So, the no. 1 piece of news is there is no news, at least in regards to a crowdfunding launch with Ragnarol. I’m really happy with the progress I’m making but I want to make sure the game has the best possible chance to succeed so I’m taking the long road and looking to launch in the second half of the year.
Current State
So, that’s what hasn’t been been happening, what’s actually been happening?
Hedron
Hedron’s gone through a couple of rounds of changes and a very dramatic overall. The new version no longer includes piece elimination as the victory scenario, instead introducing a new points system that’s friendlier to more than 2 players. I’d be super interested to see what those that are engaged by the concept of Hedron think of this new change. I’ve got some plans to introduce more variable play to Hedron, but I’m releasing the basic engine first. For more details, check out the latest Designer Diary and the Hedron page.
Ragnarol
Ragnarol has also been going through some changes and I’ve thrown some things away and integrated the successful parts into the base game. I’ve still got plans to introduce asymmetry and variable player powers but nothing’s survived playtesting yet. Check out the Designer Diary 4 for details on the dramatic overall and the Designer Diary 5 for the latest changes. I’m still super keen to get more playtesters included in the development of Ragnarol. If you are keen and want to get some dice to actually roll, I’m probably going to be ordering some more prototype dice from the states soon, so let me know if you think you could put them to good, regular use. In the meantime, a new version of both the rules and the playtest components is available on the website.
A New Thing
I put together Start Up, Sell Out for the BGG 24 hour contest for February. It’s a tile placement game about building a social media start up and selling it to the highest bidder. I’ve got it to the table a few times since the original design and it’s fun and something I’d like to put more time into but it definitely needs some more development. If you feel like checking out the contest and throwing me some thumbs if you’re on BGG, please do so. It seems to be in a forgotten corner of the internet so a few thumbs could result in a win and a bounty of Geek Gold. I’ll let you know once it’s in a more playable state.
Other Things
Impressions and digressions
Part of designing games is playing games so I’ve made a real effort to get more new games on the table in the past couple of months. I don’t feel the need to create another board game review website, but I will post up my thoughts on games occasionally, mostly when I think a particular game has something interesting about it that’s worth looking at from a design perspective. There’s been a lot of talk around a particular game lately, so I gave it a run through and now I’m well and truly caught in it’s net.
Brisvegas
Gaming events and location are on the rise in sunny Brisbane! I helped organise and attended a mini-playtest event in Brisbane. It was mostly just designers this time but we’re looking to expand, so if you’re Brisbane-based, stay tuned and keep an eye on the End Game Games Facebook and Twitter for more immediate news. Also, We’ve also got a brand new board game cafe!
Playtesting
Right now I know there a fair few people playing Ragnarol and Hedron but I’m not getting an awful lot of feedback. I’m thinking part of the problem might be there’s no real development timeline. I’m going to start scheduling when the game’s open to test and when I’ll be moving on based on feedback and testing a new version. Right now, the current version will be open until Tabletop Day, the 5th of April. I’m not expecting any major overhauls with the next release but I will be introducing some new ideas in mid-April. The same is true for Hedron. If anyone’s got any ideas about what would encourage themselves and others to participate in the discussion, please let me know.
Next time…
You can expect more new news with possible real announcements around Tabletop Day. Also, feel free to let me know whether or not you actually read any of this or you just want me all to send you some photos of my handsome dog once a month.