Somerset tiles

Let's not talk about the election yesterday. (I voted for McMullin for President btw who nearly tied Clinton for 2nd place in Utah. Even though all of Utah's votes for McMullin and Hillary combined didn't even match the number of votes Trump got in Utah.)

Instead, let's talk about games and how awesome they are.

The tiles for Somerset are now done. They still need play testing to see if the different strategies are balanced and such, but the good news is that its' already got some play testing from some of my students at school who play it during the study hall period.  They come in and ask if they can play it, so I get it out and they set it up and play it, and occasionally ask me for rules clarifications. Because of their sample runs, I've already been able to fix some bugs.

I haven't started working on any art or anything for the cards, but I have the index-card cards to play with right now and that's good enough. I still need to test out the cards to see how good they are, but right now I'm focused on the tiles.  There are 25 of them which are always available to anyone to buy.  There are also the starting tiles, which are way less powerful but you start with them so hey. The starting tiles I made to look like it's the city, which I'm calling the City of Camelot, and then the tiles you can buy are made to look like the country side. So you start off in the city and build out into the countryside better actions.

The starting tiles for 2 players. They are to be laid down in a random configuration. The sword in the stone is the first player marker.

The starting tiles you add for 3 players. The starting tiles you add for 4-5 players.

Advancement actions: Turn a peasant into a knight or a knight into a wizard. (It cost resources to do so.)

Advance on the government track or activate an action on the government track that you've already reached.

The Government track. Get money, or get resources, or get magic/cast a spell, or get building/spell cards.

Resource tiles. I'm not sure what else to say about these. Rutabaga.

Actions that allow you to draw building cards or spell cards. These cards are (should be? will be?) really nice.

The Magic actions. Either collect Magic, cast a spell, or both. (You must have at least one wizard before you can cast spells, however.) When you cast a spell it uses up a certain amount of magic.

These are the random or miscellaneous tiles. Do an action of a tile surrounding the one you're on, get money, build with a discount, or build some roads.

There you have it. Ah snap, sorry, I just remembered as I'm writing this that there were also going to be 7 Attack tiles that you can play with as well, but are optional if you don't want to play with attack tiles. So I'll have to do those too.

Post General Conference thoughts (plus, files printed)

Figuring this is a game design blog, I suppose that some part of it should deal with games. So, I printed off all the Interstellar Pig files on Saturday! Yay! Now to cut out the cards and fix the board and pieces.

This last Saturday and Sunday were General Conference.  This is a time when the living Prophet and Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ speak to the church. It's such a marvelous blessing to have living prophets and apostles on the earth today to lead and guide the church just as the ancient apostles did thousands of years ago.

During the sessions I took some notes. Here are some of the thoughts that I had while watching.

President Uchtdorf: We take technology for granted. We also take the gospel for granted. The gospel is amazing! What shall we give in return for being blessed so much?

Elder Hales: If we loved Christ more, would we suffer less? We are missionaries to our children and teachers to them. Give devoted time to your children.

Sister McConkie: The Lord doesn't want us to suffer longer than needed; He wants us to turn to Him. Pray by the Spirit.

Elder Christensen: Joseph Smith was a prophet.

Elder Uceda: Prayers should come from the heart.

Elder Cornish: Stop comparing ourselves with others. If we need to compare do so with our past/present/future self. The Atonement is for saints as well as sinners. Rationalizing is not repentance.

Elder Andersen: The Lord needs you to be more engaged in this great cause of missionary work/member missionary work.

Elder Cook: Don't do gospel extremism. Don't make one principle more important than another. Sooner or later everyone will have to sit down to a banquet of consequences.

Elder Stevenson: One can never be too young to receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Substitute some social media time for reading the Book of Mormon.

Elder Christofferson: The Atonement made it so that mercy can overpower justice. Some blessings come only through obedience.

Elder Bassett: Seek knowledge: sincere desire, obedience. I know that God liveth His children, nevertheless I do not know the meaning of all things. Have God, not you, guide your spiritual learning and growing.

Elder Yamashita: Stories of missionaries. In our lives there will be trials.

Elder Oaks: Pray for desire to help with missionary work. Keep the commandments ourselves. Be a faithful member. Pray for inspiration on what we can do to share the gospel to others. Success is inviting people.

Elder Holland: Hometeaching is more than visiting; it is helping and being a friend.

Elder Curtis Jr.: Testimonies from and of the Book of Mormon. You will feel the Spirit in your life as you study the Book of Mormon. The Spirit will help you resist temptation.

President Uchtdorf: Story of Alma meeting Amulet. What can we learn from Alma's story? How are we like Amulek?

President Eyring: Treat others as they could be. As others have lifted you up, lift others up as well.

President Thomas S. Monson: Obey the Word of Wisdom.

President Thomas S. Monson: The Plan of Salvation is true.

President Nelson: The purpose of life is to have joy. Joy comes from and because of Christ. What can we endure today by focusing on the joy that is set before us? Anything that opposes Christ and His doctrine destroys joy.

Elder Muers: 5 ways to increase the impact of partaking of the sacrament: Prepare in advance, arrive early to Sacrament Meeting, sing and learn from the words of the Sacrament hymn, spiritually participate in the words of the Sacrament prayers, ponder and remember Christ as the sacred emblems are passed.

Sister Reeves: Repentance and forgiveness.

Elder Ballard: If you are thinking about leaving the church, first ask yourselves: To whom shall ye go? We are all on different parts of the path and should be treated accordingly. Christ will never abandon any one of us.

Elder Davies: Go to church to worship; worship at church. Worshipping God is essential for any follower of Christ. We cannot love God at the same time we hate or ignore others. Spiritual experiences have to do with what's in our hearts, not with what's around us.

Elder Robbins: The natural man has a tendency to judge others unrighteously. To chasten: To purify. "Whom I love I chasten that their sins may be forgiven." Reprove when moved upon by the Holy Ghost, not when moved upon by anger. The way you see child is how you treat them and the way you treat them is how they will become.

President Eyring: Gratitude on the Sabbath day.

Elder Bednar: Know Christ, don't just know about Him.

Elder Ashton: Being born again is a process, not an event.

Elder Carl B. Cook: Service is the very fiber of which life in the Celestial Kingdom is made. All church callings come through God, through His inspired servants.

Elder Rasband: Satan wants you to forget spiritual experiences; the Lord wants you to remember them. Our minds quickly forget spiritual experiences, so act on them ASAP! Do not forget your heritage, especially your Divine heritage.

Elder Schmutz: Why do bad things happen to good people? God compensates for "unneeded" suffering. People keeping covenants aren't except from suffering, but the gospel helps them through it. To grow from a trial we must actively use our faith to actively grow from it.

Elder Nattress: Teach your children the gospel.

Elder Runland: Elder Runland set off a firecracker in the chapel before church. Repentance: He who repents the same is forgiven. The Atonement leaves no footprints--after repentance you are completely clean.