Free Release: One Page Dungeon Contest 2016

Three years after my first entry into that prestigious contest on pen & paper adventure design, this is my second attempt to leave my mark:

The Lair of the Voidbeast - a Non-Euklidean Dungeon

It's inspired by this and the follow up. Folded into a cube that you might wanna hide behind a screen it could potentially flabbergast and bamboozle players who like to draw maps while exploring. Next up: A remake of my first One Page Dungeon, after having learned a bit more on design and legibility...

Free Release: Low Res Dungeoneer

So, Niels and I did it again. After Choose Your Own CaveVenture we collaborated on another game project. It was another game-jam as well, the #LowRezJam2016. Only rule was that the resulting game should not exceed 64 by 64 pixels.

We did what we do best: A roguelike. I whipped up a quick design doc outlining everything and then made the Pixel Art. Niels, as usual, did the coding. See for yourselves, it's playable in your browser if you have a functioning Unity Web Player and there is a downloadable Windows-Version if you don't:

Here you go!

One Page Dungeon Contest 2016 - Sneak Peek

So, the One Page Dungeon Contest 2016 is around the corner. Deadline is May 1st, so there is some time left. This year I'm working on something quite special. Here's a little sneak peek of my work in progress:

It's been three years since my last entry in that competition. Back then I made several rather big mistakes I'd like to address here.

Bacon Game Jam: GunMaker 4: Gold Edition

So, hi blog, long time no see... I've been part of a team of guys participating in the Bacon Game Jam over the weekend. The result of our work is GunMaker 4: Gold Edition, a title that I am proud to announce is totally overselling the finished product. But finish we did and the result can also be a fun tool to create weapons for any cyberpunk-RPG. I even released the graphics as CC3.0 so you can do pretty much whatever with them, as long as you mention me. Check it out and come back to read about my experience with this particular game jam after the jump.

When you only have 48 hours, cloning graphics is your best friend...

On Randomness in Board Game Design

As I am now a father and busy with other projects, such as the (German language) NPConline, where I am editor-in-chief of all things text. I have recently left this place here to its own devices. But now that my son is slowly getting into an age where play starts to have any meaning, I intend to return here sometimes, be it only to note what we're doing. The roguelike board game I've been working on is also still in the making – the prototype has been feature-complete for a while and a friend of mine is currently making art for it. I think it's gonna be amazing. Anyhow, let's talk about randomness in board game design – it's not as bad as its reputation!

What is going on here?

So, this blog ain't dead and neither am I. Being a father can really muck with your game-time so I have some thoughts regardin that which I shall reveal here over the next few posts. That isn't all though: I'm still working on some projects.

First and foremost the board game that the last post was about. It's coming along at a slow and steady pace, I have an artist doing illustrations and we hope to have an illustrated prototype ready by Christmas. That is good because while my play-prototype is feature-complete, it's also in ASCII-graphics, which can confuse non-roguelike-players.

I've been writing articles on DMing pen & paper RPGs over at this site (in German). Besides that and now churning out articles for a living, I seldom get to visit this old haunting-ground of mine. I do not intend to let it die off though, as it will continue to serve as my game-design-blog where I will keep the world updated on what I'm doing and put writing that is too niche for my editor at the other website.

The other project I'm currently working on is directly related to me being a father now: I'm trying to write a pen & paper RPG for kids. Like, really little kids. 4 and up. My son still has some ways to go until he's mature enough (if you can call it that) for that but I want to be ready to welcome him in the world of role-playing as soon as he is. I dislike simply scaling down classical pen & paper as I think that ethics are important and I'd like to keep my kid in a somewhat safe environment when it comes to playing. Think of the game I'm working on as something like a kid's book-version of an RPG. There'll be no murdering things, players won't need to be literate and there are activities such as solving labyrinths, drawing with crayons and making simple rhymes in order to cast spells.

I'll go into more depth in a future post. Stay tuned as I have some stuff to talk about here in the near future. Next up: My opinion on the cesspool that is #GamerGate. More on that later this week.

What I've been working on...

So here's, what I've been (next to my new real-life-feedin'-the-family-job) working on: A board-game roguelike. I'll give out some more details after more testing with my hand-made prototype. Here's a sneak-peak at how the game looks in action:

Not the first of its kind. But it's mine.

The game so far features:
-Variable Characters with different race-, skill- and attribute-cards.
-Randomized monsters with different sets of ability- and stat-cards.
-Lots of loot-cards including weapons, armor, spells and more.
-A 5 x 5 tile dungeon to be explored. Featuring obstacles, traps, monsters and treasure.
-A simple  yet elegant XP system that allows for single- or multiplayer-campaigns.