Categories
Games

Geyser – The Game

This was a game created as part of the Ringling Game Design Club’s game jams. It was based on a world we created in one of the club’s world jams. In a world where a large island is surrounded by a giant wall of falling water, and a steam geyser dominates the center of the only known mass of land. Steam is both a source of power, and danger, in this harsh terrain. Nomadic societies travel the land in search of steam beds to power their lives, and all vie to control the Mother Geyser.

To this end, a group consisting of myself, Eli Allen, Garrett Stephens, Clay, and Tony Sladky developed a game we simply call “Geyser”, that would be played in this world. And so I present –

Geyser

For 2 to 4 Players

Supplies –

  • 2 6-sided dice
  • Game Board, or suitable mock-up as illustrated below
  • Unique tokens for each player’s tribe
Blocked-in game board

At the start of the game, place one of your tokens onto one starting square. Then, each player rolls 1 die. The person with the highest roll starts the game. Play proceeds to left of the starting player.

The goal of the game is to reach the Mother Geyser, and hold it through the end of a round.

A round consists of all players taking one turn.

In each player’s turn they will move one piece one square in any orthogonal direction. Diagonal moves are not allowed.

If a player lands on a geyser, they may place a new token on the board in any permissible square around that geyser. You may not place this new token on a square occupied by another player.

When a player claims a geyser, they must leave at least one piece on that geyser at all times.

Two tokens from the same player may occupy the same square at the same time.

You may “battle” with another player by moving your token into a square they occupy. In this event, each player rolls one 6-sided die and adds the number of geysers they control. Whoever has the highest number wins, and the loser removes that token from the board.  The winning player now occupies the contested square.

In the event of a tie, the attacking player has the option to retreat to the square he previously occupied, and his turn is over. The attacking player also has the option to try the attack again until one side loses, or the attacking player chooses to retreat.

At the end of the first round, the player who started the game rolls two 6-sided die. Add the two numbers together, and this determines which “ring” of geysers fires off, destroying any tokens occupying that geyser. For example, if a player occupies a 6/8, and the roll is two 4s, he must remove the token he has placed on that geyser. This is known as the Geyser Firing Phase.

After the geysers have fired off, the player who went first passes the dice to his left and that person will roll for the next Geyser Firing Phase. After he has rolled, he will pass the dice to his left and so on until the game is over.

In order to move into the Mother Geyser, a player must control at least three normal geysers.

If a player has one token occupying the Mother Geyser after the Geyser Firing Phase, that player is declared the winner.

Comments are always appreciated.

This has been cross-posted to the Ringling Game Design Club blog.

Creative Commons License
Geyser – The Game by Matthew Oztalay, Tony Sladky, Eli Allen, Garrett Stephens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at oztalay.com.

Categories
Uncategorized

Minecraft Diaries 4

I awoke this morning and felt the world around me had changed. The grass outside my current mining operation was a little darker, the trees a more lush green.

Since we last spoke I moved out. Took a boat trip to a new area, new caves to explore and all that. I’ve begun constructing a series of waypoint and destination towers, and found a rather efficient way of lighting them with falling lava.

I’m still in awe of the way water and lava flows in this world, seemingly for infinity.

I found a book. In it were passages that spoke of a gate to another world. I thought to myself that perhaps this world was home and I could finally return. I followed it’s instructions, a doorway of Obsidian four across, and five tall. With a special incantation, and a spark from my flint and steel, a shimmering violet mass filled the gate. I stood in it for a moment to inspect its strange liquid properties when suddenly I was taken not to my home but a strange Netherworld, terrible and awesome in the same breath. The searing heat sent me scurrying back to the unfamiliar gelatin, hoping it would return me to the place I must now call home.

How wrong I was.

I write this now by the faint violet glow of the shimmering abomination. That obsidian monument to all my hopes and dreams. All I know is that I am underground. Perhaps this portal was here all along, perhaps it was created by some evil magicks of the Netherworld. This matters not to me.

Perhaps if I were to slay myself, I could be returned to the surface, as often happens in the strange place. I dare not return to the Nether for fear that my death there would have undesirable or permanent effects. I wonder what lay in the blackness surrounding me, that great Mystery. Maybe one way leads to a shaft deep enough that I might shatter my bones and return to the surface? That may be the only option left open to me.

Damn my curiosity.

Categories
Cooking and Recipes

Bacon Bourbon Diaries

So, I watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives at the behest of a good friend. The episode contained, amongst other things, a diner/bar that served “Bacon-infused bourbon”. Naturally, this was made on-site. The basic recipe goes something like this:

750 mL Bourbon
1-3 oz. Bacon Grease

Strain bacon grease until pure (no bits!), and drop into a bottle of bourbon. Let sit for 6-8 hours. After that time, place the bottle in a freezer for 1 hour to allow grease to set up, pour out bourbon into its resting container through strainer to catch last vestiges of the bacon grease. Serve as needed.

The 1st Pass

The first pass I made at this recipe involved a half-bottle of Eagle Rare 10 year bourbon, and Boar’s Head bacon. Eagle Rare is a fairly strong bourbon, and I learned a few things through this process:

  1. Bacon Grease is less dense than bourbon, and when it freezes it will freeze like a cap over your delicious bourbon. In the next iteration I will infuse and freeze in a bowl to make grease-extraction less annoying.
  2. Bacon-infusion does not make your bourbon taste like bacon, instead it has the effect of smoothing out the bourbon’s strength and simultaneously feeling very heavy. As one friend described “It’s like a meal and drink all in one…. you’ve created the breakfast of alcoholics!”

Armed with that, I made another pass.

2nd Iteration

For this iteration I did, as aforementioned, infuse it in a bowl. I also, at the suggestion of a compatriot, added the cooked bacon to the infusion to determine the effects of pork meat’s presence on the flavor. Sadly, for this iteration, I wasn’t able to freeze it to properly extract the fat. I did, however, stumble on a few interesting things as a result:

  1. I will never throw out the bacon grease extracted from the infusion, because good lord the flavor potential there is incredible.
  2. Not catching all the bacon grease through a mesh strainer creates unappealing globules of bacon grease as you pour the bacon-bourbon to impress your friends.
  3. It didn’t taste that great, it most certainly tasted greasy. Not appealing at all.
  4. The bacon used in the infusion need to have something done to them before attempting to eat them (baking? pan-frying? pressing to extract more bourbon?)

That all lead to iteration 2.5:

2.5nd iteration

To extract the remaining bacon grease from the bourbon, I jerry-rigged a filter by placing a funnel into my target bottle, followed by two coffee filters, followed by a mesh strainer. As I poured the bacon-bourbon-grease mixture into this, the mesh strainer caught most of the grease, and a fair bit of pure bourbon trickled into the bottle.

Oddly enough,though, this stream turned to a drizzle, and now as I watch it continue to filter (more than a half hour later), I notice that it has slowed to a drip. A fair amount of the bacon-bourbon-grease remains in my filter, slowly draining into the bottle. My thinking is that because I did not freeze the infusion, an amount of grease as able to evenly mix with the bourbon which caused the nasty greasy taste. This also meant that the grease needs to get strained out and is either clogging the filter in some small way, or the mixture is too thick to penetrate the coffee filter properly.

  1. Coffee-filtering most certainly is improving the texture and color. Flavor notes to follow observation in the morning.
  2. Definitely need to freeze it next time.
  3. I need to use cheaper bourbon to continue iterating, I don’t want this to burn a hole in my pocket on failed experiments.

I’ll continue to update on this process. I’m hoping this filtration improves the flavor enough to lend support to the cooked-bacon infusion.

-Ozz

Categories
Uncategorized

Minecraft Diaries 3

Day 14

I thought that perhaps keeping this log would keep me sane. As it turns out, I can put my mind to doing things and the heartache and loneliness goes away. Since I last wrote I built a home in the cliffside near The Mystery. There I forged and crafted wooden tools for myself. The more blackrock I acquired, I realized it could be used to set things aflame.  Now I had tools, and fire. With that, I set out to explore the mystery, ready to take on whatever came my way!

Only to find out The mystery didn’t extend as deeply as I had thought.

The illusion broken, now the Mystery has become one of my stone quarries. I’ve begun construction on a lighthouse, for both finding my way home from the spawn beach, and to perhaps alert others to my presence.

Day 30

I’ve completed the lighthouse. It can be seen for many miles. I think I shall go explore more.  Perhaps I might find a friendly face while I’m out?

Categories
Uncategorized

Minecraft Diaries 2

Day 4

I set out to find a new home, away from the madmen and the spiders.

I found a small deposit of loose rocks on the side of a mountain overlooking my old home, and the mystery.

This spot will do well, I found an underground spring nearby, and a herd of pigs. I dug into the loose rock and carved myself out a small cave, and blocked most of the entrance with dirt.

Perhaps this will be enough for the madmen to overlook me. Maybe tonight will be peaceful.

I leave myself a small hole through which I can watch the moon set.

Time cannot pass when my mind wanders. I must focus on the world.

Day 6

The boredom overcame me, and I ventured out into the evening wilderness. The Mystery kept calling me back. En route I was attacked by creatures that exploded on touch! I awoke on the same beach, as I had so many times before.

While I lay there, dazed and confused, I had a vision of another man, much like me. First he was in the snow, huddled in fear searching for food. He died, and did not return. The next man seemed comfortable! He had dug himself a cave in the side of a mountain, and found an abundance of blackrock. He had a table that helped him create things, tools!

I spied on him in my vision, and awoke a new man. I set about building myself a table in the shadow of Old Home, and made pick axes, shovels, hoes, axes, and even swords of the wood I found around me. With these tools I could set about carving out my new home, and even to explore The Mystery.

Categories
Uncategorized

Minecraft Diaries

I started playing Minecraft recently, and I found the game to be fairly conducive to constructing a narrative. As I was carrying on through the world, I was indeed writing my avatar’s story in my head.  This is his story:

Day 1

I awoke, hot, covered in sand, under a strange sky. Thirsty.

I set about to find drinkable water, to explore my surroundings. No luck on the water, I lashed out at the sand and rock. The sand gave, the dirt gave. Beneath the sand and the dirt I found rock. Rock was not as forgiving.

As I came around the small island I arrived upon, I found the most wonderous rock formation ahead of me. A cliff overhanging a small bay, supported by a small column of rock on another outlying island. This looked defensible, I heard wolves in the distance. Perhaps I could make a stand here. I knew I would need sand to create a bridge between my new home and the mainland, and dug at the sand around the base of the overhang’s support. Water quickly rushed to fill the gaps left by the sand.

Then I dug too far. I cracked open a hole into a large cavern beneath my new home, and quickly found myself deep into the cavern, pushed by the ravenous water.

Water, always looking to fill, to maintain the balance.

Looking into the pure blackness of this cavern, I knew I wanted to explore its depths more. That will wait. I need fire to see. Still working on that, fire.

I continued my work on gathering sand well into the evening. As the sun set I once again was pushed into the mystery. Now, though, there was no light from above. I could not move for fear of being swept into the current, and carried deep into the mystery. So I slept.

Day 2

Finally, light peeks through the small opening I left in the sand. Light fought back the mystery and let me escape without fear.

This morning I searched for wood. I had a sharp piece of flint and gathered a fair bit of wood, and some sticks. Mysteriously, the leaves stay aloft even after their tree has been felled.

Animals approached me, a chicken, sheep, and cow. The chickens yielded feathers, the sheep, wool. The cows have yet to give me any benefit. I may need to domesticate some of these animals near my new home.

Hungry.

OH! A pig just wandered by. Perhaps it will yield food.

Delicious.

I will camp upon the top of my new home tonight. Surveying the land around me. I dug a deep ditch to prevent anyone from creeping up on me in the night.

Day 3

Across the water, I saw a humanoid form light aflame. Curious. The first man I see, and he disappears before I can reach him. I will seek out his remains later.

More lumber gathering.

I need tools.

I lack a proper fuel source for flame.

In the night, I see glowing red eyes across the water. I thought perhaps my flint was sufficient to defend myself. I was wrong.

I died.

And immediately awoke upon the beach. I was disoriented, and all the resources I had gathered were across the way. I sat on the sand, and await the dawn.

Categories
Uncategorized

kActor Physics Door Tutorial

New tutorial uploaded to here: kActor Physics Door Tutorial for UDK.

Categories
Uncategorized

Judge, Jury, OBJECTION!

Below are the (still in progress) rules for a game developed by Jonathan Yao, Ben Throop, Stan Chin, and I as part of the 10th Annual Game Design Workshop. In this exercise we were tasked with, in 45 minutes, creating a game that will trigger the emotions of Schadenfreude and ambivalence in the players.

The game started with the emotions, then we moved to the theme which gave an excellent context and narrative setting for our two emotions. Naturally, this theme was a courtroom. This led us down the trail to mechanics based off Blackjack, in which the goal of the player is to There are three roles for players:

1) Judge – The Dealer
The dealer deals one card face down (the Surprise Witness) and one card face up (Evidence) to each of the attorneys.
2) Attorneys – Players
The Attorneys are the two players to the right of the dealer
These players may take the following actions:
-“Call the next witness”, the Judge gives one card, face up, to that attorney.
-“Rest my case”, the attorney believes the total value of his evidence is higher than the other attorney and will no longer call witnesses.
-“Objection!”, after both attorneys rest their case, and the jury has bet (more on this later), each attorney may “object” to another player’s piece of evidence. This card is then removed from that players evidence string and is not counted in their final total.

3) Jury – Bettors
The jury consists of all players not designated as the Judge, or the Attorneys. These players may bet on each attorney after the judge has dealt them their initial evidence.

At the Start
All players are given an amount of poker chips determined by the player, but greater than 10 “units”
Each player draws one card, the player with the card of highest value is designated as “The Judge”

In the Courtroom
The Judge deals each attorney a Surprise Witness, and a piece of Evidence. The attorney to which a Surprise Witness is dealt may look at their surprise witness, but may not reveal it to other players.
Each member of the jury, in turn, will bet on which attorney they feel has the highest chance of winning
The Defense Attorney, the Attorney furthest from the Judge, is given the choice to “Call the next witness” or “Rest my case”
The Prosecuting Attorney, the Attorney closest to the Judge, is given the same choice
This continues until both attorneys have rested their cases
The Defense Attorney is now given the chance to “Object!” to one of the Prosecuting Attorney’s pieces of evidence
The Prosecuting Attorney is given the same chance
Once both attorneys have rested their cases, and filed objections, the Jury goes into “Deliberation” in which they may place additional bets on each of the attorneys.
Once the Jury has finished deliberating, the attorneys show their surprise witnesses, and the total value of their evidence is added
Whichever attorney has the greatest value of evidence that is not greater than 12 is declared the winner

(This is roughly were the game still needs some work. We still need to hash out how this phase of the game is resolved. I encourage the participants to comment and discuss.)

After that case is resolved, the Judge passes the deck of cards to the player on his left, and player begins again.

Categories
Games

Saratoga Sabotage

Below are the rules to Saratoga Sabotage, the Oregon Trail-themed modification of SiSSYFiGHT3000 developed by Rory Fitz-Gerald, Jon Manning, Leo Cho, Taylor Kalajan, Ryan Milligan, and I as part of the 10th Annual Game Design Workshop at GDC this year.

Players: 4 to 6

Players start with 5 white poker chips, and five blue poker chips
White poker chips denote progress toward the West Coast, or progress points.
Blue poker chips denote supplies/ammo

Goal – Be the first to reach 12 progress points

Each player has a deck with the following cards –

Target Cards
-Red
-Blue
-Green
-Purple
-White
-Black
-Self

Action Cards

  • Move
    • “Head West” – Target = Self – Gain one progress point
    • “Convoy” – Target = Another player, and that player targets you with a move action – Both gain 2 progress points, both lose 1 supply point
  • Bullet
    • “Get Supples” – Target = Self – Gain 2 supply chips
    • “Sabotage” – Target = Another player – That player loses one progress point, initiating player loses 1 supply point
  • Raid
    • If and only if 2 or more players play “Raid” and target the same player – Target player loses 2 progress points per attacker, attacking players lose 1 supply point each. If only one person raids another player, no damage is dealt and the attacker loses a supply point.
  • Defend
    • “Circle the Wagons” – Target = Self – Divide total number of lost progress points in a round by half, round down. You now lose that many progress points. If no one attacks you, you lose a progress point.
    • “Git Of Mah Land” – Target = Bullet – You take no damage from any “Bullet” attacks which target you, and you take the supply points those players lost in attacking you. If no one attacks you, you lose a progress point.
    • “Indians!” – Target = Raid – You take no damage from any “raid” attacks which target you, and you take the supply points those players lost in attacking you. If no one attacks you, you lose a progress point. If only one person performs a raid attack against you, you do not lose a progress point.
    • “You Scoundrel!” – Target = Another player – You take no damage from that player, and instead the damage is reflected onto that player. You gain the supply point that player lost in attacking you.

All communication must be public.
All communication does not have to be comprehensible to all players, but must be in a mutually agreed-upon language.

At the start of a game players choose their color, and place that color card in front of them on the table.

1 Round = 2 Turns
No cards played in the 1st turn of a round can be played in the 2nd turn of a round.

A Round –

Turn 1 –
Players choose their action, and the target of that action and lay those cards face down in front of them.
Once all players have chosen an action and a target, all players’ actions and targets are revealed simultaneously.
Players resolve the results of their actions.
Players do not pick up the cards in front of them at the end of this turn. The cards played cannot be played again in this round.

Turn 2-
Players choose another action, and another target.
Once all players have chosen an action and a target, all players’ actions and targets are revealed simultaneously.
Players resolve the results of their actions and targets.
Players pick up all the cards they have laid down in that round and begin a new round.

If at end of a round, a player has 12 progress points, he is declared the winner.
For the purposes of action-resolution, attacks are resolved before progress points are awarded.

Categories
Uncategorized

Game Developer’s Conference 2010

I will be attending the 2010 Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, CA from Tuesday until Saturday.

Jeremy Griffith and I will be traditional game jamming on the 2nd floor of the main conference building each day at breakfast and possibly lunch. Come find us if you’re interested in joining us.