The Nations And Cultures Of Gaia

Enclosed by mighty glaciers, the lands of Gaia are divided into three main regions: Arcadia, Pirta, and Submeria, each home of a specific culture – respectively Arcadians, Owrus, and Gillfolk.

Arcadians used to be devout followers of the god Sol, but after centuries of holy wars, their religious drive has dampened. As a result, their society has turned to technology-driven secularism: in Arcadia, faith in magic has been dwindling for some time now, and religious temples lay in ruin, like forgotten relics of a distant past.

Owrus and Gillfolk have, on the other hand, been able to sustain their cultures around the temples and shrines of their respective gods, Nieto and Trito.

The Owrus, whose tribes are currently divided by an old Emblem-related quarrel, have all built their homes in the proximity of the Forest Shrine. Despite their differences, Owru people as a whole have always considered themselves as the Wardens of the Jungle. Their sacred duty is to live in harmony with nature and protect Pirta from aggression. Despite the good intents, rumor has it that their fierce warriors have been struggling to keep a terrifying threat at bay for some time now…

Irontalon is the Owru Ambassador in the White City. While he misses the Great Jungle of Pirta, he's in charge of an important task: taking back the Sacred Emblem to his people.

Submerians too have had their fins full lately: trapping the Yurmala Turtle inside Ootheca, the holy place, was no small feat.

When not busy fighting monsters from the sea, Submerians hunt down precious sea materials. Thanks to the finest blacksmith in the whole of Gaia, these corals, and other rare minerals are turned into beautiful weapons that are the envy of the whole world.

Princess Fin loves her country, Submeria, a land full of life and color – a true shelter for both fish and birds. She attributes all of this to the blessing of Trito, the god residing inside the Sacred Emblem of Ocean, which, one day, she hopes to bring back from the White City.

There's much more to the world of Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm than meets the eye, but that's for you to discover upon the game release.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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People Behind The Meeples - Episode 211: Dave Dobson

Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers.  Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before.  If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples. Support me on Patreon!

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Name:	Dave Dobson
Email:	dave@planktongames.com
Location:	North Carolina, USA
Day Job:	I teach geology, environmental studies, and computing at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. I also write novels and perform improv comedy, neither of which could be considered a day job. Yet. Dammit.
Designing:	Over ten years!
Webpage:	http://planktongames.com
Blog:	https://planktongames.blogspot.com
BGG:	dobnarr
Facebook:	Dave Dobson
Twitter:	@GCDaveDobson
Other:	http://davedobsonbooks.com
Find my games at:	Amazon, PlanktonGames.com, TheGameCrafter

Today's Interview is with:

Dave Dobson
Interviewed on: 8/21/2019

This week's interview is with Dave Dobson an author, board game designer, video game designer, and more. He's been designing games of one sort or another for over 40 years! He may have even designed some games you've played! Read on to learn more about Dave and his current projects.

Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.

How long have you been designing tabletop games?
Over ten years!

Why did you start designing tabletop games?
I've loved designing games since I was a kid. I love the process of design, balance, creativity, and paper and glue. One of my earliest games, circa 1979, was a roll-and-move called the Roy Rogers game, based on the TV show. It had an unfortunate spot on the board where if you didn't roll two specific numbers on consecutive rolls, you got sent back to the ranch, i.e. start. My family gave up on it after about twenty minutes, but I learned a valuable lesson about broken designs.

What game or games are you currently working on?
I'm working on the third Doctor Esker's Notebook game, which is about 80% done. I'm also working on a game called The Treasure of Mag Mell, a card collection game where you are competing against other factions in a college of magic to gain enough control over the school to be awarded magical artifacts. I've done a lot of playtesting, and I'm working through the art and publishing parts of it now. I also have a game called Wrath about a doomed island nation trying to curry favor with vengeful gods so as to avoid being destroyed. Still in the design phase on that one. And I have a roll-and-write that I kind of like based on asteroid mining, called 97 Klotho.

Have you designed any games that have been published?
Diggity, a mining game, has been available on TheGameCrafter since 2009, and it's also been published by SugarDice games in Israel. I've also published (through my company, PlanktonGames) a game called Doctor Esker's Notebook, a puzzle card game that's been well reviewed, and a sequel called Son of Doctor Esker's Notebook. A while back, I wrote some pretty popular computer games, including Snood, Centaurian, Snood Towers, Chowder, and Snoodoku.

What is your day job?
I teach geology, environmental studies, and computing at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. I also write novels and perform improv comedy, neither of which could be considered a day job. Yet. Dammit.

Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.

Where do you prefer to play games?
At home, my favorite place is the kitchen table. It has good light, lots of seating, and is close to snacks and drinks. I have a semi-regular get-together with friends where we play either at people's houses or at work, and that's a lot of fun too.

Who do you normally game with?
Family, friends from work, sometimes friends from the comedy club where I perform.

If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
Usually I put out a stack and let people choose. I'm happy playing nearly anything. I love it when people are willing to try out my designs, but I also enjoy lots of other kinds of games. Recent faves include Scythe, Bloodrage, Twilight Struggle, Splendor.

And what snacks would you eat?
I have a weakness for salty stuff, but most of it gums up game components. At our regular game meetings, I usually go for grapes, Reese's Miniatures, and wheat thins and pimento cheese, a southern specialty which this Iowa boy has grown to love.

Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
Not usually - I find it gets in the way of conversation.

What's your favorite FLGS?
My favorite was The Games People Play in Cambridge, MA, where I shopped from my college days through a couple years ago. Sadly, it's closed now.

What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
Lifetime favorite is the Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (1978). I've played that literally hundreds of times. Seven Wonders I can always come back to. Really great game, particularly for larger groups. I also really like Race For The Galaxy. Least favorite that I still enjoy is probably Munchkin. I don't really know why it has such legs. Worst game I ever played - that's a tough one. So many of my early designs were bad - probably that Roy Rogers one I mentioned earlier.

What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
I really like games where you have to choose a small number of a broad set of actions, as in worker placement games. Least favorite is hidden traitor, like Werewolf. Just doesn't do anything for me, and I don't like lying to people.

What's your favorite game that you just can't ever seem to get to the table?
Not a lot of people around here interested in Agricola, but I enjoy it a lot.

What styles of games do you play?
I like to play Board Games, Card Games, Miniatures Games, RPG Games, Video Games

Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design Board Games, Card Games, RPG Games, Video Games

OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
Had a good time with friends with it when it first came out, despite it being ethically problematic and a kind of rip-off of Apples to Apples. Haven't played in years, and no real desire to return.

You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.

When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
It's almost always mechanics first, then theme. I am a better engineer than storyteller in games. But I've also had those two parts trade off during the design process - e.g. in my Wrath game, I had the idea of sucking up to angry gods first, and then built mechanics around that, and then saw that there could be another story component I could add that boosted the mechanics (a mysterious trickster being that gave out silly quests).

Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
Entered a number of them, won few, although I did win one on BGDF one time.

Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
Antoine Bauza, Tom Jolly (for Wiz War, one of my favorites of all time)

Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
A lot of my game ideas have started as scribbles in the margins of my notebook while at tedious meetings.

How do you go about playtesting your games?
Inflicting them on family and friends, primarily.

Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
Nearly always alone. If I feel a game concept is worth pursuing, I'll often invest in some better art than I can produce on my own and see where that goes.

What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
Opportunities for iterative and thorough playtesting. I don't always have as many opportunities to test as I'd like.

If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
That's a tough one. I usually find games with big IP ties aren't so great as games. Something based on the Barsoom books, maybe? I loved those as a kid.

What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
You'll be worse at it than you think you are for a long time, until eventually you'll realize how bad you were and still are.

What advice would you like to share about designing games?
It's a lot harder to come up with something really new and different than it is to borrow mechanics and ideas from other games. Both paths can produce good games that are fun to play, but the former path can be a lot more rewarding.

Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
Published games, I have: Diggity, Doctor Esker's Notebook
Games that will soon be published are: Son of Doctor Esker's Notebook
I'm planning to crowdfund: The Treasure of Mag Mell
Games that I'm playtesting are: Wrath, Return of Doctor Esker's Notebook

Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker's Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
I've been active on BGDF in the past, not so much now. I'm in a number of Facebook groups.

And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I'm sure are on everyone's minds!

Star Trek or Star Wars? Coke or Pepsi? VHS or Betamax?
Both ST & SW - they feed different hungers. Trek's always been richer and deeper for me, though. Diet Mountain Dew. Nobody really used Betamax.

What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
Improv comedy, writing, tuba playing.

What is something you learned in the last week?
They're making a Matrix IV. That shouldn't be allowed after Matrix III.

Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
Movie scores. Fantasy and sci fi, plus thrillers, for both books and movies.

What was the last book you read?
Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor

Do you play any musical instruments?
The tuba, pretty well. The piano, badly.

Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
I've played the biggest tuba in the world in concert (back in 1991). I wrote Snood, a shareware game that was pretty popular back in 1998-2005.

Tell us about something crazy that you once did.
Lost my wallet while changing clothes to defend my Ph.D. in Ann Arbor, MI, in 1997. Got a call from Boston Logan airport police in 2005 saying they'd found that same wallet inside a wall in the airport (in MA) during demolition for remodeling. They sent me back a picture of my daughter that had been in it. Super, super weird.

Biggest accident that turned out awesome?
Said no when my kids wanted to adopt a third cat. Caved when my son accepted my decision, but then I heard him softly crying in his room and I felt like a grade-A schmuck. Now, it's my absolute favorite cat, and the kids have left for college.

Who is your idol?
That is a strong word. Not many folks are worthy of that level of worship. I greatly admire folks who stand up for the oppressed or stand up for their culture, including many in the civil rights movement and the Native American community.

What would you do if you had a time machine?
Visit medieval Europe and the Roman Empire for my own kicks, then head to the future to find us some clean cheap energy.

Are you an extrovert or introvert?
Introvert mostly, but one who sometimes does extroverty stuff.

If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
The Tick (the animated one - he's the best version)

Have any pets?
Two cats and a dog.

When the next asteroid hits Earth, causing the Yellowstone caldera to explode, California to fall into the ocean, the sea levels to rise, and the next ice age to set in, what current games or other pastimes do you think (or hope) will survive into the next era of human civilization? What do you hope is underneath that asteroid to be wiped out of the human consciousness forever?
As a geologist, I find the scenario you describe not to be very plausible. To keep: art, music, poetry, computers, the web, clean energy, medicine. To lose: income inequality, racism, bigotry, poverty, and pineapple on pizza.

Just a Bit More
Thanks for answering all my crazy questions! Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?

Even if you think my games suck, please have a look at my novel, Flames Over Frosthelm, a comedic yet heroic fantasy adventure, kind of CSI meets Princess Bride. Also, be excellent to each other.

And...

The original Conan the Barbarian movie with Schwarzenegger is an under-appreciated masterpiece.

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Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html

Did you like this interview?  Please show your support: Support me on Patreon! Or click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

Brainstorming With Factoring

In the last post I described how I sometimes describe a problem with a matrix, and then look at the matrix transpose to see if it gives me new ideas. Another technique I use is to look for a factoring.

In algebra, factoring transforms a polynomial like 5x² + 8x - 21 into (x + 3)·(5x - 7). To solve 5x² + 8x - 21 = 0, we can first factor into (x + 3)·(5x - 7) = 0. Then we say that x + 3 = 0 or 5x - 7 = 0. Factoring turns a problem into several easier problems.

	x	3
5x	5x²	15x
-7	-7x	-21

Let's look at an example: I have six classes, File, EncryptedFile, GzipFile, EncryptedGzipFile, BzipFile, EncryptedBzipFile. I can factor these into a matrix:

	Uncompressed	Gzip	Bzip
Unencrypted	File	Gzip(File)	Bzip(File)
Encrypted	Encrypt(File)	Encrypt(Gzip(File))	Encrypt(Bzip(File))

Using the Decorator pattern (or mixins), I've turned six different types of files into four components: plain, gzip, bzip, encrypt. This doesn't seem like much savings, but if I add more variations, the savings will add up. Factoring turns O(M*N) components into O(M+N) components.

Another example comes up when people ask me things like "how do you write linear interpolation in C#?" There are a lot of potential tutorials I could write:

	C++	Python	Java	C#	Javascript	Rust	Idris	…
Interpolation
Neighbors
Pathfinding
Distances
River maps
Isometric
Voronoi
Transforms
…

If there are M topics and N languages, I could write M*N tutorials. However, that's a lot of work. Instead, I write a tutorial about interpolation, someone else writes a tutorial about C#, and then the reader combines knowledge of C# with knowledge about interpolation to write the C# version of interpolation.

Like transpose, factoring only helps sometimes, but when it applies, it can be quite useful.

Nvidia DLSS 2.0 Is Here, Making Nvidia GeForce RTX Cards An Easy Sell - Ars Technica

Nvidia DLSS 2.0 is here, making Nvidia GeForce RTX cards an easy sell

Works In Progress

  A few shots of some of the things on the paint table right now. The giant mammoth man is from the Reaper Bones IV Kickstarter. The Van Saar gangers are from the boxed set by GW. The Pathfinder Goblin pyromaniacs are also Reaper Bones but not from the Kickstarter.

Barely started...

Still a good ways from finished.

Not really happy with the wash I chose so I am going to go back and redo that bit.

Plan to do the tusks last.

Closeup. Going for a black bodystocking with light gray armoured plates.

Energetic items are blue-green (eye lenses, power sources, high tech pony tails, etc.)

Some metals will be bronze, most weapons will be matte black.

Working on these not-really-all-that-little guys I realize how bad my eyes are getting.

A bit sad about that. Oh well, that's why I have a magnifier visor I guess.

Walton's Tongue And Groove Potting Shed

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Hiring: Tools Programmer

Title: Tools programmer
Focus: Engine
Type: Full-time, permanent
Last day to apply: 30th of October 2018


Tired of the constraints of Unity, Unreal and other big engines? Want to be in control and get down into the nitty gritty of engine coding? Come join us at Frictional Games, one of the few companies that still makes their own tech, and get all up in our HPL engine!

We are now expanding our tech team and looking for a tools programmer who will help make the HPL engine better, prettier, and more intuitive. Your work on the engine will be crucial to the rest of the team, but it will also be seen by our modding community.

The position is full-time and permanent. Ideally we would help you relocate to Malmö, Sweden to be close to our core team, but this is not a necessity.


What will you work on?

As a tools programmer, you will be working together with a small tech team that is mainly responsible for our HPL engine, but also tech support for the games.

Here are some of the things you will find yourself working on:

• Creating and maintaining the level editor for our proprietary engine
• Making intuitive user interfaces
• Creating small specialised tools
• Working with low-level systems such as IO, AI, rendering, sound, and physics
• Working with Xbox and PlayStation versions, as well as possible future platforms
• Internal support for a team of developers
• Post-launch support.

We also encourage working outside of your area of expertise, and always learning new things. The more areas of development you are willing and able take part in, the better!

If you want to know more about Frictional work practices, you can check out the introduction posts of Peter and Luis, who will be your closest teammates.


What are we looking for?

You have to be a EU/EEA resident to apply.

The person we're looking for is creative, driven and self-sufficient.

Here are some essential skills we require:

• Well-versed in C++, C#, Java, or similar
• Knowledge in AngelScript, Python, Lua, or similar
• You have created an engine or tools for development for at least one game
• Strong low-level programming skills
• Familiar with linear algebra
• Knowledge in working with Widgets / Custom GUI
• Fluency in English
• Skills in team communication and support
• A Windows PC that runs recent games (such as SOMA) that you can use for work (unless you live in Malmö and will work from the office)
• A fast and stable internet connection.

These will be considered a plus:

• Experience in engine development
• Skills in 3D modelling or texture applications
• Knowledge in UX design
• Lover for tech and messing with the low level parts of the engine
• Excitement for creating fast pipelines and making it easy to create awesome art
• You live in Sweden.

What do we offer?

We are a small team, which means you will be able to work on a wide variety of things and contribute to our future games in a meaningful way.

We also believe a healthy balance between work and life reflects positively on your work. We offer a variety of perks for our full-time employees, especially who live in or relocate to Sweden. We also don't encourage crunch.

Here's what we offer:

• Flexible working hours
• Opportunities to influence your workflow
• Variety in your work tasks, and ability to influence your workload
• Participation in our internal game Show & Tell sessions, so you'll have input into all aspects of the game
• Social security and holidays that are up to the Swedish standards
• An inclusive and respectful work environment
• An office in central Malmö you can use as much as you please
• Fun workmates, game and movie nights, and other outings!

How to apply?

Did the position pique your interest? Are you the person we're looking for? Then we would love you hear from you!

We will be looking at applications until 30th of October 2018.

Please send us your:

• Cover letter (why you should work with us, what do you bring to the table)
• CV
• Portfolio (or links to your works)

Send your application to apply@frictionalgames.com!



Privacy Policy

By sending us your application, you give us permission to store your personal information and attachments.

We store all applications in a secure system. The applications are stored for two years, after which they are deleted. If you want your your information removed earlier, please contact us through our Contact form. Read more in our Privacy Policy.

Making Steps Forward ("Killing Your Darlings")

In a few of my games I have started with a specific mechanism or idea that, over the course of the game, has had to drop out, or change significantly. I'd venture a guess this happens in many, if not most, designer's games.

For example, in my first published title, Terra Prime, I began with a "great" idea for a supply/demand mechanism for the value of resources you deliver. Based on Power Grid's fuel market, you would get paid more for delivering Bluium if there hadn't been any delivered yet than you would if there were already some Bluium sitting there on the ships, ready to send back to Earth. Every once in a while, the ships would take off, and the resources on them would clear off, resetting the demand (and therefore the price). Each resource was supposed to have a different curve - maybe Yellium was worth 7 the first time it's delivered, then 4, then 1... so it's super valuable, but goes down fast. On the contrary, maybe Bluium would range from 5 down to 3, and be a lot more steady:

I forget the exact details, but the bottom line is that while I liked the idea, the mechanism just wasn't working in Terra Prime.

In the end I (thankfully) decided to replace the whole thing with a Demand Tile mechanism. Much more simply, each resource had a price, and tiles indicated how many were required. Once all the blue spaces were filled, the demand for Bluium dries up, no more can be delivered. As soon as one of the tiles fills up, it goes away and a new one comes up, which may bring back some demand for Bluium.

This worked a LOT better, and I'm happy that's how I ended up going in that game.

The point of that story is to show how a major mechanism that I really liked ended up changing because it wasn't right for the game. Recently, that dynamic has showed up again on one of my current active designs: Apotheosis.

One of the instigating ideas for Apotheosis was that your workers would level up when played, like the cards in Solforge. The crux of the game was intended to be whether you play out all of your workers before recalling, and leveling up your entire workforce evenly, versus playing just a couple of workers then recalling them and playing them again, and ending up with a few high level workers while the rest remain at low level. That idea being the whole point, survived the first several revisions, and many playtests. However, as of last week, I tried a new version -- instead of leveling up every worker you have played when you recall them, we said you could only level up one worker.

I was hesitant to try this, but I was hopeful it would fix certain issues I was having with the game. As we began the first game with that rule, I missed being able to play an extra worker before recalling in order to level them up, but pretty quickly I could see how certain aspects of the game seemed to be tighter and work better. All told, you're still choosing whether to recall early to level more often, or play more workers first for their effects.

One concern with only leveling one worker at a time was that it slowed things down, but that's just a matter of balancing costs, and could be easily fixed. However, in an effort to try something in between "level one worker" and "level all workers," we tried something that amounted to "level some workers." I had expected that to be better, with some of the benefits of the restricted leveling, and some of the benefits of the original idea. But in practice I found that it didn't really work as well, and it became clear that just leveling once per recall (and maybe a few special rewards for things could get you an extra level-up) is the way to go.

So there you go -- once again I've had to "kill a darling," so to speak, and remove or significantly change an instigating mechanism for a game.

As a side note on this topic, my friend Gil Hova (of Formal Ferret games) has a particularly aggressive auction mechanism from an old, unpublished game of his called Wag The Wolf (one which I thought was good!) that he keeps designing games around. He used it in Battle Merchants, but in the end cut the mechanism. He used it again in The Networks, and again cut the mechanism before the game was finished. And I believe he started his latest game, High Rise, with that mechanism, and eventually cut it from that game too!

Buds, Blooms, And Thorns Review Of Triassic Terror By Eagle-Gryphon Games

Buds, Blooms, and Thorns Review of Triassic Terror by Eagle-Gryphon Games
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Vitals:
Title: Triassic Terror
Designed by: Peter Hawes
Publisher: Eagle-Gryphon Games
Year Published: 2013
MSRP: $75
2-6p | 90-120 min | 14+

Introduction:

Triassic Terror is an exciting tactical game for 2 to 6 players. Starting with just one herd in the steamy Triassic Swamp, players must make wise choices to grow new herds and guide their migration across the four pre-historic landscapes.

This Primeval world is full of danger, with the mighty T-Rex, marauding Velociraptors and swooping Pterodactyls looking to reduce the size of your herds. Jurassic and Cretaceous Volcanoes fill this violent world with ash and dust and devastate the terrain.

The player best managing his herds and dominating not only local habitats, but entire environments, will win this challenging game.

~Triassic Terror is the winner of GAMES Magazine's Best New Strategy Game Award~

- Description from publisher.

Blooms:
Blooms are the game's highlights and features.  Elements that are exceptional.

• Very interesting area control mechanics.  The methods of distributing your dinos across the board and controlling areas based on the size of your herd present unique strategic situations.
• Amazing components!  You get to play with plastic dinosaur miniatures!  Like the toys you probably had as a kid (or maybe like the ones your kids currently have)!

Buds:
Buds are interesting parts of the game I would like to explore more. 

• This is a brutal game, with a ton of destructive player interaction.  You really have to be in the mood for a game with a lot of carnage, but that destruction drives some tight strategy and is pretty evenly dished out.
• The game has a very different feel at different player counts - fewer players is less brutal and offers more opportunities for strategic growth, while more players really has you running a tight ship with very little wiggle room strategically.

Thorns:
Thorns are a game's shortcomings and any issues I feel are noteworthy.

• Not a game for everyone.  There is a TON of take-that in this game, although it's so widespread that no one ever feels singled out.  The carnage is everywhere!
• The sweet spot is 3-4 players.  There are 6 possible actions each turn, including four of which mess with other players' herds, and three that cause predators to remove opponents' dinosaurs from the board.  With 6 players every destructive action is taken every turn; with 3-4 players there are periods of calm between the predator attacks so you can build up herd sizes.

Final Thoughts:

As you may have come to expect from Eagle-Gryphon Games, the component quality is absolutely stellar.  Everything from the box to the insert (with its plastic cover to keep everything nice and neat) to the wooden dinosaur tokens, to the amazing plastic dinosaur models, and everything else is top notch quality.  This game is amazing just for the table presence alone.  My only complaint is that the graphic design on the reference tiles is very busy and can be confusing.  But once you know the possible actions, the reference becomes just a reference and is easy enough to use.

The actual gameplay is a little more subjective though.  My game group is mostly gamers who like deeper strategy games.  Some come from a more Amerithrash background (especially wargames like Axis & Allies, Risk, and some of the classic Avalon Hill titles) and some are really into more Euro-style games with less chaotic strategy.  Triassic Terror appealed to both groups, but didn't seem to be an instant hit.  Everyone enjoyed playing, and felt the brutality of the t-rex, raptors, and pterodactyl were amazingly thematic, however, this brutality was also a major source of frustration among both camps.  Everyone felt it was very difficult to create any long-term strategy because dinosaurs were removed from the board almost as fast as you could add them.

This was especially prevalent in the six-player game where raptors and the t-rex actions were used every single round.  You start the game with 4 dinosaurs and in our six-player game, after six rounds of play, our herds numbered 7-12 dinosaurs.  Our herds fared better in the four-player game, ending with 12-25 dinosaurs in our herds, but the predators were still brutal and often derailed any attempt at strategic planning.  Triassic Terror is mostly a tactical game.  You can only plan slightly and instead have to react to the situation you find your herds in each turn.

Triassic Terror falls just short of a Bloom rating, leaving it as a Bud, mostly because the game wasn't quite right for my group.  We liked the area control aspects of the game, felt it was very thematic (maybe too much so), but didn't like the frustration of the destructive mechanics.  For a dudes-on-a-map (or rather dinos-on-a-map) game, this has amazing table presence.  People will definitely stop to check it out and it's a ton of fun to play with dinosaurs.  YOU GET TO PLAY WITH DINOS!!!  But in a world where games like Kemet exist, Triassic Terror falls just a little bit short.  Kemet also has amazing table presence, great area control mechanics, and interesting combat elements (plus, you can ride a dung beetle!), but lacks the brutality and outright devastation that Triassic Terror brings to the table.

If you like area control games and/or dinosaurs though, I definitely recommend giving Triassic Terror a try if you have the chance.  It just barely missed the cut for me, but you may love it.  I'm definitely keeping my copy around for a while because I have a friend that I think will love it, and I'm sure my sons will enjoy it, too.  So while I'd rather play Kemet, there's definitely a time and place for Triassic Terror.

Buds, Blooms, and Thorns Rating:

Bud!  This game definitely has some
great moments.  It's good for several plays
and should appeal to most gamers, especially
if you enjoy other games like this.

Pictures:

Did you like this review?  Show your support: Support me on Patreon!Also, click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

GJJ Games Reviews are independent, unpaid reviews of games I, George Jaros, have played with my family and friends.  Some of these games I own, some are owned by friends, some are borrowed, and some were provided by a publisher or designer for my honest feedback and evaluation.  I make every attempt to be both honest and constructively critical in my reviews, and they are all my opinions.  There are four types of reviews on GJJ Games: Full Reviews feature critical reviews based on a rubric and games receive a rating from 0 to 100.  Quick Reviews and Kickstarter Previews are either shorter reviews of published games or detailed preview reviews of crowdfunding games that will receive a rating from 0 to 10 based on my impressions of the game.  Buds, Blooms,and Thorns reviews are shorter reviews of either published or upcoming games that highlight three aspects of a game: Buds are parts of a game I look forward to exploring more, Blooms are outstanding features of a game, and Thorns are shortcomings of a game.  Each BBT review game will receive an overall rating of Thorn, Bud, or Bloom.

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Oceanhorn 2 In Development!

I can't believe it has been five years since we announced the development of the first Oceanhorn game on this blog. Now the time has come for another major announcement.

We are proud and excited to reveal the next installment of the Oceanhorn franchise, Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm. Here's how it looks!

Oceanhorn 2 has been in development for little over a year

The boy has grown up? That's right! But he is a different boy altogether! Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm is set in another time period on the Oceanhorn timeline. The game has a new Hero, a boy who has been trained to become a Knight of Arcadia.

Oceanhorn 2 will be built upon the same elements that were the heart and soul of the first Oceanhorn game: exploring a colorful world, a deep backstory with secrets and twists, amazing music, and most importantly – classic Action RPG gameplay with items, puzzles, battles, and badass bosses!

The Caster is a magical weapon that only Knights carry

The game is played from a third person camera angle that will take players right into the heat of action and allows them to explore even the smallest details of Arcadia. Our battle system consists of sword fighting, utilizing powerful spells and finding creative ways to use various items that Hero discovers on his travels.

One of the key items in the game is the Caster, a gun that shoots magical projectiles! It will have many uses on the player's adventure, from puzzle solving to luring enemies and casting directed spells.

The game will feature a traversable world map

Oceanhorn 2 will also feature a traversable and vast world map that consists of fields, forests, mountains, and water. It works as a hub between levels, dungeons and towns, much like in many of the classic JRPGs.

"For us, Oceanhorn 2 is the fulfillment of a JRPG dream."

Oceanhorn 2 is an opportunity to create something new from the strong background that we established with our previous game. In Oceanhorn 2, we want to emphasize the elements that people loved and create something new and brave on that foundation.

The world of Oceanhorn has grown and so has our team. The core team working on Oceanhorn 2 is now a team of five!

Heikki Repo, Creator and Lead Artist
Jukka Viljamaa, Lead Programmer
Antti Viljamaa, Lead Programmer
Kalle Hämäläinen, Graphics Programmer
Miko Kiuru, Game Artist

Also, Kalle Ylitalo will return to compose soundtrack for Oceanhorn 2 and the famed sound designer and foley artist Tapio Liukkonen will be in charge of the audio experience.

For us, Oceanhorn 2 is the fulfillment of a JRPG dream. It is a dream of running down green fields with the warmth of the sun on your face. It is a dream of learning the secrets of ancient ruins despite the danger. It is also a dream of finding yourself looking at beautiful mountains on the horizon and imagining what's beyond them. It will be an amazing journey ahead of us and we hope that you will join us on that journey!

In the upcoming months, we will have many things to show to you and many secrets to unveil regarding Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm. This is a dream project for us, but even more importantly, we are making this game for you to enjoy and experience. So, please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas on Twitter and Facebook!

And make sure to check out Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas on PS4 and Xbox One this fall!

Teaser: Battle For The Light Rock Valley

The Origawn Freestate and Dominion of Faraway armies clash at the Light Rock River.

A full report will follow on Sunday morning.

Storium Starters: Crash Landing

Storium Starters are starting scene ideas for the generic Storium worlds available to everyone. They contain introductory narration, challenge text, outcomes, and some location or world information that may be necessary to understand the first scene, though I attempt to keep them generic enough that they can easily be slotted in regardless of other world details you might have designed. Along with the initial scene idea, they will also contain ideas for where the story could go from the starting point. Storium Starters are released to public domain and may be used without attribution for your own games.

This Storium Starter is meant for the Space Adventure world. It is possible you may find uses for this starter outside of that world, but your mileage may vary on that.

This starter assumes that you are using the Dauntless ship described in the world's cards. If you have another name and design for your ship, you may need to make modifications to make this make sense with your concept.

Scene:

In the moments before the crash, it was like the world went silent.

It didn't, of course. The crash was the loudest noise any of them had ever heard by far. But in the moments before it, they heard nothing. The world moved slowly, too slowly, and they could see every little detail, every tiny blade of grass, every speck of dirt on the ground that was coming far, far too close.

The world moved too slowly, yes, but too quickly as well. They had time to take everything in, but not enough time to *do* something about it. One eternal moment they were plunging towards the ground, staring in horror at the shuttle's viewscreen and blaring alarms. The next...

Impact.

They weren't sure how long it took for them to shake off the daze, to clear their vision, to scrabble at their safety harnesses and crumple out of their seats. They weren't sure quite how they got out of the shuttle. Some walked, or walked and crawled and stumbled. Some were carried.

When they were fully able to take in the world about them once again, they were clear of the shuttle, and they were alive. That was what mattered.

They each looked around. Others had gotten clear too. Everyone? That wasn't sure. Some, at least. Shell-shocked, defeated, despondent, defiant...the expressions varied, but all knew the danger they now faced.

The *Dauntless* - the ship on which they served - would search. But it would take time, and in the meantime, they had to survive.

They were on an unknown world, in the middle of a wild jungle of strangely-colored plants and natural metallic formations. They'd come to explore it, in fact - that had been the mission. Quietly explore, take some samples, get recordings of the local wildlife, determine if there was any sign of sentient life. They'd taken a few preliminary scans on the way down, and located a safe place to touch down.

That place was *hundreds* of kilometers away.

So, first things first: They needed a safe location where they could patch up anyone in need of it, take stock, and get their bearings. It wasn't safe to remain by the crash site longer than they had to. The noise would certainly have attracted some attention, and chances were, anything willing to approach could be deadly. It wasn't a good idea to go traipsing off into the jungle on a longer journey yet, but hopefully they could find a place nearby that would serve their needs for the moment.

Hopefully without stirring up any of their own trouble, or getting lost. The jungle was sure to be confusing, but on the bright side, the smoke rising from the crashed shuttle, higher and higher, could guide them back if they ran into trouble.

And the shuttle...the shuttle itself was totaled, a mangled mass of metal. It was hard to believe any of them had gotten out of it at all. It was sure to be dangerous - sharp bits of metal were poking out seemingly everywhere, and exposed wiring and damaged control panels emitted sparks. But there might be something of use in there - and at the very least, they needed some basic supplies. Best to get what they could from the shuttle before they had to leave.

Slowly, the team set to work. The mission was a wash, but they had a new one now: Survival.

Challenges:

• Seeking (Relative) Safety:
• Description: A crash-landing on a world that's still a mystery...there's sure to be dangers lurking in the wilds. Immediate survival is priority number one: You need a place you can defend.
• Points: This is the major challenge for the scene. Assign it points equal to the number of players you have. 
• Strong Outcome: You find a location nearby the landing site that is safe enough for now. There aren't any notable dangers near it for the time being.
• Weak Outcome: You find a location nearby the landing site that *seems* safe enough for now. What significant danger did you miss spotting?
• Uncertain Outcome Idea: The players find a safe location, but there's a danger approaching that they're aware of so their time there will be limited. Or, the players are unable to find a safe location, and return back to the crash site to let everyone know they're just going to have to get moving as soon as they can. Or, the players find a site that *could* be safe...once they deal with a more minor threat.
• Salvage:
• Description: Your shuttle crash-landed, and it won't be flying ever again. Best see what you can salvage from the wreckage before you move on.
• Points: This is the secondary challenge for the scene. Assign it points equal to half the number of players you have, rounded up.
• Strong Outcome: You salvage some general supplies and one particularly useful item from the wreckage...what is it?
• Weak Outcome: You salvage some general supplies, and CHOOSE: You salvage a particularly useful item...what are it? But whoever played the most weakness cards (or a volunteer) is injured while they search the ship - how? OR: You salvage something that you think will be particularly useful - what is it? But you don't notice it was damaged badly in the crash.
• Uncertain Outcome Idea: The characters discover an item that would be very useful to them...but it is trapped within the wreckage. Now they'll have to figure out a way to free it in another challenge.

These two challenges are both focused on searching or exploring in some ways, but emphasize to the players that the manner in which these challenges progress is up to them. If characters are more combat-focused, for instance, they're welcome to state that they encounter aggressive wildlife while exploring or other minor physical threats that they can overcome with their weapons and combat skill. Or, maybe there's something in the ship that's being blocked by a heavy object, and a big guy needs to move it out of the way.

Storium allows players a lot of leeway with defining what happens during a challenge, including defining their own threats if need be. The Outcomes should tell players the range of things that can ultimately result from a challenge, but the way the challenge gets to those outcomes is fairly open. Players should keep things on theme for each challenge, but should feel free to come up with details that suit what their characters can do...or what they really struggle with.

If you plan to do a second set of challenges this scene, you may wish to warn your players not to play all three of their cards during these starting challenges (or all their card plays for the scene, in any case, if you are using different settings from the defaults).

Players get to get creative with the outcomes on these challenges - they're quite open. If you'd rather have more control over things starting out, or if your group doesn't seem comfortable with creating the details in the outcomes, you may wish to specify more clearly what "useful item" is found or what "safe location" is discovered. Making these sorts of things up can be a lot of fun for players, though - and for you as narrator - so if it feels possible, try letting players have more freedom with the details.

Setting Information:

This starter takes place on an uncharted alien world which the crew of the Dauntless had been tasked with exploring. The Dauntless itself is not present yet - the characters took one of the exploration shuttles on this mission. The Dauntless may arrive during the game as a change to the story, or its arrival may take place at the end of the game - the event everything builds towards.

The nature of the world is up to you, and depends on where, precisely, you would like the story to go. You might start with either the Planet DRX-31880 or the Planet EV-1996 location cards, or feel free to make up your own as suits the direction you'd like to go with the story. I've set things up with a jungle environment above by default, which fits DRX-31880 best, but that's a fairly easy modification to the narration if you'd like to have a different sort of environment.

The Dauntless itself is an exploratory space vessel with several decks in the offical cards, which should have a fairly large crew. The player characters and any NPCs you decide to have as part of the crash landing are a small subset of this crew. The Dauntless knows they are here, so it will come and look for them.

Moving Forward:

Where do you go from here? Well, there's quite a lot of options:

• Hostile Sentients: Maybe what brought the shuttle down was an intentional attack by a hostile force. Are they native to this world? Perhaps they are from an old enemy of humanity, or perhaps they are a new foe. With this idea, it's best to hint at the possibility of these sentients early on - maybe as early as right after these starting challenges, by having someone notice that some of the shuttle's damage looks like it was hit by a powerful energy pulse. Introduce them as actual antagonists as early as scene 2, and either have the players play the mouse to their cat and try to reach a place where they can safely signal the Dauntless, or find a reason they need to confront the hostiles directly. Is peace possible?
• Survival: With this, it's all about survival - the players are faced with challenges from wildlife and plants and unusual weather and anything else that seems interesting that you can throw at them. The story is all about waiting for the arrival of the Dauntless. You'll want to be careful to give players reasons to be active, though - what are the group's actual moment-by-moment tasks? Finding food and shelter, chasing after dangerous wildlife that also stole something crucial, saving an endangered crewmate...those are the sorts of challenges that can give the story a sense of momentum. It is harder to do a pure survival story than a story with solid antagonists. One angle that you can approach, then, is to find an antagonist - why did the ship crash? Maybe someone on the crew didn't want something on this planet to be found, and committed sabotage...and maybe he's working against the crew even now. Or, maybe there's just an incompetent NPC officer who tries to assert his authority and gets the group into dangerous trouble.
• A Trap! With this one, it's about the Dauntless. Bringing down the shuttle was a trap set by a hostile force, but a force that doesn't fully reveal itself until the halfway point when Dauntless arrives. Perhaps the players can realize the danger before then, and work to stop the plans of the aliens, or perhaps they struggle with their survival until the arrival and then have to work to take back Dauntless when the hostiles take it over.

There's sure to be more you could do - maybe the world is the home not of a hostile alien force, but of an inexplicable supernatural entity or other being beyond human understanding. Maybe the world itself is sentient and trying to kill the characters. Maybe they all actually died in the crash and their existence now is a purgatory where they have to work through their faults and come to understand themselves better...there's a lot you can do with this as a launching pad, so take the story where it seems to go...or just see what your players come up with and go from there, as suits your narration style.

I hope that you find this starter useful for your games!