Tags: craft, sewing

I'm working on some new Pushout cards. I plan to have a graphical overhaul of the game. (These graphics will be changed) Plus I'm making 60 or more different cards. The guys at Lackey are helping me port the game over so it can be played over the internet using their super awesome program for playing CCG's. You can read about it here. I hope to have a more formalized version of the game by Monday or Tuesday. The old version is here.

Tags: game, update

Come put your pin in our map! I think that most of the pins will be in the same state, but who knows?

Tags: web, wankery, promote, map

The first in a series.

Tags: craft, sewing

Over the weekend, I added all the games in the house to Board Game Geek. We have over 150 games, just in the house. We didn't even look downstairs and I know I have some games at Kel's house. The goal is to use this random selection to get us to play games we haven't played in a long time. I can think of 10 games off the top of my head I've never even played that I've bought. I admit it, I'm a game-a-holic. So, take a look around, refresh the page and discover some games you'd like to play.






I also added the random selection of games to the sidebar.

Tags: game, project

On a trip to a dollar store, I found a cute kid craft kit. With rub-on decals, pieces that pop together, and a propeller that makes it spin when you blow, it was well worth a whole dollar.

Tags: project

Here's my poorly painted mini from the con. I also won these nerdy dice.

Tags: craft

HERE'S the game. Pushout is under half a meg.


It's a nine page PDF with all the parts you need to play including 30 cards (printed off twice to make the 60 card deck), the card backs, the fully illustrated rules and a page of variations.

Download it now. It's not big and it's a full free abstract strategy card game for two players. Yea! I wrote a new game. And this one's pretty good.


An addition to the rules after play testing a bit:

A left/right movement may push itself off the board, lemming-like, leaving a hole. All normal side rules apply.

If a face down card is pushed off the side of the board, it comes under control of that player's side. The player has two options, discard the card or place back into the newly created hole in it's starting orientation. The player does not get to chose the card's orientation as all flipped and drawn cards onto the board are treated this way.

Tags: game

Another miniature I painted last weekend was this skeleton warrior.

Tags: miniature, game, painting

So Bryan introduced me to a great program today, Skitch. You can take a photo or a screen grab and draw on it, type on it, goof on it, and then share the 'doctored' photo. Very fun so far in the few minutes I've had to actually play with it.
One of the gamers at Nuke Con put up a website with photos, so here's a couple borrowed and Skitched shots, to prove we were really there.
Click on the photo to go to the page they are from, and respectful thanks for the borrowed pictures.

Me at the 'Artist Jam'



And the youngens getting in their foam swords groove.



And I suppose, just taking a couple photos and messing with them isn't much of a Thing, so for an added bonus, a mini review of one of the games I played. (And also using Skitch!)

The game Vikings comes from the publisher Rio Grande Games, which told me right off the bat that I would probably like it. I've loved Rio Grande and Ravensburger since I got Labyrinth in '91. From watching some other folks play, I see there's little wooden dudes, and board bits, and it appears it doesn't take up the whole table, but yet has lots of cool parts.
When it was finally my turn to play, I learn that it is somewhat random (drawing the doods, and the shuffled stacks), and somewhat strategy (deciding if/when to buy things). The basic premise is to get the most points by making your own set up better, not specifically by messing up the other players, altho there are definitely times when helping yourself messes the others up. It's pretty quick to play, because there are only so many tiles, and it works as a 2 player game, tho our expert teacher said it wasn't quite as exciting with only 2. It looked complicated when watching, but was quick to learn and actually simple while having several things to keep track of. I only played once, but I came in tied for first. Awesome bonus, I tied with a friend that I hadn't seen in about 20 years, and we reconnected at the con.

Again, respectful thanks for the photos, and click on them to go to the web page I Skitched them from.

Tags: game, web, wankery

Today's Thing is part one of a new abstract card game I wrote called Pushout. Today, I spent a few hours on creating the templates, formatting, design and layout of the 30 unique cards of the game. The picture you see is the set-up for a bigger variation of the game called Double Pushout. There are seven pages of printable cards, including a page of card backing for double-sided printers. The nut of this Thing for me was developing a system to make the cards easy to assemble in a factory-like way. This will make it easier to add expansions down the road.

When the game is finalized, it'll have graphic examples of game play and some game play variations. Tomorrow, I write the rules and will post the PDF.

So, warm up your printers for a free game tomorrow (probably late) and help me play test Pushout.

Tags: game, art, project

One of the things I did at the gaming convention was take a miniature painting class. This little dude shows the lessons I learned about layering the paint.

Tags: game, painting, miniature

My biggest enemy is time for these daily Things. I have about 7 or 8 big ideas, but no time to really finish them to my satisfaction. Most of these projects actually have some work completed, but with the draining, but necessary work still ahead.

For instance, today I wrote an abstract card game based on a mutual player use of cards. It's got thirty cards in the game. I know what I'm putting on the cards and the rules aren't too complex. The problem is graphics. That's the time suck, making each card graphic for the PDF and the one or two graphic for the rules to show the table layout for the game. Here's a mock-up of one of the 30 different cards in the game. It took me fifteen minutes and it's not my final idea. Ugh.



So, today's Thing is a quick run down of some of my larger projects, mostly games.

1. The game you see above. It's a smallish card game.

2. The big game. It's a word/tile game with modular, scalable rules. This game, if it works, is the one I want to get published. There's 144 cards in the first expansion and 200 small tokens, 50 of four different colors. There's still a lot of math to do, plus writing the rules and the 20 or so variations we've already dreamed up, making each individual card in four colors.

3. My two-player RPG, still in the very early stages.

4. An evil office game that's mostly written. It uses a deck of cards and could get you fired. It's a social game to help spice up the question, "So, how'd work go today?" You can play by yourself even. It's less a game, than an organized prank.

5. A different fame/RPG based on the Dreamblade miniatures, adding a storytelling aspect to the game.

6. An RPG using CCG cards like Magic or The Spoils as a sort of GM for the game and character creation.

7. A Hybrid game using OctaNe and The Roach.

8. A fake TV Guide to the new season, I have the graphics finished and some of the comedy written. I hope that's done by Monday because comedy grows stale quickly.

9. An OctaNe adventure.


I know this is mostly gibberish, but it's a reminder of what I have yet to do. Most days it's easy enough to slap out a comic or create some goofy TTOTD web page or generate bad abstract art. I try to be finished in an hour or so, but the large projects still nag at me. Even the new podcasts take about 4-5 hours.

One last note, The Cashington Roach setting I made for The Roach of Al-Hib Shari was noticed and linked by the game creator, Jason Morningstar. It's HERE, cool. He posted it weeks ago and I finally noticed it, duh. I also posted The Walking Dead scenario to Board Game Geek.

Tags: game, essay

Tags: craft, game, project

Due to Family Vacation, there will be no Thing for Shelly on Friday or Bryan on Monday.

Tags: pass