Articles of Note
The State of Games, Ep. 188 – The One About Milk
Chris sits down with Josh Mills, designer of Milkman
The State of Games, Ep. 187: The One About Unpub 2023
Chris, Darrell, and TC talk highlights from the Unpub con.
The State of Games, Ep. 186: The One About Our Robot Overlords
Chris, Darrell, and TC talk the impact of AI on gaming
The State of Games, Ep. 185: The One About Crossing the Line
Chris and TC talk about games and bad behavior
The State of Games, Ep. 184: The One About Catching Up
Chris, Darrell, and TC catch up after a long hiatus
The State of Games, Ep. 183: The One About Works in Progress
Talk of upcoming projects; importance of adapting
The State of Games, Ep. 182: The One About Getting the Brand Back Together
Darrell, TC, and Chris talk the separation of DHMG and GTG
It’s Time to Get Caffeinated!
01.24.12
Just about all of you dear readers were there when Carnival was announced to the public. And just about the same amount pledged their support on Kickstarter to help us get Dice Hate Me Games off the ground. It was an amazing experience, made only greater by the outpouring of support and encouragement.
Now, we’re back. And we’ve brought coffee.
Dice Hate Me Games is proud to present VivaJava: The Coffee Game! Designer T.C. Petty III has spent the last three years perfecting this unique and engaging game and now it’s time for it to be sent out into the wild. VivaJava is now available on Kickstarter, and with your help, we can see this wonderful game on the shelves of great stores everywhere.
In a nutshell, VivaJava is a “social Euro” for 3-8 players. What this means is that the game will satisfy that craving for a Euro game while keeping gameplay open and highly interactive through cooperation and negotiation. For more information on VivaJava, you can check out the official Kickstarter page, or the games page on Dice Hate Me Games.
As always, thank you for reading Dice Hate Me – and regardless of whether you choose to back VivaJava, you can rest assured that Dice Hate Me will continue to bring you all the quality gaming news, reviews and previews you’ve come to expect since our inception. Taste the quality!
There’s nothing like hitting the open road with a box full of hopes and dreams, arriving at a destination, unboxing those dreams and letting a whole bunch of random strangers tear them apart. And believe it or not, that’s a good thing! In this instance, those dreams are board games, and in this episode of The State of Games, we’re all set to tell the stories of those myriad dreamers.
Couples Retreat 2012 Recap
01.19.12
It’s been a quiet few weeks here on Dice Hate Me, but that certainly hasn’t meant much quiet on the homefront. Quite the opposite, actually, as we’ve been gaming through the holidays and working like mad to get VivaJava wrapped and ready for its Kickstarter debut (Wednesday, Jan. 25 – mark your calendars!). If you listened to the last State of Games podcast – and if you haven’t, it’s right over here – you dear readers already know that we took a little gaming retreat with our friends Shawn and Jacki. I also promised a little closer look at some of the titles that hit the table, some for the very first time, so here they are for your reading pleasure.
Nefarious
This unassuming little title from Donald X. Vaccarino (he of Dominion fame) was at the top of my Essen wishlist for the mad scientist theme alone. Game Whisperer Richard Bliss was kind enough to loan us his personal copy so that we could discover, thankfully, that the game is as fun as the theme. Nefarious has received mixed reviews since its release, but Monkey238 and I have had an enjoyable time exploring its simple and subtle nuances, and it makes a fantastic and quick-playing four-player game for casual gatherings. The mechanics are pretty straightforward and the basic strategies not terribly complex, but what keeps the game fresh and exciting is the use of two Twist cards that are revealed at the beginning of the game. These cards turn some of the mechanics and goals on their heads, mixing up gameplay, and often creating combos that can be downright devious in their machinations. It’s family-tested, as well – my mom had no trouble picking up on the basics within a couple of turns. It’s a safe bet this subtle gem will be a hit at your next science club reunion.
Sometimes when you’re gaming, it’s better to be sitting back with an easy pair than dealing with cleaning up after a full house – if you know what we’re saying; and if you listen to this podcast you’ll certainly get the reference. So grab your significant other, pour a glass of your house finest and let The State of Games bring you closer together. You’re welcome.
Wow, what a year for boardgaming – and for Dice Hate Me! There has been a plethora of wonderful games released this year, and Monkey238 and I have been lucky enough to play more than our fair share. At last count, we have learned and played more than 115 new games in 2011 – that’s an average of one game every three days!
Last year around this time, I mentioned that 2010 had been a great year for independent success stories, and 2011 has quadrupled that success. This has truly been the year of Kickstarter, and we would definitely know – Carnival was a part of it! Because of the wonderful resources of fans, supporters and curious gamers alike, we all have been privileged to play many titles this year that may never have seen the light of day without the benefit of crowdfunding, and 2012 will bring even more indie gems to our tables.
But before we look forward to gaming in 2012, it’s time to take a moment and reflect on the best and brightest of 2011. Thus, we present the Dice Hate Me 2011 Game of the Year Awards! This year, the main category has been changed just a bit; only those games that were published in 2011 are eligible for the award. However, in order to honor those games that graced our gaming table for the first time this year but were published before 2011, I decided to introduce the Dice Hate Me Discovery of the Year Award. Breaking up the category may seem to lighten the competition a bit, but bear in mind that the games list is four times as large as before! The final decision was still mind-numbingly difficult, but in the end, the choice became clear.
Auld lang syne. Many of you have heard the phrase, and many more of you have sang it as the ball in Times Square has dropped, signifying a new year. Essentially, it translates as “long, long ago” – as in “a galaxy far away.” However, in relation to convential transpirations, it simply means “things that happened this year.” And that’s going to be our featured translation as we take a look back on the year that was – in games.
A Cosmic Chat with Seth Jaffee
12.14.11
Dice Hate Me and Go Forth and Game have joined forces to bring you some of the best gaming interviews on the web! That’s right, from time to time here on Dice Hate Me, Tom Gurganus will contribute one of his comprehensive conversations. In this interview, Tom delves into game design with Seth Jaffee, designer of the smash Eminent Domain. Enjoy the interview and be sure to let us know if there are other designers, artists or gaming insiders that you would like to know more about!
Seth: I generally try to choose or invent a mechanism that feels appropriate. If there’s an existing mechanism that I think does a great job of handling a particular part of a game, then I’ll use that (or some variation on it). I’m out to make a new game experience, and for that it’s not necessary to invent every mechanism in the game. Some people look at games with familiar mechanisms and call them “derivative” – but I don’t think that’s accurate if the combination of mechanisms provides a new and unique game experience. That’s how I feel about Eminent Domain.
Tom: I like the idea of creating a new gaming experience. That, I believe, is the goal of the game designer. Pulling together existing mechanisms in a new way to create a new experience is a fine way to design a game. I agree that you do not have to create a whole new mechanism with every new game.
Seth: In the case of the “Follow” mechanism in EmDo, I was thinking along the lines of a card game version of Twilight Imperium 3, so role selection made sense. Like any role selection game, the crux of that mechanism is that other players get to perform the role as well. Most games don’t give a name to that, but Glory to Rome does… they call it “Following” because you’re following along with the leader’s role. Since that’s what you do in EmDo, it seemed appropriate to call it that as well. I think the reason GtR and EmDo have names for that is because unlike most Role Selection games, in those 2 players are given the option NOT to participate. In Puerto Rico for example, if you choose not to build anything when someone calls Builder, then you get nothing. For EmDo I wanted to create the dichotomy between ‘many small actions’ and ‘one big action’ – if you follow other players, you do more stuff, but each one is less intense than if you skip following and just draw cards, giving yourself more options on your own turn.
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