Friday, May 25, 2007

Naked Friday

There is something to be said for being able to wear whatever you want when you work from an office at home. Because the summer has been very mild so far (down right cold some days), and because I hate the loud and nearly broken window unit we use to cool the office, I've spent the past few days totally naked. Sure, I throw on some pants when i go out, but otherwise just lawn pig'n it all day.

Naked felt especially good today. Zack and I ate some bad muscles at the yacht last night, and I've been sick all day. Nothing like having the cold sweats of poison running through your veins to make you not want to wear anything.



been working on the redesign of the website for most of the week. Aside from addressing functionality concerns

(the old site isn't "obvious" in how it is used and who we are as a company)

(the old website had a lot of half finished ideas that were tied to the original design, which was just too big for Jerry to take on, and in the long run may not have done what we wanted anyway)

(the old website was space wasteful and wasn't ever that cool looking while wasting that space)

the redesign has given me the opportunity to put more edge on the graphics and layout presentation. The old site is just so bland. I like some of it's images well enough, but they don't have the graphic impact and edginess i was going for.

Anyway, here are two of the header graphics i've been working on. They were built using parts of the old section graphics , so not 'new' per see, but i think they look a whole lot better.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Parts and Functions

Briki Figures
Each player has a Briki figure. Each Briki has its own character card which tracks the Briki's stats. Each Briki stands on one game tile at a time and is subject to that tile's stat modifiers for as long as it is there.

Character Cards
Each Briki has a corresponding character card. The character card is used to track the Briki's level of protection (blue dice) and the number of actions the Brikir can take each round (red dice). The character card also indicates what actions the Briki can take during a round.

Some character cards have multiple die-spaces for the same action. This allows the owner's Briki to take the same action multiple times, or roll multiple dice for the same action to improve its chances.

Tiles
Tiles may be arranged any way the players wish. Each tile represents a different area of the larger game board. Each tile indicates whether a die or item card can be collected by a Briki standing on it. Each tile may also indicate stat modifiers that are applied to any Briki standing on it. Some tiles are spawn points, into which players are allowed to place their respawning Brikis. Some tiles contain yellow dice (objective dice) and serve as a competitive focus for players or teams. Some tiles may even have special rules like limited number of Brikis that may occupy them at once.

Dice
There are four types of dice (red, blue, green, and yellow) used in the game. Each character card starts with a few (indicated by the die-spaces that have stars) and more can be collected from die-spaces on tiles around the game board. Red dice are action dice, which are allocated on the character card to indicate a Briki's action. Action dice are occasionally rolled. Blue dice are protection dice and remain on the character card until a Briki has to roll for its protection. Green dice are item dice and are stored on certain item cards until they are needed. Item dice are almost always removed from the game after they are rolled. Yellow dice are objective dice and remain on their tiles until a Briki collects them.

The number of sides on a die does not matter, but the more sides a die has, the more it is worth (rolling higher numbers is usually good).

Item cards
Item cards indicate the type, number, and value of dice needed to be rolled for a certain action. Most item cards represent weapons and require their owning players to roll a certain value of action dice "to hit" and the targeted players to roll a certain value of protection dice "to survive". Weapons have stats for short range (when the Briki and it's target are on the same tile) as well as long range (when the Briki's target is in a neighboring tile).

As a group, the players may choose to start the game with everyone holding a specific item card, to randomly allocate item cards, or start empty handed. either way, each player may only hold one item card at a time. If players do not start with item cards, make sure there are tiles on the table which allow players to collect items or you will not be playing an interesting game.

Marker
Some sort of marker should be kept on the table and passed between players to indicate who's turn it is. This is not necessary, but it makes keeping track of the game easier. A bottle cap works well.

Fold-A-Game

Fold-a-Game is free, and uses our Briki / Fold-a-man open source material concept. So you can download and print our stuff or make your own!

[game 1 logo image]

Arena is a multi player combat game that puts you in control of your own fighter and forces you to compete in arena style combat challenges like slayer, flag, ball, and hill.

To play the game, you will need a download or make a Briki figure, a character card, some item cards, and some game tiles. You will also need some dice in four colors. It doesn't matter what four colors you choose -- the game cards use red, blue, green, and yellow -- just make sure that all of the players know and agree to what the colors are used for. The kind of dice do not matter either, though dice larger than six-siders will be more powerful.

May sales up

21 games sold so far in may.

Feb still holds the crown wit 68 sales.
March and April were both crap, with 10 and 11 games sold respectively.
Rolling in the 18 from Jan, and we've sold an acceptable 128 games in five months.

next goal: actually make money doing that :)

Monday, May 14, 2007

monday game


screen cap of The Game's Briki. I will be making more Robot Martini Staff Brikis over the week, but i want to stop making them and launch the actual game first :)

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

mine tile set 2




here are some more tiles. more rewards (dice, card draw options)

tile set 1 (mine)

these are tiles from the mine-map set i am working on for the Briki launch. Each tile has a characteristic which makes it safer to stand in or more rewarding to go to.




Monday, May 7, 2007

Briki 000


working on some cleaner vectors for the Briki combat game. needed better looking Brikis for the prototype game cards

Thursday, May 3, 2007

thursday

spent most of the day getting two tables for Pilot. Apparently the CP Ikea is the only store in the world still carrying matching L desks that are needed for their office. Art Hall was gracious enough to drive me down there and help me move the stuff. FedEx was amused that they were mailing 312 lbs of boxes to boston.

I'm being sued again, sort of.

off to the lab!

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Tuesday

Lots of biking today. Noontime across to Doc John's and a game of chess. Game was interesting in that I am not sure where it went wrong, but know that I had my ass handed to me. Frustrating because I do not know that I learned something specifically. In general, i walked away feeling that If you can not exploit it, look for something new.

then over to royal 14 for cat brushing. lots of hair. then back to the ham for lunch of some sort (not remembered).

Long and excellent conversation with Ku today. good perspective on organization and fresh eyes on the lounge, how we present ourselves on the net, and how we can better focus our efforts. fisticufs, which i introduced him to. we'll see if we can get any love out of the lounge redesign, which will be much easier to navigate, and categories will be retitled for more Robot Martini content as a focus. got to get back to making stickers and other art

Ku, Joe Q, the Spanish Grenade, and Gus are at least open to doing some Briki's / Fold-a-men. look forward to whatever they crank out. templates away.

Worked a bit on the Briki game, email salvo, some TV and Beer, and shortly after this off to criminal play testing with GWG.

lots of not a lot done today. fury is in that, the on going nothing ever day.