With A Little Nagging, Phazed was born
As the new year progresses, we have already transitioned from January into February. The pace has been rapid, and it shows no signs of slowing down. This momentum has brought forth numerous projects, some met with approval and others with resistance; nonetheless, work continues.
Within the past month, I have completed and released two additional games to the beta team for evaluation. “Backlash” is currently in testing and has undergone several modifications to enhance its gameplay experience.
Moreover, after much encouragement (nagging? =D) from my wife, I developed a game that had long been on the IGT Wishlist: a clone of Phase 10 for the game table. While not an exact replica, there have been notable changes throughout the development process, but it truly came out as a beautiful well-polished project. The only thing lacking is AI players to play against, but after beating my head against the wall a few too many times, I deemed it better to release now. I just have not been able to wrap my head around a good way to handle a game like this and making the computer choose what cards go where. I may come back and do an AI for this when it’s updated to add connected play, we’ll see. My skills are not the greatest and I learn every day and there is always something new to learn. For now, this AI is out of my realm of capability. For now…
The beta testers have just started picking away at it, and I’ve already fixed most of the issues found, so now we let more people get their hands on it to see how much they can break, what can improve, and we move forward from there.
Pharaohs Passage
Work has already started on the next projects, yes plural. First up in development is Pharaohs Passage which is going to be a copy of the board game Quoridor, in an Egyptian setting. It’s a relatively simple but fun game for 2-4 players. Your goal is simple, get to the other side of the board. Sounds so easy, until you add other players who own walls, just like you do. And they can place those walls right in your path to block your way.
Title screen is done, and most of the music for the game has already been chosen and purchased, and work has begun on the actualy gameplay. I know compared to most developers I sometimes do things a little bit backwards, but to me, the feel of the images and everything in the title tends to form a picture in my head of how I want a game to look. Sometimes I do start straight on gameplay, I did with Backlash and then built the title and chose the music around the game, in this case though, it was backwards. I guess sometimes seeing something helps bring it to life.
The next board game concept
I also have a new idea in my mind, a board game, a square shape with 5 rings. The center has a single space, the next ring out 4 spaces surrounding the center, and then the next ring expands out, etc. until you have all 5.
Players start as peasants in the outermost ring on their journey to become a king. You must move completely around the board ( and gather the needed ? materials? steps? skills? reputation? I don’t know yet. ) before you are able to navigate to the next ring in as you build your skills from a peasant to a blacksmith, to squire and knight, and finally one to rule them all.
There are a lot of things to work on out this game, but I love the idea and I’m probably going to start developing it shortly. I have no idea where it’s going or what it’s going to end up as, but it captured my curiosity and I’m eager to explore it!
