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Being a newsletter about the whereabouts and know-hows of print-and-play games, I mostly write about just that.
I realized that I barely talk about what I do, or how my days go as a game designer/player.
So here I am, showing a glimpse of what I'm up to lately!
a game I'm creating
I started working on this amazing project last year, a mobile game called Midnight Arcade. It's a 2D side-scroller adventure where you sneak out after midnight, make your way through town, enter an abandoned arcade, and try to bring it back to life without getting caught.
It's a skill-based game where NPC behavior and object placements are procedurally varied, so there's no scope for pure muscle memory. You’ve got to observe, react, and give your best.
The game is set to launch later this year, and I'm super excited about it. The GIF you're seeing below is part of the prototype, which is already shaping up pretty well!
a game I'm revisiting
Exactly a year ago, I launched my first-ever PnP, Escape the Living Library. It is a game about being trapped inside a haunted library after midnight and trying to survive your way through its floors before the place gets the better of you.
The cool aspect of designing the game was that it always felt like it could offer more. So even while I launched it, I had a feeling I’d return to it someday. And so here we are!
I haven't created the 2nd edition yet, but I've started working on it. It will introduce characters with varying knowledge, stamina, and defense, and will also factor in turn tracking with consequences. Meaning, the sooner you survive a floor, the better.
And if you take too long, the library is gonna get even more spooky!
The upgrades will turn the game into a 2-pager instead of one, but I'm positive it'll take the game to a whole other level.
I'm torn between launching the 2nd edition on Itch OR Kickstarter. Which one should I pick?
a game I'm playing lately
For those who don't know, I mostly indulge in solo games.
But lately I've had my fair share of solo games, thanks to Micro May. So I jumped outside my usual solo bubble and played this multiplayer game that's much lighter than what I’ve been playing recently.
It's called Someone's Y. And I had a BLAST!
It's a card game where everyone is secretly a vowel, except one player is Y, who is trying to blend in. Each turn, players say one-word clues and take tokens if their vowel appears in the word, while Y can take tokens whenever they want and make everyone second-guess everything.
I'm a BIG fan of deduction games, and Someone's Y does a great job with so little. There's zero learning barrier to it. And the game lasts for only a few rounds, so you can play it multiple times at a go.
It has a tiny footprint too, so I can clearly see myself carrying it over to my friend's place on weekends.
Someone's Y is one of the four games that Millrat Studio is launching on Kickstarter this July. Having played this game a few times, now I'm itching to try the other three!
Annnnnd that's my life of late in a nutshell.
Playing games. Writing about them. Revisiting a published game. Designing a digital game.
Fun, isn't it? :D
- Tas.
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