Duck Review #1 Upcoming

I promised a few post-contest reviews to people. The first one, for Jess Hammer’s The Weaver’s Daughters, is due tomorrow! You can chek out her game over in Omega Kitchen.

Hypodroid version differences

Original Version
Submitted Version
New Version

 As that the above links and previously existing text are now defunct, I decided to clean up this area some.

 I’ve been working on the rewrite as suggested by Adam and I’m currently a decent ways from having something worth reviewing.  But I would like some feedback on how I’ve decided to rewrite.

 As I said, I’m doing a complete rewrite, I only refer to the other versions to make sure I didn’t miss something I wanted to keep.  But I’ve decided to divorce the setting from the rules.  Hopefully, this will clear up the reading of the rules and make everything cleaner.  (Side note: Hypodroids (the PC) are the only non-rule element mentioned in the rules as that the skill system revolves around them.)  I was planning to basically recreate the metaplot original setting (as that it seemed more catchy), and add in a few other settings: one where a war was being waged between hypodroid on a moonbase on human and hypodroid on Earth (no android), one where the hypodroid are terraforming robots gone array(android optional), and one (warning upcoming cliche) where they are designed to fight zombies(no android).  In some of these settings or possibly all the individuality of the hypodroid will be a glitch rather than the norm.  If you want to have an opinion but have no idea what I’m talking about you can check out “Submitted Version”  or just throw out your opinion.  I do it all the time without know what I’m talking about.

 So, any thoughts?

Artist Request

So, I have less artistic ability than I do writing ability, which…well you get the point.  So, could I ask one of our tremendously talented artists to make me a banner for my wordpress site.  I would like something fairly simple featuring “decreased” (and yes I’m picky, I prefer non-capitalized).  I prefer something 2 or 3 tone that isn’t too flashy and my favorite color is grey.  If you are willing to give it a go and want more information let me know, if you are willing and don’t want more information, have at it.

Thanks

temporarily on hold, although thank you Shreyas

Threads :: The New Look

Edit: In case anyone cares I have posted some information on my Noir Game (Sad, Sweet, Song) on my personal WordPress site Adam’s Blog. You can also get there through the link on the right called ‘View from the Fringe”

So, there has been a lot of talk recently on the Story Game forum about the presentation and writing of RPGs. There is a pretty sizeable contingent that holds that RPGs should be written according to adult learning principles (basically in the style of a text book; i.e. clear prose, lots of reminders, practice excercises, clear examples, building principles through repetition, etc). I tend to agree.

Since many of the comments I got on ‘Threads’ revolved around organization of the text and clarity of the presentation, I decided that this draft should be as ‘friendly’ as I could possibly make it.

 Here are the Results:

New Threads Draft

Keep in mind, if you were frightened by the length of the original ‘Threads’ document (40 pages), this section is significantly shorter at 5 pages.

So if you have some time, here are the questions I have:

1. Do you like the new look?

2. Does it help you get through the dry rules material?

3. Is it clear? Does it improve the clarity of the document (versus the previous draft)?

Because, here is the thing, formatting the document in this way takes a TON of time (much more than I thought that it would) and I am trying to see whether or not it is worth the effort… or if I should head back to the drawing board.

I leave you with an alternate cover for Threads (which I ended up much preferring although the bottom text is too small)… I think I am obsessed with the red on black thing :)

–Adam

hypodroid progress

At the moment I’m still working on my revision (of nearly the entire text).  So it maybe a bit before I get to post it.   It appears from Adam’s post that we need to use outside file storage (correct?).  So, I was just getting myself a starting post to get things going.  Subject change, but does anyone care if I post on more than my GC game or are we trying to stay focused?  I opted for the additional free blog.  However, I don’t have time at the moment to post anything, once I do, I’ll add a link from the sidebar.

Since the end of GC and my wonderful scoring I’ve decided (perhaps foolishly) that outside of the writing most of the problems have simple answers.  I will have to say I’m not sure if my game could ever be playable.  I shooting more in the direction of experimention.  I will possibly be posting a new draft of the game sometime in the coming week.

Threads:Introduction (and Status)

Hey guys,

Following the trend, I thought I would post a quick introduction to my Game Chef work, “Threads”:

Capsule:

“What are you willing to die for?”

Your Fate has already been woven.
Your loved ones are doomed.
You are a walking dead man.

Do you accept that Fate? Do you go quietly into the long night?
Or do you fight? Do you struggle to make your death mean something?

Threads is a game designed to emulate war movies and epic tragedies like “Braveheart”, ”300″, or “The Seven Samurai” where the characters have some foreknowledge that they will not live through the upcoming conflict but choose to fight anyway. Rather than focus on dying though, the game is about the connections that bind your character to the world; those things that he would be willing to die for.”

——————————————————————————————————–

In case you have not already had the privledge of slogging through the 40 page work, here is your opportunity! I would very much like any critiques or feedback that you can give (as I am currently factoring in a series of changes for a new version).

For those that have already read through the text, this version is unfortunately not substantively different than the Game Chef Version… I prettied it up a little bit (putting it in a two column layout), added page numbers, fixed a few grammatical errors, and generally fixed the most obvious and easy to correct mistakes. The new revision should actually address the more “troublesome” problems concerning organization and clarity.

Threads — Main Document
Threads — Ugly Character Sheet

As an added bonus, here is a newer version of the character sheet (one that is MUCH better looking). I would appreciate comments from all you graphic designer types (Shreyas, I am looking in your general direction!).

New and Improved Character Sheet

My next post will deal with some of the changes that I am working on as well as some questions that I have for you guys. In addition, I have been challenged to a Game Creation Duel (see Story Games if you are curious) so I will probably post a bit about my process for developing a Noir RPG (hey Chris… it looks like we are in the same boat!).

–Adam Rappold

Silent Archaea :: Status report

Well, I just compiled all the useful feedback from the Game Chef fora. I have like a page and a half of advice and mistakes to correct. I also have some ideas that came after the contest ended.

I will be taking a look at all this stuff as well as giving SA a good read before posting some very specific mechanical questions I have in my head.

Maybe next week.

By now I´m free to give some of your games a good read.

Cheers!

Sacred Bone :: Introduction

Once, there was the rustle of silk…

snowflakes on the window…

jingling metal, crackling beads…

laughter in the halls…

…whispers in the door.

Then Gyeongju was silent for a day and many days, and there were neither kings nor queens in Gyerim. The Dowager King sent word by messenger to the Five Imperial Families: “Send the princes and princesses, O you heads of Pak, Yi, Hae, Seok, and Go! Empress Snow has died and she is at rest in the earth, and we have put away the mourning garments. Let there be a festival in Gyeongju! Let there be a tournament, and we will choose our new heir!”

As winter melted into spring, Gyeongju rustled with silk again. Children chased each other in the rain, and flat-chested ladies and smooth-cheeked lords debated on law and history.

And then, there came the monsters. Thus said the Dowager King: “This is an opportunity not to be missed! We shall have our contest in the field.”

---

Since not everyone has been following Game Chef religiously, I wanted to start off my posts about my game with a little introduction of it, so you all know where I’m coming from.

My entry this year was Snow From Korea :: Sacred Bone, the third in my series of Snow From Korea games, which are meditations on the difficult nature of cultures coming into contact.

Unfortunately, my webspace is down at the moment, but as soon as it’s back up I’ll edit in a link to the lastest draft.

Team Omega! Go!

Go visit our friends at Omega Kitchen!

ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO

Unicron is awesome! This is our post-contest game dev blog, where we will ROCK YOUR FACES with our games. You’ll see that each game has a category where we post about it.

We’ll all leave comments in this post to introduce ourselves, how’s that sound?