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This week Stephen and Linda are here to talk about board games with Gwen and Sam from Runaway Parade Games. It’s all about Fire Tower and the upcoming expansion coming to Kickstarter.

This podcast is sponsored by:

ReadyPlayerMom – mixer.com/readyplayermom

The Virtual Economy Podcast

Around the Horn

Galaxy Trucker

Aerion

Topic

Rising Flame – the expansion to Fire Tower

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Music from https://filmmusic.io

“Android Sock Hop” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/weirdgiraffegames/big-easy-busking-0?ref=discovery&term=big%20easy%20busking

Can you give us a “Tale of the Tape” for your game? The title, genre, playtime, age ranges, etc. 

Big Easy Busking is an area control game for 1-5 players that plays in about 45 minutes for ages 8+

What is the elevator pitch? 

Big Easy Busking is an area control game for 1-5 players about being the best street musician in New Orleans. The game is played over three days, where players choose which locations to play their set of songs. It takes time to play a song, so players decide on their next turn whether they’re going to use all of their energy at the location or to only use some of it to save the rest for later songs. If a player matches the mood of the people with the song that they’re playing, they can get bonus tips!

Escalating Rounds: The game starts with three locations players can play at, but by the final round, there’s five locations so players have to choose where to play wisely! Engaging Gameplay: Players determine how much energy to allocate to each location after seeing how other players play, so players pay attention to what happens between their turns. Thematic Actions: Songs require differing amounts of energy from musicians and players are rewarded greatly for playing the songs that the crowd wants to hear.

When is your Kickstarter running until?

June 6th.

Where are you in production/development? How close are you to complete? 

It is live on Kickstarter! Click here to check it out!

Are there any other games that you think are comparable to your game? 

World’s Fair 1893

You’re a game designer. You could have made any game you wanted. Why did you make THIS game? 

I’m the publisher, but I signed this game because it’s a really unique take on area control. In the game, you start playing your song at a crowd of your choice, but song playing takes time. So you don’t make a decision on how much energy you’re putting into the song until your next turn. This means that you have an idea of what your opponents are doing, but there’s always someone that surprises you. This makes the game so entertaining and replayable.

What was your design process like? 

I designed the solo portion of the game. My process for this always starts with trying to figure out the player interaction in the game and the different player types. Once I get an idea of the player types in the game, I try to create a different Robot that represents each player type.

I try to make the solo mode really easy to play, but still surprising. So I made the songs that Robot plays a deck of all the other player cards in the game. This created a lot of variety and it wouldn’t be known what the Robot would do, even though the Robot’s actions are easy to make happen. I then play the game over and over, to get the different difficulties right. Then I make sure that each Robot is different enough, easy to follow. Players can master each robot if you play enough and try enough different strategies.

What is the number one reason why a family MUST purchase this game?

Big Easy Busking is a truly unique and player friendly experience. With the wide player count and quick and intuitive gameplay, it should be a great fit for most families. Adding in the unique theme, friendly take on area control, and large amount of player interaction, it gets everyone engaged in what is happening, but not in the negative or attacking way, like a lot of games that have player interaction. 

How long has this game been in development?

Around 3 years.

What obstacles did you encounter making this game? 

I think the biggest obstacle I encountered while making this game was trying to find an artist. I really wanted to find an artist from New Orleans and I asked around and did a lot of searching, and ended up finding an artist living in New Orleans that I really liked! She agreed to do the artwork, but then had some sickness in the family that came up and wasn’t able to work on the project. I finally found an artist that I liked. Unfortunately, it was after months of searching and required going outside the New Orleans region. The final artwork seems to be really representative of the area, though, which I’m very happy about.

What did your first prototype look like? 

Cardstock and numbers! I tend to print out my prototypes, as my hand writing is terrible and even I can’t read it sometimes.

Why did you get into making games? 

I first got into games as a creative outlet, but I was hooked once I made my first prototype and saw how much fun the people that played the game had. I love being able to be part of the reason that people have more fun and I like to think I’m improving people’s lives this way.

What other information do you want us to know about you, your company, and/or your game?

Follow Weird Giraffe Games on FacebookTwitter, Instagram, and Board Game Geek or visit our website

We also have a Facebook Group called the Weird Giraffe Games Insiders where you can learn all the new things about Weird Giraffe Games, participate in contests, and earn prizes! 

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Naval warfare has never been so exciting.  In Clear the Decks! players are working together battling an enemy ship with their own navel ship and crew. Clear the Decks is designed by Christopher Pinyan of Crispy Games Co.

The Engaged Family Gaming team has had the pleasure to see Clear the Decks evolve over the past year.  Our first look at this game was at the 2017 Connecticut Festival of Independent GamesClear The Decks was again at the 2018 Connecticut Festival of Independent Games.

Can you give us a “Tale of the Tape” for your game? The title, genre, playtime, age ranges, etc. 

Clear the Decks! is a 1-4 player cooperative card game depicting ship to ship combat in the age of fighting sail. For ages 10 and up.

What is the elevator pitch? 

On the high seas, you have met your enemy. By yourself or with shipmates, you each have 3 gun crews using different ammunition, tactics, officers, and marines to attack the enemy ship’s guns, crew and structures. Can you smash enough leaks in the enemy ship before they have destroyed all of your cannons? It’s time to beat to quarters and Clear the Decks!

When is your Kickstarter going live?

The Kickstarter went live on July 17, 2018, and runs through August 16th.

Where are you in production/development? How close are you to complete? 

All the line art for the game is complete. We have a couple weeks’ worth of coloring still to do and will provide updates over the course of the campaign. Some of the stretch goal cards are already designed and just waiting for enough funding to include them in the game. We estimate that by end of August we will be ready to send to printer for production review.

Are there any other games that you think are comparable to your game? 

The closest I would consider is Castle Panic. It is also cooperative (though there still is a “winner”), there is the concept of impending danger and you have to come up with certain combinations of card and location in order to attack your target.

You’re a game designer. You could have made any game you wanted. Why did you make THIS game?

The movie Master and Commander was always a favorite. I got hooked on reading the book series, which then led to reading several non-fiction books on the US and British navies during the late 17 and early 1800’s. Reading through the sea battles, watching them in the Horatio Hornblower series on BBC made me of puzzle combinations – which cannon, which ammunition, which part of the ship, all the other issues to deal with during a battle and all of the different people on a ship – with different roles and how they all had to work together to be successful. That sounded like a great game to me. It had to be co-op and I didn’t want semi-co op where people are working together but ultimately still looking out for themselves to the possible detriment of the team. I love to see families sit down and work together, sometimes the parents coaching the kids, but plenty of times the kids getting excited and telling mom or dad what they should do. I loved the theme and it made designing now promoting the game fun. Sprinkling in a little history to maybe get people interested in reading up on the time period is a possible bonus.

What was your design process like? 

Reading and taking notes on gun sizes, the different ammunition types and what they were used for. Lots of notes on the different parts of a ship. Reading about the different other things – good and bad – that might randomly happen during a battle lead me to create Event and Fortune cards. Tricks of combat became player tactics cards and of course – all the different people became Crew cards. Then allowing myself some creative license to be less restrictive on what combinations would be allowed to attack certain cards. Some mathematics to determine a good ratio of certain cards in the game (Round shot vs Chain shot for example). Then on to gameplay – lots of testing and making sure the tension remains to the end and putting in some resource management requirements – saving the right cards for the right part of the game, but keeping the temptation there to get the unwary to use them at the wrong time and jeopardize a victory. Wanting the game available as a solitaire, and for younger and older families generated the concept of different sizes and difficulties of the ship – making lots of opportunities for interesting play among different age groups.

What is the number one reason why a family MUST purchase this game?

Work together for a change! Show how teamwork and giving can help everyone succeed together. Can’t we ALL be happy and have fun on family game night? If we do – then maybe getting people interested in another family game night is easier. This is a way to get kids interested in this topic.  It may put them down the path to developing their own reading habit. This was not the original goal of the whole game process, but if happens to be an unintended side effect – great.

How long has this game been in development? 

About 2 and a half years.  Around Feb 2015 when I started evolving the mechanics of an earlier game I was working on for 18 months previously into this one.

What obstacles did you encounter making this game? 

Number one is time! With a day job and two teenagers its tough to get even an hour of uninterrupted time to focus on something. On a personal level, getting outside the comfort zone.  First, to go out and show it to playtesters. Then take the feedback of something you worked so hard on – without taking offense. That is a real personal growth opportunity.

What did your first prototype look like? 

Blank cards I ordered online that I drew on with markers. On the back, I got a tall ship ink stamp from a scrapbooking friend and red and blue ink pads for the two card types.

Why did you get into making games? 

I grew up playing games – at home, at the park during the summer. I discovered local game conventions and once the indie game craze started – I thought I could do it.

What other information do you want us to know about you, your company, and/or your game?

Clear the Decks is driven by theme, and the theme is driven by my passion for it. I worked in a lot of little details that I love to share during demos. I hope people will discover on their own as the play the game. Inspiring people to search for a couple of my references, maybe more people become interested in an amazing period and some amazing people in history.
You can learn more about Clear the Decks! by checking out my website www.crispygamesco.com
or by following me on Instagram and Facebook at Crispygamesco.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

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Summer has just begin, and Christmas is the last think on our minds.  It is time to think cool, plan ahead, and check out Christmas Lights Card Game, a holiday-themed set collection game.  It has the 9 additional bonus games that can be played using the cards.  The game is currently live on Kickstarter, and runs until June 27th. The cost for one copy is $15 and the shipping in the U.S. is only $2. The game is for 2-6 players and is recommended for players age 6 and up.

Can you give us a “Tale of the Tape” for your game? The title, genre, playtime, age ranges, etc.

Christmas Lights Card Game – holiday themed family-friendly set collection game ages 6+ for 2 to 6 players

What is the elevator pitch?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas! Players will swap, play, trade, and draw Christmas Light Bulbs into their own sets of lights as they race to be the first to complete two strands.

Christmas Lights Card Game features art by Dave Perillo and was designed by Adam Collins and Chad Head.

 

When is your Kickstarter going live?

We went live Tuesday May 29th and were quite excited to see us fund in under 8 hours! The campaign runs until June 27th.

Where are you in production/development? How close are you to complete?

The game is complete and will be ready to go to production shortly after the Kickstarter campaign concludes.

Are there any other games that you think are comparable to your game?

It gets a lot of comparisons to a competitive version of Hanabi, mainly because players hold their cards facing outward. Each player cannot view their own hand, but can see all of the cards other players are holding.

 

You’re a game designer. You could have made any game you wanted. Why did you make THIS game?

I love the Christmas season. I’m one of those people who decorate their house right after Halloween and keeps it up through mid January. When I saw the design that Adam Collins and Chad Head made with Christmas Lights, I just had to contact them about partnering up with me to publish their game.

What was your design process like?

The game was largely complete when I brought it on board. One of the first things we did was start to trim down the card counts by making a few modifications. Next I wanted to create a little more player interaction, so I worked with Adam and Chad H. to add more variability with the wild and event cards.

What is the number one reason why a family MUST purchase this game?

Value and variety. For what is a very reasonable price point, you can play 10 different games with a variety of player counts and ages.

How long has this game been in development?

I started with working with Adam and Chad H. back in February to get the game ready to launch on KS in late May.

What obstacles did you encounter making this game?

I would say time was really the biggest obstacle. We had a lot to do in a very short window of time in order to bring this game to KS early enough in the year to give us the runway to fulfill it to backers by the holidays.

 

What did your first prototype look like?

When I signed the game, they already had some placeholder art for the game. I wanted to give it a retro vintage styling with a modern touch. I’ve been a fan of Dave Perillo’s artwork for some time and he has that look to the work he creates. I was fortunate to have him work on the project and it looks drastically different from when the game was first signed from the designers.

Why did you get into making games?

I’m a board gamer first and foremost. I love playing all kinds of tabletop games. As such, I approach every new game project with the same enthusiasm and passion for creating something I can be proud to put on the table.

What other information do you want us to know about you, your company, and/or your game?

This is my fourth tabletop project, having published two puzzles and one prior game. I am currently working on art development for the next game 25th Century is going to publish in Q4 called “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.” I also have two additional game designs from different designers for 2019 that will begin development efforts soon.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

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On Their Merry Way is a Robin Hood themed game we first saw at the Boston Festival of Independent Games (BFIG).

Can you give us a “Tale of the Tape” for your game? The title, genre, playtime, age ranges, etc. 

On Their Merry Way is a path building game for 2-5 players ages 13+ that takes roughly 45 to 60 minutes.

What is the elevator pitch? 

On Their Merry Way is a unique path building game for 2-5 players, who take on the role of Robin Hood’s Merry Men, setting traps along the trails of Sherwood Forest and trying to fool the wealthy merchants during their travels.

When is your Kickstarter  live?

May 15th 2018

Where are you in production/development? How close are you to complete? 

On Their Merry Way is in the final prototyping stages and will be in production as soon as it reaches its funding goal.

Are there any other games that you think are comparable to your game? 

On Their Merry Way is a one of a kind game that stands alone in the tabletop community. Some have compared it to tower defense style games but its unique path building mechanic is completely new.

You’re a game designer. You could have made any game you wanted. Why did you make THIS game? 

At New Experience Workshop we strive to make games we want to play that don’t yet exist. On Their Merry Way is a completely unique experience that is fun and strategic in its own way.

What was your design process like? 

We were inspired by the Tiny Epic model’s use of a low component count, three types of resources and a rich selection of choices to be made. However, as On Their Merry Way came to be, it developed into an entirely unique game that broke that mold and forged its own.

What is the number one reason why a family MUST purchase this game?

It’s a new type of challenge that provides something for all age levels. It provides a new challenge for older players who will enjoy figuring out the puzzle of path building, but provides equal footing for younger players as it is a completely new genre of game for everyone.

How long has this game been in development? 

One year

What obstacles did you encounter making this game? 

We struggled at first to find balance in all the moving parts of the game, but as we cut away some of the superfluous parts and got to the core of the game, we found that while certain aspects were fun in their own right, they added more complexity than necessary and ultimately detracted from the main experience.
What did your first prototype look like? *
Our first prototype was themed around the hay-day of Route 66 travel and featured cars in the traveler positions and roadside attractions in place of traps.

Why did you get into making games? 

I feel fulfilled when I’m making games. Games provide a shared social construct for people to interact and have a good time, which I feel is more and more important in our ever-technologically involved world.
What other information do you want us to know about you, your company, and/or your game?
We are a two-person team working as hard as possible to bring our games to the world and share our joy with as many people as possible!
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Hello and Welcome to Engage!: A Family Gaming Podcast! This is episode 130. This week we are talking board games and this week Stephen and Rob are joined by the team at Runaway Parade games to talk about Fire Tower!

Host:

Stephen Duetzmann @EFGaming

Co-Host:

Rob Kalajian, A Pawn’s Perspective

Runaway Parade Games

Around the Horn

The Legend of Korra: Pro Bending Arena

Streets of Steel

Qwirkle Cubes

Sumer

Topic

Fire Tower Kickstarter!

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

Follow us on Facebook!

Like us on Twitter!

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Dobbers: Quest for the Key is an encounter building, deck building, strategy game that is currently live on Kickstarter. It was designed and is being brought to Kickstarter by Darryl Jones. He took the time to answer some questions for us about his campaign. Take a look below and check out the campaign!

Can you give us a “Tale of the Tape” for your game? The title, genre, playtime, age ranges, etc.

Dobbers: Quest for the Key is a whimsical, high-fantasy, family game for ages 8 and up.  It is a 2-4 player game, which usually takes about an hour to play.

What is the elevator pitch?

Dobbers: Quest for the Key is a whimsical, family friendly board game for 2-4 players. It is an encounter building, deck building, strategy game. Create surprise encounters for your opponent while building your deck and equipping your hero. The mechanics are simple enough for children to enjoy with engaging strategies for adults. It has a high fantasy theme, with comic-book style, bold illustrations. There are two basic strategies essential to winning the game:  Placing challenging encounters on the board, preventing other players from being able to advance along their chosen path. Equipping your hero and building up your personal deck so that you can more easily overcome any encounters that have been placed along your path.

When is your Kickstarter going live?

April 16th

Where are you in production/development? How close are you to complete?

The game mechanics and testing are complete. There will be refinement with Kickstarter feedback of course, and there is still quite a bit of illustrations to complete for cards.

Are there any other games that you think are comparable to your game?

Clank and Legendary are both deck builders that use a game board, but I’ve not seen any other deck builder that allows you to build encounters for your opponents. I believe it’s a very unique process.

You’re a game designer. You could have made any game you wanted. Why did you make THIS game?

When I was younger, my Grandpa would say, “Keep your dobbers up!” when I felt down. I never really knew what a Dobber was, so I decided to create them. Inspired by the legends of fantasy creators, they became little gnome-like creatures living in the forest. Later, I decided to write and illustrate a comic book. I self published it in 2001. My career as a designer took over shortly after that, and it sat dormant for a while. Marriage, kids, work, all those things progressed.

A few years back I got into gaming in a big way once again. I wanted more games that could “thread the needle” between challenging strategy and young player engagement. The Dobbers never left the back of my mind. I started talking about it with my son and inspiration struck! We were going to make a board game! I focused on mechanics and design while he helped flesh out a lot of theme ideas. He also had a lot of input on what would make the game fun for him. There’s a lot of story involved, though all of it may not come out in our first board game, the story will unfold as we publish more games in the series.

What was your design process like?

It started with index cards for the cards and graph paper for the board. Next I laid out a card template in Illustrator, printed and cut out a bunch. There were blank spaces for each of the stats needed, so I could fill them out, test, replace and do it all again. This made for a quick way to iterate testing and balancing. Slowly I began working on illustrations, icons and other common design elements that would be necessary. All the while, continuing to test and brainstorm with my son. After a few months, we got our first set of cards printed at Staples. They looked pretty bad. My colors were too dark and the difference in groups were too subtle.

I redesigned the borders, frames and color schemes. We took it to GenCon in 2017 to play test with strangers. It went really well. Almost all positivist feedback. I’ve done a little more refinement on the frames and other common elements. Now, in addition to finishing illustrations for the individual cards, I’m working on graphics for the rules, promotional items and box. I expect the process will go through another round of refinement as I get feedback and suggestions from the Kickstarter community.

What is the number one reason why a family MUST purchase this game?

As mentioned before, the goal was to create a game that was engaging for kids, but still something an adult could sink their teeth into. I think we’ve done that. Kids will enjoy the art and be swept away by the idea of equipping their hero while putting cool monsters in front of their opponent. Younger kids will get to practice basic addition and subtraction. My hero’s = 1 +1 for her sword +1 for her armor and she is facing a location that totals 4, who wins? And adults will enjoy finding the perfect card combination to over come even the most challenging encounter. It’s got it all!

How long has this game been in development?

A little over a year.

What obstacles did you encounter making this game?

For Dobbers: Quest for the Key, I am the Game Designer, Graphic Designer, Illustrator, R&D, Marketing, Web Development and everything else guy. Wow, there is so much to do! Apparently most people have a team to publish a game. I completely underestimated it all. I expect to have a little more help for my next game.  I’ve found that the number of individual illustrations to create is a huge time investment. I might have changed a few concepts earlier if I thought there was a way to make some illustrations reusable.

What did your first prototype look like?

Just note cards and graph paper. 🙂

Why did you get into making games?

I’ve been a gamer of all kinds since the mid 80’s. It’s been my goal to be a published creator since high school. I let that goal lie dormant for a while, but now I’m glad to have it back as a passion.

What other information do you want us to know about you, your company, and/or your game?

A little more about me in the gaming industry. I’ve done a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Now it’s time to move a little more into the forefront. I was the designer and illustrator for a lot of classic Dwarven Forge resin sets, Realm of the Ancients, Den of Evil, the Medieval Building set and more.  I Illustrated all of the walls and other assets needed for True Heroes. A True Dungeon event was sponsored by Upper Deck at GenCon several years ago. I continue to work with Jeff on True Dungeon and have designed the logos and ads for TD for the last 10 years. I run a D&D 5 game on the ExplodingDice channel based in the world I created in 2001, the Dobbers.  And the big one – I have a board game coming to Kickstarter also in the world of the Dobbers on April 16th.

You can contact me here:  darryl@splatteredink.com. I share much of my illustration on these social media platforms, including streaming my illustration process on twitch.

Twitter.com/splatteredink,

Instagram.com/splatteredink

twitch.tv/splatteredink

facebook.com/splattered1.

The official website can be found at splatteredink.com and dobbersquest.com.


What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

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Like us on Twitter!

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The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls is a worker movement game that is launching on Kickstarter April 13th.   It was designed by David Tepfer and is being published by The Screaming Brain They took the time to answer some questions for us about their campaign. Take a look below and check out the campaign!

Can you give us a “Tale of the Tape” for your game? The title, genre, playtime, age ranges, etc.

The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls is a cartoonish horror worker movement game for 2-4 players age 10+, and takes 60-90 minutes to play.

What is the elevator pitch?

Something is terribly wrong with the rural town of Monkton, Vermont. A deep colorless fog has swept across the hillside, members of the community have gone missing, and once lush farmland is dying. Locals believe that an ancient spirit haunting the old manor house of the hill is to blame. And they’ve asked you and your team of paranormal investigators to check it out, and save the town! The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls is a cooperative board game for 2-4 players. Takes on the role of paranormal investigators an exorcise a powerful spirit from an ancient home in Monkton, VT. Explore the haunted manor, search for tools, complete tasks, and most importantly of all avoid the spirit and exorcise the house before dawn!

When is your Kickstarter going live?

April 13th 2018, which is Friday the 13th!

Where are you in production/development? How close are you to complete?

The game is currently in extended blind testing to complete the rule book but has already been through production samples with our manufacturer.

Are there any other games that you think are comparable to your game?

The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls is comparable to Flash Point, a Coop version of Lords of Waterdeep, or Euro Betrayal at the House on the Hill.

You’re a game designer. You could have made any game you wanted. Why did you make THIS game?

I love the horror genre. Horror movies scare me, but I love the unique way the horror genre tells stories. It was that style of storytelling I wanted to emulate on the tabletop. I found that many horror themed games are just that, Horror Themed” with no effort made to tell the story using mechanics. So, I wanted to make a horror game that did things differently.

What was your design process like?

I started with a premise. Which was to make a cooperative horror game that could give players real feelings of dread and suspense. Once I knew what the emotional reaction I wanted for people playing Monkton Falls, I started to craft mechanics that would fit that goal. Monkton Falls is an incredibly thematic game, so each mechanic and design choice was to tailor a very specific thematic feel. And through development I worked through a “check system”. Each time I would make advancements in the design I would look back and make sure whatever change met the essential intent of the design.

What is the number one reason why a family MUST purchase this game?

Cooperation! Monkton Falls is designed to be a game that can only be won through intensive communication and cooperation. We spent countless hours in testing to balance out the puzzle like nature of the game to the amount of in-game time players have to win. Consequently, wasted or misused actions could seal the groups fate. The decisions players make have to be made together otherwise players are sure to fail.

How long has this game been in development?

18 Months

What obstacles did you encounter making this game?

Our biggest obstacle was balancing the difficulty level of The Exorcism at the House of Monkton Falls. Since cooperative games rely on a randomizer to determine what the game “does” it can be very tricky to balance for every given scenario while also creating the level of challenge I wanted for the players.

What did your first prototype look like?

Hand written slips of paper sleeved with old Magic the Gathering cards. Monkton Falls was originally fully card driven with no board. Ghosts were drawn from a deck and would attack players on each of their turns.  Meanwhile, players tried to fend them off and complete tasks with tool cards from their backpack (hand). It was fun and a step in the right direction, but it was very one dimensional and random.

Why did you get into making games?

I got into making games because I want more people playing games. Playing tabletop games has been a hobby for over 13 years. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I was actually open about it. I was often called a “closet gamer” by my gaming friends because I was so afraid of the stereotypes of being a gamer. I want to make games that are easy to learn and have themes that resonate in our larger pop culture. To bring people, who have shunned this hobby in the past, to table and ready to play.

What other information do you want us to know about you, your company, and/or your game?

My company, The Screaming Brain, also produces a weekly blog and monthly podcast all about getting the most out of the board game hobby. We don’t do reviews or news. We focus on whatever we can do to get you into the hobby, or how to enrich your experience with tabletop games.

 

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Hello and Welcome to Engage!: A Family Gaming Podcast! This is episode 121. This week we are talking video games.

Host:

Stephen Duetzmann @EFGaming

Co-Host:

Rob Kalajian, A Pawn’s Perspective 

Guest:

Carla Kopp, CTO from Weird Giraffe Games!

Around the Horn

Carla Kopp – unPub stories

Lawnmasters of Ganymede

Rob – Professor Evil and the Citadel of Time

Untold: Adventures Await

Stephen – Doodle Rush

 

The topic of the week was Fire in the Library! Its a board game currently on Kickstarter from Carla’s company!

 


What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

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Cheese Quest is a game created by Phil Schadt with the art by Peter Gandia.  It is for 2-4 players and is recommended for ages 9 and up. The gameplay is anticipated to take 45-60 minutes. The premise of the game is that you are in a house trying to navigate around the cats, the other mice, and the mouse traps to bring two pieces of cheese back to your nest.

Gameplay

The game board is made from connected hex pieces referred to as room pieces, and provides a wide variation in the game board.  There is a deck of action cards called “the pantry”.  The cards can both help the player advance and act to undermine the goals of the other players.  For example you can move a cat from one cat bed to another.  The game also includes cat and trap tokens.  The artwork is a darker cartoon aesthetic.  It is reminiscent of the harder lines and more angular features in cartoons from the 80’s and 90’s. The graphics are not scary and they maintain a kid friendly look.

On each turn there are five potential actions a player can take, but they can only complete three actions a turn (and are permitted to repeat an action). The actions include: move your mouse token one space, pick up a cheese token, draw any card from the pantry, play a card from your hand, and disable an obstacle on the board. Players need to balance advancing their mouse verses thwarting the efforts of the other players.  

From the Kickstarter information, this looks like a fun and relatively light strategy game that could be played as a whole family.  The reading involved with the cards, game play option, and the strategy involved the recommendation for age nine and up seems quite appropriate.

The Campaign

 The game is on Kickstarter will end on October 11th.  To get a copy of the game requires a pledge of $29. As of the time of this write up the game has $7166 pledged of their $12,000 goal and has 128 backers.  With only a few days left of the Kickstarter campaign anyone interested needs to check it out before time runs out.

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