Scott King's Blog, page 29
July 30, 2014
Texas State Capitol Building!
Last week I met up with my good friend Bob in Austin and we did a tour of the Texas State Capital Building.
I was really excited because I know NOTHING about the history of Texas. Growing up in Maryland means I know about Lord Baltimore and east coast facts. So it was really neat to discover that Texas was actually part of Mexico, seceded to become its own country and then later joined the United States! Plus Austin and the Capital were really pretty. I want to go back and get some nice landscape photos as well as some night time shots of the downtown area.
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July 29, 2014
“What’s He Building In There?” Preview!
Designed by Sean Scott Garrity and published by Baksha Games, “What’s He Building In There?” is a quirky worker placement that’s light enough for new gamers but has enough depth to offer a ton of re-playability.
In “What’s He Building In There?” players are in control of a mad scientist and three henchmen. Their goal is to construct a doomsday device and an escape vehicle. Each device has multiple upgrades and each upgrade is worth more points so a lot of the game is spent balancing the construction of the devices while also managing resources and scoring points through other methods.
The humor in “What’s He Building In There?” is fabulous. The doomsday devices include things like an I.Q.-Reducing ray so from the start it feels like a fun light hearted game. That doesn’t stop it from feeling thinky at times which is a must for a good worker placement game, but the theme really helps keep the stress levels down when playing.
One of the neatest mechanics is the game is that the spots where workers can be placed often have two different options. If a henchmen is placed on it does one thing but if a Mad Scientist is placed on it it does something else or something more. So it really becomes interesting trying to maximize where you places your scientist in your attempt to one-up your opponents.
The heart of “What’s He Building In There?” is resource managment and what’s neat about it is that in many ways it works like crafting from an RPG video game. Players may need refined steel to build their device but to do so they first have to get raw leather and then upgrade it.
“What’s He Building In There?” is a fun game that I’ve not heard many people talk about. If you like euros or worker placement games then you should definitely check it out.
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July 28, 2014
The 2015 Gaming Calendar!
I’m pleased to announce that the Kickstarter for the 2015 Gaming Calendar will launch this Friday!
Normally I don’t pre-announce this kind of stuff but for some reason I got five emails from people over the weekend asking if I would be doing a 2015 Calendar. I am and it’s 100% completely shot. So tune back in on Friday for all the details!
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July 25, 2014
Animal Crackers!
Who guards the Animal Crackers from viscous predators? …no one.
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July 22, 2014
Driftwood!
The gulf of Mexico is about twenty minutes from where we live (we are basically halfway between Houston and the coast) but we’ve only gone a few times because the dunes are a hot spot for diamond back rattle snakes. I think when winter comes and animals around here are less aggressive (mosquitoes, snakes, & gators) I’ll try to get some more outdoor landscapes photos. It’s just hard to do it this time of year when you are constantly having to watch your back.
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July 17, 2014
Fidelitas Preview!
Designed by Jason Kotarski and Philip duBarry, Fidelitas is a small card game that takes about twenty to thirty minutes to play. In it, players score points by completing objectives and the winner is the player with the highest score.
“Fidelitas is actually based on a simple kids game I made up to play with my daughter,” Kotarksi said. “I was intrigued by a little card-maneuvering/set-collection mechanic I had been playing with and had a dream about how to take it to the next level to introduce those ideas to an older audience.”
Kotarski and duBarry met over twitter and duBarry liked the initial design of the game, but felt Kotarski could take it to the next level and pitched the idea that they design the game together.
“Neither of us had co-designed anything at that point so we decided to give it a go,” Kotarski said. “It has been a great give and take relationship. Philip is a super smart, kind guy who is really easy to work with so the whole thing has been a pleasure. It was different than working on my own because just when I’d start to lose steam, he’d come through with some new idea the project moved forward. Sometime when you work on your own, it can be easy to stall out when you get stuck on something. You have to step away for awhile until new inspiration strikes. But with Philip it felt like things just kept cruising along. We worked mostly over email so we would send a ideas back and forth, play test independently, and come back together to share our findings. It was great to have someone else just as invested as I was. I loved it and I’d be glad to do it again.”
In Fidelitas, each player starts with two Missio (mission) cards and two character cards. The mission cards are the equivalents to the route cards from ticket to ride. You are trying to complete an objective and once you do you score points for it. For example, in the case of The Minstrel Missio card, the two locations nearest the castle have to have at least three characters but no soldiers.
The play area itself is fairly small, only being formed of four double sided locations, but the simplicity of the mechancs end up bringing a lot of strategy to the game because as one player tries to tweak and maniuplate the characters moving around the locations their oppoent will often come in and and completely undo the move they just made. So although it isn’t a “take that” kind of game it has a gruffness that involves a lot of social gaming without actual being a social game.
“I’d consider Fidelitas a filler with a lot of meat on it,” Kotarski said. “I co-host a podcast with Andy Lenox called 20 Minutes of Filler where we do 20 minute shows about 20-30 minutes games and our criteria is that a good filler is easy to teach, has a short playtime, and has a wide appeal, that it can connect with hardcore gamers and casual gamers alike. And I think Fidelitas fits those characteristics. It’s easy to teach and quick and there is enough strategy to keep people bringing it back to the table again and again.”
The original prototype of the game had only five characters; a magistrate, a shopkeeper, a blacksmith, a cobbler, and a soldier. The final version now has nine different guilds and fourteen different characters.
“The theme gave us a lot of inspiration when coming up with the actions on each character. The whole process felt very organic,” Kotarski said. “There were lots of options but we matched the characters to the actions using a loose narrative we made up as we went along. For example, in the game the goal is to prove your worth so you can earn a leadership role in taking down the corrupt crown. So we made the Soldier move a character at the location he was played at to any other locations. It was like the Soldier made folks nervous to they ran away.”
Fidelitas is set to launch on Kickstarter on August 1st and not only did Kotarski co-design it but for the first time ever he’s stepping into the roll of a publisher with his newly formed company, Green Couch Games.
“After dipping my toes into the gaming industry as a designer, I totally fell in love and want to continue to contribute to this awesome hobby,” Kotarski said. “Publishing is the next step for me. I have been toying with the idea since I designed my first game but my wife wouldn’t let me spend any of our money until I tried to spend somebody else’s! But the more and more I get involved, the more I want to be involved. Working on my own games is really fun but it’s the people that bring it all together for me. So this way, I get to work on my own games and help other designers work on their own games, too.”
So mark your calendars for August 1st and make sure you checkout Fidelitas on Kickstarter (The game will cost a mere $19 with free shipping in the United States)!
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July 15, 2014
Garlic Bread!
Italian food in Texas is not the same as it is on the east coast, specially if you grew up in an Italian family. Lisa in particular has been craving pastries and we can’t find a single bakery that even carries sfogliatelle. On the plus side, she’s grown to better appreciate my homemade bread and pasta sauces!
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July 11, 2014
Tomorrow Pictorial Preview!
Designed by Dirk Knemeyer and published by Conquistador Games, Tomorrow is all about social interaction and although it may appear to be it is not in fact a “dudes on a map” type of game.
In Tomorrow you play various countries trying to depopulate the world in an attempt to prevent a mass extinction. Everyone can lose, but to win you must have more people in your country survive than any other country. It is one of those rare games that plays best at the max player count. So although it works with four players the four player game doesn’t hold equal to the six player mash-ups.
The art direction in Tomorrow is fantastic and the game not only looks sharp but has great geeky graphic design feel, which you can see in the photos below. To learn more about the game head over to Conquistador Games’ website or pick up a copy from Game Salute!
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July 8, 2014
Lemon Square!
Lemon Squares seem to be a lot more popular down here in Texas than in Maryland. In fact I don’t ever remember seeing them in a bakery back home yet just about every bakery around Houston sells them. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that lemons are so common down here? At least three of the houses in our neighborhood have a lemon tree in their front yard. One has a grapefruit tree!
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July 6, 2014
Peanut Butter Brownies!
These are peanut butter brownies with a cream cheese icing. They were of course scrumptious.
On a side note if you like brownies then you should checkout my new book, “Cupcakes vs. Brownies!”
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
It’s a candypunk novel and brownies are one of the most important things in it!
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