Well, it's been a while since I've blogged as life has been pretty hectic but for once, it's actually in a good way.

The latest project has to do with Glory to Rome.  I discovered this game as part of a two-player introduction during a rare daytime game session.  I love the game as there are a lot of options on any given turn.

The main put off is that it is difficult and for it to pass muster, it has to come home to be played by the wife.  In lieu of that, it has to be solitaire ready.  GtR is none of those things.

So, latest project involves a 54 card city building system.  I'm using Nandeck to prototype cards and its working out well so far.  The gist is you take out 5 cards from the beginning.  The game goes in three stages in hands of 7.  A card has building information (with VP and demand required to build as well as a building special ability), demand information (each card may be used to pump up demand) and zone information (commercial, industrial and residential).   Cards are played to a tableau to form your city in ever-growing areas of 2 x 2, 3 x 3, etc.  Demand is required for a building to be built.  A site is required for a building to be built on which involves adjacent like districts.  Maximum demand is dependent on the stage of the game.  Cards are used similar to GtR in that (usually) one card is used to activate a special ability (build, expand, demand or wild) and then the actual card you want to play.  The game is entirely solitaire driven.

So far it is a light version of GtR and Sim City Card Game.  That sounds worse than it is, but it is a good 20 minute diversion.  I will work on rules and submit after I get some art together.  If anyone wants to help out on that front, let me know.  Materials up probably in the next few weeks.

For as much as I hate dice, I seem to use them a lot.

My latest experiment is trying to produce something like 18XX with dice and a minimal number of components.  This is somewhat laughable and incredibly specialized, but I like a challenge in the game experiences I have.  Coupled with the fact that I have no one to play 18XX with, this game is begging for complexity.

Enter my dice I created.  They are split up across six railroad companies.  Each one can be a destination or a train.  Trains are automatically added to the highest scoring routes for each railroad.  At present, I am tracking revenue on a piece of paper to see the distribution of revenue and surprisingly it worked pretty well on the first try for a 10 turn game.  The recordkeeping was a little laborious but that's how it works with 18XX, so I figured it is okay to do.

Now the hard part:  Finding mechanics.   At present I essentially have a bunch of dice with no mechanics.  I want to introduce some share mechanics but I'm not sure how to do this in a solitaire setting.  I'm picturing cards but I want something more automatic.  Then there's the whole scoring mechanic.  Finally, the companies are pretty well set in how much they collect despite the randomness of the dice, so I need something to offset this a little bit.

All in all, it needs work.  Such is a labor of love. 

I had been working on an inspired version of Dominant Species that plays in thirty minutes and uses dice.  I think I have a version that works well enough.  Follow the link below to see what I've been up to.

I have a few other projects I am in the planning stages on, as always.  Hopefully, more pictures, more links and importantly, more games! 

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/695363/wip-iron-game-designers-dominant-species-expre

Work has been hectic and game design has ground to a halt. 

I have noticed that the sidebar of games is missing a few entries and extras, so I will try and update a few.  Cleveland Interurban needs to be there and I am deliberating adding a few other ones up there. 

I've done about a half dozen runs of my game "Rolling Stock" which is a single player stock manipulation game.  It will be print and play provided I finish her up. 

Basically, six stocks each are randomly distributed between yourself and Fisk, a scrupulous investor who has illicit access to funds (i.e., he doesn't pay for shares out of his own pocket - out of the bank's pocket - this is 1870 after all).  Each company starts out with 1-6 points over their starting position on the board for dividend and 2-12 dollars out of pocket for building.

From there, there are six rounds, two of which must be stock rounds and four which must be build rounds.  Three cards are drawn for each round.  

If it is a stock round, the player has a pick for the stock.  A roll of three dice is performed, which, when added to the current stock price, equals the amount to pay for the share up for auction.  Fisk then picks his and pays for it immediately out of the bank.  In either case, the money goes to the company treasury.  

If the round is a build round, again, a target company is picked and three dice are rolled.  A new "link" is added - the middle die determines the increase of dividend while the two end dice determine the cost of building.  This comes out of the company treasury.  If the route can't be built, it doesn't happen.  Fisk then goes next. 

Finally, three event cards are turned over, with actions taken after each card.  These can manipulate all the companies, some of them, maybe even none of them.  Things that may be changed are dividends and cash.  Sometimes you can sell a share for more personal money at risk of putting it back out on the market where it might be used by Fisk.

At the end of this round, dividends are paid out Chicago Express style.  This ends the first phase of the game.  The next two are played out.  The player with the most money wins.

* * * *

There's a lot to like about the game.  The events seem a bit seismic at times and make the game more lucky than I want it to be, but on the other hand, this is a solitaire and it needs it to keep the game going.  I look forward to the event round and everything else as sort of prepping for all the bad things that can happen.  There are also some things that need tinkered with in terms of starting money and building things out.  Auctions initially had nothing to do with dividend value and I may go back to that - or more of a Chicago Express floor in terms of stock price and then three dice with the greater of either one winning out on the cost for auction.

Win ratio has been 1 to 4 which is about what I am hoping for.  

Its just a matter of getting everything together and then  

Screenshot here.

The next game I'm working on will be print and play and will play like a compact solitaire Chicago Express drizzled with a few elements of Bindle Rails in a stock game.  Most of those things are hard to pull off, but I find myself wanting to play American Rails or Chicago Express and no one wants to.  If I can capture a few elements of that while introducing some randomness to make a good solitaire experience.

More details soon. 

I saw the other day that Utopia Engine and Infection Express are going through second and third edition changes.  Its amazing to watch the development of a game from interesting idea to acceptance to reinvention.

I guess I'm due, huh?  :-) 

... hoping to resurface in a while.  Summer has always been a slow time for both game design and playing and this season has been no exception.

I am hoping to get more into things as the season winds down. 

... so time is needed to adjust.

More later - Jack