Spinners Of The Night

The Wild Riders haven't been holding my attention so I switched gears and started on the Night Spinner turrets this past Tuesday. The cockpits and undersides are done while the orange got started. I've since finished that up and got the barrels glued on since this picture was taken.

Storium Theory: Inaction In Action

Sometimes, I see players make comments in a game, explaining why they haven't made a move in a challenge so far:

"I don't think this is something my character knows how to deal with."

"I'm not sure she cares about this."

"I think he's just kind of stunned right now.

"She doesn't know what to do."

Sometimes these are indications of a problem in the story - if all of a narrator's players are telling him their characters don't care about the current situation, it is probably time to revise the situation and figure out how to better relate it to the story at hand.

But...more often, they're a statement that is actually pointing directly at a very interesting opportunity for the character: A chance to make inaction your action.

When you're writing the story of a challenge, things are happening, whether your character is acting on them or not. Each move drives the timeline of the challenge forward. When a card is played, something happens, and the challenge moves positively or negatively, or just towards the end of its story.

So...if your character, for instance, doesn't know how to deal with something, and chooses not to act...that's a choice. And that's his "action" for that moment in the tale.

So let it be an action! Make your move! Show your character's uncertainty or confusion about what to do! Show how your character hasn't cared about the situation, if that's the case, and chooses to ignore it! Show how the situation has left your character stunned, or how he's tired and needs rest, or how his injuries prevent him from joining the battle!

Sometimes, those things are treated as reasons not to make a move, but...that's not what they should be. They are, in fact, excellent opportunities to make moves.

Especially...especially...if you have either Weakness cards to play, or a Subplot.

I'm stunned. I'm confused. I'm shell-shocked. I'm injured. I'm exhausted. I just plain don't care about this.

Those are all excellent weakness plays.

When a situation is ongoing and your character chooses not to do anything about it, that's a great opportunity to show what starts going wrong with the situation because your character is not preventing it. Philosophically, there's nothing really different here from if things start to go wrong and your character tries to prevent it and fails because of a Weakness, right? Something goes wrong either way. The difference is just that your character, in this case, didn't do something to stop it instead of doing something but getting it wrong.

What about Subplots? Well, Subplots are great for these situations too! When a character is shocked into inaction, when she finds something she doesn't care about, when he struggles to understand what he's supposed to do in a situation...those are great times to explore the other mysteries in a character's life or the things the character does care about. There are some excellent subplot moves available that show how the character withdraws into themselves, or starts thinking about how all this ties in with their personal problems, or tries to examine where they are right now...and because of all that, something starts to happen in the current situation, and they're not really sure what to do in the face of it...or even if they should do something.

A subplot isn't a weakness play, mind, so chances are nothing ends up going outright wrong right away, but you can certainly hint that something will! While your character is distracted by his own thoughts, or full of self-doubt, or struggling with what he's supposed to do, or disinterested in what is happening, how does the situation evolve?

If your character doesn't seem certain of what's going on, or doesn't know what to do, or just plain doesn't care...don't just drop out of the challenge. Use that to advance the challenge.

Now...one more point on this. Especially in the case of a character that "doesn't care" about a challenge, this can actually be a great way to figure out what would make them care, and therefore explain how a Strength comes into play, or at least how they get involved in the challenge despite their feelings. If you find yourself thinking that your character just wouldn't get involved for some reason or another, put a little time into thinking about what might happen because of that decision.

Then, write a move based on that...and maybe, maybe midway through the move, you'll realize the character now does know what to do, or does care about the situation, as she sees what is about to happen, or starts watching something she does care about slip away.

Maybe that leads to the character using a Strength and turning things around after all. Or maybe the character ends up doubling down on fear or uncertainty, or just takes the wrong action, using a Weakness. Or maybe, the character's Subplot drives him forward, making him engage with the challenge now that he's seen what it could mean if he doesn't.

Now...this isn't something you need to pull in all the time. (And to be clear, if you find yourself constantly trying to figure out why your character would get involved in something, it may be time to talk to the narrator about how to make your character mesh better with the story.) But there are times when an inability to think about something that your character would do can itself be precisely what drives the story forward and makes an interesting situation.

Don't overuse this, but...keep it in the toolbox. It's a handy trick to pull out and it can lead to some astonishingly interesting moments for a character if used properly.

Remember Spider-Man and Uncle Ben...sometimes, when your character doesn't take action, that ends up driving his story more than anything else.

(106 MB) Download Hitman 3 Contracts Game Highly Compressed For Pc

Download Hitman 3 Contracts Game Highly Compressed For Pc

Screenshot

System Requirements of Hitman Contracts PC Game

Before you start Hitman Contracts Free Download make sure your PC meets minimum system requirements

• Operating System: Windows XP/ Windows Vista/ Windows 7/ Windows 8 and 8.1
• CPU:Pentium 4 1.6 GHz
• RAM: 256 MB
• Setup Size: 106 MB

Curved Region Rendering

Around a month ago I had an idea in my head: a voronoi grid modified to have rounded cells that change in size. I made an attempt here for single cells changing size. The next step was to merge cells together, as I had done on this project. I decided that the way to demo this would be to simulate some kind of belief/cultural systems that spread over time across a map. I tried this here.

Simulation

It didn't go well.

What happened? I think the problem was that I had three unknown elements in this project:

1. Simulation with the simplest rendering code I could get away with. Figure out what simulation rules are interesting and cool.
2. Rendering isolines on a triangle mesh.

   

3. Rendering curved isolines on a triangle mesh, using Bezier curves.

   

In trying to figure out all three at once, I didn't do a good job on them. I should have instead focused on one at a time. I ended up succeeding with #2 when I learned about and implemented the Meandering Triangles algorithm, and also built a little interactive visualization that helped me understand how the algorithm works. I failed with #1, having tried several algorithms but not finding one that I liked. I realized towards the end of the week that #1 was a red herring; I didn't need a simulation at all, as I really just wanted curved regions. I also failed at #3, having tried some experiments but never finding what I wanted, and also rejecting Chaikin Curves for reasons I can't remember. Since I really wanted the curved variable sized regions, I should have spent more time on #3 and less on #1. I ran out of time on this project so I'll leave #1 and #3 for another day.

You can see the animation I ended up with.

What do I mean "I ran out of time"? That's the next blog post!

Five Excellent Documentaries About Gaming Culture And Gaming Industry

1-) Indie Game: The Movie - is the first feature documentary film about making video games. It looks specifically at the underdogs of the video game industry, indie game developers, who sacrifice money, health and sanity to realize their lifelong dreams of sharing their visions with the world.



2-) Screenland - A documentary series that immerses viewers in the artists, makers, designers, players and coders who are revolutionizing the new digital worlds through screens all around us.



3-) Atari: Game Over - For the documentary, the filmmakers excavated the landfill site in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where many E.T. game cartridges were buried. The excavation dig took several months of preparation, and was finally carried out on April 26, 2014. Although the digging had only been planned to go as deep as 18 feet, it actually went to 30 feet. Around 1,300 of the approximately 700,000 games buried were unearthed.



4-) King Of Kong A fistful Of Quarters - the documentary follows Steve Wiebe in his attempts to take the high score record for the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong from the previous holder, Billy Mitchell.



5-) AlphaGo - In October 2015, AlphaGo became the first computer Go program to beat a human professional Go player without handicaps on a full-sized 19×19 board. This documentary shows this awesome battle between human versus machine.

#GoGamers

Origins 2019 -- Playtests And Interesting Pitches

Due to Corbin being born, I missed all of the conventions last year, so I was excited to get back to them this summer. Last week I flew to Columbus for the first big convention of the season, Origins.

Origins has been growing in the last few years, and it seems to me like more exhibitors are launching games at the convention. I think that with GenCon pretty much outgrowing Indianapolis, people are sick of not being able to get a hotel room, and are starting to attend Origins instead. This has led me to my hypothesis that Origins is the new GenCon.

For the time being, that's great! The convention is still much smaller than the behemoth in Indianapolis, so the crowds aren't so bad, hotels are still obtainable, and restaurants don't ALL have a horrendous wait at all hours. Sales won't be as high as at GenCon, but as they expand their dealer hall, and more and more publishers launch games there, I suspect it is very worthwhile to have a booth. I don't know that I'd recommend Origins as a publisher instead of GenCon, but I think things are moving in such a direction that pretty soon, that trade off won't seems so crazy.

Interesting Pitches

Andy and I scheduled a dozen or so pitch meetings with designers. We are getting better at weeding out unlikely candidates, so we're getting a higher rate of pitches that are interesting to us. We ended up seeing several interesting ones, and Andy took a few back to the office to test out.

Game discovery is tricky though. A good pitch can make even a bland game sound interesting, so it's important to remember that no matter how good a game sounds, no matter how good the story of the game is, you really can't make a good decision about it until you actually play, often more than once, and possibly with various different groups of people.

Playtests

I managed a few tests of two of the games I've been working on:

* Sails & Sorcery x3 (Mike's game that I'm helping develop)
Most of the time, I go to conventions with a bag full of prototypes, and between booth stuff, meetings, and everything else going on, it can sometimes be like pulling teeth to get the TMG guys to play them with me. This time was different. One of the prototypes I'm working on is Michael's game, which I'm calling Sails & Sorcery for lack of a better title. Which meant Michael was interested in it, and he encouraged several playtests.

In total, the game got played 3 times at Origins, with varying levels of success. I was fairly happy with the state of the game in my recent tests with my regular playtesters (note: mostly 3p lately), so I was pretty disappointed with the first play (4p) with Andy, Michael, and Michael's friend when a few problems reared their head:

- The downtime was too much

The current format of the game was that you take turns doing 2 roles at a time. To be honest, that format felt a little old fashioned, but I had convinced myself it wasn't that bad, and that in this type of game, some downtime and AP potential is common. But playing with people less familiar with the game (because they haven't been playing weekly like we had) was a harsh reminder that new players will suffer those effects much more than experienced players. The game took far too long, and much of that time was spent waiting for your turn to roll around.

In some of the later playtests of the weekend, we tried breaking the rounds into twice around affairs, with players getting 1 turn at a time. Initially I didn't like the sound of that, so I hadn't tried it yet, but it did help decrease down time. I'll have to investigate that some more and figure out how to do it and maintain some of the other aspects of the round structure.

- Plunder was too prevalent,

Sails & Sorcery is an area control game, where you deploy your pirates to islands and build structures in order to vie for the most influence in the scoring areas. One of the things you can do is Plunder other pirates, removing them from the board, and collecting a bounty for doing so. If you are behind in an area, you can take the lead by adding more of your pirates, or by plundering your opponents' pirates. Plundering scores you some treasure, and the short term benefit of taking the majority in the area, but the plundered pirates go back to their owner's ship to be re-deployed later. On the other hand, adding pirates to the board not only helps take over majority, but those pirates stick around to continue to have an effect on the board. So there's a theoretical balance there, and in my recent tests (mostly 3p), the balance was holding fairly well.

However, in that 4p game, plunder was far too prevalent! The rewards were a little too high, or the costs were a little too low, or the cost to recruit and deploy pirates were a little too high in comparison, so everybody went heavily into plunder, and nobody deployed pirates to the board, which meant that all pirates were swept off the board pretty much the whole game.

Some of that may have been down to groupthink, and I would have liked to see what would have happened if a player did some big recruit/deploy actions. But even still, it was clear the balance was not correct. I had some adjustments in mind already, but had previously thought they might not be necessary -- now I will definitely try them out.

- The game appeared too tactical.

In this game, there are a number of areas, and originally they all scored once in the midgame and again at the end of the game. When I first played the game, I was immediately turned off by the tedium of counting up and scoring all the areas at once, and I developed a different way to do it -- first simplifying the scoring values (now you just grab a few gold and silver coins), and also scoring just a couple of areas every round rather than all of them at once. They still all scored at the end of the game, but as a sort of final scoring phase I didn't have as big a problem with that.

One potential problem with this is that some players feel forced to fight for whichever area is scoring this round, and there's not much in the way of strategic, or long term, planning. I'm not sure that's 100% true, but even if it's not, that's what many players will feel when they first play. I'll have to watch out for this to make sure the game isn't entirely tactical, because Michael and I both want there to be a strategic aspect.

So there were some issues with that one, and I've got a list of changes I'll be trying to address some of that.

* Worker Learning x1 (Mike suggested Apotheosis as a title)

My latest game design is a worker placement game where your workers level up and get better as you play them. I had this idea a while ago, but got busy and stalled out on creating a prototype, so I recruited a friend to help co-design the game, and he was able to get a prototype together and test it, and even iterate the design a few times. Now I've been testing it and iterating a bit as well, and I got one play in at Origins.

The game worked, but wasn't well loved by the players (I played a 3p game with Andy and one other designer in the Unpub room). Some of the changes I already intended to try would address some of the issues the players had, and I've tried a few of those since Origins, and I think I've made some progress in that regard. I'll probably post separately about this game, so stay tuned if you're interested in more info.

Aeranger, Short Film, Review And Interview

When first looking at the short film Aeranger you might be tempted to think you are going to see a fantasy crossover. Instead you are given a solid sci-fi story. The beauty of the story is it delivers what is promised, without try so hard to prove itself. The visual effects are presented in the same manner of solid story telling.

Aeranger was screened at the 2019 FilmQuest film festival (website).

I recommend Aeranger to science fiction fans. This is a great introduction to what Anthony Ferraro gives in his web series and informational YouTube channel (he gives more information on those below.

Synopsis: A space traveler crash lands into Earth while desperately searching for a surrogate planet with the proper resources to save her people and home planet.

Anthony shares his inspiration for Aerangerand for being a filmmaker (from what I've seen, I think he is a solid sci-fi fan and he found his niche). He also talks about what else he likes to do.

What was the inspiration for Aeranger?

Two, first I have a youtube maker channel called create sci-fi where I share how to make props and costumes and basic DIY filmmaking. I am always am making a new project to make "how to' videos about. Second, my last project was a rotoscope style web series called Galactic Galaxy (at FilmQuest last year Video here: https://youtu.be/LfWG-H-pwlA) that was so stylized that I had to make a very traditionally cinematic movie for my next project to balance it out. That project was Aeranger. One of the actresses in Galactic Galaxy Bobbie Breckenridge was someone who I wanted to work with again. I know she has very strong environmental convictions. When I was thinking of the story and concept, I knew it would be out in nature and involve some sort of touchstone there. I always do that because I work with ultra-low budgets so when I have an actor in mind I write for them to make it worth it to invest their time for no financial gain.

What project(s) do you have coming up you're excited about?

I have two pilots I am trying to get made. One is sci-fi horror and one is post apocalypse sci-fi. In the meantime on my channel, I continue to put out weekly How-To videos and just finished a new DIY no-budget sci-fi web series Zenith Runan '80s inspired buddy comedy coming out very soon.

 

What was your early inspiration for pursuing a career in film?

My background is in theatre. At the moment I had to seriously consider if I wanted to continue a career in theatre the whole desktop filmmaking revolution began. I realized my passion was storytelling and moved from theatre to film and never looked back.

What would be your dream project?

A genre episodic show that runs for five years and then two years after the show ends we make a where are the characters now feature film.

What are some of your favorite pastimes when not working on a movie?

Building props and costumes.

What is one of your favorite movies and why?

Hard to say one for me it's everything from Matthew Barney's The Cremaster Cycle, these days lots of episodic TV. As far as film there are three movies I watch obsessively and are touchstones for my work. Excalibur1981, Dir. John Boorman The Outlaw Jose Whales 1976, Dir. Clint Eastwood The Three Musketeers (and The Four Musketeers) 1973, Dir. Richard Lester. The thread is the hero's journey. I love allegory framed in genre filmmaking.

You can find out more about Aeranger on IMDb (link).

You can watch the trailer on YouTube (link).

And, you can check out his channel Create Sci-Fi on YouTube (link).

I'm working at keeping my material free of subscription charges by supplementing costs by being an Amazon Associate and having advertising appear. I earn a fee when people make purchases of qualified products from Amazon when they enter the site from a link on Guild Master Gaming and when people click on an ad. If you do either, thank you.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

I have articles being published by others and you can find most of them on Guild Master Gaming on Facebookand Twitter(@GuildMstrGmng).

 

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A Pirate'S Life, Maybe Not For Me

We've had Tortuga 1667 for nearly a year, and we've only played it twice. That's not entirely uncommon given how many games we have, but I find myself wondering why we haven't gotten it to the table more often.

A big part of it is that Tortuga 1667 wants to be a social deduction game, a genre of game that generally requires a large number of players to be interesting, and most of our non-RPG gaming tends to be done in groups of 2-4 players. Plus I don't really like social deduction games. I find them to be too abstract and lacking in interesting game mechanics or compelling adventure, the two things I tend to look for in a game.

So how did we end up with this game in the first place? Well, it is absolutely beautiful too look at, and it was offered as an add-on in Facade Games' Kickstarter campaign for Deadwood 1876. Plus the player official player count is 2-9, so we figured we might be able to make it work for smaller groups.

At the start of the game, each player is given a secret affiliation, either French or English. The game then involves jockeying for the positions on the board that allow you to either move the other players around, or allocate treasure chests to one side or the other. The trick is that you don't know which players are on your side, and every part of the game relies on anticipating whether or not you think the other players will help or hinder you.

For example, a player in the Captain position can call for an attack, which adds more treasure to his ship. But the attack is resolved by each whose pawn is currently on that ship secretly playing a card that will either help or hinder the attack, so an attack will only be successful if the majority of players on the ship think the Captain is on their side.

In our games we found that, due to this voting mechanic, it was very difficult for a player to actually accomplish anything on their turn. Attacks would get voted down, treasure would get moved back and forth, and the social deduction part of the game wasn't very interesting, and more aggravating than fun.

It's possible that this game just needs more players than we normally have on hand (we played one game with 3 and one with 5), but honestly, if we ever have a table of 6 or more players we're more likely to play a meatier game like Battlestar Galactica, which makes more interesting use of the "secret betrayer" idea, or Dune, which allows players to decide how much "shifting alliances" they want in the game.

Rating: 2 (out of 5) This game just isn't compelling enough at low player counts, and not worth the effort of getting a large group together.

DreamForge Grav-StuG Kickstarter (Postponed To March)

The Kickstarter date is set, pending final approval from Kickstarter...

The Kickstarter will run from January 25th to February 3rd. Its going to be a short one so keep your eye on the calendar!

I will release an introduction video and try to do one to two additional videos, in a Q&A format for the questions asked during the KS, as well as a overview of why I have decided to go the direction I did and where I would like to go next.

There will be retailer/wholesaler packages available.

Please see the previous post for more details regarding this Kickstarter. More details to come...

You can track our progress, sign up for news releases and follow all new content on our web page

I hope to see you there!

Up Against The Wall - 1944 Scenario AAR

The problem with having a lot of figure collections is not being able to use them very often, I try and get round most of the stuff I have at least once a year but my 6mm WW2 has been away too long (April 2016) so it was about time we continued our journey from D-Day to the Assault on the Rhine.

Scale 6mm, Rules Homebrew based on Korp Commander by Bruce Tea Taylor, figure scale approx 1:4.

Based on a scenario from the book White Star Rising, scenarios for Spearhead published in 1997.

A King Tiger waits for its prey on the edge of the village

Historical Background

12th Sept 1944 near Aachen Germany - it's been just three months since the landings and after a slow start it's been a wild ride to get to here but things have been slowing down. Montgomery in Holland and Patton against the Vosges Mountains.

Here in 1st Army sector the going is easier, the plan to punch through the lightly held Siegfried Line and maybe even reach the Rhine, after all the Germans haven't got anything left..... have they ?

The table is 8ft x 6ft and is shown above, you should be able to see all the main features.

Germans set up hidden anywhere to the left (as viewed) of the line of hill, field, hill, field hill on the far right (apologies for adding humour) of the table. Germans set up on numbered counters with 1 blank counter for each real one.

Americans enter the table anywhere along the right table edge.

The Westwall runs along the left hand side of the table.

The game is decided by a points count up after 15 turns.

American Forces

The game will be decided on points you will receive 5pts per town sector held at the end of the game. 2pts for each AFV destroyed and 5pts for any enemy Battalion routed.

Initial Wave consists of 2 Tank Battalions (Morale 5) each with,

BHQ 2 x M4A3E8 Str 5, Recce Company Inf in Jeep Str 3
Gun Co M8HMC Str 3 and a Mortar Company M21 Sgt 3
2 x Tank Companies with 3 x M4A3 Str 5
1 x Tank Companies with 3 x M4A3E8 Str 5
1 x Tank Companies with 3 x M24 Str 5 (Second Battalion has M5s)
Attached 1 Tank Destroyer Company with 3 x M36 Str 4

2 x Armoured Infantry Battalions Morale 5

BHQ in M3 Str5, Recce Company Inf in Jeep Str 3, MMG Coy 3 x MMG in M3
Gun Coy M7 Priest Str 3, Mortar Coy M21 Sgt 3, AT Coy 2 x 57mm AT & Tow Str 5
3 x Inf Companies each with 3 x Inf mounted in M3 Str 6

On table Art 3 Batteries of M7 Priest Str 6

Off table Art, 1 Battery of 8" How Str 6 and 3 Batteries of 105mm How Str 6

Reinforcements

Any remaining assets from a standard US Armoured Division at the time so 1 Tank Battalion, 1 Armoured Infantry Battalion, Recce Battalion, Engineer Battalion, Artillery Battalion (2 Companies left) at a rate of 2 Companies per turn anywhere on the US baseline. Once a Battalion is committed all of its companies must be activated before another Battalion can be selected.

Air Power

Each player rolls 1d20 and any score over 15 will bring a supporting flight of aircraft. Roll a second dice on any success with a 50% chance of receiving a flight of rocket armed Typhoons if not a flight of CAP arrives over the table, they will remain over the table for 6 turns and may perform 1 gun attack on a ground target as they leave.

German Forces

The German player scores 2 points for each enemy Rifle Platoon Killed, 1 point for each Tank Platoon Killed, 10 points for each enemy Battalion routed.

81st Korps Tank Reserve Morale 8
1 Company of 3 x Tiger II tanks Str 4
1 Company of 3 x Jagdpanther Str 4
2 Companies of 3 x Jagdpanzer IV/70 Str 4

48th Volksgrenadier Regt Morale 5

RHQ Str 5 in Horsch Car, Recce Company Inf on Bicycle Sgt 3
Gun Coy 120mm Mortar Sgt 8, Engineer Platoon 3 x Engineer in Sdkfz 10

2 Battalions each with
BHQ Str 4, 81mm Mortar Str 4 and 75mm Infantry Gun Str 6
3 Companies each with 2 x V Gren Str 7

Set up as described above, there is no off table artillery, all German players will receive 1 roll of a d20 per turn with the Luftwaffe turning up on a 20. Roll for type as American.

How did we get on 

This is quite an interesting game with the Germans having all the Gucci toys but the Americans having all the resources. The Germans set their main line of defence down the centre of the table from the large wood in the foreground of the set up shot across the villages using the Armoured resources to form killing grounds in front of the terrain whilst the Infantry waited in Ambush in the cover.

Tigers spotted

The American Players, uncertain of the location began their attack with two main lines of attack. One against the hill nearest the camera on the set up shot, commanded by myself. My plan was to push forward in the centre with my tanks whilst rushing my APC borne Infantry round the wood to flank the hill, leaving my M36 Tank Destroyers on the hill behind on Overwatch. Let's call this the Left Column.

Left Column Advance

The second column pushed forward around the hill and woods in the centre of the American lines, the Infantry heading for the wood, the Tanks for the two section village. I will call this the Right Column.

Both columns came under heavy fire as soon as they broke cover, the Left by a Company of Tiger II, the Left by some Jagdpanthers on a hill and the JpzIV in the village.

Casualties were as expected quite heavy, especially on the right where the Americans were caught in the open as shown in the above. However the main German Armour had been located, it just needed the Air Force to turn up.

German AA waiting .........and waiting 

The problem was it didn't turn up enough and when it did it was CAP and not Ground Attack ! But that's the dice for you. The Luftwaffe wisely didn't turn up at all, it wouldn't have got anywhere anyway as there was around 20 Spitfires over the table waiting for something to chew up.

The American Infantry on the left got into the woods in strength driving out the Volks Grenadiers who had been holding out in there, this allowed them to start turning the flank of the Tigers. On the other side of the table the Americans had brought on their ACAV battalion and scores of Jeeps Greyhounds and M5s started to pour down the right flank.

The game ended after a couple of our evening sessions and all that was left to do was add up the points.

German Losses

6 Tiger II, 6 Jagdpanzer IV, 3 x Recce, 3 x 75mm Infantry Guns and 9 Infantry

24 points to the Americans for 12 AFV kills.

American Losses

Right Flank
15th Tank Battalion 2 x Recce, 27 M4A3, 15 M4A3E8, 9 M24
613 Tank Destroyer Btn 9 x M36 Jackson
9th Armoured Infantry 3 x 57mm AT Guns and 3 Infantry
86th Armoured Cavalry 1 x M5 and 33 M8 and 2 Infantry

Left Flank
69th Tank Battalion 14 x M4A3, 16 M4A3E8
40th Armoured Infantry 2 x Recce and 12 Infantry

17 points to the Germans for 15 Tank Platoon losses and 1 Infantry loss.

A good scenario, the Germans get to shoot loads of stuff but the Americans have the upper edge in numbers. Next up in our WW2 6mm games will be a Market Garden game whilst on the table we have the next instalment of our Op Compass Campaign.

If I Could Impose On A Moment Of Your Time?

As you all know DreamForge is embarking on a new path, new releases in a new format.

Although the Kickstarter platform has a lot of advantages, it only makes sense to put your best foot forward and provide your customers with the items they desire.

To that end, I have created a very short survey to get all of your feedback, not just about the StuG and Shadokesh, but about DreamForge and the general direction you would like to see.

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Spotlight: Alex Gleason From Vegan On A Desert Island

For this month's interview we sat down with Alex Gleason, creator and developer of Vegan on a Desert Island, an upcoming libre action/puzzle RPG. The game follows the story of Rachel, a vegan girl who shipwrecks on an island, and becomes embroiled in a quest to uphold her own conflicted values against the interests of the island's many talking animals.

A newcomer on the scene, we spoke with Alex on what inspired him to create this project, along with his views on activism, software freedom, game development, and of course, life.

FG: Tell us a bit about yourself and your project to begin with.

Alex: My name is Alex Gleason and I'm making a game called Vegan on a Desert Island (VOADI). It's a puzzle-adventure game with emphasis on art, music, and storytelling. The game is about Rachel's journey, which I modeled after some events in my life involving animal rights activism I organized in real life, including all its conflict and turmoil. It's a linear story meant to be experienced once and leave a lasting impression.

FG: At a first glance, a vegan stranded on a desert island seems like an unusual concept to make a game about. Could you elaborate on how your experience in activism motivated you to create this project?

Alex: In conversations about veganism people often ask if we'd eat animals under dire circumstances, such as being stranded on a desert island. It's a ridiculous question that deserves a ridiculous answer, which is why I decided to develop VOADI.

The true answer is coconuts. In The Real Castaway, a woman in real life was stranded on an island for 9 months and survived entirely off of coconuts. To answer to the deeper question, it's the same question as if you'd be fine eating another human on a desert island. I believe that animals are people and there is fundamentally no difference. It's impossible to know what you'd really do, but it's not a black-and-white situation. It's okay to not have all the answers.

While developing the game I started to feel like a "vegan on a desert island" in a different way. The animal rights organization I founded collapsed on me. They took my home and crushed my dreams. I was the villain in their story and they were the villains in mine. This inspired me to create a more meaningful story in VOADI, reflecting what happened to me.

I redefined the character of Greybeard from being a classic evil-doer to an ambiguous villain. You're never sure whether he's really good or bad. Good vs evil is a false dichotomy that doesn't exist in real life and I wanted to reflect that in VOADI.

FG: Why did you decide to translate this particular experience of yours into a video game?

Alex: Unlike books or movies, video games force you to experience something yourself. I want players to take a step in my shoes for a minute. The downside is that I cannot guarantee they will actually enjoy it. Successful games make people feel happy, but a lot of VOADI is about misery. Some gameplay elements are even intentionally antagonizing to the player. I think this is balanced a bit by CosmicGem's cheery music and Siltocyn's meticulous pixel art. At the very least, I hope players will always be wondering what's coming next.

The game conflates serious ethical topics with ironic humor

FG: What you just mentioned highlights a certain tendency in the video games industry to reward and empower players in a way they will feel good about themselves, which is a bit contradictory to the idea of art as a form of self-expression. Based on that, do you think there's enough interest or room for dissemination for this type of project?

Alex: VOADI is not a game for everyone, but a few people will deeply resonate with it. If that happens I'll consider the project a success.

FG: For such a personal background, so far the game has been presented as having a cheeky and humorous façade, with an ironic twist to it. Could you elaborate on the role of humor and how it has shaped the game so far?

Alex: I think humor itself is antagonistic. It's about subverting expectations, meaning there is a conflict between what your mind expects and what's really there. "Vegan on a desert island" is a ridiculous premise met with a sarcastic answer. The game is funny precisely because it's antagonistic. Part of that antagonism is in the way the game is presented: a cutesy colorful game about talking animals where very serious things happen.

FG: The project itself has been openly publicized as being a Free Software and Creative Commons endeavor. How did you first became familiar with both of these movements and how have they affected the development of VOADI?

Alex: Software freedom is a boycott, much like veganism. There's a lot of overlap between the communities because it's people who understand the concept of sacrificing something for the greater good. I still use copyleft licenses for all my works. It's a deep conviction I'll never change, and you can be sure everything we put out there will free culture approved.

Linux was a groundbreaking discovery because it defied everything I knew about people's incentives to create things. I thought software freedom didn't go far enough. Later I discovered Nina Paley, a copyright abolitionist, and her view that "copying is not theft" really resonated me. She is a personal hero of mine and an inspiration. In some ways I am quite literally following in her footsteps.

In terms of project impact, being Free software helped VOADI garner more widespread support. Daniel Molina is an amazing volunteer who joined the project to advance software freedom for gaming. I've received support from the sidelines as well, with people donating money and others doing small but important tasks like updating wiki pages and mirroring assets. It's pretty incredible how much people will help you without being asked if you put yourself out there and are willing to give back.

FG: Eventually this has taken you to present your project at LibrePlanet last March. How did that come to be?

Alex: I've been a member of the LibrePlanet community for years but never gave a talk. Last March the stars aligned. I didn't intend to give the talk originally, but I felt empowered by the people there. Lightning talks seem like a low-pressure way to showcase something you've been working on, and VOADI was received very well! Lightning talks at LibrePlanet are open to anyone on a first-come-first-serve basis after the conference starts. All you have to do is add your name to a list.

FG: Switching to more technical matters: You have been using the Solarus engine as a main development platform. How did you first hear about it and how has it helped making VOADI a reality?

Alex: Solarus has a map editor GUI making it a great tool for beginners. The Solarus community is vibrant and generous, always eager to help. It was developed by Christopho as a reimplementation of the game engine from Zelda: A Link to the Past, a game I was already very familiar with. I highly suggest Solarus to anyone new to the free gaming scene, looking to create their own games!

I used to love Zelda, especially the Game Boy Color titles. Nintendo is notorious for cease-and-desisting fan created works, which I think is unjust and counterproductive to a healthy society. I struggle to enjoy the games from my childhood because I'm too distracted by the fact that society would punish someone for deriving or extending works that they care deeply about. I see Solarus as a stepping stone towards creating a new ecosystem of free games that can hopefully touch people's hearts in a way that they'll want to extend and remix the game, and they'll be allowed to do so.

FG: VOADI notoriously bases most of its graphics style on a Creative Commons tileset (Zoria), but it also features original additions of its own, as well as original music. How did you go about sourcing an adequate free tileset, along with finding artists to fill in for the remaining necessities of the artwork pipeline?

Alex: Zoria tileset was found on OpenGameArt. I had been trying to make my own tileset, but knew I couldn't match that level of quality on my own.

Later I commissioned our tileset artist, Siltocyn, through an ad I posted on the /r/gameDevClassifieds subreddit. CosmicGem, our chiptune musician, was found through Fiverr. This has worked out really well for VOADI. It's amazing how much you can do with a small amount of money.

In both cases we switched to free platforms (email and Matrix) for communication. Reddit was the most effective at garnering attention for our gigs.

Originally I planned to make all contributors sign a waiver similar to the Apache contributor agreement, transferring their copyright to me. But the freelancers wanted to maintain their privacy (they didn't want to sign their name and address). So instead now there's a policy where all contributors must put the license on the deliverable file itself, or distribute it in a ZIP with the license.

For graphics we created these stamps that say stuff like "Siltocyn CC BY-SA 4.0" in a tiny font in the corner of the files

A glimpse into the development process

FG: When are you planning to release the game, and in which formats will it be released?

Alex: I'm planning for a 2020 release for Linux, MacOS, and Windows. We'll consider more platforms depending on the reception (although anyone will be free to port it if they have the skills).

I'm planning to distribute the game on some proprietary platforms like Steam, Humble Bundle, etc. Those versions will have a price associated with it. I think of it as a "proprietary tax." Users in the free world will play the game gratis.

I'm also planning for a limited physical release on CD, which I'll cobble together at home using LightScribe disks, booklets I print myself, and used jewel cases from eBay. I mostly just want something to hold in my hands.

FG: Any tips for other Free Software or independent developers out there?

Alex:

1. Put yourself out there.
2. Good art and music goes a long way.
3. Start it and don't stop.

FG: Alright, thank you very much for your time Alex.

Alex: Thanks so much for the opportunity!

Vegan on a Desert Island is set to be released in 2020. The project's code is licensed under the GPLv3, and al of the art assets are being released under CC-BY-Sa 4.0. If you would like to contribute to the project you can join development talks at VOADI's Riot channel or check their repository at Gitlab. You can also donate via the project's Patreon or Liberapay.

All of the images on this article are courtesy of Vegan on a Desert Island, released under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Got any comments? Post them on our forum thread.

This post was retrieved from freegamer.blogspot.com.

End Of Campaign: Dark Heresy

   We finished off our Dark Heresy campaign on Monday night. We had all sort of lost our interest in the game after almost a year of play. The last few months we have also had several challenges with getting together as a group to play, and that certainly didn't help things.

   So, how did it end? Well, we had just captured a dangerous psyker named Molokoff from Hive Tertiam on Fenk's World and barely managed to escape the planet before it was pulled entirely into the warp. Once aboard our vessel, the Cudgel of Drusus, we turned the prisoner over to the Inquisition. That's when things went to Hell.

   Literally.

   As our ship entered the warp to travel to our next destination, something went wrong. Horribly wrong. Demonic creatures began to pop up all over the ship. We fought like heroes, but watched our companions go down one by one.

   First to die was our 'tame' psyker, Volk. The power of the warp invading the ship began to overwhelm his mental defenses, and I was forced to put him down with a bolt pistol shell to the back of the head. Next was our favorite pilot, "Mad" Murdock (an NPC). On the hangar deck, as we were making our way to the main engineering area, he was dragged down by a horde of smaller demons.

   Third to fall was our chirurgeon, Sister Scythia. She burned down a few demons with her meltagun before a flamethrowing fiend doused her with a barrage of unholy napalm. Probably for the best, as she was not very careful with her shooting and a meltagun firing off in the engineering spaces would have been catastrophic.

   Fourth was our newest recruit, an Imperial Guardsman from the 24th Canopus Heavy Foot. Corporal Jones ran out of ammunition for his heavy stubber - which he toted about with his Bulging Biceps as if it were nothing more than an autogun. After spraying hundreds of rounds into the enemy, he heard that fatal 'click.' Before he could locate any more ammunition, he too was torn apart. Thankfully, he died before they began eating. I think.

   Adeptus Arbites Belisarion Graecus was the last to fall. Using his skills with a bolt pistol, he took out demon after demon with precision aim. The holy inscriptions on the sanctified weapon glowed brighter with every shot, and the Emperor's wrath flowed through the explosive shells, overcoming many a demon's unnatural toughness. But all things must end, and Graecus finally ran out of shells as well. He met his fate, praising the Emperor and pistol whipping a final demon into death as the hordes tore into his armour.

   The Cudgel of Drusus is marked as lost in the warp on Imperial records.