Tag: Themes

Back to the Future: Dice Through Time (Saturday Review)

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"So, let me illustrate. Imagine a line that represents time and at one point is 1985, to the left of it the past and to the right of it the future. If we travel back in time and make some small changes, the timeline skews off at an angle, creating an alternate 1985 - or rather, it's an alternate to you, Einstein and me, but a complete reality for everyone else. It turns out that Biff took the Sports Almanac into the past and thereby created this new timeline. It's now up to us to find a new way to get Back to the Future: Dice Through Time by Ravensburger."

Collected collections (Topic Discussion)

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Different people buy games for different reasons, and many of us will have amassed a little, or not so little, collection that we have at home that we are proud of. Yet, sometimes we're not sure how we got there or how we should continue going forward. So it's often good to re-evaluate the games we've got and think about why we have bought them. Then we can decide how we want to continue in the future, and in this article, I want to look at some of the reasons why people buy games and how they curate their collections.

Chai (Takebacks)

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A small queue of customers was waiting outside. It was our opening day. We had our tea ready and some bits in our pantry, but still had to buy the flavours, which we wanted to get fresh from the market during the day, so that every tea would taste fresh and our customers would be happy. Everyone was nervous, but there was nothing for it - we had top open up and start serving Chai by Steeped Games.

Carbon City Zero (Saturday Review)

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It was time to build a better future and turn this city around. We knew we had to reduce our carbon output quickly. Our aim was to be carbon neutral. Yet, the road there would be difficult and tough decisions had to be made. Modernizing our housing stock, building wind farms, offering grants for solar panels and everything else would cost a lot of money. If we wanted to move quickly, we might have to accept a temporary increase in carbon output to build factories, that would help us finance the final goal - or we could go slowly and use our existing funds to improve things gradually. We were not alone though. There were a number of others who wanted to become the first Carbon City Zero by Possible.

Coming around again (Topic Discussion)

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There are many reasons why some games are played a couple of times and then put to one side. Often the game just doesn't suit you or your games group or it doesn't meet the expectations you had. However, there are also games that are put to one side, but then get brought back to the table again after some time - and I want to look at what these games are for me and why I put them away for a while before getting them out again.

Kingdomino (Saturday Review)

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Four mighty rulers compete to create the most wonderful dominion of them all. They stand proud at the top of their keep and survey the blank canvas of their lands below them. They want to create beautiful lakes full of fish to cater for many fishermen, large forests with mighty trees that will keep their many woodcutters supplied all year round, expansive meadows full of content sheep and happy farmers, giant fields bursting with healthy grain that hard-working millers will turn into flour in their many mills, expansive mines which overflow with precious ore and make the people rich and some wonderful swamp that... well... does something amazing too. Whoever creates the most productive realm will become the Kingdomino by Coiledspring Games.

Interesting developments (Topic Discussion)

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In last week's article, I talked about what is involved in designing a game. Now I want to continue the story of how a board game is made with the development stage, where a working game is polished to make it sparkle and shine. This step in the process can be informal and something a game designer does themselves as part of making their passion project a reality, or it can be handed over to a dedicated person, which is usually the case if a game is handed over to a publisher.

Prisma Arena (Saturday Review)

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Everything felt new and awkward. You had practiced for this as much as you could. Yet, you didn't feel confident. "You can do it," Dawna whispered into your ear piece, as if she knew what you were thinking. "Let's get 'em," came the roar from Farg over the comms, bringing you right back down to earth and giving you the extra nudge you needed to do this. With these two Mo'kons by your side, you stood a good chance. You might not win this time, but you would learn and grow in experience. You would become stronger. It was time for you to step into the Prisma Arena by Hub Games.

Board Game Player Profile – Updated (Topic Discussion)

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The last time I checked my board game player profile on Quantic Foundry was back in October 2019, so just over six months ago. I must say, I knew there would be some changes, because I was playing more types of games and with different groups of people, but I didn't quite expect the types of changes there were. So let's delve into the results from my most recent survey.

Great expectations (Topic Discussion)

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Of course it is important to make sure everyone knows about the game you're planning to release very soon or the campaign that's going to launch on Kickstarter shortly. You want people to be excited, so they share it with their friends. You want people to think your game is the best fit for them, so it can compete with the myriad of other games vying for people's attention all the time. In fact, you want your game to be amazing - the best it can be. You want others to love it as much as you do. However, there comes a point at which you might be promising more than the game can deliver. You can run the risk of overhyping your game, which can have a hugely negative effect.