Other Projects?

[Mike Holmes]

You've already mentioned plans for at least one other game. Any hints as to what we can expect out of your new venture, Em?

Mike

[Emily Care]

Hi Mike!

Nice to actually meet you at GenCon, Mike. Glad we did get to play a game together after all, thanks to Joshua & his great demo of Under the Bed.

Any hints as to what we can expect out of your new venture, Em?

Well, it's all just hints right now, to you and me both.  I have a laundry list of projects & right now I'm turning them over in my head to see which has the most real bite in it.  From the amount of games cropping up in Indie-Games and those talked about at the Con, I'm thinking we are all in for a fresh crop of ideas, so what comes from me will surely be influenced by our collective mulling.   The ones I'm musing on right now:

Shooting the Moon  Two characters vie for the love of a third, the Beloved. Think Philadelphia Story, Keeping the Faith or Fairy Tale trials of love.  With strong co-authorship of characters, and emphasis on well-supported creation of adversity. Second in the "3 Quick Games about the Human Heart" cycle. I actually have the art already lined up to be drawn by the incomparable Jenn Manley Lee creator of Dicebox, which is an incentive in its own right to finish the game.

city of the moon  Powerful and creative women in the Imperial court of classical Japan struggling to reach their destiny--social triumph, or heart's desire--and the tradeoffs made for each upon the way.  This was my entry to the latest Iron Game Chef tournament, but I'm thinking that the mechanics need to be more cooperative, rather than competitive between the players.  Perhaps taking a leaf from Vincent's concept of "underwriting" characters that he talks about in his Ars Magica knockoff (soon to be renamed, I hear).  It was such fun finding gorgeous color illustrations for this game, that I'm toying with having it be primarily intended for pdf format (though there would also be an elegant & beautiful monochromatic print version) since that liberates me financially & gives folks the ability to make a copy for themselves if they so wish.  Bill Mudron, creator of Pan is on my wish list to do art for this game.

Others still on the back burner are Under my Skin third and most challenging of the 3QH games, slave revolt in Rise Up and mad-lib world creation meets human-alien first contact in Sign in Stranger (which idea came from IGC Simulationist from oh so long ago, thanks again, Mike!). 

But, right now, chances are good that the word "moon" will be involved in whatever comes next! : )

best,
Emily

[Ron Edwards]

I'd sure like to see the Geisha game developed. During GenCon, in our discussions, I failed to shoehorn in my intense relationship to The Pillow Book and Barry's Gifford's incredible homage to it, Still Life with Traveler. Which you simply must read.

No, I was too busy being a big weepy pussy about the Berlin Wall. Next time! Japan, court women, art, Shonagon, and Gifford.

Best,
Ron

P.S. Oops, forgot this wasn't my forum. Let me know about boundary-crossing and all that.

[Ben Lehman]

Can I just say I really want Under My Skin?

yrs--
--Ben

[Gregor Hutton]

Sounds good. I quite liked the competitive element of City of the Moon, maybe I'm asking for an impossible ideal in having cooperative competition?! Could it be done?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Gregor, you might be interested in my essays "The Provisional Glossary" and "Gamism: Step On Up," in the Articles section (top of page). I make a lot of points about how effective and enjoyable competition is a form of cooperation. Or more briefly, there are thousands of words up there that boil down to answering your question with Yes.

Best,
Ron

[Emily Care]

Aha! I think I've found me a playtester!  Thanks, Gregor. I'll send you a draft when time comes. : ) I think I'll have to see what works & how for city of the moon.  I'm open to whatever is actually the most fun: fully cooperative, fully competitive, some wierd mix, dunno.

Time to go re-read the essays....  Advice is welcome on the topic too.  Or, actually, I'll start a new thread for that next week.

best,
Em

Also,  I got my first citation for "designing over the 1 moon limit", ratzenfratzen... Watch out all you other designers--only one celestial orb at a time!

And, Ben, do you still have dibs on the title "Under my Skin"? Infractions everywhere!

[Andrew Morris]

Whatever you come up with, Emily, I

[Andrew Morris]

[Damn "no editing" policy. Grrr...]

....I'm looking forward to playing it.

[Gregor Hutton]

Emily: No problem, I'll easily be able to get some open-minded and challenging participants from the University roleplaying club, and Steve. So, yeah, count me in.

Ron: thanks for the heads-up, I'll get reading. Much appreciated.

[Andrew Norris]

Hi Emily,

I've got people chomping at the bit for Philadelphia Story-like gaming. We'd be happy to help playtest.

[Emily Care]

Awesome. Thank you, Andrew, Gregor, Andrew.  Okay, this is me--heading to the drawing board. More details to follow...

[Shreyas Sampat]

I'm waiting hopefully for more City of the Moon material. I found the Iron Game Chef pdf a little tough to digest; it was very concise!

[Allan]

Count me in for playtesting Shooting the Moon.  I'm interested in using Breaking the Ice as a two-player minigame within a larger Sweet Dreams group session.  The only thing missing is the potential for a third character to complicate the romance and win over the beloved.  Then a series of interlocking love triangles can connect a large cast of characters, as in Midsummer Night's Dream.

I'm also really interested in hearing more about Sign In Stranger.  These are some of the same themes of Fingerprints, the setting I've been sitting on that Breaking the Ice shows me it's possible to do.  Like you were saying, I expect a lot my next design ideas to be influenced by the collective pool.  But I will take that to it's own thread.

Definately looking forward to more things Black and Green.

[Brand_Robins]

I have some friends that are starting up a game of city of the moon in the next week or two. I'm trying to get them to sign up here so they can talk about it, so more news should be a comin.