For anyone out there following this blog, I'm sorry I went dark for so long. There's been a lot going on lately. I've moved into a new place. The game I've been working on has grown a life of it's own. I started my own game studio (It feels very pretentious to say that since it's just me) I started writing for Nerd Titan. This coming weekend will make for a third consecutive weekend of gaming conventions. I've also decided to create my own game setting which I have yet to name.
The new place is great. It's a much better size for me and my wife. I get to have an office now complete with cardboard organizers I scrapped together. Lacey, our dog, doesn't mind not having her own yard as long as we leave a blanket around for her to crawl under and sleep. Not much else to say about the move.
Dig Site is doing well. I need to test a few minor changes that I just made and then I'm ready to send a prototype off to the publishers for evaluation. I played with the idea of changing how Artifacts work, but in the end it would be a lot of trouble to change something that didn't need to be fixed. I also played with the idea of setting it in the steam punk world that Bonsai Games created for Ruse (with their permission), but in the end I also decided that the game is better off without trying to layer two themes into it.
The game studio is called Elderhaven Entertainment. like I said earlier I feel very pretentious saying I own a game studio, but I do even if it's just me and my computer. We have a twitter, @elderhavengames and a facebook page /Elderhavenentertainment. Dig Site is going to be the first game Elderhaven will get published hopefully, and I have a few other ideas for future games.
Nerd Titan is a nerd blog site that I've been writing for for a couple of months. I'm not sure how much longer I will be contributing to their site. My schedule has changed recently and I'm not sure how much time I can devote to the posts.
My trio of game conventions started with Game Storm which was march 22-24 then Table Top Day on the 31st and this weekend is Jut a Game Con. Game Storm was amazing 3 days of non-stop gaming. I got introduced to Dragon Dice showed Dig Site a few times, and met some awesome people. For Table Top Day several local geek groups got together and threw a fundraiser for the local Girls and Boys club. We had a great turn out for a first time event and are already planning next years festivities. JAGC is a local bi-yearly convention. I'm super excited about going because I'm about 6 months ahead of my self imposed development schedule for Dig Site. I didn't think I would be able to bring a nice prototype until the JAGC in August.
The Setting I'm planning on putting together is still very nebulous, but I'm going to file it in the genre of Spell-Punk. The idea is to take the time period of steampunk but instead of the mechanical advancement replace mechanical progression with magical. I'm not enough of a history buff to set it in anything like a real world time period, instead it will be an alternative Europeanesque setting.
Showing posts with label Bonsai Entertainment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bonsai Entertainment. Show all posts
Friday, April 5, 2013
Friday, October 12, 2012
Ruse: A game of murder, intrigue and hypodermic needle rifles
Ruse is a great card game. I got to play test it a few weeks ago at a local convention. It's a steam-punk themed murder mystery game. The game play revolves around the holy trinity of murder, Method, Motive, and Opportunity. There's only one looser, the person that committed the murder, and everyone else wins. Another facet of the game I appreciated is that it is constructed from a standard 52 card deck so you can use it to play your favorite standard card games.
The cards are split into 2 general types, alibis and accusations. A player loses when they have three accusations a Motive, Method, and Opportunity in front of them and can't remove any of them with an alibi. There is a one use option everyone has to remove an accusation from in front of them. The game play is fast and solid. The longest game I played was about 30 minutes and the shortest was about 8. The turns are simple, play 1 draw 1 and the mechanics of playing cards are very simple to pick up.
Ruse is a wonderful short game. It will make a great gateway game to introduce people to more complicated card games, and I would keep it in my library as a side game to give to RPG groups while I'm taking a player to the side. The art on the cards was very well done and quite enjoyable, my favorite was the Hypodermic needle rifle. Bonsai Entertainment did a great job putting this together and I'm looking forward to getting a copy of it. It should be on kick starter within the month and I wish them the best of luck with it.
The cards are split into 2 general types, alibis and accusations. A player loses when they have three accusations a Motive, Method, and Opportunity in front of them and can't remove any of them with an alibi. There is a one use option everyone has to remove an accusation from in front of them. The game play is fast and solid. The longest game I played was about 30 minutes and the shortest was about 8. The turns are simple, play 1 draw 1 and the mechanics of playing cards are very simple to pick up.
Ruse is a wonderful short game. It will make a great gateway game to introduce people to more complicated card games, and I would keep it in my library as a side game to give to RPG groups while I'm taking a player to the side. The art on the cards was very well done and quite enjoyable, my favorite was the Hypodermic needle rifle. Bonsai Entertainment did a great job putting this together and I'm looking forward to getting a copy of it. It should be on kick starter within the month and I wish them the best of luck with it.
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