And it is somehow midday Sunday, and I’ve got a house to clean so I can’t spend a lot of time on this. I started a new playwriting class this week (student, not teacher) and have written about ten pages (??!) of new play so I don’t feel too terribly guilty about not having gotten games stuff written, but I still want to get in a design post for the week. So seeing as how it’s Sunday and there’s no topic associated with Sunday, I’ll just do a short general update and get on with my day.
I’ve chatted recently with a couple of different designers from around town, and it’s been really great to just talk shop with folks whose minds work in a similar but not identical fashion to my own. Providing feedback on other people’s designs, rulebooks, and prototypes is a good stretch for the creative-analytical muscles, while providing less ego-stress than talking about my own designs. That being said, it gave me a thrill to bring up my previous post about Fantasy GM Squared Design aesthetics to my collaborators at Ironrise Games, and the discussion we had afterwards about art for the game felt simultaneously cart-before-the-horse guilty and wow-I’m-motivated-to-make-this-real exciting. This week, I really need to build my own copy of the 1.1 game, and get some more tests in. I wonder if it’s worth roping my brothers in, and putting in the time to build this on Tabletop Simulator? Maybe the R2i folks would be willing to get in some playtests if I could provide them with a copy. Of all my designs, this one feels like it’s the closest to becoming a reality, if I can just apply myself and get the tests in that I need to refine the core gameplay.
After a long hiatus I dove back into playing Stardew Valley, and much as I need to work on FGM^2, I really want to plot out (if not build) a 1.0 of Amberlodge. I’ve reached the point in Stardew’s current endgame where producing and refining almost all the materials is within my grasp, and it just makes me hungry for a fuller simulation of the distillery side of the game. It’s in my brain and won’t let go; perhaps this coming week’s design post can be a deep dive revisiting where I left off and what the action items are for a plan to get to 1.0. We’ll see!
BURN still knocks around my head at times, but my vision of it remains the lowest in resolution. As the most original out of the three designs, there’s so much that’s amorphous and unformed, no pattern and no cloth. Maybe noodling through to some specifics can be the focus of some upcoming Mechanic Mondays, but in all likelihood, it’s going to be the hardest design to hit meaningful milestones on for the summer. Might be best to try for incremental progress when inspiration strikes, but get some bigger completed milestones under my belt on other designs to build up skills and momentum to tackle this one.
Alright, well, I’ve got some clarity from laying this all out, and some good actionable next steps. I’ll try to get a look at Amberlodge out this week, and will detail any other progress I make as well. Til next week!
I’ve chatted recently with a couple of different designers from around town, and it’s been really great to just talk shop with folks whose minds work in a similar but not identical fashion to my own. Providing feedback on other people’s designs, rulebooks, and prototypes is a good stretch for the creative-analytical muscles, while providing less ego-stress than talking about my own designs. That being said, it gave me a thrill to bring up my previous post about Fantasy GM Squared Design aesthetics to my collaborators at Ironrise Games, and the discussion we had afterwards about art for the game felt simultaneously cart-before-the-horse guilty and wow-I’m-motivated-to-make-this-real exciting. This week, I really need to build my own copy of the 1.1 game, and get some more tests in. I wonder if it’s worth roping my brothers in, and putting in the time to build this on Tabletop Simulator? Maybe the R2i folks would be willing to get in some playtests if I could provide them with a copy. Of all my designs, this one feels like it’s the closest to becoming a reality, if I can just apply myself and get the tests in that I need to refine the core gameplay.
After a long hiatus I dove back into playing Stardew Valley, and much as I need to work on FGM^2, I really want to plot out (if not build) a 1.0 of Amberlodge. I’ve reached the point in Stardew’s current endgame where producing and refining almost all the materials is within my grasp, and it just makes me hungry for a fuller simulation of the distillery side of the game. It’s in my brain and won’t let go; perhaps this coming week’s design post can be a deep dive revisiting where I left off and what the action items are for a plan to get to 1.0. We’ll see!
BURN still knocks around my head at times, but my vision of it remains the lowest in resolution. As the most original out of the three designs, there’s so much that’s amorphous and unformed, no pattern and no cloth. Maybe noodling through to some specifics can be the focus of some upcoming Mechanic Mondays, but in all likelihood, it’s going to be the hardest design to hit meaningful milestones on for the summer. Might be best to try for incremental progress when inspiration strikes, but get some bigger completed milestones under my belt on other designs to build up skills and momentum to tackle this one.
Alright, well, I’ve got some clarity from laying this all out, and some good actionable next steps. I’ll try to get a look at Amberlodge out this week, and will detail any other progress I make as well. Til next week!
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