A job!

New Job!

This week I finally got a REAL job. Not a contract position, or part-time, or "you can work 40 hours but no benefits" kind of job. While it's outside of the game industry I'm still pretty excited. The University of Advancing Technology hired me as a Lead Curriculum Specialist. I get to help organize a new department's infrastructure and have already spearheaded a big change; a change I hope to look back on in a few years and be really proud of. What's pretty awesome is that it's a position that could lead down a few different paths: education or front-end development. And of course, I'll still be making games on the side. Speaking of...

HeroCraft

This weekend I plan on play-testing a board game I've been working on for almost two years now. HeroCraft, as it's tentatively called (not a play on Warcraft - you actually craft heroes) has been one of those projects of mine that seem to drag on so long it feels like it will never see any real progress. Recently I've cleared some major hurdles and am ready to inflict it on my hapless roommates. 

I came up with the idea of HeroCraft after playing countless sessions of hardcore RPG-style board games. Some of my favorites are Tomb (AEG), Talisman, and Runebound (Fantasy Flight). While these games all offer deep mechanics and strategies they all have a common, crippling weakness: the turn length and play-time can be ludicrously slow. I developed a way to combat this weakness, and applied to my own spin on the genre. 

This Sunday (ideally) will be the first foray into my game. I fully expect it to be a complete failure, so any amount of fun being had will be pretty rewarding. I don't want to give out any details on it just yet, but next week I'll post some of the results and a little more info on the game. Until then!