Urgent fights, evolving campaigns

We are in for an epic fight.

What it’s going to take

Evolving and staying strong

Blue Dwarf Group

The wood and white have now been finished up and I started in on the blue on the dwarves. This is going to be a long one, I think. There's a lot of small areas that I'll need to be careful on. After that it's leathers, flesh and hair. Fourish weeks left before Fall In, still hoping to make it.

Frictional Fan Jam: Winter Modding Event

Screenshot from Draugemalf's SOMA Winter Asset Pack.

Quick overview

Duration: 11th of December until 19th January 2020

Theme: Winter/Hibernation

Medium: HPL engine modding

Submission link: Frictional Fan Jam 2019: Winter modding event submissions

Info

Winter is coming for us in the Northern Hemisphere. Get a hot drink, curl up under a blanket, and start up the HPL level editor – it's time for Frictional's Winter Modding Jam!

Join us for a month-long event focused on HPL modding! You're welcome to participate alone or in a small team (up to 5 people). For peer support, head on over to our Discord server.

Are you an artist, writer, or other kind of creator? You can still participate by teaming up with one of the modders. Head on over to #winter_modding_jam on our Discord and find your team! We will also be holding specialised events for you in the future.

Duration

The Jam will start on the 11th of December 2019 and last until the 19th of January 2020.

You can submit your work on the night of Sunday the 19th, as the submissions will be checked on Monday morning.

Theme

Winter and/or Hibernation.

One or both themes should be present in the Fan Jam entry. You are welcome to interpret them however you wish. The mods don't have to have a connection to Frictional Games titles.

Medium

This Frictional Fan Jam is specifically for HPL modding. You are free to use HPL2 and HPL3, or even HPL1 if you're brave enough.

Aside from the game assets, you are also welcome to utilise other assets you can legally use, or have permission to use from the creators.

You can for example use the Winter Asset Pack for SOMA, made by a long-time contributor and one of our Discord moderators, Draugemalf.

Submitting your work

Upload your mod on a platform like ModDB or Steam Workshop.

For entering the event, please submit a link to your work through the following form:

Frictional Fan Jam 2019: Winter modding event submissions

If you worked as a team, have one team member submit the entry.

All works will be showcased on the #winter_modding_jam_showcase on Discord.

Prizes

The jury of Frictional Games employees will pick the winners of the jam. Discord moderator team will not be voting on entries, and are therefore allowed to fully participate in the event.

The winners will receive A5-sized posters of a game of their choosing sent to their home address (team members will be sent theirs separately). The Frictional team from the Malmö office can sign them if you wish. Once our next project is out, the winners will also receive a download key for the game on an available platform of their choosing.

Depending on the amount of entries, the Malmö office Frictional team will stream all of the entries, or only the winners.

Contact

The Fan Jam is organised by Frictional Games' community manager Kira, with support from the Frictional Games Discord moderators. The easiest way to contact either is through the Frictional Games Discord server's #winter_modding_jam channel. The channel can also be used to share ideas with other community members, get feedback, and look for team members.

If you don't have a Discord account, you are welcome to contact Frictional Games through Twitter or our Contact Form, and we will help you as soon as we can.

For general questions: Contact Kira, for example by pinging them on the Discord channel.

For technical questions: Join our Discord server which has an active modding community.

Have fun, we're looking forward to your wintery creations!

2667, Roc 'N Rope By Coleco

The last game I'm covering this year is Roc 'n Rope by Coleco, from the Konami arcade game. Thank you for a wonderful if stunted year, I really needed the break. I'm really loving doing the research again and I hope to get ahead a little bit in the month of December. I will be doing a Christmas show, if you have ANY Christmas memories you want to share with us, please send them to 2600gamebygame@gmail.com by the end of day December 16. Sarah and I will be reading and listening to your messages in the show. Also, the next game I will cover in January is the Activision Decathlon. If you have any feedback on that game, why not get an early start and send it to me by January 12th. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you are in the USA; I am very thankful for all of you, and I thank you for listening.

Roc 'n Rope on Random Terrain
Roc 'n Rope on KLOV
Ed English's company Elerts web site
Ed English in a news story about Hasbro's Frogger, 1997

The biggest economic stimulus in modern history just passed

The Senate reached a deal on the biggest economic stimulus package in modern U.S. history late last night.

RSVP: Thursday's community call

This is a time for building community so I'm going to start by introducing myself. My name is Lindsey and I'm the new Chief Program Officer here at Greenpeace.

Grav-StuG Kickstarter Temporarily Postponed……

Unfortunately, I need to temporarily postpone the Kickstarter. A price quote for packaging and distribution services from china to the backers did not come back in time. It would be irresponsible with me to proceed without this aspect pinned down.

I will try to get a firm date once the quote comes in, with Chinese New Year, fast approaching I do not see that happening for at least a month. (most contacts will be unavailable for the month of February)

I will update you when I know more, thank you for your understanding.

-Mark

NO FOSSIL FUEL BAILOUTS

The COVID-19 relief bill needs to protect people, not fossil fuel companies.

Protect real forests

Today is the International Day of Forests, and through these difficult and unprecedented times, we are working as hard as ever to protect our public lands and forests, but we need your help.

An Update By The Owner Of The Blog On Games Download Link Outdated Issue

An Update By The Owner Of The Blog On Games Download Link Outdated Issue 

Few Day Before I Was Getting Comments Of Links Are OutdatedSo I Want To Just Apologize To All Of You Who Are Facing Link Outdated Issue Or The Download Links For The Game Are Not Working So Friend Just Need To Inform To You All ThatWe Are Working On This Issue And We Will Try To Fix All The Links By The End Of March And You All Will Be Able To Download Games Again So Fiend Just Need You Support And Stay Tuned And We Will Try to Fix All The Links As Soon As Possible .

The Experience

I once spent nine days as a guest at a Taiwanese Buddhist nunnery. Their hospitality was incredible and what stuck in my mind was the most amazing food I've ever eaten. They made Chinese meat dishes out of plant protein, most likely because the nuns were brought up on a traditional, Chinese omnivorous diet, and this food met their vegetarian religious restrictions without compromise. It was so good, I questioned it's meatlessness, being a vegetarian at the time.

After a week of this amazing food, I mentioned on the way back from our conference, that I could really go for a pizza, especially because there was a Pizza Hut next to the nunnery in busy downtown Taipei. No matter how good something is, you often long for the tastes of home. You know you'll get that consistent experience, even if it's not great. Consistent beats great sometimes. An older scholar overheard me and slammed me for being so disrespectful as to want pizza when our hosts had been so gracious with their amazing food. When we returned to the nunnery for dinner, awaiting us was glorious Pizza Hut pizza. The heart wants what it wants.

When it comes to hobby game stores, consistency of experience is wickedly hard. You can train your staff to greet customers, provide stellar customer service, create intricate systems to maintain product and service, but in the back room it's another story. In our Game Center, your consistency of experience is kind of in your own hands.

I could pay employees to run games of a particular style and quality, but the games they run would be limited to the customer desire to pay for that experience. Other than convention fees, which they seem to have no problem with, nobody wants to pay $10 cash money for me to run Dungeons & Dragons. $10, times six players, is $60 for a 4-hour session paying someone $15/hour. That's just their labor, not profit or materials, or prep time. This is a traditionally free experience that can cross over into "nominal" fee territory, but a real fee will never really capture the value being provided.  That may change with the mainstreamization of gaming, and someone will certainly point out the "professional" dungeon masters, but it's rare.

So we run the Event Center a bit like a concert hall in which we attempt to host high quality concerts, but with no guarantee the experience will be great. We are concert hall people, not the performers. I've been to great concerts and I've been to concerts where the performers were drunk off their asses, but in neither case did I credit or blame the venue. But in the game trade that's exactly what happens. Sexist comment? Bad DM? Poor hygiene? It will all be a black mark against the store, even though there's not a whole lot we can do about it, other than craft policies, brief organizers, and strictly enforce rules. We are facilitators. We use volunteers. The only other option is the thing doesn't happen.

This chaos is also our strength, our protective armor. The inability to provide a consistent experience, but to only provide a neutral venue is unacceptable to anyone with deep pockets who wants in on this. What happens if something really terrible (actionable by law) occurs? How do we make sure the D&D session doesn't have something inappropriate? How do we actually monetize this space that costs us $6,000 a month? Really, that's what we pay. About $50 a seat per month.

The reality of most D&D sessions is there are a lot of slightly boring ones and then one amazing one, which you tend to remember without remembering the boring ones. D&D especially is a constant playtest, as most people don't run the same adventure twice. Imagine sitting through a bunch of boring movies to get to the great one. That's how it tended to be before the Internet, but people want blockbusters every time nowadays, and they can get them by picking and choosing. All of this inconsistency is why there are no national chains of game stores. Managing the managers and the organizers would be like herding cats. You would have to have a whole department called Program Development to plan and test event structures. Publishers can't even pull this off well with their one game. Plus, as mentioned, the customers would never pay, at least not so far.

Anyway, this is something that keeps me up at night. Labor, as minimum wage here approaches $15 an hour, can no longer be the solution to bespoke experiences. We are fast approaching hard limits that are testing the demands of customers with the reality of what is possible in small business. It may just be the little store, with the passionate owner working for close to zero dollars, will be the one providing the consistently amazing experiences that big stores could only dream of. The rest of us are wondering if we should get a liquor license or hire some circus performers.

People Behind The Meeples - Episode 213: Jordan Nichols

Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers.  Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before.  If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples. Support me on Patreon!

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Name:	Jordan Nichols
Email:	jjnichols23@gmail.com
Location:	San Jose, California
Day Job:	Construction Project Manager
Designing:	Two to five years.

Today's Interview is with:

Jordan Nichols
Interviewed on: 1/30/2020

I've always been a huge fan of science-fiction and fantasy artwork, including comics. When I learned that there was a game coming out based on the artwork of renowned artist Jack Kirby, I was pretty excited. This week's interview is with Jordan Nichols, the designer of The Lost Worlds of Josh Kirby, which is on Kickstarter for only two more days! Be sure to check out the game, and read on to learn more about Jordan and his projects.

Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.

How long have you been designing tabletop games?
Two to five years.

Why did you start designing tabletop games?
I have always been a gamer and a maker so it was an inevitable merging of the two.

What game or games are you currently working on?
The Lost Worlds of Josh Kirby from Bard Games

Have you designed any games that have been published?
One so far! We need to Talk from Smirk and Laughter

What is your day job?
Construction Project Manager

Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.

Where do you prefer to play games?
Everywhere! I host at home, I attend public game meetups, and go to conventions!

Who do you normally game with?
Mostly friends and family.

If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
I like a lot of games and styles my next game on the table will be Dinosaur Island

And what snacks would you eat?
Anything from Trader Joe's Haha. I love me some spicy hummus!

Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
YES!! I like to put on theme appropriate background music I find on youtube.

What's your favorite FLGS?
Game Kastle, Isle of Gamers, and Victory Point Cafe

What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
I love Yedo from Pandasaurus!

What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
Worker placement is my fav. I feel it's a beautiful expression of opportunity cost

What's your favorite game that you just can't ever seem to get to the table?
Wow too many! Mostly the big ones like Eclipse, Hyperboria, Anachrony, Xia, etc.

What styles of games do you play?
I like to play Board Games, Card Games, Miniatures Games, RPG Games, Video Games

Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design Board Games, Card Games

OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
No

You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.

When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
I usually start from theme first I find it gives much needed context to mechanics

Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
I have never entered one but maybe that was a mistake haha!

Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
Probably Eric Lang I think he has a way of making big experiences with small rules.

Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
A lot is from classic themes and genres I like or from video games.

How do you go about playtesting your games?
I like to test a long time with other designers until I feel I understand the core of the game and have that locked in so that I have a clear path forward prior to bringing it in front of a general audience.

Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
I really enjoy working with co-designers. I think it is immensely valuable to have a second perspective to problem solve and to stay on target

What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
Depends on your goal. If it's getting published then I think the biggest challenge is bringing something new and different to the table.

If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
Wow too many and I have had a lot of prospective deals fall through with IP. I am working on a Starcraft inspired game and that would be a dream come true.

What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
Take everything a publisher says with a grain of salt. They like to get excited and throw out ideas and promises and in their world nothing has happened or will happen until they spend money on it.

What advice would you like to share about designing games?
Get involved with the design community. Nothing will make you a better designer faster.

Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
Published games, I have: "We Need to Talk" from Smirk and Dagger
This is what I have currently crowdfunding: The Lost Worlds of Josh Kirby from Bard Games
Currently looking for a publisher I have: A bunch of Games!!!

And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I'm sure are on everyone's minds!

What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
Rock Climbing, Video Games, Snowboarding

What was the last book you read?
Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Are you an extrovert or introvert?
Extroverted Introvert

Just a Bit More
Thanks for answering all my crazy questions! Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?

THANK YOU TO THE BOARD GAME COMMUNITY FOR BEING WILLING TO TEST PLAY MY GAMES!!

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Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html

Did you like this interview?  Please show your support: Support me on Patreon! Or click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

TELL YOUR SENATOR: Put people first for the next pandemic relief package

We need to act now to make sure families and workers who are losing paychecks and childcare get help first!

Vintage Computer Festival Southeast 6.0

When:
Saturday April 21, 2018, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday April 22 2018, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Where:
A new location this year:  5000 Commerce Parkway, Roswell, GA 30076.
It's in the  Roswell Town Center mall, around the back off Commerce Parkway.
Please check the Google Map linked from the address, it's a little tricky to find the first time.
This  Map Link shows the entrance.

What:
Speakers — Come hear first-hand accounts of events in computer history and informative technical presentations.  We have again attracted some very interesting speakers this year!
Check the Speakers link above more details.
Exhibits (and exhibit registration) — Exhibits are presented Saturday and Sunday.   You'll find computers from the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's.  From PDPs to Commodores to Apples… Some exhibits contain pristine original machines, others painstakingly restored machines and others focus on unique modern hacks.  You'll find all this and everything in between.
We will also be having a sneak preview screening and feedback session for an upcoming documentary Love Notes to Newton (click link for a trailer)  This will occur at 3 pm on Saturday.
Hands On Activities  — We offer a chance to let your inner engineer out.   A very popular feature of our Festival is the chance to create your own electronic device.   We have kits available for purchase (for everyone from complete beginner to those already handy with a soldering iron).
We also expect to again have a demonstration area put on by the FIRST Robot team  T\ They will be there to talk about their experiences at the FIRST competition as well.
Consignment — We offer a consignment area as part of our show.   We'll try our best to sell your vintage computer related  items. Details are on the Consignment link.  Please  remember this isn't a flea market.
Vendors — We invite folks who might have items that would be of interest to our audience to exhibit at our show as well.    Register using the exhibits link.
Concessions — We offer a concession area where you can get soft drinks, water, popcorn, etc. We also have Festival T-Shirts (and a few from previous years) along with some other computer related items.  Click the link for a more detailed list.

For whom:
Everyone! Computer geeks, families/children, STEM students, students, collectors, IT professionals, curious onlookers…

Admission: Free

http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/
https://mailchi.mp/computermuseumofamerica.com/vcfse60updates?e=fd35a5dce2

Greenpeace and COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has truly changed our lives, but I want to update you on Greenpeace's plans to keep building on your courageous actions.

Here and There in London by J. Ewing Ritchie

ADD YOUR NAME: Tell Biden to reject a fossil fuel bailout

Trump and oil billionaires are using the COVID-19 crisis to protect oil profits and consolidate their power undemocratically.

SuperStarfighter, A Local Multiplayer Game Made With Godot

Looks like FOSS game development with Godot is a breeze :)

SuperStarfighter is a fast-paced local party game for up to 4 players. Outmaneuver and shoot your opponents in a 2d top-down arena, and become an intergalactic champion!

Get it on Itch.io or find the source code here.

Hat-tip to GoL.

For commenting please visit our forums.

This post was retrieved from freegamer.blogspot.com.

Put people first

Billionaires use shocks like COVID-19 to consolidate their power.

BREAKING: An oil and gas industry bailout behind closed doors

We're in a global health and economic crisis, and Trump wants to bail out the oil industry.

Fall In! 2019

I ran my third Warmaster Revolution tournament at Fall In! this past weekend. We had 12 players, with two bailing in the third round. Everyone had a good time and is looking forward to Cold Wars. I also managed to get my Dwarves on bases for it as well.

Kal also ran the Epic Armageddon tournament again as well. I believe we had 12 players for this one, which is one of the biggest yet. I played Lou's Blood Angels, Brad's Titan Legion and Coach's Black Legion over the course of three rounds.