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I'm eating a fork-full of mashed potatoes and
stuffing, and listening to Margit Gedra: "...It doesn't
taste like soup at all."
procrustean (proh-cruss'-tee-an)
adj. 1: of, relating to, or typical of Procrustes (a villainous
son of Poseidon who forced travelers to fit into his bed by stretching
their bodies or cutting off their legs) 2: marked by arbitrary,
often ruthless disregard of individual differences or special
circumstances
- Unbreakable :)
- Missing link between
Die Hard and The Sixth Sense. Still,
it's original.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
 This
surreal masterpiece is the source of many important concepts:
Golden Tickets, a factory that doesn't look anything like a factory,
a corporate executive who wears a purple sportscoat, gum that
transforms a small girl into a blueberry... the list just goes
on and on. But you'll still have to read the book to find out
about the Square Candies That Look Round. (And as long as you're
reading, don't miss the incredibly weird sequel, Charlie and
the Great Glass Elevator, as yet untainted by Hollywood.)
 
StarWheels
Webseum
Easter Eggs
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A Production Record: 38 Days |
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As I
said a couple of weeks ago, sometimes
a game takes a long time to develop, and sometimes it practically
invents itself. A month ago I
mentioned having had an idea for a game while hanging out in
a bar, which we codenamed Secret Project 44-CC; today I'm proud
to announce that this game will indeed be released early next
year and will serve as our all-purpose
gift this holiday season.
This is truly amazing. Even when a game design does come together
quickly, the production cycle usually takes a lot of time. I
basically invented Fluxx
in a single day, but refining it and producing it took months.
It took almost a year of solid work to get Chrononauts
from idea to finished product. Yet we took this game from raw
concept to final art in just 38 days. (38 days?! That's insane!)
But we were driven to meet our holiday gift giving deadline,
and since the production elements were few in number and actually
pretty easy to create, we were successful. Of course, it wouldn't
have been possible without Kristin's ability to achieve manufacturing
miracles, Alison's writing and graphic design skills, and the
willingness of both of them to playtest the game with me at any
hour of the day or night.
To give you a sense of just how hurried this production has
been, we didn't even know what we were going to call it until
the night before we shipped off the final artwork. One name suggested
itself immediately, but being perfectionists we spent a lot of
time brainstorming up other names, hoping to hit on something
even better. We changed names as often as we made new prototypes,
but in the end we decided to use the name we originally started
with. (In the interests of preserving the gift wrap, I'm not
going to tell you what it is yet; but I will say that the initials
are "CC", as in the project's codename.) As Kory observed
at the end of the creative bullpen session we held on Monday
night, when we made the final decision on the name, "we
left the store wearing the same hat we came in with." But
that's OK, it's a nice, comfy hat.
Anyway, that's about all I can tell you about the new game
right now, since we want as many people as possible to be surprised
when they receive this year's gift. (If only there was some way
to brainwipe our playtesters...) But we're really excited. Secret
Project 44-CC is definitely the coolest game I've invented since...
well, since Chrononauts,
I suppose. I can hardly wait to show it to you!
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 Don't
Forget to Play! |
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"I have been anxiously awaiting for someone
to ask about our 'award'. Thank you for being the first. 1) I
voted DAO best game of the year. 2) for the year 2000. I did
not put the year on the sticker since I plan on using them again
next year when I will vote DAO best game of the year for 2001." - Dao company spokesman as quoted on the Seattle
Cosmic Game Night's website, in response to queries about
who exactly had given them the award they tout on their packaging |
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"We really enjoy the 'IceTowers' variant
of Icehouse. It plays quickly, has no turns and allows for a
surprising amount of strategy." -- J. Scott
Reeves, 9/21/00,
responding to a request on rec.games.board for "Lunch Time
Quickies", games you can play when you've only got 10 minutes
left after lunch |
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"Change history and save the world, all
over lunch. [5 out of 5 stars]" -- Tim Seiger's
review
of Chrononauts, posted to FunAgain.com |
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