Whoa, it’s been a few months since I’ve updated you, the internet, with news (although there was in fact a super secret New News no. 5 sent to out to super secret list). Since the last New News, I've delivered a Kickstarter, rescued a toddler from a burning building and got stuck back into development for Ragnarol… okay, one of those things is a lie, keep reading to find out!
Hedron: Counting up points
If you’re a Hedron backer, you should have just received you an update telling you that Hedron is on it’s way to being 100% delivered with packages going out to Aussie backers this week. If you’re not a backer, I’ll have a bunch of copies to sell at PAX and there’ll always be a digital version available for purchase online. I've still got a lot of dice rolling around in my head and I hope to come back to Hedron in the not too distant future. In the meantime, you can find some unboxing pics on the End Game Games Facebook or on Hedron’s Boardgamegeek page (a few got rejected, though).
Ragnarol: Apocalypse Pending
After finishing up Hedron, I had a look at my development schedule for Ragnarol and burned it. I was trying real hard to get Ragnarol ready to launch at PAX, but one of my key takeaways from the development of Hedron is that game development takes time, and Ragnarol just isn't ready yet. I’m now hoping for a release date of early next year but my number 1 priority is making the game as awesome as mythologically possible. In the meantime, I’ve got the Boardgamegeek page up with some teaser images.
I’m taking the time to examine a few of past me’s assumptions about the game, and this put development back a little as I’ve fiddled around with a few elements that weren’t sitting right with present me after the past year of development experience. After exploring a few different options, I’ve come back to the table with some minor improvements and a much requested addition, variable player powers. The current version is now running stable and I’ll be putting it through the gauntlet with 3 full days of demos at PAX. After that, I plan to be releasing those blind playtest packets I keep promising before Christmas.
Sonic Blast
We’re still rocking on with Tablepop, but have come to accept that our production schedule will always be a little erratic. We’d love to be able to put them out on a monthly basis but for the time being, it’s not our top priority (it comes slightly behind game development, putting food on the table and maintaining sanity). We’re 6 epsidoes deep now, with our latest episode on Star Wars released earlier this month.
If you don’t mind some slightly dodgy audio, you can also hear me talk with Allen Chang, co-designer of Rise to Power, about how we started making games with Toby and Lin from ATGN. Toby and Lin did a really great job of keeping us focussed and hopefully we provided some insights into getting started with game development. I also talked to the guys from the Action Points podcast about Hedron, Ragnarol and games in general. The Action Points podcast covers pop culture topics, including tabletop games, and have interviewed a bunch of Aussie designers recently, which has bumped them to the top of my listening list (also, fair warning some of their content is adult oriented, but the board game interviews are generally family friendly).
Thanks for reading along! You can expect some pictures from PAX and some more design diaries in November.