Finally got around to putting up the documentation for Mr.Yums Inc. mostly shot by me with some help from Branden Rush.
So I have been doing a lousy job of updating this here blog but I did redesign the site and have been working hard on a slew of new projects including Word Wizard an endless spelling game for mobile which is pictured above. I am also working on a new card game, a hybrid dice battling game, a game installation with my pal Sam Sheffield and a research project about the history of hybrid games ( here is a sneak peak of that ). More updates to come of the other projects as I try to get back into the swing of updating the site.
In a few days I am off to Milan for a two week game design project/camp/workshop with my friends from Focus C0-op . Earlier this year, Augusto & Matteo received a grant to produce a live action game in a former office space in Milan. I have been working with them to help design the game and a workshop where we will be joined by a team of designers, actors and game designers who will help build out the project. It should be a lot of work and fun.
I got to spend the past week in Krakow Poland as part of Invisible Playgrounds and the Goethe Institute’s Playpublik festival of games. With my friends from Focus C0-op we installed a new version of Race the Future and I also gave a workshop entitled Crash Course Tabletop Game Design the handout from the workshop can be found here.
For the next two weeks, I am on a research fellowship at the Strong National Museum of Play studying the history of early analog/digital hybrid games. I am interested in early games that use logic circuits as part of their core mechanics without relying on a separate electronic display for game play.
This comes out of my interest in creating social games that take the best parts of tabletop and digital games. The museum is a pretty amazing place and I am lucky to have the support of an amazing staff of archivists and curators.
Last week I spoke on a panel at the Maryland Film Festival about the convergence of film and video games. On the panel were some very talented folks: Matthew Fishel, Neal McDonald, Aaron Oldenburg, Robby Rackleff and it was moderated by Tronster Hartley.
Today I got to be part of the Baltimore Indie Games Seminar hosted by the University of Baltimore ‘s Simulation and Digital Entertainment program. I spoke on a panel about crowd funding for indie game developers with James from Discord Games and earlier in the day Sid Meier gave a great talk about working as a Game Designer/Programmer.
Today I had the pleasure to talk on a panel at the Society Photographic Education 2014 Conference with three of my colleagues from MICA . The panel was on how to teach collaborative skills in the classroom to art/design students and how we approach it in the Interactive Arts department at MICA.
So this past weekend my game: Eat Yr Tears was featured in the Punk Arcade exhibit at the Vector Game Festival in Toronto. The show was curated by the lovely Sarah Brin and Lee Tusman and featured work by Major Bueno, Ilya Zarembsky, Merrit Kopas, Arcane Kids and a bunch of other cool people. I got to go to the festival and saw a bunch of great work and met some wonderful people…good times.
So along with Andrew Liang and Michael Benevento from Baltimore’s amazing Current Space, I am helping curate FIELD DAY a collection of participatory games, activities, performances and competitions designed by artists, which will be free and open to the public during the 2014 Artscape.
The deadline to apply is March 24th…Everyone should make a game and apply!
Its a brand new year and things are going quite well here in Charm City…Lords & Ladies is going to be published on a really great publisher Gryphon Games! They have put out some really great games by some of my favorite game designers like: Reiner Knizia , Bruno Faidutti, Alan R. Moon, Matt Leacock and many others.
We are going to be able to get the game out into more store, use wooden parts for the coins, pawns and round marker and make a much nicer game. We are excited to say the least and it is a great start to the new year.
Lords & Ladies met and surpassed its funding goal on Kickstarter with 600 backers and over 650 copies pre-ordered. Jen and I am very excited and even more so that we get to add the Foreign Affairs expansion.
This adds new art to game from awesome artists like Carson Ellis, Eleanor Davis, Evah Fan, Marci Washingtonand Alec Thibodeau. We are still accepting pre-orders off our website and will be releasing the game in late February 2014.