This week in development
So, the big news this week is that The Lion & The Unicorn is finally available for download! I’m really pleased with how this has turned out. The game plays well, looks good, and has just been a joy to develop.
I also took the opportunity to print out a new prototype, as well the reference sheets and custom tokens.
I’d love to hear feedback from anyone else who gives the game a play!
This week in games
For the first time in ages, we had some new people at the Waterstones night! So it was a chance to break out some higher player count games.
We started off with a couple of games of Resistance: Avalon. Vanilla at first, which ended with a win for those loyal to Arthur, but Merlin assassinated as he showed his hand too early.
Then I added in Morgana and Percival, which resulted in a win for the minions after a cunning bluff from me.
Then we moved on to Codenames. A memorable moment was when my team talked themselves out of “web” for “sticky” and went with “orange” instead.
On Saturday, because a couple of people in my regular group had impending birthdays, we took the opportunity to get together and have a session of 5-player games.
We started off with Burgle Bros, which worked Ok, even though it’s only meant for 4. Unfortunately, it ended up dragging on far too long (about 3 hours) and we lost right at the end, as one player fell down to the second floor and was then passed twice by the guard in one movement.
So we spent the rest of the night playing lighter games (which was a pity, as we were hoping to try Cyclades for the first time and I’d also brought Dogs of War).
First up was Cash & Guns (keeping with the crime theme). The last round ended up with only me and another player not dead and I was the only one left with a “bang” card. Quite a substantial win for me.
Then I took another chance to inflict The Lion & The Unicorn on people. I like that the game gives players enough information that they could play strategically, but it’s not easy to remember everything and keep track of what’s happening.
Then it was on to Pi Mal Pflaumen, which somehow descended into conversations about doing unseemly things with fruit, thanks to stealing of cards and alcohol.
We finished off with Codenames: Pictures, which fostered a much more sensible discussion of whether “Olympics” was a good clue for a card featuring the Sydney Opera House.
And then today, Altiplano turned up at the office (I get everything delivered to work, because someone’s always in). I just couldn’t resist a game that includes a llama standee as a first-player marker.
Damn, that’s a lot of gaming for one week!
This week in everything else
Last night, I started in on The White Box Essays. No grand revelations yet, but it’s a good read and should definitely help when it comes to deciding on a next step for these games I’m creating.
Timeless is back! Really glad it got uncancelled as I enjoyed the first series and not following up on the ending would’ve been criminal.
And not at all new to me, but I’ve been listening to Babymetal again, so I’m posting them. It’s impressive how well-crafted everything they do is. Even the tracks on their albums are sequenced with intent.