So much is going on as we break our silence from the dog days of summer. We got our newly printed, full sized cards for the next phase of Master of Spies and we are ready to take it on the road. Below is the “sexy” unboxing video of the product.
We are also an official LLC in the eyes of the Massachusetts and Federal government. It took a lot longer than we expected but it was important to use to do this right and at the beginning of the month we received our official documents.
Straight from the Attorney General desk, our stamp of approval.
Also last weekend on Sept. 12th we took part in the Boston Festival of Indie Games. It was a really great day and a bit of a learning experience. James, our “Game Breaker” and myself manned the table and demonstrated our card game, Master of Spies to lots of nice folks there, and got really encouraging feedback. One of the greatest things said to us was, “Thank you for having a short game”, in a show that was loaded with a load of great, but intensive, indie games, that really meant a lot..
We felt so official when we saw our table sign.Our table, all set up and ready to go when the doors open.Picture of our neighbors to the right of us.James standing to welcome in anyone who wanted to try our card game.A group of attendees giving Master of Spies a try.A never before seen, 3 tokens on one card. It one of the things I love about our card game, every game is different.My end of the day celebratory drink to a show gone well.
We will be bringing our card game around to local, and a few not so local, gaming stores and shows. Please check in regularly and stop by, say hello, and give Master of Spies a try.
Here are some further updates on where we stand heading into September:
All the artwork for Master of Spies has been finalized and added to cards. New prototype decks will be manufactured using this artwork and will “debut” in September.
Card art by Chris RooksCard art by Chris BennetCard art by Brian DeClercqCard Art by Simone Rego
The rules have been revised and these will also be printed and “blind” tested in the coming months.
A new design for the game’s “chits” has also been completed and will be manufactured in the same time period.
(Special thanks to Steve P for all the design work and time he has put in for all the above!)
Move Rate 20 Games will be hitting the convention circuit starting with the Boston Festival of Indie Games on September 12th. Other convention appearances will follow…stay tuned here for updates.
As of now, we have re-worked our Kickstarter timetable, and we are aiming for a February start date.
We also plan to continue development on our second game…as this one has kinda been pushed off to the side the last few months while we got MoS ready.
So we did it…we finally really did it. We took the plunge, got our feet wet, and got the ball rolling!
We are an official LLC! The paperwork was signed last weekend and will be filed with the commonwealth. The four of us are now official partners in this thing called Move Rate 20 Games!
Here are some pictures of us during the “celebration”…
From Left to Right: Steve P., Ethan, our Assistant Art Director, Our Beloved Taskmaster, Rob L., & James M.Our Beloved Taskmaster, Rob L. and his daughter Emma discuss the import of what just happened as Simone looks on.Rob L., James M, and Mrs. P at the “first” company cookout.Break out the games!!!Gravwell is a new favorite in our group.Here is Asst. Art Director Ethan’s sketches dedicated to Sauron.
So a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a missive detailing how I lamented not having enough time to play all the games I owned, wished to own, or didn’t own but wanted to play anyway (did you follow all that)!
That ol’ Role Playing Game Itch.
I also stated that I had no idea when I’d have time to ever play in a good old fashion RPG campaign again. Lately that itch has begun in earnest, like a good ole’ summer case of poison oak!
This time however, I have decided to scratch that itch, and actually run some RPG sessions this summer. BUT…..I now have another problem:
What system do I run?
Do I bring out the tried and true Pathfinder books? After all, this is a system almost all RPG-ers are now familiar with. Plenty of playing options are available and I am sure I can get people to play with me. (Count me in if you go with a PF campaign! -Mr. P.)
Do I go with the new and try out the new D&D 5 ruleset? But that would take a lot more time, having to learn a whole new ruleset. And then I would have to find people also willing to try a new game.
Or do I go with the good old AD&D. Going old school and running some classic module adventures. Try to recapture that magic of youth when Greyhawk was young and the adventures seems boundless!
Knowing me, I’ll procrastinate so much that my plan to run a summer campaign will turn into a fall campaign!
Oh well….(now where did I put those old M.E.R.P. books?!?!?!)
Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t want to see the government start to regulate and clamp down on crowdfunding. I’ve personally backed a dozen or so campaigns myself, but there was always that worry, “Am I every really going to see this product?” Fortunately the Kickstarter campaigns I dealt with were on the level and never disappointed me. They did make me wait, but that’s to be expected in the crowdfunding experience. Then you start to hear about these Kickstarter nightmare campaigns. Last year Jyrobike, the auto-balancing bike, launched it’s campaign looking for $100,000 and was quickly funded and exceed its goal, then a month ago I read a story about the inventor. His company’s board of directors, excited about the new influx of cash , started arguing over where the money should go. The inventor said, “To build the Jyro-Bikes every ordered.” The Board didn’t agree, voted the inventor out and never produced the bikes the backers had ordered. Now there’s two tragedies here, one is that the backers, who gave their money in good faith, never received their promised reward, of course. The other is that the inventor, the guy whose name was on the Kickstarter campaign, has had his reputation destroyed . He’ll never be able to run another crowdfunding campaign again.
Kickstarter and The Doom That Came To Atlantic City
I was told the cautionary tale of “The Doom That Came To Atlantic City” by a friend, and now partner in Move Rate 20 Games, who is familiar with the gaming industry. It’s a tale of how the creators of the game, Lee Moyer and Keith Baker, worked in good faith with a “friend?” who would manage their Kickstarter campaign to get it funded. The campaign was a success, hitting $100,000 before even the first month, everyone was thrilled. Then slowly the updates from Erik Chevalier grew more and more infrequent. The backers wanted to know what had happened to the $122+K that had been raised and when would they be getting their game? On June 31st, 2013, a little over a year after the initial Kickstarter, Chevalier posted that the game studio had been shuttered and refunds would be forth coming. (You can read most of the posts here on the original Kickstarter page) Obviously the refunds never came and nothing was heard from Chevalier.
Luckily, Moyer and Baker were rescued by Cryptozoic Entertainment, who agreed to publish the game and provide the backers with the copy of the game they were promised, all out of their own pocket. These guys are the real heroes of this story.
Finally, Justice?
So the FTC charged Chevalier with the failure to produce any of the rewards for the backers and never issuing any refunds. They fined him $111,793, however, it has been suspended due to his current financial situation, ahem…he’s broke. He is also permanently barred from raising money through crowdfunding. So…”yea”…I guess.
What do you think about the FTC getting involved and the punishment they levied against Chevalier? Too soft, too harsh, just right? Leave a comment below and let me know.
So this past weekend I participated in another great Game Nite event at the best gaming establishment in the world…Rivendell Books and Games! We had a great time with great people and there was great selection of games on hand.
I myself ended up playing two games I had never played before; a classic Aliens game from “waaaaaay” back in 1989, a newer game called Gravwell (thanks Mike P. for bringing these in!), and we started the night with a Star Realms Tournament. I had a blast…as did all the attendees, playing whatever games they had going on!
Then, as the night was drawing to a close, I looked over at the shelf I have at our play area….and saw all the tabletop games we didn’t get to!
There was my D&D Attack Wing…un-played since the first week I acquired it!
Next to that was my Pathfinder Card Game…with most of its expansions still encased in their original cellophane wrapping!
Memoir 44 was there, unused since that first initial month when we played it weekly!
Star Wars Armada and it expansions sat there too, waiting to be played for the first time!
And that’s just some of the games I keep at the store, never mind the ones I have at home!
Who knows when I’ll get to play in an RPG campaign again!
So, here I type and lament that I am surrounded by all these wonderful games and I just can’t play them all!
I am really not complaining too loudly though….I do get to play something (or multiple somethings) every week and on multiple nights.
It’s just that sometimes it feels like there are too many tabletop games and not enough time!
Until next time….always be playing!
Steve R
(Feature image from http://housekeeping.about.com/u/sty/cleaning101/Before-And-After-Cleaning-And-Organizing-Projects/Game-Closet-Makeover.htm)
Everyone who has made or is in the process of making games has probably asked themselves this very question. Different creators will have their own reasons for designing games. Some want to see if they can make something others will enjoy, while some may do it for the recognition. The most driving reason, however, is the desire to play. Without this desire, there would be no need to make games in the first place.
Games and the human brain
The desire to play is not unique to humans. Many animals also exhibit this quality, especially among the young. Play promotes companionship and teaches many important life techniques, whether they be hunting and defense skills for the animals or math, critical thinking, and sportsmanship for people. Unlike other animals, however, most people tend to get bored playing the same games day after day, stemming from our longing for the newest and greatest. This longing has led to the evolution of games from the dice and cards of early history to the multitudes of games today.
What games stimulate you?
Not all games appeal to all types of people, so in an effort to make them more appealing, rules are changed, added, or removed. Sometimes the pieces themselves are changed, such as from dice to cards, cards to boards, and boards to electronics. Each has its own style of game-play favoring a combination of chance, skill, and strategy, appealing to different audiences. Games with high chance factors appeal to those who like to gamble and enjoy uncertainty. Games of skill appeal to those who enjoy the physical aspect, often as a test of strength or dexterity. Games of strategy appeal more to those who like to be in control of their actions and outwit their opponents. Few games will focus solely on one aspect over the others as this can lead to the outcome of a game being known early during play or even at the outset, removing the fun for most. At the heart of it, games are made so we can have something new to play.
Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends!
Another week, another article!
And here I sit; scratching my “follicle-ly” challenged pointy head as I try to think of something to say that will be interesting and newsworthy to you all!
Y’know, the two biggest problems with writing these weekly “state-of-the-business” missives is that: A. It is hard to write about something that has yet to be released to the general public…and… B. I have no idea if my words are reaching anyone!
I mean I am not trying to go for some deep world-changing existential prose here. I am not writing the next War and Peace. I am just trying to keep you all informed on the state of MR20….and this week I hit a roadblock!
I guess could tease out that we do have an “event” coming up in June!
Or that we may be an actual legal company in the very near future!
And that it seems our Facebook page is finally gaining some traction…
Or that, so far, most of the folks who have playtested our first game have actually liked it enough to the point that they even want to playtest it again!
And that having Mr. P at my beck and call is as fun as it seems it is!
(I live to serve, Mr. R.)
Or that all of us here at MR20 are having a blast developing our games, despite all the work that has been and is yet to be done!
Oh well…stupid roadblock…maybe I will just go and re-write War and Peace!
So I saw this come across the feeds today, an Indiegogo funded game that claims the people who have played the Beta Test say “It’s better than “Cards Against Humanity“. I’m dubious. For all the copy on the games fundraising page, the only way to figure out how the game is played is to watch the promo video. The game is called “Crazy Mix ‘Em Ups” and it looks like a cross between a college drinking game and the “Dare” part of “Truth or Dare”. Some of the challenges on the cards were “>Blank< and >Blank<, switch tops.” or “>Blank< play the rest of the game topless.” or “Everyone make a tinfoil hat.” The video includes lots of pictures of young men and women playing the game in their underwear and drinking shots presumably playing the game.
Better Than “Cards Against Humanity”?
Here’s why I doubt the better than CAD claim; I don’t think a game like this will have the same mass appeal. Where CAD allows you to say horrible, politically incorrect things in the frame work of the game, it’s quite a threshold to cross to reach the point of actively doing the physical act described on a card. Last holiday season my wife and I went to a house party thrown by her boss (who was a V.P.) with co-workers and spouses, and we played Cards Against Humanity and were coming up with completely inappropriate combinations for the black cards, but everyone had a blast, because the game gives you license to do so. I don’t see that scenario playing out with this game, no matter how much the game gives you permission to act out, it’s a big step to cross the line from verbal to physical.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just a grump, but check it out and comment below with your thoughts.
