Awesome find with that trove of old games. It’s amazing to look at the differences across the decades. All the little cork-gun shooting games (there aren’t nearly enough cork-gun shooting games these days). I especially like the “Contraband” game, sneaking illegal goods across boarders. I wonder how well that kind of game would go over today…course that said, I wonder what somebody in the 50’s would’ve said about some of the modern shoot-em-up video games.
Anyway, I’ll continue introductions from where we left off before. Though Duncan was kind enough to already provide my name (Chris Fagala, a.k.a. Wall6ly), I’ll try and fill in a few other details.
I’m actually a newcomer to the board game world. I’ve been playing RPGs and tabletop miniature wargames as far back as I can remember. I can remember many a lazy summer day spent rolling dice over a miniature battlefield…though I remember a whole lot more excited overnight versions of the same. While I had designed my own tabletop war game and a dueling card game before meeting the other guys in 11th Floor, I’d never actually thought much about game design…or being a designer for that matter. But seeing the excitement and effort the other guys put into their creations, and eventually feeling the same is a wonderful feeling, and I know now I’m a game designer for life.
As far as my projects go, I’ve always got 3-4 going at once, and I float between them based on mood, energy etc. I’ll touch on them here as they develop.
Most recently to see work is Solarphage (conveniently given a picture flashing in the little slide-show box near the top of the blog). I wanted to build a really big, epic feeling game, and it’s hard to get bigger than the whole galaxy. Basically players control the fates of the stars themselves, as they twinkle and churn in a contest to see who can bring light and life to the galaxy.
It’s accidentally a Euro game. No dice, and players compete to reach a goal rather than fighting against eachother. But that said, I’ve only just now got a working mechanic, and a lot could change as it grows into the future. Though still only rough, I’ve attached a pic of the solar system tile. This is used to track a planet’s development from a ball of rock into a space faring society.
Not sure if this game will work out, but it’s fun to try. After all, as Duncan said, it’s not about selling a million games, its about the process of making one. That’s my goal, to make something new, fun, exciting, challenging, and maybe even beautiful. And I hope you like this blog enough to join in the ride.
