A Gamer's Life

Blog post meta blog post.

2013-05-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

The Dormouse Games website is looking a lot more professional these days. The blog aspect is basically going to be my domain. We're going to be posting information specifically about the games we're making the and thought process that will go into them.

This blog is going to stay active. The tone here will more personal here, rather than business related. Talking about events I go to, talks I like, etc. But there might be some crossover. So if you enjoy the stuff I post here, follow the blog at Dormouse Games as well! Just in case. Wouldn't want to miss anything, right?

For the company website I rewrote some concepts and ideas about Paper Prototyping because we used it recently. You may see some revisions and changes in thinking. This represents the things that I am learning through the process of starting company and applying all the lovely theory.

Merit vs Acheivement

2013-04-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

Most games track progress in some way. It could be a level system, a system of experience, a score, or some form of achievements. There has been controversy about the value of achievements in games. Although now they are basically accepted as part of gaming. For Steam Scouts we want to introduce a system of both achievement and merit. So what's the difference?

As Steam Scouts is a game about merit badges, we want to explain our idea of the difference between achievements and merit.

Achievements: A system of demonstrating completion. Merit Badge: A system of demonstrating knowledge.

The famous example of a merit badge system is that of scouting. Say what you want about it's politics, the Boys Scouts of America had a great idea with merit badges. Steam scouts is an attempt to take the good part out of a system which may or may not be suffering from its own immorality. We can't fix scouting as outsiders to the organization, but we can make a new version in games.

The brilliance of the Scouting Merit Badge system is that each scout determines what demonstrating knowledge means. Maybe that means weaving a basket for your basketry merit badge. Maybe that means making a wallet to demonstrate leather working. A scout is first instructed, then studies, and then must demonstrate knowledge.

So we're going to create a system for Steam Scouts: On Track, where the player can demonstrate knowledge, and be awarded a merit badge. First they will be taught the mechanics of the game (by playing not by tutorial). Hopefully they will study, by playing bonus levels, perhaps by developing a community. Then they will demonstrate knowledge by submitting a unique puzzle or set of puzzles to us.

Much like crafting a wallet, or crafting a basket players will demonstrate knowledge by producing something that proves they have learned. At least that's the idea right now. That could change at any time, for a number of reasons. So keeping in mind that the design concept I've presented here is likely to change based on what we're capable of producing so early in our company history.

3 great GDC Vault talks. Or why I am a Luke Muscat fanboy.

2013-04-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

The more I learn about Half Brick's Luke Muscat, the more I like. The company made some really great games. Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joy Ride in case you've been living under a rock. They were super friendly at Pax East 2012, their booth was directly across from The Tap Lab, where I spent most of that Pax. Instead of this just being a blog post of flattery, lets get to the part about why you should care.

Luke gives some amazing talks at GDC. Although we can't afford the ticket price to go, the GDC Vault has been kind enough to post them for us. They are great Post Mortem style presentations on what went well with Fruit Ninja and Jet Pack. They are well worth the time to watch.

Another really great GDC Vault topic is the discussion of 'intro levels' (Tutorial shall never be used here!) by PopCap Games George Fan. We've already discussed why I don't like the word 'marketing' when getting the word out about games. But I also don't like tutorials thanks to George Fan. George, Steam Scouts: On Track is a better game because of your GDC talk.

Officially Beta!

2013-04-18T08:03:00.001-04:00

Steam Scouts: On Track is in Beta!

Closed Beta for the moment. Open beta coming soon. And more art as well. ;)

Find out more:

on Facebook

on Twitter

#steamscouts

Steam Scouts Beta!

2013-04-12T08:02:00.002-04:00

Dormouse Games has a functional Steam Scouts beta! We'll have a closed beta, followed by an open beta, coming up in the near future. That means it's time for the business guy to look to the future. I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about how we're going to get the word out about the game.

As a gamer, I don’t like ‘marketing’ and ‘branding’ pointed at me because its weak-sauce when compared to what I really enjoy; a good game, with a good story, in a compelling setting. So the challenge of coming up with marketing material is on the one hand kind of silly as you've just invested time and effort into creating an entire world. But on the other hand, marketing and 'the brand' is super critical to grow the game beyond the scope of who knows about it right now.

We want to tackle 'marketing' and 'branding' at Dormouse Games by going that extra step beyond marketing to world building. At the moment we're looking into the idea of awarding players achievement badges, and merit badges for the completion of Steam Scouts: On Track. We're going to skip the 'swag' and the flyers, and instead create actual merit badges for rewards in and out of the game.

I have this mental image from Pax East 2012 in my head. The Tap Lab on one side of the isle, with buttons and stickers and flyers. And Half Brick on the other side of the isle with fruit for sale. Little plush fruit sliced in half, that stuck together with Velcro Even Dave got a fruit at the Half Brick booth. Which was more effective? We want to give a token that people really identify with, but also something they earned. With a game about merit badges the solution seems rather obvious.

Does that idea strike you as something compelling? Or are we wasting our time? What do you think? Would a sash full of badges appeal to you? This idea appeals to me, but then I was a scout as a kid.

Pax East 2013, attending my last Pax East.

2013-04-05T06:00:00.000-04:00

Pax East 2013 was fun, and certainly enjoyable. There were a lot of great things to see, and some neat swag to get (Got my Moga controller!). But despite all that, there was no single game which really stood out. No single piece of hardware or device which really piqued my interest. This is most likely my last Pax East as an attendee... But Pax East 2014 is most likely Dormouse Games first Pax as an exhibitor (if a lot of things go well). We're already planning and psyched to go!

I spent most of my time at the Indie Mega Booth! Sorry about the bizzare movie size. Blogger isn't playing well with the script that embeds the movie. If you look super close at 6:22 you can see Eric in the far right side of the video. Eric's is on polygon! Whoo!

Gameskinny was one of the few things that caught my attention at Pax East 2013. And it did not live up to expectations. Yes obscurity sucks, but poorly design UI sucks worse. Claiming to 'save a draft' and then not allowing you to recover it has driven me away from using Gameskinny to focus on this blog.

There was a Pax East 2013 post written up. It was written on Gameskinny, and saved as a draft. But that draft is apparently unrecoverable. Mostly because there is no button on the site to recover from a saved draft, or view saved drafts. So that platform is still new and needs some tweeks.

For that matter there were very few games which really caught my attention this year. Guns of Icarus has stuck with me. Although not usually a FPS player, Guns of Icarus addresses many of the issues with FPS gameplay. Check it out if you are looking for some teamwork based steam-punk shooter.

One of the really interesting games from the indie RPG section of the event (a place which FAR too few computer game developers visit) was a game called Dread. A horror tabletop game which uses a Jenga tower as the resolution mechanic. This is brilliant. As the game progresses the tower becomes a visual representation of the heightened tension in the game.

There were a couple games which have gotten some press in other places. Rays the Dead is doing well for itself. The mechanics in Zombie Tychoon 2 are excellent considering its an RTS on a console. Definitely an inspirational game at least for mechanics.

Of course I played some more Lords of Waterdeep. In an official WoTC game, with my DCI number and everything. And got a demo of Ascension, a fun deck building card/board game.

#steamscouts

2013-03-26T07:38:00.002-04:00

Just a quick note this morning. Dormouse Games is going to be using the hashtag #steamscouts. We will be collecting feedback, both good and bad, via twitter, and communicating with our players. While there's nothing there at the moment, follow it to find out what's going on via the twitters. We will continue posting things elsewhere as well.

Review: The Lean Startup vs Spaghetti Sauce

2013-03-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

Our investors suggested I read “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries.

I’m glad they did. The book is well written and filled with examples from either the authors own experience or companies operating under similar circumstances. All suggestions came from practical experience and are immediately relevant to my current experience as a start-up. If you're starting a company, or running a project with vaguely defined goals, it will be relevant to you too.

Overall this book is really about applying the scientific process to business; specifically the product development cycle. This book helps you understand what to measure and why. Although the focus of the book is mostly on new businesses the process presented could be used by project managers to create small scope projects in existing organizations… Assuming they can get autonomy. As my Project Management professor said “Get permission in writing.”

In a way Malcolm Gladwell: Choice, Happiness and Spaghetti Sauce is a better argument for a lean startup in established organizations then the book Lean Startup is. There are very similar themes running through this book and the presentation. Gladwell’s discussion of large companies finding the perfect products through metrics driven iteration might sell the strategy, while The Lean Startup elaborates on the specific tactics which might otherwise scare an established corporate machine.

If you’re an entrepreneur starting a new venture, of just about any kind, giving The Lean Startup a read will get you started off on the right foot. Your scope will shrink, your costs will decrease, and your chance of success will increase if you take his lessons to heart because you will realize that bloated scope, high costs and high risk aren’t necessary for making big changes in today’s world. Iterative design fits in very well with the work of paper prototyping, and right before (and during for best results) all the marketing that needs to happen. But really Lean Startup is a methodology for how to behave as a company in the modern world.

Board Game Review: Lords of Waterdeep

2013-03-15T06:18:00.001-04:00

Lords of Waterdeep
is an amazing game in the Euro Resource Style. My wife has never been a D&D player, but as a huge fan of Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne she loves this game. As a D&D player I was never particularly into Forgotten Realms, so I have little understanding of the setting. The game is amazingly entertaining for my wife, me and my friends as the setting never gets in the way, but often adds interesting flavor. The games play-ability by non D&D fans is a testament to its amazing design.

From a game mechanics standpoint Lords of Waterdeep adds a critical game mechanic to resource style board games. It means that the first player can change for each of the 10 rounds of play. The ability to play an agent and gain the first play next turn is crucial to planning strategy in a resource style board game. This is a brilliant mechanic that needs to be included in future resource style games.

The perspective change from first person to third person is going to be a little mind blowing for any D&D RPG player; mind blowing in a good way. Something like what it was like to play Magic: the Gathering for the first time. The game is a whole new perspective on classic RPG concepts. It's tempting to reverse engineer a new way to play RPG's from this 3rd person perspective.

The expansion, Scoundrels of Skullport
is due out August 20th 2013. So I might have to wait a while for them. It might be time to get the main game, play a few rounds at the #intrepidarcade.

Busiest Week Ever

2013-02-28T08:09:00.000-05:00

March is a super busy month for game developers on the East Coast. There is no end to the parties, events, and talks being held. The week before gets busy because there is a captive audience. Game developers from all over the eastern sea board, and some from CA (Such as the creators of PAX themselves) meet, greet, and hang out before during and after PAX East.

So here's the Line UP for the week Before PAX.

3/19/2013 Xconomy Forum: Mobile Madness 2013—The Next Revolution
Technically a discussion by and for all things Mobile, the number of mobile game developers attending is rather large. Tickets are still available but Dormouse Games is skipping this one for sanity reasons. And so I don't get fired from my Day Job.

3/20/2013 HTML5 Game Development Monthly Meetup
This will be my and Dormouse Games first trip to an HTML 5 Game Dev event. Have no idea what to expect, other than close proximity to BCEC may cause overflow of attendance.

3/21/2013 PAX East "Made in MA" Party 2013
After having volunteered last year for Made in MA at Pax, I'm up for helping out again and hitting this party. It would be awesome to see Dormouse Games on the banner for next year... But we need a produced title first.

3/22/2013 PAX EAST Day 1
There must be some kind of party going on after PAX. But PAX itself is enough for me to have to take the day off. So exciting. Cannot wait.

3/23/2013 Day 2
Yes I got a three day pass before they sold out.

3/24/2013 Day 3
No I will not sell it to you.

So that's my current Itinerary for the week after next. Hopefully we'll have some good news about the game. Things are rapidly coming together, and surprisingly enough we are still on schedule. That shall soon change.

What are you up to for PAX East? Attending any great partied?

How the new Xbox is like the old Steam.

2013-02-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

The next Xbox is starting to get teased by Microsoft. The new Xbox will require an ‘always on’ connection to the internet. This will be used with some form of DRM to prevent used games from functioning. Business Insider has the basics. More about what that means below the jump.

This reminds me of when Steam was bad. The first couple years of Steam, right when Half Life 2 came out, were miserable. I Hate, HATE, HATED Steam with a burning passion. I refused to play HL2, refused to use Steam. Even refused to play any Valve Product, even ones already owned. The reason being Steam was basically useless DRM which was preventing me from playing a game I was very much looking forward to. However this was pre constant connection to the internet, during modem days.

That ‘constant connection’ shit was not cool. In the long run, Steam won me back. But only after getting into Everquest, WOW and online gaming. After constant connections became a way of life. The Orange Box (All of Half Life 2 plus Team Fortress 2, and some other Valve Games) got me back and onto the service. Valve turned DRM into a Service I was willing to use, and still use to this day.

What does this story say about Microsoft? Valve was brilliant to take crappy DRM software and turn it into a platform for software distribution which people love. Microsoft is the king of revision, and copying. There is no way they have missed antidotal stories like mine. Although the initial reaction to the new Xboxs restrictions might cause backlash, in the long run if they can create a device which provides access to games without needing disks at all, they will be able to use a console to compete with the likes of Steam.

Will they be able to take down the king of internet gaming? Probably not. Steam has years of experience on Microsoft. They have tons of Good Will. Just search “Good Guy Gabe” meme’s on Reddit/r/gaming. Valve’s opening shot was the Steam Box, and Microsoft is firing back in kind. There are so many things that could go right, or wrong over the long run that guessing who comes out better in the end is a fools errand… But there’s a fight on and the ultimate goal of which is to capture the hearts and minds (but really eyes and dollars) of gamers.

Great board games.

2013-02-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

TempleCon was amazing! On the ride back home from Warwick to Boston all we could talk about was going back next year. Considering that this conversation took place immediately after a 6 hour game of Arkham Horror, that's high praise indeed. If you live in the New England area, definitely attempt to make it next year.

We spent the majority of our time in the Board Game room. Played Carcassonne, Small World, Lords of Waterdeep and Arkham Horror. Lords of Waterdeep is an amazing game. I loved it, and reviewed it. It is based on a D&D game world, but that does not get in the way of a great European Resource style board game. Even folks who know nothing about D&D (such as my wife) love the game. But then she's a sucker for a good resource game mechanic.

The Pro's and Con's of resource game design on The Game Design Round Table Episode 2.

Pretotyping Review

2013-02-13T09:20:00.004-05:00

Paper Prototyping, or pretotyping, has been a valuable tool through the year, as well as developing into a bit of a skill. There is still lots to learn, but we're putting that skill to work at Dormouse Games. Here are some blog posts about the philosophy of paper prototyping, the use of wire framing as a prototype, and finally some practical tips learned while prototyping in public.

As an amateur game developer you should be spending at least some time developing a game on paper before developing anything digitally. In the long run it saves time by identifying areas of a game which need improvement, don't work, or have to be cut. Most folks prototype with Unity, Game Salad, or other game development platforms. What are the benefits of going digital for prototyping?

90% complete is done.

2013-02-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

It's really tempting, when making games as a hobby, to think that you can lavish time and attention on a design document, or the 'perfect coding' or the perfect art. But that idea is a trap. Anyone who has had an investor or built an operating budget for a company knows that even the smallest indie developer needs to be producing something. Revenue has to come in. If it doesn't you can't pay for food, desks, or development of your ideas.

Guy Kawasaki's book "Rules for Revolutionaries" was required reading at BU, and definitely worth the time to read (it's short). Even if you have no great love of Apple Computers you can find advice to help you get your project done. An incomplete project is simply a pile of ideas. You cannot pay rent with ideas. This book can help you turn ideas into revenue faster (assuming you have a well thought out idea to begin with).

The two rules that have stuck with me the longest, which have direct impact on game development "Don't worry, be crappy" And "Churn, Baby, Churn". If you want to find out what that means, definitely pick up the book. If your company is just barely getting by, it might be time to rethink your devotion to 'perfection' and try these two rules.

Some people might think means you are 'just in it for the money', but those people have never had employees wages to pay. Nor understand the heavy responsibility of taking investment to make a company. Any company, every company, runs 'for the money'. Every indie developer wants to get money, but rarely because of greed. They don't have a choice, they have employees to pay. But that doesn't mean they have to sacrifice passion. Quite the opposite, it requires passionate Revolution.

Why are game ideas worthless?

2013-02-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been two years since starting this blog. Today 51 of you wonderful folks have subscribed to, read, and liked my posts. I really appreciate it. Thank you. A recent twitter conversation reminded me of an old blog post, which is still relevant today. "Until you launch something, the time you spend is meaningless" was controversial at a time when this blog had few readers, let's dust it off and see if it still is.

An idea for a game is worthless. It may sound like a rude statement, but don't take it as a personal attack. My ideas are just as worthless as yours. We've been told the idea of capitalism is that big ideas make huge fortunes. Minecraft was a great idea which made a lot of money, right? Well no. A well executed game idea is worth lots and lots of money. That is capitalism. Notch executed his idea well over time and Mojang continues to execute well (So many weekly updates! Can't play them all!). That is worth a lot of money.

Here are some reasons why an idea for a game is worthless. And why your, and my ideas might not be worth the same as a great idea well executed.

1.) Economics
Coming up with an idea is really really easy. Coming up with a good idea is harder, it requires good input. But a well informed person can have good ideas rather easily. Price is a function of supply and demand. We have an unlimited supply of ideas, and demand in only key areas. Over supply means that most ideas are worthless. What are the chances that my ideas are 'worth more' than yours? Not very good. There is simply too much supply of ideas for a single idea alone to be worth anything.

2.) Passion
Your idea is your idea. Not mine. Not what I'm passionate about executing. Two people can take roughly the same idea and execute it differently, to produce different results. But it's really hard to get me to be interested in your idea. A game designer has their own ideas. They don't need one from someone else. Executing someone else's idea for money is called a job. Indie game developers are not in the business to execute someone else's idea.

3.) Project Management
It takes 6 months to develop ONE game if it's a small project with a limited number of good ideas. That game may contain a few hundred good ideas, but chances are most of them are not original. There is simply not enough hours in a persons life to execute every idea, let alone all of their own ideas.

For these reasons there is simply no market to sell a game design ideas. A game design document, even a prototype is not a valuable commodity. And if I'm wrong I would love to know why.

Bill H.R. 287 Video Game Rating Enforcement Act Update

2013-01-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

After having reached out to some contacts in D.C., some new information is in. H.R. 287 is basically a non starter in their trusted opinion. A Democrat proposed the bill in a Republican controlled body. The Republicans aren't going to let Democratic proposed legislation move forward, and as of writing they have not. The Bill has been "Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce".

My contact has some alerts set up and will notify me if anything changes... All that sound super formal, but it's really little more than a 'google alert', but from gallerywatch.com.

Bill H.R. 287 Video Game Rating Enforcement Act

2013-01-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

Representative Jim Matheson of Utah introduced a bill on 1/15/2013 which would require ESRB ratings on games. Some folks feel this would put an undo burden on indie game developers. There would be a $5000 fine for violations, and I know that would sink Dormouse Games at the time of writing this.

However, from my reading of it the bill itself doesn't mention anything about games online. Now I am not a professional lobbyist, but this seems relatively simple. It says

"Conduct Prohibited.--It shall be unlawful for any person to

ship or otherwise distribute in interstate commerce, or to sell or 
rent, a video game that does not contain a rating label, in a clear and 
conspicuous location on the outside packaging of the video game, 
containing an age-based content rating determined by the Entertainment 
Software Ratings Board."

That appears to effect Dormouse Games very little. We have no intention whatsoever to issue a game with packaging, to a retail location. So this would hurt established game companies more then indies. Assuming Indie game development companies don't want to put games in packages. Then again larger companies could simply move to digital distribution. They could also enforce the law completely differently then worded here. There could be some translation issues between Legislative and Judicial wording.

I have asked some advice of some friends down in Washington. They aren't directly involved with this bill, but have more experience reading bills. Recap of their response here. What do you think about my interpretation of the wording of the bill? Am I not understanding the legal ramifications of the wording? Are you worried about this?

5 paper prototyping tips from Boston Indies Demo Night

2013-01-24T19:41:00.000-05:00

Eric and I went to our first Boston Indies Demo night as Dormouse Games to do some paper prototyping. We learned a few things about how to do a paper prototype and why it’s a valuable process to go through. We were not the only guys there, Legend of the Cipher a CCG that teaches you have to rap, had made some cards and were play testing. Good stuff!

1.) Good Materials
Initially we were going to have people prototype our puzzle game on a piece of paper, with pens. After a couple attempts it got pretty hard to see the puzzle anymore. We briefly switched to pencil, but even that was a bit cumbersome. Fortunately we had dry erase markers and plastic sheets. This combination allowed players to erase their incomplete attempts. Each of those options punished the player for making a mistake, something we do not intend to do in the game.

2.) Difficulty
Be careful of the difficulty level of what you show to players. Having stared at the puzzles for weeks now, we can solve them faster than anyone that hasn't seen them before. So when you select the puzzles to demo, make sure you pick ones that seem easier than you think they should.

3.) Recording
You can develop a neat little narrative about the game, while explaining it. This happens naturally as you show the game to multiple people over the course of the same evening. Keep this narrative in mind, as it can become your tutorial or introductory levels. Better yet record it if you can; Audio, video, or digital.

4.) Record Keeping
You don’t need to keep everything, but having a few paper copies on hand is a good idea. Keeping many repetitive copies of the same solutions to puzzles isn't really as important as watching the player go through the motions. Arguably the design of the game changed in our minds as we watched players struggle, overcome and enjoy the game. We could have recorded the session better… But for a first game start-up paying close attention is a fine place to start. Recording would be more important if your developer was not available to watch the players directly.

5.) Emotional Impact
Don’t be surprised if some of the players do a better job at playing the game then you! Chances are out of 50 or 100 people one of them will find a better solution to an issue than you did. This might feel like a blow to the ego, but congratulate the player as honestly and enthusiastically as possible. Your goal is to make a great game, not be the world champion at it. That may change after the game is released, but during prototyping be supportive, and move on.

New Office

2013-01-21T06:48:00.000-05:00

Today Dormouse Games moves into Intrepid Labs. We have an office! Intrepid Labs is a fantastic co-working space which houses some of our closest friends and mentors in the game design world. The Tap Lab has been there for a while, and suggested we look into getting a desk there. Owlchemy Labs moved in recently. Some ex Zynga Boston folks (who I haven't met yet) are there. And a few other companies are starting soon as well.

We're also releasing our first game... Well it's like our first 1/2 game. Check out Impasse: The Impossible Platformer. Basically little more then a tech demo, testing HTML5 functionality, with a couple very simple sharing systems Eric built from scratch. It's my first game design up on the web. Eric did the development. The concept took about 10 minutes to come up with. The Game Design Document 2 hours to write, and it took Eric about three weeks to put together while he was doing other stuff (founding a company).

I want to polish Impasse, but the company needs to get down to work. Some better art at some point would be great. But for a quick and dirty first hit, I think it came out pretty well. Please take a moment to play the game. The game plays in about 4 minutes or less, so if you don't like it at the very least it wont take up much of your time. ;)

Extra special big Thanks! to Dave Bisceliga for playing photographer.

Blog on Blog.

2013-01-14T21:07:00.002-05:00

Is white text on black lettering a little too harsh? As I was reading an article on another game designers blogger, who happened to use the same template, I noticed reading white text on a black background was a little too harsh.

I am not actively trying to burn the retinas of my readers. I'm assuming that most of you are reading through an RSS feed anyway. But I turned the text color down, and increased the font size. If you have opinions on how to make things more legible, please feel free to comment.

Also blog posts have been a little spares lately... I've co founded a game design company. Check out the facebook page. I really do intend to keep this blog running, and keep writing articles. Time is simply not on my side at the moment.

Any requests for topics?

No console? No problem!

2013-01-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

Having not owned a console since Super Nintendo, but feeling a certain lack of gaming exposure, the near future is looking pretty bright. Ouya had a super successful 8 million dollar kickstarter. Gamestick is looking pretty awesome, and passed it's goal in 6 out of 30 days. Nvidia has created the Shield... A hand held console thing... And finally Valve has released information about the Steambox called Piston at CES.

Price points are going to be a big deal. The super portable Gamestick will retail for $79. Add $15 shipping on the kickstarter to get it in April 2013 on launch. Ouya is a $99 dollar console that promises 'free to play' as the basic purchasing mechanic of every game. The Shield should be priced somewhere between $100 and Pistons $999. Piston will be more like a PC meant to attach to your TV, rather then a bargain device.

By the time the Piston becomes available the desktop PC where I play all my steam games will be just about ready to be replaced. $1000 is a terrible price point for a console... But a great price point for a replacement of my gaming PC. Having missed the Ouya kickstarter, the Gamestick is awfully tempting. Super portable and cheap, even if it's games kinda suck the form factor and portability is tempting. Although I don't feel the need to pay $90 now, when I could buy it for $79 later, which means their kickstart campaign isn't efficient.

With a flood of new consoles in 2013, will you be buying anything? With Windows increasingly becoming a game tyrant, will Linux be coming to your rescue? 2013 might be the year of the console... Therefore is 2014 the year of the console game? Start coding folks!

Investopedia loves gamers.

2013-01-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

As a lot of you know as well as creating an app, and cofounding a game development company, I’m also a financial services guy. Call volume to 529 plans isn't steady, so occasionally I get to spend some time learning about finance, instead of just taking calls. Today for example I found this article on Investopedia.

I love this article. The author is clearly a gamer or someone that loves one. The article tackles the benefits of many different kinds of games with care and rational thought. He mentions many games by name from Chess to Magic: the Gathering as well as Dungeons and Dragons and points out the positive cognitive effects of each.

It makes me happy to know there are more financial services gamers out there.

Firelfy MMO?

2013-01-07T06:30:00.000-05:00

As a huge fan of the masterful story-building and world-creating of Firefly, I'm not sure how I feel about an MMO. Fox seems to be down with it. But what of Whedon? The key word is verisimilitude. If the MMO can do a good job, it just might work.

So many great things happening all at once...

2013-01-03T20:44:00.001-05:00

Dormouse Games has officially filed for LLC status. We're a real company! The twitter account is more interesting then the website right now. I'm running the twitter, Eric's running the website so there is a bit of light hearted satisfaction there. I made the logo, can you tell!?

I mentioned an app idea in previous blog posts. The prototyping has begun! It will be completed before the end of January, and I have to decide whether to put it up freely on the App store, or gather feedback from a community of users to refine it.

This is going to be an amazing week.

Cortex Command

2013-01-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

This is a crazy game. It is not finished yet, and its been in development for quite a long time. But it is weird, and fun, and has a ton of potential. At first it looked like a Terraria knockoff... But it is so much deeper and more interesting. I really like the setting and the story ideas that explain the game setting.

There are two huge downsides about the game. 1.) It's an 'unpolished alpha'. If you buy it now, you are not getting a polished product. 2.) There is some crazy drama, which I neither care about nor understand. I paid full price almost instantly for the Alpha.