Not sure why I'm hyper the last couple days.... Nice to actually be hyper about stuff for a while - or having energy in general.
The family has been doing well. Kid #1 has been having fun with basketball. Kid #2 has been a joy to have around and spending time with me. Mrs. Neal has been particularly beautiful and kind lately. Picked up Angels and Airwaves release from '06 - I can't remember the last time I bought an album - and it's been great to play. Kids and I went sledding on two hills on Saturday and had a blast.
Other than a very uncomfortable/painful surgery in a couple weeks, things are pretty good. Who wouldn't have energy with all that?
As for gaming, I've had a couple bug reports for PocketCiv that I'm trying to clean up. Nasty little bugs. I can't figure them out. Weirdest thing. It's like I hit a wall with the design. Like writer's block, I just don't want to fix them. Enough people ask, and they will get taken care of. I need to find a maintainer for PocketCiv at some point. Not exactly a long line on that one.
Bindle Rails has stabilized. Only a few minor cosmetic things are left. I am holding off on art to see what gets produced, if anything, from the community at large. Since my skills aren't the best (the highest grade I ever got in an art class was a C+. Handwriting was the same way now that I think about it...), I'm waiting to see what comes around. The game is still unranked (23 ratings short), but has a fair number of people lurking and trying it out - which is great. If there were bugs with the game, I'd be hearing more about it, so that's probably a good thing.
I've started to thinking about the next design. The next theme. I still want to revisit some of my older ideas, but they weren't as promising as Bindle. City building, trade, mountain biking - themes that are either well worn or unheard of. My list of mechanics is a little low as well. The multiple purpose deck is a great device/invention. It has its benefits. Plenty of room for events, different ways to randomize outcomes without relying on charts, dice, controlled randomization where a d4/d6/d8/d10/d12/d20/d100 won't work, a place for artwork - all sorts of good things. Yet, I feel a little trapped by it. Maybe I'm trapped by boards/maps/cards/pawns/cubes. I also tend to make solitaire games simply because I'm always looking for something to play but it is extremely difficult to make a challenging, varied game experience. But I'm afraid of using the cards as a crutch. Need to think about it some more.
Regardless, the Bindle System still has a couple ideas to use as well. New maps, new areas, scenarios... it has a lot of potential. I'd like to publish it at some point, maybe do a PC game for it at some point. Maybe I'm expecting too much.
Oh well. More later.
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