Tom: Welcome to Go Forth And Game again Matthew. Before we get to far into this remind us about your company Gozer Games.
Matthew: Gozer Games was founded in 2007 with the idea that games should be funny as well as fun. We have produced several titles. The most recent, Vampire Werewolf Fairies, won the 2011 Gaming Genius awards for Best Non-Collectible Card Game.

Tom: Now for your newest game, Titans of Industry.  Tell us all about it, what is it about, how do you play?
Matthew: Titans of Industry is a worker placement Eurogame set in the 1920s. I think that the setting and style are pretty unique for a game of this kind. You are trying, in 7 turns (years), to gain the most victory points, by buying factories and businesses and using them to produce and sell goods. It has a rich interaction, and builds upon itself rather well.

Tom: I’ve read Brian Lewis’ designer’s diary on BGG.  Tell me about how you got involved from your perspective.
Matthew: Brian summed it up very well. I had been wandering the open gaming room hoping to find a few potential games to consider licensing. I didn’t expect to find one which clicked so well on the first night! I met Brian and two other game designers at the same table, all showing their prototypes. The way Brian was describing the interaction and gameplay sounded like the kind of tight Eurogame that I was seeking. Even with the basic graphics (seen in his designer diary) I could tell that it was a well put together game. As a side note, the other contender I saw that night was Manhattan Project, which got picked up by Minion Games.

Tom: Did anything change from when you first saw it to final product?
Matthew: Quite a bit changed from what I first saw at Origins. Brian and I have collaborated together to make what I think is a stronger, tighter game. As Brian mentioned in his designer diary, originally the game had an auction mechanic, which slowed the game down more than it added to the experience. There was also originally a fourth deck of cards, For Sale cards, which could give additional VP bonuses. I decided to remove these to focus on the core game, but plan to offer it as a Kickstarter bonus (as part of a 6-player expansion). One of the most amusing changes, in my opinion, are the goods. Originally the goods were different, and after several playtests where people commented that a Factory that produced both steel and food might have some OSHA issues, I decided to change the goods to reflect the core theme of building and growth found in the game, making all the goods building materials.

Tom: This is a pretty big step for Gozer Games, picking up another designer’s game. What was there about ToI that made you take that leap?
Matthew: After having produced two light card games, I felt that it was time for Gozer Games to “grow up” so to speak, and to get into more serious Eurogames, since that’s where my interest lies. Recent games like 7 Wonders has showed that there can be solid Eurogames that aren’t “heavy” and that’s what I wanted to add to Gozer Games. It seemed a logical next step to look to license another designer’s game who maybe didn’t have the desire to handle all the other aspects of a game company, such as advertising, distribution, conventions, etc.

Tom: Why are you Kickstarting it?  What are some of your supporter rewards and stretch goal bonuses?
Matthew: Frankly, we’re Kickstarting it because we have to. I estimate that it will cost roughly $40,000 to produce the games, ship them, pass customs and inspections, pay for the artists, pay licensing and legal costs, etc. and that is not money which Gozer Games has on hand. Kickstarter is a great way to measure that risk and also gauge interest in the game. I love it, but that doesn’t mean that everyone will.

Here are some of the rewards that we have planned for Kickstarter backers:

• A copy of our previous games
• As mentioned before, the 6-player expansion including unique For Sale card deck
• Custom translucent meeples in all player colors for use as the Temp worker (my personal favorite)
• Custom player mats for all players (a Kickstarter exclusive)

Tom: What is unique about Titans of Industry?
Matthew: Titans of Industry doesn’t introduce many new concepts, but what it does is take known game mechanics and present them in a unique way. The concept of using Factories that only an single worker can use, but having a benefit of having multiple workers/players use a Business makes for a dynamic unique game experience that addresses the issue of “multi-player solitaire” found in some other games. The theme and deco style are also not commonly found.

A Monkey teaching Titans of Industry.

Tom: I like the art deco style.  Tell me a little about the artist and how you joined forces.
Matthew: We are actually using several artists for this game, and utilizing their skills and strengths to produce a unified theme. Several artists and graphic designers worked together to create the board and logo/box art that you may have already seen online.

Tom: Have you had any problems with the game?
Matthew: So far, our biggest challenge has been raising the funds on Kickstarter and spreading the word about this game. There have not yet been problems with the design of the game, or the way it has been coming together.

Tom: Who is manufacturing/producing the game?
Matthew: We are planning to use Panda Manufacturing, who have produced other quality games such as Pandemic and Alien Frontiers. We have been working closely with them throughout the process, well before launching the Kickstarter campaign, so that things will be in a good state if we fund.

Tom: When do you hope it will be released to Kickstarter supporters?
Matthew: If all goes well, we plan to have the game available first to Kickstarter supporters in September, 2012.

Tom: What is next for you?  What else is in the queue?
Matthew: Gozer Games has a few things in the pipeline, but I don’t want to reveal yet what’s next for us.

Tom: Is there anything else you would like to talk about?
Matthew: I’d like to thank all of our Kickstarter supporters, and ask people to please help spread the word about this great game. Kickstarter is a great platform for helping projects like this get made, which otherwise couldn’t be, and I look forward to seeing how it develops in the future.

Tom: It was awesome talking to you again Matthew.
Matthew: My pleasure! Please check out the Titans of Industry Kickstarter pages. Please consider supporting too.

And visit the Gozer Games website: http://www.gozergames.com

Links to games and things mentioned on the podcast:

Defenders of the Realm: Battlefields

Sentinels of the Multiverse: Infernal Relics

Pirates vs. Dinosaurs

Elder Sign

Arkham Horror

Defenders of the Realm

Hawaii

Infarkt

Village

Compounded

Take the Bait

Soapbox Derby

The Geek All-Stars podcast!

Origins Game Fair

ALSO, OUR KICKSTARTER ALL STARS:

VivaJava: The Coffee Game (Funding completed, and headed to the printer!)

Carnival (It’s here, and ready for you to enjoy!)

And, finally:

The Dice Hate Me Games Newsletter! Sign up for the best in behind-the-scenes goodness from our hearts to yours.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the State of Games podcast RSS feed!

Links to games and things mentioned on the podcast:

Ace of Spies

The Game Whisperer

Albino Dragon

Tracy Hickman

Funding the Dream podcast #50 (you need to listen)

ALSO, OUR KICKSTARTER ALL STARS:

VivaJava: The Coffee Game (Funding completed, and headed to the printer!)

Carnival (It’s here, and ready for you to enjoy!)

And, finally:

The Dice Hate Me Games Newsletter! Sign up for the best in behind-the-scenes goodness from our hearts to yours.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the State of Games podcast RSS feed!

Links to games and things mentioned on the podcast:

Ace of Spies

Blurble

Off Your Rocker

Garden Dice

Santiago de Cuba

Defenders of the Realm: Battlefields

Boardgames in Blighty

The Little Metal Dog Show

ALSO, OUR KICKSTARTER ALL STARS:

VivaJava: The Coffee Game (Funding completed, and headed to the printer!)

Carnival (It’s here, and ready for you to enjoy!)

And, finally:

The Dice Hate Me Games Newsletter! Sign up for the best in behind-the-scenes goodness from our hearts to yours.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the State of Games podcast RSS feed!

I first encountered Garden Dice when I met the designer, Doug Bass, in November at MACE, a local gaming convention. Doug had contacted me previously and asked if I’d be interested in trying out a game he hoped to launch on Kickstarter. Never being one to turn down a game, even one with dice, I sat down with Doug and my buddy Shawn to play what I thought would be a leisurely and friendly stroll through the garden. What I soon found out was that Garden Dice was not to be the light skirmisher I once thought, but an engaging, deeply tactical and often cutthroat competition that just happened to include carrots and eggplants.

The overall goal of Garden Dice is to be the player who must successfully buys seeds, plants them, waters them (or positions them so that other players do all the watering work), grows them into veggies, protects those veggies from rampaging vermin and then harvests them for victory points. Players accomplish all these tasks by rolling four dice each turn; these dice can be used in various combinations, and in any order, to best perform actions needed to compete in the communal garden. For instance, each seed (and vegetable) has a number value. A single die can be used to buy any seed from the supply with a  point value equal or less than the value of the die used. Once players have purchased seeds, those seeds can be planted using two dice that form a coordinate, locating the specific plot of toiled land in the 6 X 6 garden grid.

Water that eggplant and the artichoke and tomatoes will grow, as well!

Once seeds are planted, players may water a seed with a  single die that has a value equal to or higher than the seed tile. Adjacent seed tiles – even those of opponents – may also be watered in the process, so the real trick is to water the least amount of your opponents’ seeds while strategically positioning your seeds and waiting just long enough to get your opponents to do all the watering.

Players also have to watch out for the aforementioned vermin. A special bird tile may be placed in the garden by a player on their turn by using the die coordinates, similar to planting seeds. Once on the board, that player can use a single die (and multiple single dice during a turn) to move the bird around, marching him in a straight line up to the amount of squares equal to the value on the die. If the bird encounters a seed tile, he gobbles it up! The player may also choose to discard a die of equal or greater value than the gobbled seed and take it for his own. Devious. The bird tile may also be flipped over to the rabbit side at any time by discarding a six. The rabbit works just like the bird except he gobbles up veggies instead of seeds – a potent and groan-producing power.

I love how that rascally rabbit always looks a bit guilty.

It would seem as though the vermin might overpower the game, but there are some checks and balanced built in. First off, at the beginning of the game, each player receives 8 ownership markers which are placed on planted veggies and special tiles (such as the bird/rabbit tile) when they are placed on the board. Whenever a bird or rabbit nabs a seed or plant, that player must place one of their ownership markers on the bird/rabbit. With a limited supply of markers, players soon have to decide whether it’s worth dwindling their supply in order to be aggressive. Vermin can also be removed by any player on their turn – even the controlling player – by using two dice that match the current location of the critter, plus one additional die that shows a 6. It’s not expressly stated in the rules, but we liked to think of this as the farmer taking good aim with his shotgun.

There is also one more special tile that can hinder the bird or provide help with the dice – the sundial/scarecrow tile. When it is first placed on the board, the sundial side is face-up. While the sundial is present, the owning player may modify dice used for coordinates by adding or subtracting a pip from one or both dice. Obviously, this is extremely handy. On the flip side of the sundial (which can be flipped with a die showing six) is the scarecrow. This helpful fellow keeps the bird from gobbling up all of that player’s surrounding seeds. The player also receives a three-point bonus for all veggie tiles harvested next to a scarecrow.

I see what you're up to, Mr. Bird.

As most of you dear readers can see, there’s a lot more going on in Garden Dice than just harvesting colorful veggies. Add all of the above aspects, throw set collection end-game scoring into the mix, and you have a recipe for a pretty deep vegetable soup of gaming goodness.

Overall, I’ve been very pleased with all my plays of Garden Dice. I have found that the varying play styles and strategies balance each other out well; in one game I focused much more on quickly planting and harvesting cheap- and medium-value veggies and came in a  close second, and in another I channeled my inner vermin and went rampaging through the garden like a miniature Godzilla. I won that particular game, but it came down to a tiebreaker – it was that close. As a matter of fact, the exacting balance of the game is one of the only small drawbacks; each game has been super close, and players have been able, with smart play and careful planning, to get the veggies they needed despite the pesky critter tiles. One other slight drawback of which some players may want to be mindful: the unpredictability of the dice make the game a very tactical affair, so some players suffering from analysis paralysis will definitely lengthen gameplay.

Even with the drawbacks I mentioned, I would recommend Garden Dice as a nice complement to any gamer’s collection, especially if you enjoy games that use dice in fun and unusual ways. The art and graphic design by Josh Cappel is whimsical and superb, as always. And the production quality of the final product promises to be top-notch; I definitely know because Doug has been asking for my input and feedback for months! I would also recommend backing Garden Dice on Kickstarter because Doug is one of the nicest guys I’ve met in quite awhile. I know that alone can’t sell games, but if it could, Garden Dice would certainly be well over-funded by now.

So head to Kickstarter now and grab your copy of Garden Dice… before the rabbits do!

Off Your Rocker is currently on Kickstarter and Stratus Games can use your help to get this great game funded. So check out the Kickstarter page, enter into the contest below, and get ready to get crazy good stuff.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Links to games mentioned on the podcast:

Alien Frontiers

Garden Dice

Titans of Industry

Dragon Valley

Core Worlds

Santiago de Cuba

Lords of Waterdeep

Caveman Curling

Nuns on the Run

Before the Wind

ALSO, OUR KICKSTARTER ALL STARS:

VivaJava: The Coffee Game (Funding completed, and headed to the printer!)

Carnival (It’s here, and ready for you to enjoy!)

And, finally:

The Dice Hate Me Games Newsletter! Sign up for the best in behind-the-scenes goodness from our hearts to yours.

Like what you hear? Subscribe to the State of Games podcast RSS feed!

Here’s a brief pictorial glimpse into our trip to PAX East – and a couple of games with our friend T.C. Petty III that we managed to sneak in on our way up to Boston.

Before PAX, Monkey makes another monkey friend in Fergie while playing Before the Wind.

Testing our inner Indiana Jones in Mykerinos.

I have no idea. They're both very special.

PAX! We made it! Our home away from home at the con - the Game Salute booth.

VivaJava! I ran many, many demos of this during the show and everyone had a great time.

See? Proof that people DO have fun at PAX!

Two of our Carnival-loving friends - Joelle and Jesse!

We escape from the booth to check out the gigantor League of Legends booth!

Good Robot! The makers of Hero Academy had demos on hand - and the new HD update looks amazing on the iPad

Geek Chic, makers of amazing gaming furniture. I came this close to buying a Hoplite.

It's big. It's REALLY big.

Back to the tabletop hall!

It took all my willpower not to jump into this game of Rex.

Having Fantasy Flight next to the Game Salute booth provided many tempting gaming opportunities.

The Zpocalypse guys never had an empty seat - this table in the Game Salute area was hopping with undead lovers!

SteamBaby!

More VivaJava with Richard Bliss - the Game Whisperer!

In our last game of the con, Monkey looks bored that she's crushing me and Richard Bliss at Alien Frontiers.

]]> http://dicehateme.com/2012/04/pax-east-in-pictures-a-publishers-view/feed/ 0 http://dicehateme.com/2012/04/come-say-hello-to-dice-hate-me-games-at-pax-east/ http://dicehateme.com/2012/04/come-say-hello-to-dice-hate-me-games-at-pax-east/#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2012 05:31:34 +0000 dicehateme http://dicehateme.com/?p=4659

“Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” Leto Atreides, Dune

For over 30 years, the board game Dune has often been talked about in hushed awe by a generation of gamers who have heard countless tales of its groundbreaking game play and legendary subject matter. For many, there was no way to prove nor disprove the rumors in these tales, as the game was often harder to find than the legendary cup sought after in the Crusades. Not long ago, Fantasy Flight Games announced that they would rerelease the classic game, but reimagined for the Twilight Imperium universe. Those that had not yet played Dune rejoiced, and those that had played Dune often recoiled in terror at the thought of any semblance of change. Those fearing change needn’t have worried – if there’s one old saying that seems to hold true in the world of boardgaming: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Hey, it's Fantasy Flight - it's always bigger on the inside.

Yes, dear readers, Rex: Final Days of an Empire is, essentially, Dune. Yes, the graphics have changed; yes, the storyline is different and some of the mechanics have been tweaked; yes, the epic, bloody battles take place in a sprawling city rather than across the arid, dangerous dunes of Arrakis – but for all intents and purposes, Rex is Dune. However, unlike Dune, Rex is actually fairly interesting and doesn’t take six hours to play – usually. Although I could continue to break down how Rex has evolved from its predecessor, for the purposes of this review I will, for the most part, simply break down how Rex plays, what it’s all about, and whether it’s worth your time and money. After all, there are probably more of you out there who have not played Dune than those select few who have.

The core story behind Rex is that the key races from the Twilight Imperium universe – The Emirates of Hacan, The Universities of Jol-Nar, The Barony of Letnev, the Xxcha Kingdom, the Federation of Sol, and the ancient Lazax Empire – are all vying for control of Mecatol City, the capital burg on the planet Mecatol Rex, which is the center of shopping, gaming, politicking and just about everything good in the Twilight Imperium universe. Don’t worry too much about the plot as there are seven pages devoted to some serious fluff in the rulebook for interested parties. Just know for now that every race is grumpy with every other race, and they’re all heavily armed with itchy trigger fingers. Or whatever appendage looks most like a finger.

The key resource in the game – other than troops with which to fling at foes – is Influence. Influence essentially acts as currency in Rex, and players can use it to buy Strategy Cards, troop reinforcements or to sweeten the pot during negotiations with other players. Players may gain Influence each round from the base Influence stat on their race sheets, or through maneuvering troops into often-hostile situations to take it by force.

The game is broken down into eight rounds, with each round further broken down in to seven phases. The first phase is gaining spice, I mean Influence. The top card of the Influence deck is revealed and an event occurs that typically involves placement of Influence in one or more places around the city. It also sometimes involves a Sol Offensive where a whole bunch of troops are blown all to heck, or a temporary ceasefire where diplomatic negotiations between players can be initiated.

Phase 2 involves drawing Strategy Cards equal to the number of players and setting them face down next to the board. Players then bid and haggle over each card, not really knowing what they might get. Each card typically grants a player a certain advantage, whether a combat strength or defense bonus, or to gain an extra bit of something like movement or Influence at some point during the game. Bidding is fun, even though you’ll sometimes end up with the equivalent of a worthless brick in your hand after you’ve paid five Influence to get it.

Phase 3 is Recruitment, where players spend Influence to buy back troops or leaders that have been blown to bits in previous rounds. Typically, there will be lots of these units to buy back each round.

Phase 4 is Maneuvering. During this phase, players take turns – you guessed it – deploying and moving their troops around the board. However, movement is a bit limited in Rex to keep players from running all over the city. This movement limitation can be modified a bit by holding key parts of the city, namely the Imperial Navy Base or Civilian Spaceport, which gives a player access to transport. Certain races such as the Federation of Sol or Xxcha Kingdom also have movement or deployment modifiers that create a richer flavor during the game.

Make no mistake - the battle dial is cool.

Phase 5 is the part where players get to blow the crap out of each other. The battle system is pretty cut and dry, but players also get to use the neat battle wheels that come with the game. Basically, the two warring factions each choose one of their leaders (which have a battle modifier) and clip that leader into one of four slots that control what type of Strategy Cards can be used during the battle. Players also select a number of troops in that area that they are willing to sacrifice in the battle. Both players reveal, total battle value is tallied, committed Strategy Cards are used to modify that value, and the player with the highest number is the winner. As I mentioned, it’s simple but fun, and ripe for lots of bluffing and second-guessing an opponent.

In Phase 6, players collect Influence from spaces in which they control (and in which there is currently Influence), or from the Influence number on their race sheets.

The bombardment token. Oh glorious, beautiful excess.

Finally, in Phase 7, a Bombardment Card is drawn which indicates how far the giant Sol bomber fleet moves around the game board. If the Sol fleet passes through any area where there are currently units, then those units are blown all to heck. Basically, there’s a lot of chance for death and dismemberment in Rex. Get used to attrition.

The game continues for eight rounds or until a player holds at least three stronghold areas in the city at the end of a game round. Since players may use diplomacy to gain allies, there may be a shared victory. If two allies hold at least four strongholds at the end of a game round, they are declared winners. Alliances of three players may win if they hold five strongholds. The Federation of Sol, the Emirates of Hacan and the Xxcha Kingdom all have special victory conditions which really ramp up the variety and intricacy even more in games with 5 or 6 players.

Bodies, piled high as cordwood.

At any rate, there may be seven distinct phases in the game, but it’s the subtle treachery that lies in the dark nooks between those phases that really brings Rex to life. Since this is essential for the enjoyability of the game, I’ll return to this point in about a paragraph. But for now it should be noted that there are a lot of racial variables that can add intrigue and excitement to the various phases, and the carnage and story that occurs each round only fuels the fire of the social game at Rex’s center.

Most modern players may find Rex a bit of an alien experience, as it contains a mix of mechanics and concepts that are not typically integrated. The Dune-like heart at its core is really a relic of an age of gaming where many designers and developers were most likely fans of games like Avalon Hill’s classic Diplomacy. Like Diplomacy, Rex plays a bit like a simplified war game on its surface, but the real meat of the experience lies in the bluffing, negotiating and treaty-making social aspects. Plus, like Diplomacy and the original Dune’s chaotic cousin, Cosmic Encounter, Rex features the possibility of shared victory, a truly alien concept in a gaming world where many scoff at rulebooks that include fewer than 15 tiebreakers.

Gameplay/Replay	Components & Theme	Fun
Overall, Rex's somewhat-hybrid game play may be likened to an acquired taste. The game's oft-simplistic system of smash-and-dash Influence grabbing, short and bloody battles, and general atmosphere of malice and mayhem won't really satisfy the war gamers in the audience. And that same system may be a bit off-putting to all the social gamers that typically enjoy a loosely-structured sandbox in which they can play. However, for those select gamers who remain flexible enough to find the sweet spots in this hodgepodge of game styles, Rex can be a very rewarding experience. That said, one of Rex's real weaknesses lies in the minimum number of players. A three-player game - although a good way to learn the vagaries of the rules - is fairly taut, but may often feel lacking; there can be no alliances and, therefore, a large chunk of the game is missing. Still, it's a tribute to its build that the game remains remarkably flexible to suit almost any group's playstyle and number of participants. Replay for Rex is very high as there are tons of variants, always a new race to try out and, of course, the ultimate variable in any social game - other players.	This being a Fantasy Flight Games affair, the components for Rex are top-of-the-line. The art and graphic design are stunning, and there's the usual thousand bits of cardboard expected in every FFG box. In addition to the scads of cardboard, there's also the usual bits of excess thrown in - a Start Player token the size of a Ford Pinto, and a meticulously-sculpted Sol Fleet bombardment token that features five chunky ships on a clear plastic stand that serves only to remind players of Twilight Imperium's Ameritrash roots. As for the theme, although I'm bound to raise the ire of more than one Dune geek out there, I find the atmosphere of the game translates superbly to the Twilight Imperium universe and, truth be told, I'd rather explore the dark corners of the Barony of Letnev than House Harkonnen any day. That said, a sandworm or two couldn't hurt.	Like many games that feature a hearty mix of social play, Rex is only going to be as fun as the players who play it. There are many enjoyable aspects of Rex's systems that are fun mechanically - the unpredictable prepping and revealing of the battle dials and Strategy Cards, the blind bidding for the Strategy Cards, and the nail-biting suspense of the giant Sol Fleet marching around the board, threatening to pulverize all in its path. But ultimately, all those systems combined are not enough to save the game if there aren't a group of gamers willing to sweet talk and backstab their way - always lovingly so - to victory.
Overall score: 14 out of 18 A solid structure around which beats a strong hybrid heart, but for everyone to enjoy the experience, the game play - like the spice - must flow.

Rex: Final Days of an Empire is a game for 3 to 6 would-be conquerors, developed by Corey Konieczka and John Goodenough for Fantasy Flight Games from an original design by Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge and Peter Olotka. It retails for $59.95, but you can get it for $39.95 from Boardgameguy.com or ask for it at your favorite local game store.