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It's the backend of August - Fall is fast approaching, and with it our Kickstarter for Diatoms! (We're launching September 26th!) And what's this? We've almost hit 300 followers on our Kickstarter pre-launch page!
If you haven't signed up to be notified yet, what are you waiting for? You could be #300!.
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Perhaps you're hoping for very cool announcement about the game's art? Well, you're in luck...
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Introducing Nim Ben-Reuven as illustrator for Diatoms!
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Up to this point, I've done nearly all the visuals for Diatoms myself. For a while I've wanted to bring on an artist to take the game further- particularly for the game box and few other key pieces. I'm excited to announce that Nim Ben-Reuven is designing the box cover and some other elements for the game! Nim is a Freelance Art Director, Custom Lettering Artist, Illustrator, Graphic Designer, Video Producer and Design Ethicist living in Brooklyn, NY with a great affinity for well made letters, intricate linework, self-effacing humor and making all sorts of stuff out of cardboard.
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We'll be sharing the new fabulous box art during the Kickstarter this fall. (If you're particularly keen-eyed you may see some preview tidbits start to appear in our Diatoms images.)
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Recently I was at Gen Con, the largest board game convention in North America. I spent two days demoing Diatoms at the Indie Game Alliance booth and met a lot of great folks, including several board-game-loving scientists tickled to find a game about diatoms. I also gave out a lot of Diatoms pins! If you were one of the folks who stopped to check out the game and ended up joining our mailing list- welcome especially to you! Thanks for helping to make our brief time at GenCon productive and fun!
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Normally our game recommendations are half-and-half split with digital and analog games, but we've played so many great board games recently that we decided today's newsletter would be double board games. Except...BOTH of these games can be played as digital games as well! So whether you prefer to play on your couch or around a table, these are two games you should totally check out:
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Beacon Patrol - In this deceptively relaxing cooperative tile-placement game, you collaboratively explore coastal seas and islands. The more tiles you fully map (ie, surround by other tiles), the more points your team earns. I say "deceptively relaxing" because to score well it turns out you need to be pretty strategic. The subtle nuances of the tile puzzle emerge after playing your first game. The striking, stylized art and the cooperative gameplay keep the tone feeling light, even when you're pondering away the best placement for every tile. We picked this up at our local game store after trying it out for free on screentop.gg (the same platform we'll be offering digital Diatoms during the Kickstarter.) A version is also coming to Steam in 2024.
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Make the Difference - In this very small-box game, everyone chooses one of the charming & varied line-art images to just slightly modify- an extra line here, a little detail there, something that hopefully no one will notice. Other players then have a limited time to compare your doctored image with the original and try to spot the differences. They'll score and you'll score depending on how they do finding your changes, and the size (or "boldness") of the modifications you drew. When everyone's had a turn and the game is over, you can just have fun coloring your pictures. This game is great fun to play with kids and adults. It's a bit hard to find however- your best bet in the U.S. seems to be from the publisher's booth at board game conventions. You can also check out their "Let's Play! Oink Games" platform on Steam or on Nintendo Switch. Once you buy Let's Play, individual games like Make the Difference are fairly inexpensive.
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Seeking Pittsburgh Families to playtest iOS math game
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Over the next several months, we'll be running playtests for a math game in development that is designed to encourage and support mathematical thinking and identity in young children. If your family has kids in the 3-6 age range, we invite you to sign up to playtest with us. Playtesting may involve trying the app out on your own at home and/or signing up to bring your kids to an in-person playtest so we can observe how they use the game. This playtest for families in the Pittsburgh, PA area only. Families that complete the entire playtest will receive a small monetary gift card and, if you like, a complimentary subscription to the game you playtested (for Apple store). Use the signup link to join the list for this special ongoing playtest. The next playtest round for this game will be sometime in September.
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Playtest Unpublished Board Games Online
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August 25-27th is the next Protospiel Online. Protospiel Online is a 3-day, 24 hour virtual board game playtesting convention run 3x per year. For $15 you can get a playtester badge and playtest as many games as you like during the event. The list of games you can try is available online. If you have interest in helping to playtest games (and maybe playing the next great game before it's ever published!) check out the event.
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We are proud to sponsor this event and we will be there off and on throughout the weekend.
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- Beautiful Diatoms Photographs - This is one of our favorite social media feeds to see amazing photos of diatoms. Take a peek and we think you'll understand why these tiny algae have captured our imagination!
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