500 Words on Travel

500 Words on Travel — Blue Ink Alchemy

We, as a species, need to travel more. I like the comforts of home. When I go away, even for a few hours to toil at a dayjob, I miss them. I miss my cat, my desk, my games, and my friends. I like being able to dip into the fridge or pantry for a refreshment I put there myself, and turning up the volume on my entertainment as loud as I like. I like pants not being a requirement. But the comforts of home to not outweigh the length and breadth of the world outside. Human beings are creatures of innovation and forward motion, for good and for ill. We are at our strongest when exposed to new ideas, new experiences, new ways of thought. We may not exist in a hive mentality like insects do, or move in formation the way birds fly as they migrate, but we do draw strength and inspiration from one another, even if the source of that inspiration is long dead. Think about the history and fables that helped to shape you. Our stories are peppered with heroes and villains, battles and debates, struggles and loss and hope and triumphs. Can you look at the long skein of human history, and tell me truly that all of it came from just one point of view, just one nation, just one continent? Is it really worth it to limit ourselves to just one point of view, just one nation, just one continent? As human progress marches on, the world has become more interconnected. Mere mortals have conquered the skies. Journeys that once took months if not years now happen in days or even less. Messages, parts of thought and pieces of our hearts and minds, traverse the world at the speed of light. If nothing else, we should be in awe of everything we have accomplished. I've traveled a bit in my time, and yet I feel I've barely scratched the surface of the world. There are so many more stories out amongst the citizens of the planet than I can really comprehend, and I want to share in at least a few of them. For me, the travel is worth the risk. I can understand folks who have fears of flying, but when a plane I'm on taxis to a runway and the engines spin up, I have to lean back and close my eyes, and when the metal tube powered by jets and human innovation escapes the bonds of the ground, I can't help but smile. I encourage you, gentle reader, to travel more. See things you haven't seen with your own eyes before. Touch parts of the world distant from your comforts of home. Eat food you're undertain of how to pronounce. Listen to the people who make their lives in those places, just as you make yours in your place of origin. Leave your comforts behind.And when you come home, those comforts will be all the sweeter.

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Tabletalk: What's In A Game?

Tabletalk: What's In A Game? — Blue Ink Alchemy

As pleased as I am to see board gaming emerging from basements and grottos to become a more visible and enticing hobby, I think some people still see it as something of an enigma. The average person probably still thinks of Monopoly or Risk when 'board games' are mentioned. Thankfully, modern games provide a lot more than dice rolls to keep their action going and players coming back to the table. Let me tell you about a few of those methods.

Worker Placement

'Euros' are board games that hail from Europe, or that are inspired by the same. They lean heavily away from random chance as a game mechanic, focused more on player choice and limited resources. Gathering those resources often takes the form of worker placement, as in games such as Caylus, Notre Dame, and to a lesser extent Lords of Waterdeep. With a mere handful of representatives on the board, players must claim what resources they can to achieve their goals before the game ends. That's another feature of euros - many of them have limited turns, adding pressure to the puzzle presented by the board. And with other players competing to complete their puzzle more completely than yours... well, you get the idea.

Deck Building

Made popular by Dominion and a key feature in games like Eminent Domain, Ascension, Arctic Scavengers and High Command, deck building games present a tableau of choices to their players, letting the participants craft their experience to their liking. The goals for the game may be the same, but they can be achieved through different means. Rather than resources being directly limited by a static board, a stack of cards can get depleted if it proves to be popular. Like worker placement, deck building games do not entertain the possibility of random chance ruining the experience, but rather use it (in the form of players shuffling decks) to spice up the game and keep players coming back for more.

Procedural Boards

Perhaps one of my favorite mechanics of modern board gaming, the type of game that features what I call 'procedural boards' places a randomized set of tiles in front of the players and has them assemble the board on which the action unfolds before them at the time of play. This can be a central board, as in Twilight Imperium, Archipelago, Escape! The Curse of the Temple, Mage Knight or Quantum, or it can be in front of the individual player, as in Galaxy Trucker or Suburbia. Not only does this provide the charm of being different every time, it can also allow for other game mechanics to be layered on top with little difficulty. Archipelago, for example, uses worker placement as well as a procedural board, and Mage Knight has elements of deck building. What other aspects of modern board gaming do you enjoy?

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Game Review: Transistor

Game Review: Transistor — Blue Ink Alchemy

Big budget studios love their hype machines. They see their customers as fuel for mechanical devices that print money. They choke the causeways of industry news with information on pre-orders, exclusive editions, the latest innovations and "ground-breaking" technology, sometimes before we even get a screenshot of the game in question. Independent studios tend not to do this. The only pre-order benefit that Supergiant Games provided for Transistor was the soundtrack to their game, and if you know anything about the studio, you know that they didn't need six different exclusive editions to win us over. They seem to have this crazy idea that solid design and powerful storytelling alone are enough to sell a game. Welcome to Cloudbank. It's a nice enough town. There are plenty of modern amenities from automated flatbread delivery to concert halls with plenty of seating. But for the Camerata, it isn't quite enough. They want to make adjustments to Cloudbank, on a pretty massive scale, and to do this, they have unleashed the Process, an automated vector for change. Voice have risen up in opposition, and one of those voices belonged to Red, a prominent singer popular in Cloudbank. Their attempt to silence Red forever is only partially successful, and while her voice is gone, she manages to escape with seemingly the only means to stop the Process and defeat the Camerata: the Transistor. When I talk about wanting to tell stories that draw in the audience, interactive storytelling, or getting into the gaming industry, it's games like Transistor that I have in mind. With a minimum of exposition and even dialog, Supergiant Games conveys an emotional and thought-provoking story that feels deeply personal. I still adore their first title, Bastion, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Red, as a character, is more fleshed out and more compelling than The Kid for reasons I have discussed at length - her personality shines through in her actions and design, and rather than being the blank slate many video game protagonists are designed to be, remains her own person making her own decisions from beginning to end.
Red's found herself some trouble. Another advantage that Transistor has over its predecessor is the combat system. While Bastion was frenetic in its fights, player choices coming in weapon selection between arenas, Transistor offers players a robust system for dispatching the Process. The abilities provided by the Transistor have a surprising amount of depth and customization, allowing Red to mix and match what its primary abilities can do and how she benefits from the functions it hosts. The Turn() system is also shockingly flexible, in that it can either work similar to the pause function in FTL as a break from fast-paced real-time action or pushes the game towards more of a turn-based experience. You (and Red) can either stay out of the ethereal wireframes and bash heads as quickly as possible, or you can take your time to plan a perfectly executed combo, or you can mix the two to your liking. Rather than a mere set of mechanical tools, the options in Transistor are more like dabs of paint on your palette, allowing you to participate in the creation of this work of art. It provides you with just as much agency as Red is given, pulling to further into the world of Cloudbank. I do not use 'work of art' lightly. Even if the combat wasn't extremely well-realized (it is) and the story wasn't absolutely flawless in its execution (it is), Transistor would be a treat for the eyes and ears. The richly painted and noir-inspired pseudo-future world of Cloudbank is offset by the austere white of the Process, and the wide streets and empty chairs and benches throughout the city make the experience feel very lonely at times, further underscoring the struggle Red is undertaking. Enemies each have unique appearances, abilities, behaviors, and challenges, and the Transistor's attacks produce striking effects as it takes them apart. Logan Cunningham's voice work remains top-notch, the uncertainty and pain of the Transistor's voice making the narration far more immediate and intimate than that of Rucks in Bastion, as good as that was. The music, as written by Darren Kolb, adds another layer to the world we're exploring, and hearing Red hum along with it underscores the haunting beauty of the entire experience.
You seriously cannot tell me this game is not a work of art. There's no multiplayer. No imposed social media or proprietary platform functionality. Supergiant Games isn't interested in bilking their players for money or regulating their activities. These are talented and passionate folks interested in telling good stories and making great games. With Transistor, they have knocked it clear out of the park. The art is magnificent, the music is electrifying, the combat is exciting, and the story is compelling and engrossing. It hits all of the points to make for an unforgettable experience. With a New Game plus (or 'Recursive') option, unexplored permutations of Functions, and a world this breathtaking and characters this fully realized, there's no reason not to enter Cloudbank yourself. Transistor is one of the best games I've played in a long time, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

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Informing Through Action

Informing Through Action — Blue Ink Alchemy

I have many, many good things to say about Transistor. I'm processing my thoughts for a review that will go up tomorrow, but my immediate takeaway was that Supergiant Games have done it again. They've shown how coherently and completely a story can be told in the medium of video games, with a bare minimum of exposition and dialog. In Transistor, they also demonstrate how effectively one can characterize a silent protagonist through action. More often than not, silent protagonists are conveyed to us through the reactions of others than anything else. They tend to be blank canvases for the player to project themselves upon. Other characters, mostly in first-person games - Garret in the Thief series, Master Chief from Halo, etc - gain more of their own character from the occasional line of dialog, opting for the taciturn badass mold of protagonist. Not so with Red. Her voice stolen by the Camerata, she cannot speak for herself. But despite being silent, and our protagonist, Red is very much her own character. Throughout Transistor, Red pulls the titular sword-like device around her as if it's quite heavy. Yet, she pulls of flourishes with it, tossing it up in the air to catch it as she runs. Her initial pose not only allows her a good range of motion with the weapon, but it can be off-putting to foes: they may think she is too weak to use it effectively, only to be surprised when she enters Turn() to bust some heads. She hums, either along to the music when in Turn() or holding the Transistor, as well as short vocalizations when she sees something in Cloudbank the Transistor wants to tell her (and us) about. Despite the loss of her voice, Red refuses to be completely silent. This is also evident in the terminals scattered throughout the game - the roles of which I will not spoil here. Finally, in the Backdoor hub for the 'bonus' portions of the game, there is a hammock, and after using it, Red yawns and dabs at her eyes, a gesture that speaks to someone used to a refined and maybe even posh lifestyle. Her life might have been thrown into upheaval, but Red refuses to let go of herself, allowing time to breathe in the midst of the chaos. All storytellers, not just video game designers, could benefit from Red's example. She informs us of who she is through her actions. Nobody tells us that she's this smart or this stubborn. It comes across in what we are shown. The guys at Supergiant are not in the habit of explaining much of anything in their games at first; players discover more about the world and the characters through play rather than through cutscene. Brevity, it is said, is the soul of wit, and it's also helpful in conveying a story in the most effective way possible. If your characters have agency, and you're allowing them to change and grow as your story progresses, you're well on your way to this effectiveness. Building on the foundation of agency, you'll want your characters to come across to your audience through actions, possibly more than words. The more speech you cram into your character's mouths, the less story you'll actually be telling. While it is occasionally okay for a character to be long-winded as part of who they are, or needing to explain something to someone else, for the most part, our conversations are relatively short. We do far more than we say. Your characters should be no different. There are a lot of things to take away from the experience of Transistor, many aspects that other game designers, even for big publishers, would do well to emulate. One of the strongest is this method of conveying character through action. I may reiterate this point in my review, but Red feels like a person, with her own life and thoughts and emotions, and this pulled me even deeper into the experience. It's powerful storytelling, and in an interactive medium like this, it's always wonderful to see. Like characters in Journey communicating almost entirely through action, forcing the player to pay attention and forge connections through their own agency, Red takes on a life of her own not just because we have a mouse or thumbsticks to guide her. Her actions show us who she is. Can you say the same for the characters you've created? Art by Jen Zee

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Flash Fiction: Outcropping

Flash Fiction: Outcropping — Blue Ink Alchemy

For the Terribleminds challenge 100-Word Stories.

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I lean out around the rock outcropping I dragged Riley behind to give us cover. I can't see the shooters. But gunfire keeps my head down. "Dave? Are they still shooting?" "Yes." "Don't get shot. It sucks." "I'll keep that in mind." Riley coughs. His hands are over his wound. It looks bad. "I'm scared." "Hang in there, Riley. Blackhawk's coming." "We shouldn't have come here." "We had orders." "I meant the war." I look up. "Yeah. We don't belong here." "I... never told you." "Never told me what?" Nothing. "Riley? Never told me what?" I look again. Riley's not moving.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

500 Words on Vera

500 Words on Vera — Blue Ink Alchemy

I named my car Vera. I think it was almost 5 years ago that my old car had a close encounter of the highway divider kind. I picked up a black Honda Civic coupe from a company called CarSense, and she already had a custom exhaust and great pick-up. Considering she was the very best car I ever owned, I made a deliberate callback to Firefly and named her Vera. She's run pretty well over the last few years. I've had very few problems to speak of. But now, she's 117000+ miles into her life. I've paid her off completely. And now, she's started developing major issues. If I were to get absolutely everything fixed, I'd be spending about half of her trade-in value. I know that other cars have lasted longer than this. A lot of people put a ton of TLC into their cars themselves, extending the life of their modern chariots to ludicrous levels. I respect that deeply. And I know that older cars were built to last. They were not built to support an economy of replacement parts and second-hand labor. They were built, simply, to work, and keep working. Vera's been a companion for a long time. She's been to and from Canada several times, crossed the state of Pennsylvania, and getting to and from PAX East could have been a lot worse. She's comfortable to ride in. I upgraded her radio recently so she syncs with my iPhone, plays music from a thumb drive, and sounds fantastic. I've always liked the thrum of her engine and the roar of her acceleration. Until the last couple days, she hasn't let me down or left me stranded. She's been reliable, quick, and tough. For years she's had a dent on her driver's side. After getting wanged by a post on the way to Canada during some nasty weather, she continued to run just fine after she got pulled out of the ditch. She's worn that dent with pride. I guess there was a part of me that thought of her as kind of invincible. She even gets good gas mileage - 33 or more miles to the gallon on the highway. Not as good as a hybrid, or the Tesla I've been eyeing up, but decent. I'm going to miss her. I'm contemplating trading her in. I don't know if I can trust her for the entire drive out to Seattle in August. It turns out that even after these repairs are done, she'll develop more problems, possibly sooner rather than later. I feel like a family member has been given a medical diagnosis with a questionable outcome. I really don't know the best way to proceed. I guess I'll figure that out over the next few days. Either way, I don't think Vera will be my car for very much longer. It's been a long trip. A good one. It's had ups and downs but I've survived, and so has she. Thanks for everything, Vera. I'll miss you.

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Blue Ink Alchemy

Tabletalk: The Rules of the Game

Tabletalk: The Rules of the Game — Blue Ink Alchemy

Courtesy Theology of Games There are only a few board games that one can play entirely on their own. They essentially become very complex puzzles that you setup and solve on the fly, rather than being assembled, disassembled, or arranged correctly. Sometimes this is fine, but for the most part, you'll want to get other people involved with your games. That means, you have to teach them the rules. The rules of any given game provide the framework and nature of the challenge that game presents. They're essential to board games of all shapes and sizes. But teaching said rules does not have to be a dull undertaking that fills up time you could spend playing and having fun with tedious rules explanations that sound just short of obfuscatory legalese. Here are a couple basic tips for making a session of teaching the rules of the game not suck.

Don't just read from the rulebook.

Direct reading of rules from a rulebook to a potential player is poison to the interest in the game. While some gamers will still be fascinated by how the rules interlace or the ramifications of certain situations, new players in particular (especially if they don't often play board games) will not want to hear the dry, uncharacterized rules right from the off. That will just play up the stodgy stereotype of board games and the people who play them, and we do not want that. Instead, give the players an idea of what their options are on their turn. As much as this can lead to players being somewhat isolated in early turns, it puts their focus on what's in front of them. "So you have these cards, these pieces, and this objective in mind. What do you want to do next?" When they decide what they want to do, be it for the objective or just for fun, encourage them and show them how its done while explaining any rules involved. It gets you playing faster, it gives context to the rules, and it pulls new players in quickly.

Introduce components before rules.

The other problem with rules explanations is that it requires new players to focus entirely on what you're saying, and it needs to make sense. Dry readings from the rulebook can be very difficult to make interesting or even sensical, as some rulebooks are more reference sources than coherent reading experiences (looking at you, Fantasy Flight Games). But your board game has more than just the board and the rulebook - you have components, cards, dice, miniatures, and all sorts of things that can help your players pay attention. I can't take credit for this one. Quinns from Shut Up & Sit Down pointed out that people are actually more attentive if they have something in their hands. If they're just sitting there listening to a tutorial, they are unlikely to retain everything they hear. Give them a component, a hand of cards, or some currency or tokens, and suddenly they're paying more attention. This also ties into the previous point of giving them options for their first turn. Tying your explanation into what they're holding and what their choices might be engages them in the proceedings right from the off.

If you're going to teach it, know it.

This might seem like a no-brainer. And it doesn't apply to all situations. If you're unboxing a game for the very first time in front of new players, it's impossible for you to know the game front to back the way you really should in order to teach it. But this is likely to be a rare occurrence. Most of the time, you'll have the game before the time comes to play it. In that case, you should know it before you teach it. This will help you in not reading dry rules from the rulebook, getting new players involved, and focusing more on their opening moves than on what the rules say.

Provide personal examples.

Most people like to hear stories. Many also like to tell them. There are some humorless folks out there who don't want some silly story about emotions and morals and personal interest to interfere in their action, but that's usually more applicable in terms of first-person shooters than board games. When you're teaching a new game to people, it can be helpful to tell them some of your own experiences with it, especially if you tell them how you've lost. Not only does this help new players figure out what to avoid, it demonstrates that while you know the game, you are not infallible. This will increase their confidence and get them more eager to play the game you've taught them. And when the game is over, they'll have experiences of their own to relate to others!

Don't take my word for it.

I mentioned Quinns and his site, and he has more tips on rules explanations right here. There are also lots of folks in the comments section to provide guidance. Be sure to check it out here! Board gaming is a great hobby, and it's even better when you get more people around the table. The more the merrier may be a somewhat cliched phrase, but it's true. Even two players tends to be better than one when it comes to board gaming, and some games really come into their own when you get a great number of people playing at the same time. As much as they all need to know the rules, there's no need for learning said rules to be boring. Make it interesting. Bring them in. And before they know it, they'll know the rules of the game well enough to teach others. The cycle will continue, the hobby will grow, and more and more games will come out of the basement and into the light.

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