The List - April 2021

With all these new ideas I've been having, I feel like it's time to revisit The List, and I might add a section to encompass the various new designs that have been cropping up.

Published Games - this hasn't changed much lately, but I hope more games will bump up soon:
- Terra Prime (BGG)
- Eminent Domain (BGG)
- Eminent Domain: Escalation (BGG) (expansion)
- Eminent Domain: Exotica (BGG) (expansion)
- Eminent Domain: Oblivion (BGG) (expansion)
- Eminent Domain: Microcosm (BGG)
- Isle of Trains (BGG)
- Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done (BGG)
- Crusaders: Divine Influence (BGG) (expansion) [printed and waiting]
- Dungeon Roll: Winter Heroes (BGG)
- Gold West: Bandits promo (BGG)
- Gold West: Trading Post promo (BGG)
- Yokohama: Achievements & Free Agents promo (BGG)
- Brainfreeze

Finished But Unpublished Games - in line to be published:
- Eminent Domain Origins [Ready to print]
- Crusaders: Crimson Knight (expansion) [Ready to print]
- Crusaders: Amber Knight (expansion) [Ready to print]
- Olympus on the Serengeti  (FKA Deities and Demigods) [Art paused]
- Eminent Domain: Chaos Theory (dice game) [In line for art]

"Finished" But Unpublished Games - abandoned or backburnered designs that are "done":
- Dice Works (BGG)
- Wizard's Tower (BGG) [Abandoned]
- Isle of Trains: All Aboard (expansion)
- Suburban Sprawl
- Watch It Played [Abandoned]
- Now Boarding [Abandoned]
- Rolling Realms: Jaffee Realms (for Jamey Stegmaier's Rolling Realms)

Current Active Designs - I'm actively pitching these games:
- Keeping Up with the Joneses

- Apotheosis (Co-Design with Rick Holzgrafe)

- Sails & Sorcery [with Michael Mindes]

- Riders of the Pony Express (BGG) 

- Exhibit (BGG) [pitching to publishers]

Backburnered Designs - I kid myself into thinking that I'm still working on these:

- Alter Ego (BGG)

- All For One (BGG) (Co-Design with David Brain)

- Isle Of Trains: The Board Game (Co-Design with Dan Keltner)

- Joan of Arc

New ideas:
- Worker-ception [with David Short]

- False Prophet [Mancala/Worker Placement]

- I-Cut-You-Choose Worker Placement [ICYC/WP]

- Come And Play [Sesame Street memory/rondel game]

- Candyland Game [Candyland/No Thanks mashup]

Old Standbys - games which have been around, 1/2 done and untouched, for years:
- 8/7 Central [Abandoned]
- Hot & Fresh [Abandoned]

- Odysseus: Winds of Fate (BGG)

- Reading Railroad [Abandoned]

- Moctezuma's Revenge

- Kilauea [a designer showed interest in co-designing, but that didn't go anywhere]

- Automatown [with Michael Brown]

Old Ideas that Haven't Gone Anywhere (Yet):
- Investigative/Tabloid Journalism
- Red Colony
- Clash of the Kingpins
- Time = Money
- Dating Game
- Ticket Please
- The Untouchables
- Day labor game based on craps

- Rondel Role Selection

-Scourge of the High Seas [deckbuilding game with 2 center rows]

- Dynasty [I still think this one has potential]

Misc and Really Old Stuff - could probably combine with the previous category at this point:
- 9-Ball
- Blockade Runner
- Roman Emperors (my version of someone else's game)
- Admirals of the Spanish Main (my version of someone else's game)

Let's take a closer look at some of the updates:

First, I moved some stuff around. The categories could probably use an overhaul... Last time I had tried to organize some co-designs, but for the most part that didn't pan out, so I re-sorted those games into other categories, and I added a category for New Ideas. I feel like those are distinct from Current Active Designs, as I'm not necessarily working on them at the moment, but they're also distinct from Backburnered Designs, as that implies I've done some work on them already. So I think a dedicated category for new, promising ideas is worthwhile.

I also tagged some of my old standbys as "abandoned" because, if I'm honest with myself, it's unlikely I'll ever really come back to those. I suppose "Misc and Really Old Stuff" is basically an "Abandoned" category, maybe I should just codify that and put all my abandoned projects there (I like the idea of keeping them around, in case I ever revive them). Ditto Old Ideas that Haven't Gone Anywhere (Yet), those are so old at this point they're effectively abandoned -- except maybe Dynasty. That one still sounds like it has potential to me.

I might also want a category for games that I'd be happy to pitch to publishers, but that I'm not actively working on... so distinct from Current Active Designs, but not really Backburnered either. Perhaps that's what Finished But Unpublished could mean? Though maybe I'd prefer to use that for projects that have been signed or are otherwise for sure going to happen, which is distinct from games I feel are done enough to pitch. I'll try to clean up The List some more each time I post it.

Here's some info on the new or updated items:

New stuff

- Keeping Up with the Joneses:
A relatively new idea, and one that came together very quickly. You try to 1-up your neighbors in 6 different life aspects while trying to keep pace with The Joneses (who always seem to have everything together). Mechanically, it's a rondel game with entangled decisions. On your turn you choose a card from 3 face up in slots labeled 1-3, and get the effect on the card. Then you move a number of spaces on the rondel according to the slot your card was in, and you get the effect of that rondel space as well.

- Worker-ception [with David Short]

In this worker group placement game, you are a travel agent sending families on trips. Each family has a few members, and therefore a few tokens in a stack. There's an overall game board with various "Brochures" on it, representing worker placement spaces that can change from game to game. Each round, you'll place your families (worker stacks) onto these brochures. Then, when it's time to resolve them, you zoom in and play a little worker placement mini-game with the tokens you have in that area.

Dave thought this sounded good and offered to work on it with me, but it's not a primary project for either of us, so it's pretty slow-going. I came up with a host of Worker Placement mini-games based on some of the interesting WP games I could think of, so the next step would be mocking up a prototype --  and solving some thematic issues like "as travel agents, what do we really get out of our clients having a good vacation?" And "exactly what resources are in this game anyway?"

- False Prophet

An attempt at a Worker Placement / Mancala mashup based on an interview I saw with Isaias Vallejos where he mentioned that Margraves of Valeria was initially intended to be a Mancala Worker Placement game, but he couldn't make it work. This one is still in the "idea stage," but I have a pretty good idea how I think it might work, so it could potentially be in a good enough place to put together a prototype soon. Of course, I'll need some data before I bother with that - like what do the worker placement spaces do?! 

- I-Cut-You-Choose Worker Placement 

Another one in the "idea stage," this one inspired by Jamey Stegmaier's top 10 mechanisms video (his top 2 were I Cut You Choose and Worker placement). I have a solid instigating idea that I think could make for a strong main mechanism, but to go any farther I'll probably need to settle on a theme and get some data together.

- Come And Play [Sesame Street memory/rondel game]

An attempt at a kids-level game that I made out of some Sesame Street figures and a Sesame Street branded Memory game that Corbin has. It actually works pretty well, though Corbin's still a tad too young to properly follow rules.

Deal out the cards face down in a circle and place a figure on every other card. On your turn, choose a figure, move it 1 or 2 spaces (maybe specifically clockwise, but maybe either way is fine). Skip spaces that have no cards in them. Then reveal the card in that space - if it matches the figure you moved, you get to keep it! Otherwise, put if back face down, and try to remember who you saw and where you saw them!

- Candyland Game [Candyland/No Thanks mashup]

My latest idea is a simple mashup of No Thanks and Candyland. I tried a proof-of-concept playtest on TTS, and it felt pretty good, now its time to settle on a theme and make some adjustments (such as re-design the board spaces).

Other changes

- Sails & Sorcery [with Michael Mindes]

I decided to add this to the list, since I put some work last year into developing the game into what I think is a pretty good finished product. I am happy to pitch this one to publishers, though it's technically a co-design with Michael.

- Exhibit (BGG) [pitching to publishers]

I decided to get this one back out and pitch it to publishers. We'll see if that leads to anything.

- Apotheosis (Co-Design with Rick Holzgrafe)

After unsuccessfully pitching Apotheosis to one publisher, I had a very promising pitch to another publisher... over the course of several meetings with them, during which we played full games, we made Apotheosis a lot more focused and better, but ultimately they were not interested. I'm continuing to pitch it, and I've got 2 more publishers showing initial interest -- I'll be meeting with them soon to see if they would like to look more closely at the game.

- Alter Ego (BGG)

This one has come a long way since its inception, and I think it's finally close, but progress has been in fits and starts, with a lot of time in between. At this point I even have art done for the cards, but it was sort of abandoned 1/2 way through graphic design... of all my backburnered designs, this one is probably the lowest hanging fruit, I should really just put some finishing touches on it and get the graphic design finished, then either print it, or maybe pitch it around.

 

- All For One (BGG) (Co-Design with David Brain)

Reviving this at the end of 2019 was awesome, and I think the latest version was in very good shape. Once again, the design stalled while waiting for a board redesign (which will probably prompt a card redesign), and the 2020 hellscape didn't help matters any.

I really ought to just get this one into Tabletop Simulator as-is, and worry about a board redesign later. 

- Isle Of Trains: The Board Game (Co-Design with Dan Keltner)

For years I had held out hope that Isle of Trains: All Aboard, the expansion to Isle of Trains, would eventually come out from Dice Hate Me Games. I even saw some cover art for it! but alas, I think it's folly to continue to expect that at this point. Prompted by the publisher, a few years ago Dan and I decided to try and make a bigger game out of Isle of Trains (maybe including some of the expansion stuff), and I maintained this idea that the publisher would still be doing it, so I kept that scope in mind as we tried to make an Isle of Trains board game... Dan more reasonably noted that this publisher was unlikely to really move forward with the project, and wanted to make a deeper, more complicated game. At this point, I think he was on the right track, but the project kind of stalled out a long time ago, so I don't know if we'll ever get there :/

We were looking at it being a rondel game, where you drive your train around a loop of spaces, taking actions there, building stuff on those spaces (for multiple rewards), and push up the value of the various cargo you're delivering to maximize your score (cargo delivered x that cargo's value). My version attempted to be lighter and quicker, closer to the scope of the card game, while Dan was looking to have more stuff going on, unique train cars, etc. I think either way could work, especially if I can just drop the illusion of having to fit a particular publisher's ideas for the game.

- Joan of Arc

I was very interested in this idea a few years ago, but alas, it fell to the wayside and onto the back burner, and as yet has not returned. I got excited about a year ago when a prominent design duo expressed interest in co-designing, but they've been busy with their own stuff, so I don't think they've even looked at this game.

One day I would like to return to this one, but I fear it's time may have passed :/

- Reading Railroad [Abandoned]

After reviving this one recently, I think I've decided that the game just isn't really that great an idea after all. I still LOVE the idea of a word-themed cube pusher where the cubes are tiny alphabet blocks, and I think this one had some decent mechanisms in it, but playing it recently I just kind of feel like it's not quite right. I might have to ride this mashup (word game / connection game) out on a rail, so to speak.