11009, Crypts Of Chaos!

After a short delay, I am back with Crypts of Chaos by 20th Century Fox. A fine dungeon crawler if I do say so (and I do), a genre that is underrepresented on the Atari 2600. Coming up next is the arcade port Kangaroo by Atari. If you have feedback for this game, please send it to 2600gamebygame@gmail.com by end of day October 18th, and the show will be out on the 21st. So he says.

I am playing for Extra Life again this year, but I am going to split it between November 3rd and 10th. I am old and I can't stay up that long anymore, it's really the thought that counts. I will be playing once again for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Please donate at the link below, thank you for your support! And I thank you as always for listening.

Please donate to my Extra Life campaign!
Sean's Extra Life page
Andrew's Extra Life page
Crypts of Chaos on Random Terrain
Michael Rideout's CoC maps on Atari Age
John WS Marvin's Dread Unicorn Games site
Cyberroach interview with John WS Marvin
John WS Marvin on Iconic Podcast
John WS Marvin on Game Master's Journey Podcast
John WS Marvin on GM Intrusions Podcast
James Dowlen's web site
James Dowlen on The Computer Chronicles
Florian's Atari Age thread about Sun Science 
Weird Levi's commercial
No Swear Gamer 198 - Crypts of Chaos

Considering A Master's Or PhD In Digital Media?

The Digital Media program at Georgia Tech is now accepting applications at the Master's and Ph.D. levels. 

The Digital Media graduate program at Georgia Tech is a multidisciplinary program that engages students in making with meaning in digital media through their own discipline, skills, and expertise. Students here from the humanities, engineering, technology, and the arts backgrounds all engage in collaborative, practice-based work where they learn and apply design methods and critical theory in studio courses that are focused on having a voice--or giving a voice to others--through digital media.  

They offer both a two year intensive Master's degree and a Ph.D. in Digital Media, working with leading researchers that touch on topics such as civic media, game design, smart cities, interactive installation, augmented & virtual reality, computational creativity, and STEAM-based education.

They host multiple online events to inform those interested in the program. More information and RSVP is available through our website: http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/.  The upcoming application deadlines for Fall 2019 are Dec. 10^th, 2018, for the Ph.D. program and Jan. 8^th, 2019 for the Master's program. 

Students interested in visiting the campus can do so during our open house event on January 18, 2019.  RSVP here.

If you have any further questions about the program and admission process, please contact me or the Associate Director Michael Terrell directly at dgs@lmc.gatech.edu.

Veins Of The Heartland

What's going on everyone!?

Today for the #2019gameaday challenge dear ol' dad and I played a game of Ticket to Ride on our tablets. 

Luckily for dad, I played an honest game and didn't cut him off on a route or two of his that he got on me which ended up winning him the game!

All in all, it was a great time and I can't wait to play again.

As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to stop and smell the meeples! :)

-Tim

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Free Download

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Battlefield: Bad Company 2™ brings the award-winning Battlefield gameplay to the forefront of PC gaming with best-in-class vehicular combat and unexpected "Battlefield moments." Battles are set across expansive maps, each with a different tactical focus. The game also sees the return of the B Company squad in a more mature single-player campaign.

New vehicles like the ATV and a transport helicopter allow for all-new multiplayer tactics on the Battlefield. With the Frostbite-enabled Destruction 2.0 system, you can take down entire buildings and create your own fire points by blasting holes through cover. You can also compete in four-player teams in two squad-only game modes, fighting together to unlock exclusive awards and achievements.

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Ep 34: Top Faves With Dave Goes Digital Is Live!

Ep 34: Top Faves with Dave goes digital

https://soundcloud.com/user-989538417/ep-34-top-faves-with-dave-goes-digital

Dave Tubbs, Nick Nerthery and I talk about military-themed video games.

Join the conversation at https://theveteranwargamer.blogspot.com, email theveteranwargamer@gmail.com, Twitter @veteranwargamer

Follow Dave on Twitter! @FrmrSldrFgtPlyr

Try Audible for your free audiobook credit by going to http://audibletrial.com/tvwg

New Segment - Stump Jay! Dave's attempt to stump Jay took 308 milliseconds to solve.
Maori Wars Empress Miniatures - http://www.empressminiatures.com/page11.htm

Emu Wars Eureka Miniatures - http://www.eurekamin.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=131&products_id=13353

SCW Empress - http://www.empressminiatures.com/page9.htm

Top Faves
Myth: The Fallen Lords - http://projectmagma.net/what/
Gog - https://www.gog.com/
Wolfenstein 3D - http://3d.wolfenstein.com/game_NA.php
Starcraft: Brood War - https://starcraft.com/en-us/
War Thunder - https://warthunder.com/en
Wolfpack - https://www.emuparadise.me/Abandonware_Games/WolfPack_(1990)(NovaLogic)/95670
UBoot Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phalanxgames/uboot-the-board-game
Captain Sonar - https://www.asmodee.us/en/games/captain-sonar/
Red November - https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/red-november/
Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far - https://www.gog.com/promo/20180206_launch_promo_close_combat
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter - https://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/games/ghost-recon-advanced-warfighter/39276
Axis & Allies CD - http://www.harrisgamedesign.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=2268
Company of Heroes -  http://www.companyofheroes.com/
Dawn of War - https://www.dawnofwar.com/
Halo - https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us
Halo Fleet Battles - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176936/halo-fleet-battles-fall-reach
Diplomacy Play By Email - http://www.playdiplomacy.com/
Junta - https://www.alderacsite.com/junta/
Call of Duty: World at War - http://store.steampowered.com/app/10090/Call_of_Duty_World_at_War/
Total War - https://www.totalwar.com/
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway - http://store.steampowered.com/app/15390/Brothers_in_Arms_Hells_Highway/
Nick's Article - http://www.offdutygamers.com/2010/01/brothers-in-arms-hell%E2%80%99s-highway-good-enough-to-be-a-training-aid/

Music courtesy bensound.com. Recorded with zencastr.com. Edited with Audacity. Make your town beautiful; get a haircut.

"Gamegineering" And The Role Of The Game Developer

More and more lately I've heard people talk about the role of a developer in boardgames. The idea has certainly existed for many years, and every game on the shelf has undoubtedly gone through some level of development, but only recently has the role of board game developer been recognized in the industry.

When Dominion was coming out in 2008 was the first time I noticed game developers being named. It was about that time I was realizing that, while I enjoyed designing games, my real strength was in game development. So I guess it was good news the role was beginning to be highlighted in the industry!

A decade later, very little progress has been made with respect to recognition for developers. I think there are more of them nowadays, and if you check the back page of your favorite games' rulebooks, you can probably find out who they are. But I don't think many consumers have any idea...

People frequently look out for new games by their favorite designers, and these games often come from different publishers. Which means they're often worked on by different developers. Depending on how much work each developer puts into each game, "shopping by designer" may end up being a misleading metric to find a game you like.

People also frequently look out for new games by their favorite publisher. And it might be the case that most or all of those games were worked on by the same developer (either in-house, or perhaps 3rd party). For a small publishing company, the publishers themselves may be the ones doing the development. So in some cases, if you enjoy many games from a particular publisher, it might be the case that what's drawing you to those games is that publisher's development skills. Or it might be that publisher's judgement when choosing which games to publish.

This kind of thing is difficult to even talk about, because the role of the developer is so inconsistent from publisher to publisher, and from game to game. Even from developer to developer! Very recently I've seen a number of prominent people in the design community taking on developer roles, either freelance, or for a particular company. And more power to them! Sometimes I'll listen to a podcast interview, and I'll hear the role of the developer defined, and it makes me cringe a little bit because what they describe, to me, sounds more like an insightful playtester than what I consider a developer.

Maybe I've been putting too much work into games I develop, but to me the role of the developer isn't just to "make suggestions that are in line with the designer's vision for the game." The developer's job is to bring out the full potential of a game. I don't feel like I can do a proper job as a developer without taking the game under my wing, so to speak, and treating it as my own. I don't propose changes, I make those changes, try them out, and then explain why they did or didn't work. When a mechanism is just not working right, sometimes I re-design that mechanism from the ground up to accomplish what I think the designer was going for with it. Like I said, perhaps I've been putting more work in than necessary, but I'm not so sure.

I had hoped that, over time, players who found themselves liking the big box TMG titles would start to see a pattern. No matter who's name is on the front of the box, they'd see the green dragon logo, and hopefully they'd see "developed by Seth Jaffee" on the box back. But 10 years in, that doesn't seem to have happened. Maybe they see the dragon logo, but an innocuous mention in the rulebook or box back does not seem to have put my name into the minds of the end user.

One thought I've had, and that I might one day make good on, is to create a logo for myself:

Not final. I'd prefer if the typed "SETH JAFFEE" were taken out from beneath the signature, and put in the circle in lieu of "BOARD GAME"

Maybe adding that logo to games I have a big hand in would lead to a higher level of recognition. I like the composition of that logo, because it looks like a professional's seal, like my engineer's stamp. This communicates that the game literally has the seal of approval from a professional game developer!

But there's another aspect of "developer" that I think may be lacking: the word itself. I'm considering proposing a new term, because "developer" carries so much baggage, and so many different meanings to different people. In the video game world, it's synonymous to both "designer" and also "programmer," which doesn't help matters. Even in tabletop gaming, it's been used to mean everything from "insightful playtester" to "product manager" to "uncredited codesigner." Depending on how thorough a job the designer does in the first place, there may be more or less work required of a developer. That doesn't help matters either.

On many of the TMG big box games, my efforts have been closer to a co-designer than an insightful playtester. For that role, I've been tossing around the term "Gamegineer."

What do you think? Do we need terminology to differentiate various levels of "developer?" And if so, how do you like "gamegineer," on the end of the spectrum closer to "co-designer" then "insightful playtester?"

Storium Basics: Wild Cards

Welcome back to my series on Storium basics. Today, we'll be discussing Wild Cards.

When you create a character, you start with a defined Strength and a defined Weakness. Usually you'll start with more than one copy of each, making it your character's strong theme - the amount can vary depending on your game's settings. However, in addition to those, you'll also usually start with a few wild cards - some Strengths, and some Weaknesses.

These are how Storium handles the mechanical side of character development.

Wild Strength and Wild Weakness cards are Storium's way of letting you develop your character and reveal new traits about them. When you pick one, Storium will ask you to title it and write a description for it, just as if you were creating custom cards during character creation. You can also select from other cards the narrator had as options for character creation, or from cards you've already played in the game.

Which should you do? Well, that's up to you.

Early in the game, it's probably best to either pick another card from the character creation list that seems to apply to your character, or write a custom card.

Picking another card from the list is pretty simple - just find one on the "Existing Cards" list and select it. Make sure to pick something that feels like it applies to your character - something that fits with your concept.

My preferred method, though? I prefer to write my own Wild Cards. Once you've started the game, you're probably starting to develop your character's identity and traits in your head. The other existing cards might apply, but I tend to find that only works for one additional card, two tops. To really reveal who my character is, I find it's best to write up some custom cards.

It's also lots of fun.

When you're writing a new card, what you want is to aim for something that feels broad but still descriptive. Strengths and Weaknesses in Storium work best when they can apply to a wide variety of situations, but they still need to say something specific about your character. Not that you can't use very specific facts from time to time, but overall, I find it easier to write things you can use again and again. For more on that, see the links below.

The other thing you want to do here is say something new about your character. Something that spins off of what we know about them, but that is different in some way from what we knew before. You'll get the most fun out of Wild Cards if they differ from cards you've already played. They can be similar, but there should be differences. As an example, if your original Strength card was something like Brilliant, reflecting your ability to use intellect to find a way through your problems, maybe your new Strength might be something like Lateral Thinking, reflecting a particular and unusual strategy that allows you to find creative solutions, or Multitasking, reflecting your ability to split your brainpower to handle multiple tasks at once. They still relate to your intellect, but they tell you something new.


Now, it doesn't have to be that direct of a link all the time, but it's important to try to link Wild Cards to your character concept. You're describing new elements of your character, but they shouldn't (generally) feel like they come entirely out of nowhere. Build on what you've done so far or formalize traits you've hinted at in the past. There may be times where it's appropriate to reveal a totally surprising character element, but done improperly, or especially done too often, it ends up just feeling like bad writing. So: Tell us something new about your character, but not something outlandish about your character. In general.

Late in the game, when you've already made a lot of wild cards, you may find it easier to start using the "Previously Used Cards" tab to select cards you've played earlier in the game. In the late game, you've already got a pretty decent list designed and it may be hard to think of new traits for your character. That's when I find it handy to sometimes use this list and just bring another of my existing traits to the fore. In the early game, there's just not enough on this tab and using it will stop you from adding new traits to your character - but in the late game, it can be very handy.

Whatever you do, you'll then play that card just like any other card - write your move according to the traits you've revealed. Once you've written the card, there's nothing particularly different about using it than using other cards.

At Refresh (more on that next week), any wild cards you've played will show up with their names and descriptions as options you can choose. This is how you can change your character's primary, noted traits over the course of a game. A paladin who starts out with Toughness as his starting Strength may turn out to concentrate on Inspirational Leadership and Empathy by the end of the game - so Wild Cards don't just let you reveal new things about yourself, they can ultimately let you change your character in accordance with the story.

For more on Wild Cards and writing Strengths and Weaknesses, see these articles:

• Writing Good Strengths and Weaknesses
• Character Development Through Wild Cards
• Situational Strengths and Weaknesses
• Choose Cards You Want to Play
• Build Towards Something