Scott King's Blog, page 22
March 23, 2015
AquaSphere Preview!
AquaSphere, designed by Stefan Feld and published by Tasty Minstrel Games, is a great Euro-game with enough depth that it makes you think without breaking your brain.
In the game you are an underwater scientist trying to complete research. To do so you are programing robots and sending them to do task throughout the AquaSphere. By design, you can only assign a few tasks per round, and to win you have to think ahead and maximize every single move.
There are lots of ways that players can gain points and unlike some other popular Feld games there aren’t any of negative effects that can utterly wreck the engine that players are building.
Not only is the game fun to play, but the production quality of the components is fantastic. You can see what I mean by checking out some of the photos from my photography shoot:
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March 20, 2015
What is NATIONAL CTHULHU EATS SPAGHETTI DAY?
National Cthulhu Eats Spaghetti Day (the book) is the definitive guide to celebrating National Cthulhu Eats Spaghetti Day (the holiday).
Celebrated on August 15th, or the weekend closest to it, National Cthulhu Eats Spaghetti Day is about good food, spending time with friends or loved ones, games and of course unspeakable horrors.
What is in the book?
A short story examining the origin the holiday.
Six newspaper articles explaining the founding of the holiday.
Suggested activities for celebrating the day.
Seven Traditional Recipes (including Meatballs & Spaghetti).
Gaming Guide and tips for running a game night.
Tons of secrets for you to unravel the truth behind the holiday.
National Cthulhu Eats Spaghetti Day will be launching on Kickstarter on April 13th. Leading up tot he launch I’ll be sharing the full cover, sneak peaks at the recipes, and other eldritch things so mark your calendars cause if you forget to get a copy you’ll end up feeling embarrassed when everyone else is enjoying the world’s most cosmically horrible holiday and you aren’t.
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March 18, 2015
Sheriff of Nottingham Preview & Interview with Bryan Pope!
Sheriff of Nottingham is the debut title in the new Dice Towers Essentials Line from Arcane Wonders. It’s a bluffing social game that’s a lot of fun to play with both experienced gamers and those new to the hobby.
“Arcane Wonders had planned to develop and publish many other games in addition to Mage wars. We thought it was best to establish a separate line, so as to not confuse or frustrate our Mage Wars players. Mage Wars is, and will remain, our flagship game and primary focus!” Bryan Pope, President of Arcane Wonders said. “The Dice Tower Essentials line was setup to be the primary avenue for these additional games. We discussed with Tom Vasel and decided to produce a line of games with him. These all must be games that Tom really enjoys and loves to play.”
Sheriff of Nottingham is based on Robin Hood, a 2011 game that was a re-themed version of a Brazilian game. So when Arcane Wonders got its hand on it the first thing they did was spend a year development and tweaking its theme.
“During that time I changed the game quite a bit from the original,” Pope said. “My goal was to “turn it up a notch”, giving the game much better/tougher risk/reward decisions, more bluffing and bribing. I also wanted to reduce the luck and increase the strategy and control players have. I am quite pleased with the final results!”
After being revamped, the new version of Robin Hood didn’t feel like the same game and although it was set in the same era and location as the fictional character, the famous archer didn’t actually appear in the game, which is why Arcane Wonders decided to rebrand it as Sheriff of Nottingham.
“The game just never really felt like a Robin Hood game,” Pope said. “It was kind of a theme mismatch. After development, the game was very much focused on getting goods past a tough authority figure, and we decided that the Sheriff of Nottingham was a perfect theme, and still close to the original concept. We had also considered a pirate theme, smuggling goods past a port or harbor inspector, and a Texas Border Patrol theme, smuggling contraband and other goods from Mexico into Texas past a tough Texas border patrol agent. I really loved the Texas Border patrol theme, but we decided it may be too “adult” for the crowd and target audience we wanted.”
Sheriff of Nottingham has become one of the hottest games in the past year. It’s a quick social game with tons of bluffing, where players try to smuggle illegal goods into Nottingham without being busted by the Sheriff.
“We made the game’s focus so that it is more about players against a particular character (sheriff), rather than players against each other. Each player has a chance to be he the tough guy and against everyone else,” Pope said. “We were careful so that it is not easy to gang up on any one player. It’s hard to directly hurt another player. If you call someone’s bluff, they have to blame themselves partially for taking a big risk.”
Sheriff of Nottingham is currently for sale on Amazon as well as all major online retailers.
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March 16, 2015
Coming Soon: National Cthulhu Eats Spaghetti Day!
I’m excited to share the title of my next book: National Cthulhu Eats Spaghetti Day!
The book will launch on Kickstarter on April 13th and leading up to the launch I’ll be sharing more info, the cover, and other cool things, but for now I’m just thrilled that everyone gets to know the name of what I’ve been working on.
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March 13, 2015
Creators Cast: John Arnold!
In the newest episodes of Creators Cast, I speak with John Arnold of Handelabra Games. John is the Vice Presdient and the lead coder for the development studio, which is best known for producing the digital app version of Sentinels of the Multiverse.
iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/creators-cast/id907534102?mt=2
If you don’t use iTunes or prefer to manually download an episode you can do so by going to the libsyn feed.
Libsyn http://creatorscast.libsyn.com/ (for listening online or downloading)
RSS Feed: http://creatorscast.libsyn.com/rss (for subscribing via a podcast app)
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March 11, 2015
Rose!
We have several rose bushes in our backyard, but the crazy thing is that there are flowers down here year round! No matter what the month there is always some sort of flower growing. Red, blues, pinks, yellows, oranges, violets, greens, and all the colors in between! What’s nuts is that the locals don’t get it. They take the flowers for granted and don’t realize how special and beautiful it is to constantly see all the pretty new flowers.
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March 5, 2015
Tiny Epic Defenders Preview!
Tiny Epic Defenders is the second game in the Tiny Epic series, designed by Scott Almes and published by Gamelyn Games. It’s a co-op where players serve as fantasy heroes protecting the realm from dastardly monsters and villains.
The gameplay in TED is light enough for children or a family style game night, but mean enough to make the most veteran gamer want to come back and try again to protect the Capitol City. Plus with it lasting at max 30 minutes it’s a terrific filler game.
Tiny Epic Defenders is currently on sale via Amazon and through other online stores.
Checkout the rest of the photos from my photoshoot below:
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March 3, 2015
Get Two of my Books for Free!
It’s my birthday and to celebrate I’ve made both “Finish the Script!” and “Cupcakes vs. Brownies” free on Amazon!
Even if you don’t have a kindle you can still read them. All of the kindle books are compatible with most tablets, e-readers, and mobile devices using the free kindle app.
Seriously, the biggest favor you can do for me on my birthday is to download my books for free and to spread the word on twitter, facebook, or any other social media you use.
Get them now:
FINISH THE SCRIPT! A College Screenwriting Course in Book Form
CUPCAKES VS. BROWNIES: Zimmah Chronicles Book 1
The post Get Two of my Books for Free! appeared first on Scott King.
March 2, 2015
Creators Cast: Chaz Marler!
In the newest episodes of Creators Cast, I speak with Chaz Marler. Chaz is board game reviewer and commentator best known for his YouTube channel Pair of Dice Paradise.
iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/creators-cast/id907534102?mt=2
If you don’t use iTunes or prefer to manually download an episode you can do so by going to the libsyn feed.
Libsyn http://creatorscast.libsyn.com/ (for listening online or downloading)
RSS Feed: http://creatorscast.libsyn.com/rss (for subscribing via a podcast app)
The post Creators Cast: Chaz Marler! appeared first on Scott King.
Yardmaster Preview!
Yardmaster, from Crash Games, is a two to five player card game that plays in about fifteen minutes. Its small footprint on the table and quick gameplay make it perfect for taking to a restaurant or cafe. The simply mechanics make it a fast filler game for experienced gamers or a nice gateway game for those those new to gaming.
Yardmaster is currently on sale via Amazon and through other online stores.
Checkout the rest of the photos from my photoshoot below:
Note: The tokens shown are of the Kickstarter version of the game.The regular edition includes punchboard tokens instead of poker chips.
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