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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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Ok, so I promised myself in an earlier post that I would start to write about the design process for my recent game inspiration, or at least my random thoughts therein. If someone finds this at all interesting, great. If not, at least I'm getting it down somewhere and out of my head.
Here is what I wrote down on some complimentary stationary at a hotel during my initial inspiration:
Discover a new route to India!
Inspired by Columbus's journey
2-4 players
* Each ship was actually in competition.
* 4th player controls the weather once the intial loser is sent back (I was thinking that I had heard that there were actually 4 ships in Columbus's original journey, but that for whatever reason only three sailed to the New World)
* Only the land/water near Spain is known.
* 4 stages of gameplay:
... 1. Known waters, at end of phase last place returns to Spain and controls the weather for the remainder of the game (the fourth ship that sprung a leak?)
... 2. Unknown waters prior to the equator (becalmed area)
... 3. Becalmed area
... 4. Final unknown waters to sighting of land/landing[/floatright]
* Different possible landing sites, some closer some farther away:
... 1. Bahamas (actual assumed landing)
... 2. Mexico
... 3. Cuba
... 4. Florida
* Should the players stay together, or split up (hence the need for multiple landing sites)
* Treat it like a water racing game? Using large random ocean tiles similar to the board building in Road Kill Rally?
* Some kind of mechanic to keep anyone from falling too far behind? ie the player controlling the weather can affect the lead ship more than the other players' ships. Maybe it should be 3-5 players instead...
* The way a player controlling a ship wins is to sight land first/land first, the way the player controlling the weather wins is by knocking all of the other players out of the "race" or maybe delaying the journey enough/causing enough damage that the crew mutiny.
Additional thoughts:
Started doing some research about Columbus's journey... it's been some time since I went through it in school. I remember a scene from the movie Big, where Tom Hank's character mentions the fourth ship at a dinner party discussion. So far though, I haven't found any mention of it online (except as a part of a later return journey that did involve four ships). I'll have to pull that movie off the shelf and re-watch the scene to see if I'm just making it up.
Found out that there was a lifetime pension offered by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela to the first sailor that spotted land.
The idea of the person controlling the weather winning by causing enough of a delay that the ships all mutiny would lend itself to setting up a set number of turns and therefore a more set game length.
I seem to remember that the crews of Columbus's ship almost mutinied after being becalmed for a long period of time and wanted to turn around and go back. Need to research this.
To Do:
* Read a half-dozen different historical accounts of Columbus's journey and see what "facts" emerge.
* Sketch some rough ideas for board concepts
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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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So there I am sitting in a hotel bed reading a Game Designer's diary about how he first comes up with a theme and then models a game mechanic around it, which was just the opposite of another Designer Diary post I had read recently where the game designer starts with a game mechanic and develops the theme later. Both presented games that I plan to add to my collection. Eruption is already out there, and Mirror Mirror prompted me to create an account on Kickstart and become a Backer.
Anyways, I was sitting there reading the post and just like that an idea for a game came to me and I had to jump out of bed and grab the complimentary paper and pen. I have no idea what inspired it, because it has almost nothing to with the design of Eruption... it might use a hex board layout and would involve water, but that's extent of the similarity. It seemed more along the lines of how the creator of Mirror Mirror approaches his game design.  Having never designed a game before, I certainly am not trying to draw any real comparison between myself and these accomplished designers, but I do think that I will make my design process a part of future posts on this blog.
There are a few reasons for this. First, I am starting to enjoy the routine of pulling my thoughts together to post something that maybe is of interest to others. It is helping me to think about how to improve my writing skills and communicate my thoughts and ideas more clearly.
Second, I hope that others chime in and add their thoughts during the design process. One of the group-think exercises that I thought was very effective in architecture school was basically a 5 minute sketch session around a simple theme, such as the design of a company logo. No idea was good or bad, you spent about 10 seconds on each idea and then posted it for everyone to see... the purpose was quantity rather than quality. You would never know what that silly or strange thing you posted would inspire in the others involved. Out of that 5 minute session you would have 50-60 ideas that often times would inspire you in directions you wouldn't have considered. Many times the discussions I read on the BGG or VGG forums seem to go this way, off topic comments that take the conversation in unforeseen directions. Sometimes this is just annoying, but other times it can be insightful. Maybe I'll be fortunate enough to get that kind of attention, maybe not.
Third, it'll push me to keep at it; to not think to myself weeks or months down the road, "that was a good idea, I should have done something with it." If I commit to posting about it, maybe I can shame myself into continuing. At least until I can decide if it is something that I really do want to pursue. And perhaps just the discussion of it will help someone else as they pursue a similar goal.
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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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Have you participated in the Tasty Minstrel Game giveaway contest? Did you give a real effort to answer the questions? I did... at first, and left with a somewhat sour taste in my mouth.
As I expected to find once I pulled up the test, the questions could only be answered, without guessing, if you read through the manual a bit and learn enough about the game that you, hopefully, become interested in buying it.
So, the first question was about Eminent Domain. I dutifully pulled up the manufacturer's website and opened up the manual to read a bit about the gameplay, thinking that probably in the back somewhere there would be a FAQ section or something with the answer. No such luck. I found a reference that allowed me to exclude one of the possible answers (I'm being careful not to say too much  ), but after a fair amount of searching I determined that there was no way to tell for sure without actually flipping through the game components, which are not all listed in the manual or anything. But, I figured that maybe I was just missing something and the clues were all there... somewhere. So, after about 5 minutes or so of effort, I guessed.
The next question was about Homesteaders. I went through a similar amount of effort and again despite some clues, I was forced to guess. Another 5 minutes wasted.
By that point, I had had enough and guessed on the rest... and I wasn't able to answer truthfully to one of the questions: "Actually, you guys kinda suck". Eminent Domain sounds interesting and so does Homesteaders, but I would have appreciated the courtesy of asking questions that could feasibly be answered by reading the manual and getting a good feel for the game play. I imagine that I could have come up with the answers by scouring assorted posts about the games on BBG, but I think that's a bit much for them to ask of my time for just the slight extra chance of winning.
Now, I could kind of care less about the other games and didn't even bother taking a look at them. I know the idea was to give extra chances to win to those people who actually looked at the games instead of just trying to win something, but as far as I'm concerned, their attempt failed miserably. At least it did with me.
Disclaimer: If I win, I'll still accept the games. I am, after all, a practical and greedy person. 
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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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Social media is here to stay. I'm sure there were discussions about whether MySpace would be just a fad for some time after it was made available. And certainly MySpace doesn't have the market share anymore, but Facebook is basically the same product and it's obviously huge. Now with Twitter continuing to grow and gain worldwide acceptance and use, the idea of having near-realtime updates of information about peoples' and companies' daily lives/operations is becoming an accepted part of our environment. The company I work for just finished hiring two new employees, and the only advertising of the positions we did was through Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. And although we didn't get the massive response we were expecting, given the state of the economy, it still worked. So these services can serve a real purpose on both the personal and business side of things.
On the personal front, I just don't care to use Facebook. I'll post some updates about "whatever" once in awhile, but so much of the "content" is just banal nonsense. I'm sorry, but I don't really care that you are heading out to the store. It seems like 90% of the News is stuff that isn't worth the time to even scan through. I also have a Twitter account. BGG sends a tweet anytime I record a Play, but aside from that I'm not really using it. I could tweet each time I complete a blog post here, but for the most part the only people that might be interested in these ramblings are someone at BGG and VGG anyways, so why bother? So, I just haven't figured out how it could be useful for someone like me. *shrug*
But, over the last couple of weeks I have really warmed up to BGG and VGG, and I am coming to think of it as my "Facebook". In the past, I really only used BGG to read the occasional review of a game I was thinking of getting or to browse the list of top rated games to create a shopping list for GenCon or Xmas. I might get involved with reading posts for a couple of weeks and then not log in for several months. As a result, I've always missed out on the free stuff that's shown up in my BGG mailbox around the holidays. 
What draws me to this outlet instead is probably the same thing that draws me to Gen Con Indy... even if you're alone in the crowd, you are surrounded by people who have the same/similar interests. OK, I go to Gen Con for more than just to get lost in the crowd , but where/when else can you just start talking to someone standing next to you and not get a look that says "What the hell are to talking to me for?"  BGG and VGG (and presumably RPGG) will remain relevant so long as it maintains it's strong sense of community. The moderators have all been very helpful in nudging me towards adding better and better content. I'm not sure that I have seen any posts that are deliberately insulting or "flaming", although I am sure that they happen... presumably they get edited out when they do appear. All we are missing are the time-wasting games from Facebook. 
OK, well, now it's time to go to the Post Office.
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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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I have had an on-again off-again love affair with the Japanese language for many years now. I was a huge Anime fan through college and for years after, but I don't follow it much now. I still listen to Japanese pop music most of the time. The summer classes and other tutoring that I attended helped get me started, but it was always something that was squeezed in with everything else... and you probably can guess how well that worked out. Although I generally can get the gist of the song or story, the details are beyond me. I like to joke that were I magically transported to Japan, I'd at least be able to ask where the bathroom was and order food.
When I went to enter the handful of Japanese video games in my collection into the VGG database, I started by simply referencing a website that had a page that gave somewhat of a description of the game and also included a number screenshots and YouTube videos. Unfortunately, since it was not Wikipedia, the submission was denied and the moderator requested that I create my own summary. Since I've spent WAY too many hours playing the game in question, Spirit Fighter Spriggan, I figured I could cobble something together. Another game, though, I wasn't as familiar with. So, I decided to translate the Story portion of the manual.
I knew that there were some translation sites out there, although in the past when I had checked them they didn't support Japanese -> English (just mostly translations between the romance languages). This time I found three major sites that allowed you to paste in some text and it would do the translation for you. One is powered by Google, and is simply called Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/). Another is Babylon (http://translation.babylon.com/japanese/to-english/). And the last is Yahoo!Babel Fish (http://babelfish.yahoo.com/)
Piece of cake, right? Just type in the sentences and copy-paste. HA! Not so much. To call it broken English would be generous. And, all three sites would vary a fair bit from each other. Here is an example:
Quote: Original: 汝は冒険者か。 危険という名の滝をくぐり抜け、その奥に、伝説の正体を求める者か。ならば、我を求めよ。
Google: Do ye adventurers. Slip through the name of the falls risk in the back, or those who seek the identity of the legend. Then, find herself.
Babylon: Is thou a venturer? The person who pursues legendary real nature in the depths through a waterfall named the danger. Then demand me.
Babel Fish: As for 汝 venture person? The person who passes through the cascade of the name, danger, seeks the natural shape of legend from the inner part? If is, it seeks our.
This is taken from the opening lines of the Story portion of the manual for The Secret of Blue Water, a video comic based on an Anime of the same name. Here is what I came up with from that mess:
Quote: Art thou an adventurer? Someone who would know the truth of the legend no matter the danger? If so, follow!
I took a bit of artistic license, but it sounds natural, and it gets the gist across. In the end it was kind of fun. Today I just finished up the revised description for Spriggan... which ended up a mix of original description of the game and a translation of the Story out of the manual (although this one was much shorter than The Secret of Blue Water).
Now I'm just waiting for someone fluent in both languages to come by and say" That's not what that says!"
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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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Although I've been using BGG for awhile now to keep track of my board game collection, the whole community just seemed so big and I felt that I had so little to contribute considering that I was still pretty new to the board game/NC card game scene. I had always meant to donate a little hard cash but never quite got around to it... this year I promise it'll be different!
With VGG I feel that I have a bit more to contribute, since I've been playing video games ever since my parents bought me an Atari 2600 in 1981 (more or less)... I was 6 at the time. And in the case of the video games, not everything that I tried to add to my Collection was in the database. Even when I bought brand new board games at GenCon... they were already there in BGG!! So, I've been learning how to enter video games, version, images, etc. I've screwed up a few times, and although I didn't read the ENTIRE submission guide (it's a bit long), I read enough that for the most part my screw-ups were more purely accidental (forgot to resize the image before uploading) or mis-interpreting the guidelines (The CD-case front and back for a TurboGrafx-16 CD game is NOT considered the box front and back). The Series and Version/Release system makes more sense now, but it seems like it isn't always adhered to.
I still disagree with stargate (one of the long-suffering and helpful moderators) that ALL of the media for a game should be included in one image. Certain physical components that come with a video game are not just marketing materials... they are essential to the gameplay. The example that I was arguing was that a world map for an RPG should be included as a separate image. This way if the map was lost or destroyed but a VGG user still had the video game, that user could at least use the image of it to reproduce a new one, albeit at quite the reduced quality.
It was mentioned by stargate that the rules for images on VGG are the same as for RPGG in that they do not want every media item of a role playing game scanned and posted individually. My issue with that is in the case of the role playing game, the map (to keep with the same example) IS what you are paying for and could probably be used separately and without paying for the role playing game/package itself. In the case of a video game, I just don't see how this would be the case. Obviously, there would be exceptions on both sides, and the map image that I submitted did get approved.
My thought was to add a "Game Components" category for video game images in order to allow for non marketing media materials specifically for video games to be allowed to inclusion. I don't think my suggestion will end up going anywhere though. *shrug*
If storage space is the big issue, I'll be happy to send in a 1TB hard drive as my donation.
My wife just shakes her head each time I tell her how much more GeekGold I've earned. I'll get that avatar yet!
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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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Been taking a look online to see if anyone knows whether The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will have a midnight release event at GameStop, but it appears to be too early to tell at this point. Some feel that although this is a fairly big release, it's still not the kind that'll sell a million copies the first day... and therefore not worth a midnight release.
I've already got my pre-order in and plan to take that Friday off. I kind of like the idea of playing until my brain turns to jelly! My wife has just been shaking her head, but she surprised me a bit when she didn't try to convince me that I'm an idiot for taking a day off just to play a video game.
I suppose if I have to get up and visit GameStop as soon as they open on Friday, I'll live...
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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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GenCon is just around the corner again, and for me that means another $200 budget for new games (which usually ends up more around $300, but 50% over budget isn't that bad, is it? ). I look over at our game cabinet and I cringe a bit to see that the box cover of at least one of the games in the pile on top is starting to cave in a bit. Some of the games on top are from last GenCon and a handful are from Christmas. In addition to those dozen and a half games, there are some at the top of the coat closet, and some more stored in the bottom of the hutch. To some perhaps (were anyone to actually read this), they might laugh that I've ONLY got that many without a home.
I'm finishing our 1,000 SF basement into a home theater/office and a gaming room/wet bar/library. Eventually, I'll be moving most of the games down there into some heavy-duty library shelving I bought from our office product library when we started working from home. They are steel and can carry the weight of just about anything you stack on them, so the weight of all the games isn't an issue. Although the weight of games isn't really much of a problem anyways, it's bulk. Games are just plain big, or at least the boxes are. I suppose that I could re-box some of the games in order to save space, but I generally like the colorful artwork on the outsides of the boxes and a wall filled with that sight should be impressive. I wonder, though, what tricks those members that have silver and gold boardgame collector microbadges use... or do they just no longer have a two-car garage to use for vehicles?
Something to ponder as construction continues...
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Ryan Bell
United States
Brownsburg
Indiana
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[My original profile ramblings]
I am a relative n00b when it comes to gaming, but over the last few years have made it a larger part of my life. I was huge into video games as a kid (NES, SNES, TurboDuo, etc.) and played the mass-market board games, but it wasn't until several years ago that a friend in Chicago would occasionally get me involved with D&D or get me to play an alternative board game such as Pirateer while I was visiting for the weekend. Also, with GenCon moving to Indianapolis, it certainly made an event like that very accessible (and my house a convenient hotel for attendees). It probably wasn't until New Year's Eve shortly after Three-Dragon Ante came out, that I got sucked in for good.
My wife (girlfriend at the time) didn't think that she'd like the game and wouldn't play at the New Year's party, but I bought it afterwards anyways, because I liked it so much. I convinced her to give it a try one night when we went out for dinner. For at least a couple months after that, I don't think there was an instance where we went out for dinner that we didn't take Three Dragon with us.
From there my wife and I have branched out into other games, and our current favorite "dinner game" is Munchkin with all of the original game expansions, Munchkin Blender, Munchkin Booty along with its expansion, Munchkin Cthulhu and its expansions, Munchkin: Fairy Dust, and Munchkin: Waiting For Santa. Needless to say its not quite as convenient to carry around now as it used to be (the 1999 complete D&D collectable card box for the Door cards, and the Carcassonne: The Princess & the Dragon box for the Treasure cards) but we only have to shuffle every 15-20 sessions.
She is still not as big into it as I am, but its definitely one of those things that we enjoy doing together. And we are always on the lookout for other similar couples to game with. So drop me a line if you're in the Indianapolis area and we'll hook up.
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