and I spend my time actually working in the store rather than whiling away on the computer (couldn't anyway, the computer's a bit of a relic). So anyway, I've been co