Development Diary

[Jubal]

A good writeup - hope you're not still being pursued by wrathful Olympians!

I miss that sort of festival/expo scene: not that there aren't some equivalents in the German-speaking world, but the big ones are big and generic and the small ones are very German-speaking, and getting stands/stalls at things is much more complex (I looked into getting stands here for things and at all the places I looked you have to be legally tax registered to have one, for example).

[indiekid]

That's frustrating! I did come away from the Expo looking forward to all the small things popping up here in the UK. Do you think you'll one day be confident enough in your German to attend one of those smaller cons? Perhaps catch you at one back in the UK some time =)

[Jubal]

Maybe re smaller cons, but the bureaucracy issue/cons not really giving you stands unless you're a heavily legally registered entity still remains.

[indiekid]

This one goes a bit deep into a specific mechanic, probably a headache to read. Is there a "right" way to write this stuff up? https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2022/08/02/diary-54-chinese-takeaway/

[Jubal]

I found this interesting! Turn order is tricky to work with, especially when you break away from it being a fixed feature of a game. Is going first/acting sooner almost always an advantage in current versions of the game? That's one of the odder keys to it, it can be tricky to work out what the "I can act before my opponents can respond" vs "I can react with the knowledge of where everything is" balance really is for a game, if that makes sense.

[indiekid]

I am interested to see how those two different considerations play out. I'm drawing a lot on X Wing the Miniatures Game at the moment. This assigns an initiative value to each ship, with lower ones moving first in a round. Potentially pointing the wrong way when the shooting starts, but also potentially getting in the way of the higher initiative ships. Players used to be able to control ties in initiative value by having lower-point lists (so-called "bidding") but sadly this feature was removed.

[Jubal]

Ooh, OK, that's an interesting system - I've never played X-wing, it does look fun though.

[indiekid]

A bit of a love letter this time https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2022/10/07/diary-55-collaboration/

[Jubal]

I like the idea of focusing on, as you say being “of” the community not simply “at” a shop.

In some ways it would be nice if that was a viable model more generally: that boardgames could be produced and shaped at very localised levels with the designer-storyteller being able to focus on small groups. The general issue with that is obviously the financial model of it (though full time professional TTRPG game masters are now a thing, so who knows?).

[indiekid]

I wonder if the model is also applicable to LARPing - some people go to a lot of effort to tailor games to their community

[indiekid]

How playing existing board games has influenced my own https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/diary-56-the-man-who-would-be-euro/

[indiekid]

A look at where I am with my conventions and projects https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2023/02/14/diary-57-plan-a/

[Jubal]

It could be said the game has strayed a long way from my original vision but, after twelve years, I can’t remember what that was so I’m OK with it.

This is pretty spot on with how I approach problems too

Also, incredibly pedant thing, but: you rein, not reign, your enthusiasm in. The analogy is to pulling on a horse's reins to get it to stop, rather than to the reign of a monarch.

What will you be doing in Spain?

[indiekid]

Haha I forgot I was going to check that spelling, thanks. I will be visiting my brother in Madrid then heading south to see Granada, Cadiz etc etc. After that it's probably going to be Mexico

[Jubal]

You do manage to get around! Hope you enjoy it, I've never been to southern Spain, I'd love to see those cities