Nyan Cat: Rainbow Race

I’m ecstatic to reveal the box art for Minion Games’ next title. As a subject near and dear to my heart, I’m so excited we were able to procure the license bouncing off the success of the now sold-out Manhattan Project.

Nyan Cat: Rainbow Race is a “real-time” card game for 2-4 players based on the popular internet meme. Instead of taking turns, players can draw, discard, and play cards at any time. The deck consists of 6 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, which are shuffled and evenly divided among the players to become individual draw decks. When you draw a card, you may either place it in your hand or play it to your play area on the table. Cards played to the table are organized by color, and the goal is to create the biggest stack of a single color. Players may not have multiple stacks of the same color on the table in front of them at any point in the game. When players feels like their stack is big enough, they can take the whole stack and put it in their scoring pile. If a stack of that color already exists in the scoring pile, the new pile must be at least one larger, and the old pile is discarded.

There is also the Nyan Cat card. This special rare card can be played on top of anyone’s color stack, and that stack immediately goes to the Nyan Cat player’s scoring pile. Managing how big to make your color stacks — to maximize score value but hopefully not attract other players' desirous eyes! — is the core of the game.

Once all cards have been played or discarded, scoring is handled in traditional Knizian manner: The player with the most cards in their smallest color stack is the winner!

Once again, I can’t express how enthusiastic I am about this game. I designed it from the ground up with Nyan Cat in mind and to be accessible to younger players. I only hope the gaming public will find I’ve succeeded! Keep checking by in the coming months for updates as Nyan Cat: Rainbow Race goes through production!

Ode to a Grecian Game

MINION MONDAY

 
Greek mythology: A tried and true lore of ancient heroes, incomparable threats, and completely baffling logic that is the mainstay of our educational culture. But even if Zeus was found wanting of aspirin and birthed goddesses from his forehead in the driest way a textbook knew how, there’s still an ancient power to these myths, a strength derived from thousands of storytellers, each imparting a bit of their own life, and a bit of their own imperfections, as the tales found their way to the modern day. This is truer of nothing than the Greek's epic poetry, and no one has captured the rhythm and lifeblood of an ancient people as Robert Fagles.

I still remember his translation of the Iliad, an old hardback tome, perhaps then new, resting on the coffee table. The cover black, the top of the leaves painted red, if not for all those sturdy souls sent to House of Death, then for a really swell looking book. It was my mother’s, and where Mythology 101 might not have had any love for the Greek gods and goddesses of yore, she imparted a fascination with swift-footed Achilles and his unquellable rage, Lord of Men Agamemnon, Hector, Paris, Helen, and all the tragedies of the war on Troy.

Rage— Goddess, sing of the rage of Perseus’ son Achilles! Lines like this reverberated with me, and it inspired a adoration not just for Greek myth, but of all old epic poetry, from the alliterative Beowolf to the often very redundant Gilgamesh.

But for all its enduring imagery and epic tales, the world of Greek myth feels seldom acknowledged in the world of gaming. Sure, one could dig up that GURPS sourcebook or an aging board game of some nature, but for a mythology ripe with all the tropes we associate with the omnipresent medieval fantasy, it’s a missed opportunity for games both new and familiar.

So when Minion Games head honcho James Mathe first showed me Venture Forth, I was pretty enthusiastic. The bones were there for a game rife with the kind of magic I felt reading the epics, and maybe even such irreverent romps as the 1980s Clash of the Titans. But the prototype itself was bare of theme, a blank slate that could as easily been Tolkien as Homer. Time to crack those knuckles!

As I said, the game symbols used in the prototype given to me were all very generic affairs, with medieval chevron shields and golden trophies. I replaced them with Greek equivalents, sturdy round shields, gleaming gladii, and ancient urns. With proper icons in place, it seemed only fitting to use the most iconic of Greek contributions, the architecture of the period, as my inspiration for the card borders.

After completing the frames, I started to place the work by James Denton into my card sheets. The art was big and bold, maybe even a little over-the-top at times, which felt perfect for the sort of Greek high-adventure we were talking about. But inside my frames they felt encroached upon, constrained. One does not contain such gods of men and creatures of myth! It was then I decided to make the artwork “pop over” the edges. It made the monsters more daunting, the heroes more adventuresome, and all in all just seemed more exciting. Unfortunately, most of the artwork was provided without layers, so this effect took quite a bit of love and care. Zooming in at 600% helps as you're carefully trimming the art away from its original background. The end “coming out at you” result was worth the time. The tiny cards feel that much bigger for it.

For the card backs, I decided to make it stand out from the front art by using traditional “black-figure” imagery from Grecian urns. I drew it myself based on a particular urn featuring god of war Ares and surrounded it with the ornamental details that seemed fitting.

Venture Forth itself is a great game that takes the things you love about an adventure board game, leaves out the trite, trying stuff you don’t, and wraps it in a golden fleece of Euro-gaming standbys that together feels fresh and new. Helping your party of adventurers meet their fated ambitions instead of just killing monsters leads to a very Greek feeling tale, and the amount of depth provided by cultivating paths, hiring new heroes, and overcoming obstacles just makes for a very complete and satisfying package.

If that sounds like the kind of game for you, and you lack the ability to pop it fully-formed from your forehead, make Hermes-like haste to MinionGames.com and score yourself a copy. Ordering directly from us means more of your dollar goes to support the people who made the game possible! That, and you'll get this special Treasure Card, not available anywhere else!

A Game of the Game of the Generals

I was speaking to a friend, the very talented Honoel, about board games when he brought up Game of the Generals. It was one he remembered fondly from his childhood, and the game was noteworthy for being native to his home in the Philippines. Both players had an army of plastic pieces, each unit labeled with a different rank. Each rank could capture any piece of those ranked under it, except the lowest rank, which could only capture the highest ranked piece in the game. This in itself could be a fun diversion, but the twist lay in that these ranks were only labeled on one side, keeping your troops a complete mystery to your opponent. The goal: protect your flag and capture the enemy’s! The game itself is over 40 years old, but I still managed to find a picture of it.

Okay, yes, as it turns out Game of the Generals is a thinly veiled copy of the classic Stratego. It’s not devoid of differences: The lakes that serve as a choke point are absent, the spy occupies the top rank instead of the bottom, and there are no mines or units to defuse them. The game also explicitly calls for an arbiter to decide conflicts instead of revealing both pieces after a capturing attempt. While the idea of sitting through a game doing nothing but comparing pieces for your friends sounds like a great way to spend an evening, I’d be surprised how often this actually happened. The most interesting change, though, is that your flag can move. Instead of being stuck in the space it started, forcing you to protect it and devise a red herring or two, it can navigate the board like any other unit. Moreover, if you manage to reach the farthest row with your flag, as one would promote a pawn in chess, you win the game. It’s not enough to regard Generals as much more than the Stratego-clone it is, yet I find it an interesting variation just the same.

But as I read about Game of the Generals and Stratego, I discovered there was yet another game that shared many of the same ideas. Luzhanqi, or The Army Game, features a similar hidden army you use to protect your flag and capture your opponent’s own. It even has the arbiter mechanic from Game of the Generals. But unlike Generals, it features enough differences that it can’t be wholly considered a carbon-copy. For one thing, there are numerous special spaces, like railroads that allow units to travel long distances in straight lines, and campsites, where no unit may be attacked. It also uses a series of circles and radials to place and move pieces instead of a square grid, even though the end effect is much the same.
While The Army Game's exact origin is unclear, copies from the 1950s prove that it’s at least a rough contemporary of the original Netherlands Stratego in 1949. (For the record, Stratego didn't reach America until 1961, and Game of the Generals was first released in 1970.)

So who copied who? With The Army Game’s history being so hopelessly obscure, it’s hard to say for sure. That is, if it weren’t for the fact another game predated them both. L’attaque was first published in France in 1910 with rules largely identical to Stratego. But what’s really interesting about L’attaque is that the creator is Mademoiselle Hermance Edan.

Yes, you saw that right. A lady. Creating a war game. In the early 1900s. When you consider how guy-centric the war-game and RPG industries were in the 70s and 80s, it’s a fun footnote that such an early example was designed by the fairer sex. Unfortunately, I could find little about her beyond the same handful of sentences regarding her patent filing in 1908, quoted pretty much everywhere that discusses the origin of L’attaque and Stratego.

So you’d think that would settle it. L’attaque and by extension Stratego came first, with The Army Game being a loose variant.

But if you continue digging, you’ll find that all of these games bear a striking similarity to another Chinese game, Dou Shou Qi. Known in English as Jungle or Animal Chess, it is a game that features the same piece hierarchy (albeit with animals instead of soldier ranks) and even two bodies of water similar to Stratego’s own. However, the identity of the pieces is public knowledge, and there are Den and Trap spaces (where pieces cannot be captured and any piece can capture any piece respectively) thrown into the mix. Still, it’s undeniable that this could be a clear influence on L’attaque and in turn Stratego, and many histories of the game state as much. In fact, the existence of Jungle makes it entirely plausible that The Army Game is instead an extrapolation of it and not an offshoot of Stratego at all. When you consider how many special areas The Army Game has, it’s not hard to see dens, traps, and animals evolving into the mechanics of its more modern brother.

Unfortunately, like with The Army Game, information on Jungle’s exact origins and date of inception are not to be found. Due to its fable-y charm with its animal pieces, many people assume it’s an ancient game. However, an exhaustive piece of research on Chinese games, penned by Professor Stewart Culin in the late 1890s, has no reference to Jungle whatsoever. So either the man left a rather glaring hole in his research, or Jungle isn’t nearly as old as it’s often given credit for. If we take for granted Culin didn’t pass out drunk on the fated Chinese Family Game Night where he would have played Jungle, this gives us a period from 1890 to 1910 for Jungle to be created and become popular enough to influence a French game-creator.

While rooting about the web did reveal references here and there to Jungle appearing in 1900, none of these cite any source for such a claim. The earliest concrete date I can find is the 1974 Four Generation's “Games of the World” series of board games. The text there describes Jungle as an “ancient game,” but it’s a statement again with skeptical veracity. While a game would likely exist in China long before showing up around the world, this lack of firm history damages any theory that it formed the basis of Stratego, or possibly even The Army Game.

That is, unless there wasn’t yet another Chinese game to consider. Xianqi, or Chinese Chess, really bears more similarity to traditional chess than Stratego or even Jungle. But, there is a body of water that divides the sides of the board. It only affects a few pieces, but it’s still reasonable to think that this could inspire the twin lakes of Stratego or the rivers of Jungle. But that’s admittedly a stretch —  More likely that Stratego and Jungle have more to do with each other than anything else.

The real answer of the origins of Stratego may be one lost to time. I would love to find hard evidence of a copy of Jungle existing in the early 1900s, but the scope of such research is outside of my ability. For now, I think due credit should be given to Edan and her little game of wars, L’attaque. There is no evidence I can find to support Jungle’s identity as an ancient Chinese game instead of a mid-twentieth-century knockoff, and I think crediting it as many Stratego histories do is a disservice to this female gaming pioneer.

Monster Hearts

Hey everyone! I’ve been a little under the weather, and as an unfortunate consequence this little corner of the web has been left more unattended than I’d like. But expect that to change as we return to regularly scheduled programming!

While I won’t have an honest update for my work on Golden Sky Stories till next week, I did want to share that Otaku USA has an incredible 4-page piece on the book in its April issue. The issue changes over March 20th, so run (don't walk) to your closest newsstand and pick up a copy. Besides netting yourself a fine overview of GSS, including my translated version of the Hitotsuna Town map, you’ll also be supporting one of the last anime magazines still in production. If that’s not win-win, I’ll eat the magic leaf under my hat.

A Town Where Things Besides People Live

TURTLE TUESDAY

Some of you may know about a little Japanese Role-Playing Game called Yuuyake Koyake. Or maybe you know it by its English moniker, Golden Sky Stories. If you don’t, somewhere, someone referred to it as the Totoro RPG, and it’s not the worst description. The game is not about adventure in the traditional gaming sense. There’s no dragons to be bested, no empires to overturn. Instead, the game is about the little adventures, the day-to-day trials of regular people doing more or less regular things in a small, rural Japanese town. But you are not one of these people. This is a town where things besides people live. You are a henge, an animal spirit, and at your disposal is a little bit of magic. Not much, but enough to help the people of this town.

After reading that, you may already realize Golden Sky Stories is a different kind of game. There's no dice, no statistics in the traditional sense, and not even a chapter on combat. It truly is “heart-warming role-playing,” a kind of experience where you’re more likely to help a boy overcome his fear of the haunted house at the end of town than stomp goblins.

The setting and focus are not Stories’ only charm. The illustrations throughout are captivating, cute to the point of endangering bicuspids everywhere, and go a long way to setting the mood. Of course, deciphering the moonspeak of the original Japanese book is an endeavor most of us aren’t equipped to do.

Luckily for you and me, Ewen Cluney, along with the other half of Starline Publishing, Mike Stevens, translated this special game and will be bringing it to Western readers soon enough. I’ve had the opportunity to read Ewen’s top-secret (well, okay, not-so-secret) English manuscript for Golden Sky Stories, and it’s a real joy. But that shouldn't be any surprise — This isn’t Ewen’s first rodeo after all. But the text is only a part of the job. Someone has to take this text and give it a home in the pages of a book once again. That someone, as it turns out, is me!

It’s a great privilege to take part in bringing this game to life, and I look forward to sharing with you all my progress. Be sure to check by for further updates, and of course follow Ewen's blog and the Starline Publishing website for all the latest news about Golden Sky Stories.

...Oh? Why is this an entry for Turtle Tuesday? Throughout the book, you’ll meet a cast of lovable characters, including Elder Turtle. Here he is patiently listening to Riko, the tanuki henge, as she frets over some dilemma.

Far-Off Promise

A new year lay ahead, and the promise of a new set of days inspires the best intentions. The world echoes with countless commitments to work harder, be healthier, to care for each other, and to change in ways we hadn’t the year before. The sentiments are as often enough as vague as they are well-intentioned, the sort of positive thinking that we can stretch and contract to the size we can make room for.

But I want to do more than that this year. I want a game plan, as much for myself as for the accountability saying it outright provides. That’s not to say 2011 was empty of accomplishments. After all, I helped Minion Games ready no less than six games for sale in a single year -- no mean feat! And I took part in a graphical overhaul for DriveThruRPG and its sister sites that will be rolling out soon. Yet, for 2012, I want to get my things done.

So, here it is, my plan for the year. (Split up for your convenience and mine.)

My Blog 
I’ve been moving to a new computer, an iMac, for the past month or two — the lengthy travails of which I'll have to detail one or these days — but I fully intend to get this blog back on track. Besides my usual excursions of fancy, I'm launching several bi-weekly columns.

You’ve seen a taste of the first one with the Digital Gameboard. I’ll be making a point of covering all the gaming apps I come across, especially those involving euro-style board games and their kin. I stand by that the iPad is a great platform for classic board gaming fun and can use all the coverage it can get.

I’ll also be penning my foolhardy quest to play every console rpg ever. It's something that’s become ever more difficult as my list of unplayed and unfinished games grows longer. But maybe by adding you all to my party, this quest may become less of a foolhardy one.

And for those of you wondering, yes Minion Monday will eventually finish out its run. I’m waiting on my own physical copies of the games so I can better show off the components. It’s just taking a little longer than expected.

My Games
While there’s a certain anime-inspired elephant in the room, I have up my sleeves a plethora of games I've tinkered on in perpetuity, and I’d really like to finally get some of them out the metaphorical door and into the light. While finishing, much less releasing, all of them in this revolution of the sun is a unlikely accomplishment, I do want progress, and I want to share that progress with you. Here's a highlight reel of what to expect.

OVA — Yes, the oft-promised return of Wise Turtle's flagship product is still very much in the works, and I’ve made a commitment to its release in the early half of 2012. Long-time fans may have dim memories of several supplements that I hope to talk more about and bring closer to release. You can see a sample of artwork for a sci-fi-themed supplement on the left of the header, done by feguimel.

Legendary! — While I love all my work for Minion Games, and all its games are special to me, they’re still not mine in any true sense of the word. Legendary! is a fantasy dungeon-crawl of a board game inspired by fond childhood memories of Dungeon, but with enough twists to the formula that I believe in its ability to give something new to a crowded and often trite set of games. It’s infused with lore from a lifetime of love for console rpgs, and the very talented Honoel Ibardolaza certainly brings it to life. That trio of numbskulls in the header is his handiwork.

Last Legend — Before OVA, I was a devoted follower (and sometimes contributor) to the Returner Final Fantasy RPG, an attempt to capture the spirit of the eponymous video games in pen and paper form. Eventually I left that community over a difference of opinion...whereas most were concerned with copying the actual game mechanics and number crunching of the video games, I felt the rules would be better served trying to approximate the feel of rpg battles and leave the math for the CPUs that spawned it. Last Legend is my on again, off again take on the subject. You can see some art from it in the header, this time the inks in the background that are once again provided by Honoel.

iOS — Tied in with all these is a general interest in the iOS platform. Now that I have an iMac (more about that in a future post), exploring the world of iPads and iPhones is a real possibility. While the likelihood of me gaining enough prowess with programming to create a game of any decent measure is not good, having access to the tools does open other interesting opportunities. OVA-dedicated apps to aid with dice-rolling, character creation, and even easy rules reference would be a great resource to provide players, and iOS versions of the various Minion Games would be cool indeed.

My work for others
While I said I wanted to make 2012 a year for my projects, there is at least one outside job I'm really excited about. If you follow Ewen Cluney's blog, you may already know what I mean. If not...well, be sure to check by Tuesday for my own official announcement!

Pedal to the Metal

MINION MONDAY

Nitro Dice provided an interesting series of turns for me at Minion Games. It would mark the first time James, resident head-honcho at our little company, delegated the art production outside of our previous Chuck & Clay tag-team. Minion had a ambitious amount of games to publish in 2011, so it was reasonable enough to hire some outside labor to assist driving a few of the graphical vehicles. As it turned out, that didn’t pan out as well as it could have. I ended up having to draw the streets and dastardly hazards — originally the artist’s job — and design the box, tokens, player cards, and card backs — the intended domain of a hired graphic designer. So a decision intended to reduce my workload ended up making me wear twice as many hats...or racing helmets.

Stunts had such realistic graphics!

But that was okay. That’s because there’s something about racing that excites the 10-year-old in me, the kid who’d spend hours playing computer sims like Stunts and Car & Driver, collect hundreds of matchbox cars, and memorize the top speed of the Ferrari Testarossa. (It’s 183 MPH, in case you’re wondering.) Even though the die-cast cars are long put away, and I haven’t bought an honest racing sim since the original Gran Turismo, every blackened skid mark and crack in a curb was rendered with as much love as I could muster.

Even without the theme, Nitro Dice is a pretty unique game. The “Dice” moniker aside, it’s a card game at heart, with the dice themselves only representing your car and its current speed. To navigate the streets without incurring damage, you have to play an identical card from your hand. You can also replace cards on the track with ones containing hazards, dangerous obstacles that can damage and slow down your opponents. Careful placement and hand management are the key to winning!

Once again we went for the double-cut. Since the racing track itself is made from cards, it was imperative to present a cohesive track to race on. Forcing players to speed bump over a black or white border between each card would be a terrible shame, not to mention would rob the dice of space to breathe. I also had to make sure the turns matched seamlessly when you placed cards together.

If you’d like a more in depth overview of the game, try this review. And as always, if you’re interested in purchasing the game, please do some from our store at Minion Games.