Tag: Industry

02/7/15

GrogHeads Interviews Joel Billings of 2By3 Games

Boggit, 7 February 2015

Joel Billings of 2By3 Games talks to Boggit about War in the West and game design in general

As always, click images to enlarge

GrogHeads:  Joel, thank you for agreeing to talk to Grogheads about your recent work. War in the West is your latest release and shows some interesting innovations in the development of 2By3 games.

Tell us about yourself. How did you get into wargame design?

Joel Billings:  I started SSI in 1979 when I had just graduated from college. I was a long time player of historical wargames and had tinkered with various game rules and created miniature campaigns. I started SSI because I thought computers were a natural evolution for wargames which would allow for better fog of war and an AI opponent.

War in the West ships with 10 scenarios, including 3 full campaigns, and two introductory scenarios.
War in the West ships with 10 scenarios, including 3 full campaigns, and two introductory scenarios.

GH: Your recent products of War in the East and War in the West are massive in scope and detail, which might be potentially off-putting to all but the most hardcore gamers. Tell us about the design decisions in making such apparently challenging games.

JB: The first decision was whether to go with an IGOUGO system or a plot and execution system. Gary had used the later in his previous Eastern Front games. We decided to go with the IGOUGO because we thought it would attract more players as it could be made to be a very addictive game where you want to keep making one more move, one more combat. This is especially true in 1941 Russia. Of course we wanted the extreme detail that people expect from Gary, and that comes from the database.

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01/21/15

GrogHeads Interviews Mark Walker of Flying Pig Games

Interview by Brant Guillory, 21 January 2014

Mark Walker has launched his latest venture, Flying Pig Games.  He graciously took a few hours out of his recent weekend to give us the lowdown on the new company and some of its upcoming games, as well as some lessons learned.

Of all the names you could’ve concocted, why “Flying Pig” games?

MHW: Well, Lock ‘n Load was taken. 😉 Seriously, there are a couple of reasons. I didn’t want a name that screamed “WAR GAME.” Especially not “SERIOUS WAR GAME COMPANY!” Don’t get me wrong, I love war games, I’m pretty sure they are my favorite genre, but there is so much else that I enjoy, and that other people enjoy. I want FPG to have the latitude to publish a diversity of games. To not be limited by our name. Given that thought, I tried to think up names. It came down to Howling Moon Games (a knock off of a famous Sam Bush song) and FPG. I already had the shoulder tat, so FPG it was. Oh yeah, and a flying pig is sort of the age old symbol meaning anything’s possible. And the motto? “Ipsum Sine Timore, Consector!” Loosely translated, it means “Screw it, just do it!”

Who else are you bringing along on this aerial-porcine adventure with you?  What other designers are you bringing on to the Flying Pig ship that we should know about?  Are they just freelancing for you, or are they committed to Flying Pig long term?

MHW: Some I can name, some I can’t. I can tell you that will have signed Shayne Logan, Tom Russel, and Brian Train. Armageddon is a co-design with a soon-to-be-announced designer and myself. We are in negotiations with another company to do a co-release that will incorporate the universe of Armageddon War and their game system. The goal is to release six boxed games and four issues of Yaah! in year one. But as many gamers have seen, it’s easy to put out snappy press releases and spiffy show and tells. Getting boxes into gamers’ hands is much more difficult. Continue reading →

01/14/15

2015 Convention Schedule

Siege of Augusta
16-18 January, Augusta, GA
Theme: The British Army in 1815;  Victory in Europe, Defeat in America, A 200 Year Anniversary

Game On!
5 – 8 Feb, Seattle, WA

  • Wargames
  • Board and Card Games
  • Monster Games, with the time and space you need to play them
  • Freefamily day on Sunday — Spouses and kids play free with your admission
  • The 10th Annual NW ASL Championships
  • OCS/TCS/SCS (if you play ‘em, you know what they are)
  • Card Games and Minis (X-Wing, Sails of Glory, and stuff with zombies)
  • Our annual swap meet
  • PLUS, beer and food served right at your table!

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12/31/14

The GrogHeads Year In Review

31 December 2014

We reached out to our friends* in the game industry for some thoughts about the past year in games, and asked them for some insight about what’s coming next.

* yes, we actually have friends

Matthew Kirschenbaum, Academic-Gamer / Professor

2014 Highlight(s):  Highlight for me was working with the dozens of contributors on the Zones of Control book Pat Harrigan and I are editing for the MIT Press. This is an interdisciplinary as well as inter-professional volume, bringing together contributors from policy gaming, hobby gaming, and academia, writing about both tabletop and digital wargames. We have DoD types alongside of cultural theorists, and we designers alongside of their critics. We have the full spectrum represented in terms of politics and ethics as well. The book is on track for an early 2016 publication.

Looking Ahead at 2015:  In terms of a prediction, I’ll venture this: one major publisher in tabletop wargaming is going to go under. No, I don’t have anyone in particular in mind and I have no inside information–just a gut feeling.

 

Jim Zabek, GrogDude

2014 Highlight(s):  For me it seems the simplest things are worth the most. Game-wise two things stand out. First, I have managed to fall in with a great gaming crowd at the FLGS. The other thing that was a highlight was the re-issuance (I’m not sure how many times before) of Car Wars in more or less its original format. I don’t know why that seems to please me so much, but I guess it is the memory going back to my younger days and discovering it for the first time.

Looking Ahead at 2015:  As for what I think might make headlines in 2015? There are certain to be some sleepers that simply aren’t on my radar. But the one game I think lots of folks are going to be talking about – at least on Grogheads – will be Atilla Total War. There are over 3800 discussion posts on Rome 2 in the Grogheads forums. I suspect that Atilla may draw an equal amount of attention.

 

Erik Rutins, Director of Product Development at Matrix Games

2014 Highlight(s):  Distant Worlds: Universe and War in the West, two major new releases for 2014 that have been in the works for years and both were very well received by the community.  It was also great to work with the Command and Flashpoint Campaigns teams on their well-deserved re-launches.

Looking Ahead at 2015:  Lots of exciting releases coming – the new Brother against Brother Civil War wargame, the return of SSG, expansions for War in the West, a new Flashpoint Campaigns game and the first Command expansions!

 

Brain Train, Game Designer and Theorist (though he won’t admit to the latter) 

2014 Highlight(s):  Three little personal highlights for 2014 for me instead of one big one:

  • Getting a brief ripple of attention for Ukrainian Crisis, a 48-hour “one-man jam” game designed in the middle of the Crimean referendum crisis;
  • Speaking with Volko Ruhnke about the COIN series at Tableflip!, a very interesting conference on games and game design;
  • Launching BTR Games, a line of my personal games in DTP format released when and how I want them to be, with sales in the half-dozens so far.

Looking Ahead at 2015:  Three biggest news items in gaming in 2015 that I feel safest in predicting:

  • The COIN series will continue to attract talent and attention, with new designs and reprints coming;
  • More and more projects will be announced on Kickstarter, to chase less and less money;
  • BTR Games will have double-digit sales!

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