Monday, February 23, 2015
Strategicon and big DVG News!
Kevin – We just got back from a very successful Convention this past weekend. DVG went to Strategicon here in Los Angeles, California. It was a lot of fun, and we got to meet plenty of new and old friends there. I ran some pretty fun game demos with Cards of Cthulhu, Rise of the Zombies, Down in Flames: Aces High, and Kill Shot. The demo team and I can’t wait for May, where we’ll be going to GAME-X, and demoing some of our new games that are coming in hot from the printer! Look for other DVG news, as we have a big announcement coming up!
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Insider #12
Dan:
Wow!
The Warfighter Kickstarter has been doing tremendously well! I'd like to thank
everyone for contributing, and we are so close to hitting out goal. As of this
blog, we are 3/4 of the way funded. We have a few more stretch goals to reveal
when we hit $30,000!
We've
started a CafePress webstore for DVG clothing and apparel! If you want anything
from "Warfighter" T-Shirts to "Rise of the Zombies" money
clips, we have it.
Kevin:
A new area of DVG that I am learning about is the "post game" design phase. This includes the Kickstarter page and working with the Rulebook. I never realized how many rules I learned through the months of play testing. Writing the rules with active voice, using clear concise sentences, and in the right order gives me a whole new appreciation for Holly Verssen's long nights getting it perfect.
A
thread started by Mr. Morten Monrad Pedersen showing that first impressions
aren't always accurate and a little nice goes a long way.
Holly:
I updated Tiger Leader Rulebook. It's almost done! It just needs a couple new pieces of art and the sample game Please give a look. If you see any problems, please let us know.
Do
you want to learn how to play DVG's Rise of the Zombies without reading the
rule book? Here's a video tutorial that explains everything you need to play!
For
those who have not seen it, the Warfighter tutorial is up, and in 32 minutes,
you will fully understand how to play.
Here's
the DVG Youtube channel for those of you interested in our other game videos...
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The Warfighter Footlocker is absolutely huge! It is big enough to hold all of the cards from Expansion #1-#8, and still have 2/3 to fill with future expansions. The Footlocker is double layered, so you can put your mounted map and Rulebook in without messing up your cards.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Insider #11
Dan:
Thank you all so much with the Tiger Leader Kickstarter!
It funded in under 24 hours, and that is a first here at DVG. We have all of
you to thank, and if there are any pledge levels, or backer ideas, please
comment below and let me know.
Kevin:
After much deliberation, we've decided to add in a 1945
Campaign to Tiger where you're playing in Germany, defending against the USA. We wanted
there to be more than one campaign where you could use the late war units. It's
been difficult to balance as our original concept had highly ranking
commanders, and a huge starting SO bonus, but the negative was unbalanced, so
we did some research. Turns out, by 1945, a lot of the experienced commanders
had been captured or killed, so you actually start with a mix of low ranking as
well as experienced commanders. Also, at this point in the war, Germany knew it
was losing, and that was putting extra stress on their commanders to win each
battle. Therefore, the Situation Card "Eyes of the Reich" is attached
to every battle. The "Eyes of the Reich" card says that every time you fire and miss, the commander gains a stress. Well
now, for every single battle of the entire campaign, every time you fire and
miss, the commander gains a stress. This completely changes my game play, as I
can't take "maybe" shots anymore. I have to be aggressive, wait for
the enemy to move out of cover, or risk my commander being shaken or unfit for
the next week. I've only play tested it a few times, but like all of the other
campaigns, this has its own flavor and feels unique.
Holly:
Hey everyone!! I finished up the Warfighter tutorial, and I
can't wait to hear all of your thoughts! Also, are there any other games that
you would like a tutorial made for? I love doing these, and I like the thought
of people being familiar
with the game in time to play. J
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Insider #10
Dan:
Warfighter has shipped, and has received an amazing reception! Thank you very much for all the positive posts, feedback, and reviews on Facebook!
Warfighter has shipped, and has received an amazing reception! Thank you very much for all the positive posts, feedback, and reviews on Facebook!
Kevin:
The Tiger Kickstarter is launching TOMORROW! We're very excited about this, and we'll be posting a "How to Play" video with the launch. The video will show the "Eastern Russian Front 1943" Campaign, as well as the "Blitz" Objective card. This first video focuses on battlefield combat, and gives a good overview of the core game mechanics.
The Tiger Kickstarter is launching TOMORROW! We're very excited about this, and we'll be posting a "How to Play" video with the launch. The video will show the "Eastern Russian Front 1943" Campaign, as well as the "Blitz" Objective card. This first video focuses on battlefield combat, and gives a good overview of the core game mechanics.
We're also supporting Extra Life, a group that donates money
to help with the expanses at children's hospitals. The volunteers earn the
money by playing games and narrating their adventures during live streaming
game sessions. My personal friend, Katie Goecker, is a volunteer, and we are proud
to support her generous work. Please visit our Facebook pages if you are
interested in Extra Life.
Community:
Paul Aceto did a quick After Action Report (AAR) for
Warfighter on Board Game Geek.
Megabloks...
People are going to the Megabloks site and custom making
some incredibly cool figures to use with their Warfighter games!
Friday, October 24, 2014
Insider #9
Holly:
I'm
working on rulebooks right now. I have one going for Tiger Leader, and another
for Modern Land Battles. They take lots of time and effort, as any technical
manual ranging from 16 to 48 pages would. It's like writing a little book. Only
the characters MUST teach the reader something specific, and if I screw it up,
the players get grumpy. So, no pressure.
Happily,
Warfighter has been shipped out, to individuals and game store distributors. We
are getting player comments and feedback every day. I love that. Reading them
stresses me out, but when a particularly good one comes along, we all cheer.
I get
lots of "Wonderful rulebook, I completely understand the game." comments.
Yeah! I also get a few "The rulebook is not good" comments. Less fun.
In the
middle, though, are the comments about the rulebook layout, or order of
information being difficult to understand. I take that very seriously. I am
always looking for the perfect balance of when to introduce something and how
to explain it. I look at any rulebook I can get my hands on, to see how other
companies do it.
There
are a few techniques to choose from…
1) Introduce
and explain all the components, then teach the rules of the game that will be
using those components.
Pro: Readers
have seen all the components and generally know what they do, before they have
to use them.
Con: It
takes so long to learn all the parts, the game feels heavy and boring.
2)
Chronological. Introduce components while teaching the rules. The reader only
needs to learn about a component connected to "this rule, right now."
Pro:
Learning "As Needed". You don't have to hold on to knowledge, waiting
for an explanation later.
Con: Not
being able to see the Big Picture until you have finished reading the whole
rulebook.
3) Start
with the rules, with the component descriptions in the back of the rulebook.
Pro: It
gets the game started quickly, and anything you need to know about, you - the
reader - can look up in the back.
Con: The
reader gets a feeling of being lost, while needing to reference the back, over
and over.
Do you -
the reader of this Blog, the reader of these rulebooks - have a preference? I'm
always interested in comments and feedback.
Kevin:
Thank
you for all of your help in posting reviews and spreading the word about
Warfighter! We really appreciate it, and all of this community involvement is
amazing. If you have an "AAR" (After Action Report), a review, or a
game play write up, be sure to post it on your preferred website, and let us
know. We'll include it in the next blog.
All the
support you've shown on Facebook, CSW, and BGG have really inspired us. We are
putting together plans to create a DVG Demo Leader program. The basic idea is
to match up people who like our games with their local game stores. We'll
provide demo copies of games and some kind of reward system to show our
appreciation for your efforts.
Thank
you again. Without your enthusiasm, none of this would be possible!
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Insider #8
Dan:
In some general
DVG news, a member of Boardgamegeek has put together a Warfighter write up …
Second mission - covert strike against drug
plane
This one looked hopeless because once you activate the location all the enemies screen the objective but you must destroy the objective in one turn or it escapes.
I took a chance and stayed one location back from the objective as I activated it. This worked out because two of the defenders were hired muscle and ambushed us at my current location. This kept them from screening the target and allowed me to push on to the objective with less resistance in the way.
I called in a mortar strike that wiped out the few smugglers screening the plane, then charged forward and tossed a grenade at the plane as the aircrew were pulling away the chocks. The grenade fragments failed to do any serious damage and the target started to move towards the makeshift jungle runway. I ran alongside pumping the plane full of holes with my automatic shotgun but it began to pick up speed and raced away. My squad mate dropped to a knee and fired 4 controlled bursts. The aircraft lurched off the ground and then veered off to the left slamming into the jungle in a ball of flames.
With the hired muscle still shouting curses and firing wildly after us we made our way to the exfiltration point.
...
This was very close. The extra attacks from whiskey tango foxtrot and overwatch combined with the attack bonus from combined fire are the only things that made this possible. The challenge was in getting out all these cards plus the mortar and still having enough cards to pay the mortars discard cost! I played overwatch the turn before and payed xp to retain it. I started the final turn with 6 cards in my hand and then used my hydration pack to draw the last card I needed.
I really thought I was set after seeing how effective the mortar strike had been but when the grenade failed I thought it was over. Very exciting and close game!
This one looked hopeless because once you activate the location all the enemies screen the objective but you must destroy the objective in one turn or it escapes.
I took a chance and stayed one location back from the objective as I activated it. This worked out because two of the defenders were hired muscle and ambushed us at my current location. This kept them from screening the target and allowed me to push on to the objective with less resistance in the way.
I called in a mortar strike that wiped out the few smugglers screening the plane, then charged forward and tossed a grenade at the plane as the aircrew were pulling away the chocks. The grenade fragments failed to do any serious damage and the target started to move towards the makeshift jungle runway. I ran alongside pumping the plane full of holes with my automatic shotgun but it began to pick up speed and raced away. My squad mate dropped to a knee and fired 4 controlled bursts. The aircraft lurched off the ground and then veered off to the left slamming into the jungle in a ball of flames.
With the hired muscle still shouting curses and firing wildly after us we made our way to the exfiltration point.
...
This was very close. The extra attacks from whiskey tango foxtrot and overwatch combined with the attack bonus from combined fire are the only things that made this possible. The challenge was in getting out all these cards plus the mortar and still having enough cards to pay the mortars discard cost! I played overwatch the turn before and payed xp to retain it. I started the final turn with 6 cards in my hand and then used my hydration pack to draw the last card I needed.
I really thought I was set after seeing how effective the mortar strike had been but when the grenade failed I thought it was over. Very exciting and close game!
Quoted from: John Paul Messerly at… www.boardgamegeek.com
A team by
the name of "Stuka Joe" has put together a great "how to
play" video for Down in Flames: Aces High. They did a good job of
summarizing the rules, and making it very easy to explain how to play. If
anyone would like to Translate Rulebooks, or create how to videos, we would
greatly appreciate it, and you would get mentioned for your support… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hpbXb-8Izio
Kevin:
I got
back from the movies with my girlfriend after seeing "Fury." It was a
fun movie, with great set pieces, but my favorite parts were the Tank battles,
and how realistically they were portrayed. It was readily apparent that a
German Tiger Tank was more than a match for a single American Sherman tank. The
Tiger's had better armor and a bigger punch, in comparison the American's had
more Sherman's available. Going into the movie, I had just completed a Tiger
Leader Campaign, and it felt exciting to see what I've been imagining on the
dining room table come to life on the big screen.
Another
reminder! Our Tiger Leader Kickstarter will be up here in 1 week and counting!
Friday, October 17, 2014
Insider #7
Dan:
It's been a long couple of days with late nights at the
office shipping out games. The good news is, after tomorrow morning when the
FedEx truck shows up, all of your Warfighters and Counter Trays will be mailed
out, and getting to you within the next few weeks depending on where you live.
I'm really looking forward to hearing about your thoughts and opinions with Warfighter,
as it was our biggest Kickstarter with the most stretch goals met!
My favorite part about Warfighter however, was the honor of
real Soldiers sending in their pictures to appear in our game.
As a special preview, we are working on our Tiger Leader Kickstarter
page. If you'd like to take a look, here's a sneak peek for our insider fans to
what we'll be launching…
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dvgames/2135903331?token=5a8e92b6
If you have any suggestions for making the Kickstarter
better, please let us know!
Kevin:
Tiger's Campaigns have been flying by, and besides minor
edits, everything has been going smoothly. Every game has a different
"final cycle". The final cycle is when the game is 90% done, but
there are a few last edits that need hammering out. With Tiger, the problem is
balancing out the shortest and longest Campaign with the biggest and smallest
Objective card. A problem we had last week, was that our longest Objective card
"Offensive" worked well with "Poland 1939" but was
extremely easy with "U.S. 1944". Is it that "U.S. 1944" is
too easy? Was it random factors due to lopsided die rolls, and random card
draws? Finding the balance, and cutting out the randomness is one of the most
difficult jobs of being a game developer.
Question: If you were in WWII, would you rather be a
Vehicle, Tank, or Infantry Commander?
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