Really interested to see how Princes of the Dragon Throne turns out. It looks like it could be cool but I just get a weird feeling looking at it that makes me skeptical. Can't put my finger on it until I actually get a chance to play it. I do really like both of Clever Mojo Game's first two published board games though, Alien Frontiers and Sunrise City. (and Formula E looks pretty cool, although it's borderline whether it will fund on Kickstarter).
My one big disappointment was not getting a chance to play Pay Dirt, which is actually designed by the same guy who did Alien Frontiers (to be published by Crash Games).
Yeah, we have infinite city. I like the game, but more as an easy to teach game, and intro to non Euro-gamer people. The game is fun, but it can swing really quickly. You have 15 tokens that get placed on the tiles as you play them, and because of randomness, I have been able to place 9 of my tokens on the opening turn. The rules state the the game ends at the end of a round after a player has placed their last token, or after all 4 of the Power Station tiles have been placed. Due to being able to place so many tokens in a turn, we have a house rule that lets the game continue if one of more of the final tokens are returned to that player before the end of the round. I have only played one or two games that ended due to Power Stations.
Nope. The whole Small World 1/2 thing is sort of a misnomer anyway. They're already pretty far along on Small World 2 for iOS, but it's just going to be an app update, so Small World 1 will cease to exist. It's just the mother of all updates.
The campaign was very confusing. It was basically $180k for something they were going to do anyway (iOS) but you could get some fancy version of the game, oh and if we hit crazy stretch goals, we'll do Android and PC. An Android/Steam only campaign in March will be put up or shut up time for a lot of people who complain that iOS gets all the star treatment on Kickstarter. We shall see if it funds.
In the meantime I'll be cluthing onto my $320-something dollars and waiting for that deluxe physical version to go up for sale.
Wait, the kickstarter was for building an android version???
I understand the reboot, I found it very weird to have a funding tier that was a completely separate product that was also more awesome than the actual kickstarter product. And now I find out I didn't even understand what their kickstarter product was.
This is similar to the Penny Arcade "let's get rid of all the ads" campaign which only got rid of one ad and needed stretch goals to do the actual thing they were advertising.
Name one game designer who has succeeded by making a big game first. You won't find even one.
Refraction made pinball dreams, not sure if you would count that as big though. But was pretty good for its time. And the made Codename Eagle Later during what you must consider pretty early stages in the companies career for what they achieved.
Name one game designer who has succeeded by making a big game first. You won't find even one.
Refraction made pinball dreams, not sure if you would count that as big though. But was pretty good for its time. And the made Codename Eagle Later during what you must consider pretty early stages in the companies career for what they achieved.
I'm talking about individual people. I can start a brand new company and hire people who have many games under their belt. I doubt that those people had never made a game before in their lives.
Name one game designer who has succeeded by making a big game first. You won't find even one.
Refraction made pinball dreams, not sure if you would count that as big though. But was pretty good for its time. And the made Codename Eagle Later during what you must consider pretty early stages in the companies career for what they achieved.
I'm talking about individual people. I can start a brand new company and hire people who have many games under their belt. I doubt that those people had never made a game before in their lives.
Actually, they where students and they made it in their rooms. Weather they messed up a platformer or two before that in their spare time, i dont know. But I think you have a point, in that when they made codename, wich eventually evolved to battle field under dice, that was not the first thing they did.
On the other hand, a game like pinbal dreams, however popular, is a copy of an existing analog game made digital, a change of medium if you will, They made a good digital interface for an established game form, not invent pinball. So, perhaps you are right.
On a more holistic level this begs to ask weather you can learn from someone else's experiences? and to what degree?
Name one game designer who has succeeded by making a big game first. You won't find even one.
Refraction made pinball dreams, not sure if you would count that as big though. But was pretty good for its time. And the made Codename Eagle Later during what you must consider pretty early stages in the companies career for what they achieved.
I'm talking about individual people. I can start a brand new company and hire people who have many games under their belt. I doubt that those people had never made a game before in their lives.
Actually, they where students and they made it in their rooms. Weather they messed up a platformer or two before that in their spare time, i dont know. But I think you have a point, in that when they made codename, wich eventually evolved to battle field under dice, that was not the first thing they did.
On the other hand, a game like pinbal dreams, however popular, is a copy of an existing analog game made digital, a change of medium if you will, They made a good digital interface for an established game form, not invent pinball. So, perhaps you are right.
On a more holistic level this begs to ask weather you can learn from someone else's experiences? and to what degree?
You can learn from someone else's experiences, but obviously there is a limit. I can't watch a piano master play for a long time, and then suddenly play on my own. Usually what happens when you learn from someone else is they tell you something, you hear it and try to do it. Then when you actually come across the thing the taught you, you will grok it. To achieve the grokking, you can't avoid the doing.
Name one game designer who has succeeded by making a big game first. You won't find even one.
Refraction made pinball dreams, not sure if you would count that as big though. But was pretty good for its time. And the made Codename Eagle Later during what you must consider pretty early stages in the companies career for what they achieved.
I'm talking about individual people. I can start a brand new company and hire people who have many games under their belt. I doubt that those people had never made a game before in their lives.
Actually, they where students and they made it in their rooms. Weather they messed up a platformer or two before that in their spare time, i dont know. But I think you have a point, in that when they made codename, wich eventually evolved to battle field under dice, that was not the first thing they did.
On the other hand, a game like pinbal dreams, however popular, is a copy of an existing analog game made digital, a change of medium if you will, They made a good digital interface for an established game form, not invent pinball. So, perhaps you are right.
On a more holistic level this begs to ask weather you can learn from someone else's experiences? and to what degree?
You can learn from someone else's experiences, but obviously there is a limit. I can't watch a piano master play for a long time, and then suddenly play on my own. Usually what happens when you learn from someone else is they tell you something, you hear it and try to do it. Then when you actually come across the thing the taught you, you will grok it. To achieve the grokking, you can't avoid the doing.
Put that way it stipulates that we would be unable to learn from history, paints a rather sad picture for the human race, doesn't it?
Played Puerto Rico for the first time in years. Is it just me or does the seat order give a somewhat substantial advantage?
EDIT: Ahh, we were playing the game wrong. I thought a "round" was the time it took for each player to take their turn with a specific role. That means that the governer was passed around whenever a new role was picked, and the first player would always start with his pick of the newly-monied cards.
We also played the Captain incorrectly for the first half of the game, placing single pieces instead of whole types of goods.
Unity Games was this weekend. Played two new (to me) games there: Power Grid and Suburbia. Power Grid is great. Haven't had a reaction like I did to it since I first played Agricola. Suburbia is clearly a very good game, but everyone who played it was too tired and took forever to take their turns (this was a group who normally do not have this problem). I withhold further judgement on it until I can play a proper game.
It was actually when a player bought a harbor that I realized the mistake. I read the description, thought "does that mean he gets double VP for every good he ships? That doesn't seem right..." and re-read the rules.
The governer-switching thing was much worse, and led to the first player winning by a substantial margin (~69, 49, 39 total scores). I thought the "phases" and the "rounds" were the same thing.
EDIT: Like this:
P1 picks a roll. This begins a round. Players take their turns doing the role action. P2 picks a roll. Second round begins and governer card is passed. Players take turns doing the actions. P3 picks, governer card is passed, players take turns doing actions. Governer card is passed to P1, bonus money is placed on unused roles, P1 picks a roll...
The Governer card makes a lot more sense now that I know the actual rules.
Here's some of the things I got wrong in my first playthrough or two: 1) We were taking the bonus hacienda tile in the same way as the first one, rather than the proper way (i.e. a random facedown tile). 2) We weren't discarding the remaining plantation tiles at the end of settler phase. 3) We refilled the colonist ship incorrectly - only empty circles on buildings count, not those on plantations/quarries. 4) We ended the game instantly on fulfilment of the criteria, rather than playing to the end of that round. 5) When the VPs run out, we didn't realise that you are still able to earn VPs until the round ends.
The other interesting thing is the rules for "forgetting" to refill the colonist ship. The way I see it, because there is a rule specifically covering this (i.e. the minimum number is placed), that makes "forgetting" a valid strategy - of course, other players may force you to do it by "reminding" you.
Here's one thing I still don't quite get: according to the rules, the mayor phase is supposed to be optional. How exactly would opting out of mayor phase work?
Here's one thing I still don't get: according to the rules, the mayor phase is supposed to be optional. How exactly would opting out of mayor phase work?
Guy next to me needs 2 people to start making coffee, I mayor right before him forcing him to only take one person and having him waste a turn to complete the machine. If I am full I could add them to San Juan or just keep them at bay to make the game go slightly longer, or to remove the bonus coins/people the guy really wanted.
Based on this thread, the answer seems to be this: - You can pass on taking a colonist every time it gets around to you, though this would mean someone else will get it. - If everyone passes on taking colonists, the colonists are simply discarded from the ship. - Moving colonists is mandatory and cannot be skipped, regardless of whether you took colonists or not; consequently, there cannot be unemployment at the end of the mayor phase unless there are no empty circles.
My rules say nothing about the mayor phase being optional. When the mayor comes, you have to take all the colonists that are coming to you. You must put them on buildings and plantations until they are full, only then may you put the remainder in San Juan.
It's also important to know that when you take a face down tile for the hacienda, you must do so before you take a face up tile.
It's also important to know that when you take a face down tile for the hacienda, you must do so before you take a face up tile.
Damn, I hadn't realised that. Hacienda is suddenly much better than I thought it was.
Do you agree re. "forgetting" to refill the ship?
Yes, you are playing the refilling ship rule properly. You can forget intentionally, but if reminded in time, a refill must be done properly. If the reminder is too late, or you get to the mayor again without remembering, you refill the standard amount as per the rules.
That is crazy, but there's no good reason to every pass on mayor anyway. Likewise there is no good reason to pass on craftsman or prospector.
Yes, there are good reasons - by not taking colonists you might leave more empty colonist circles on your buildings, hence forcing the game to end earlier due to having to refill more colonists at the end of the phase.
Here's some of the things I got wrong in my first playthrough or two: 1) We were taking the bonus hacienda tile in the same way as the first one, rather than the proper way (i.e. a random facedown tile). 2) We weren't discarding the remaining plantation tiles at the end of settler phase.
Hmm. I didn't know about either of these rules. We did the same thing.
Here's one thing I still don't get: according to the rules, the mayor phase is supposed to be optional. How exactly would opting out of mayor phase work?
Can't you just decide not to take a colonist? EDIT: Ninja'd.
Comments
My one big disappointment was not getting a chance to play Pay Dirt, which is actually designed by the same guy who did Alien Frontiers (to be published by Crash Games).
The campaign was very confusing. It was basically $180k for something they were going to do anyway (iOS) but you could get some fancy version of the game, oh and if we hit crazy stretch goals, we'll do Android and PC. An Android/Steam only campaign in March will be put up or shut up time for a lot of people who complain that iOS gets all the star treatment on Kickstarter. We shall see if it funds.
In the meantime I'll be cluthing onto my $320-something dollars and waiting for that deluxe physical version to go up for sale.
I understand the reboot, I found it very weird to have a funding tier that was a completely separate product that was also more awesome than the actual kickstarter product. And now I find out I didn't even understand what their kickstarter product was.
This is similar to the Penny Arcade "let's get rid of all the ads" campaign which only got rid of one ad and needed stretch goals to do the actual thing they were advertising.
On the other hand, a game like pinbal dreams, however popular, is a copy of an existing analog game made digital, a change of medium if you will, They made a good digital interface for an established game form, not invent pinball. So, perhaps you are right.
On a more holistic level this begs to ask weather you can learn from someone else's experiences? and to what degree?
EDIT: Ahh, we were playing the game wrong. I thought a "round" was the time it took for each player to take their turn with a specific role. That means that the governer was passed around whenever a new role was picked, and the first player would always start with his pick of the newly-monied cards.
We also played the Captain incorrectly for the first half of the game, placing single pieces instead of whole types of goods.
I need to play this game more.
I REALLY want a Harbor in YoshoKatana's game, though.
The governer-switching thing was much worse, and led to the first player winning by a substantial margin (~69, 49, 39 total scores). I thought the "phases" and the "rounds" were the same thing.
EDIT: Like this:
P1 picks a roll. This begins a round. Players take their turns doing the role action.
P2 picks a roll. Second round begins and governer card is passed. Players take turns doing the actions.
P3 picks, governer card is passed, players take turns doing actions.
Governer card is passed to P1, bonus money is placed on unused roles, P1 picks a roll...
The Governer card makes a lot more sense now that I know the actual rules.
1) We were taking the bonus hacienda tile in the same way as the first one, rather than the proper way (i.e. a random facedown tile).
2) We weren't discarding the remaining plantation tiles at the end of settler phase.
3) We refilled the colonist ship incorrectly - only empty circles on buildings count, not those on plantations/quarries.
4) We ended the game instantly on fulfilment of the criteria, rather than playing to the end of that round.
5) When the VPs run out, we didn't realise that you are still able to earn VPs until the round ends.
The other interesting thing is the rules for "forgetting" to refill the colonist ship. The way I see it, because there is a rule specifically covering this (i.e. the minimum number is placed), that makes "forgetting" a valid strategy - of course, other players may force you to do it by "reminding" you.
Here's one thing I still don't quite get: according to the rules, the mayor phase is supposed to be optional. How exactly would opting out of mayor phase work?
- You can pass on taking a colonist every time it gets around to you, though this would mean someone else will get it.
- If everyone passes on taking colonists, the colonists are simply discarded from the ship.
- Moving colonists is mandatory and cannot be skipped, regardless of whether you took colonists or not; consequently, there cannot be unemployment at the end of the mayor phase unless there are no empty circles.
It's also important to know that when you take a face down tile for the hacienda, you must do so before you take a face up tile.
Do you agree re. "forgetting" to refill the ship?