Tiki Bar TV: Day Of The Tiki

April 29th, 2009 Zen

Yes, the news is in.

Secret Lab is working on the first official Tiki Bar TV computer-powered video game! Very exciting stuff. Also, if you read my blog and weren’t linked to it from Secret Lab (how?), check out their website. They make cool stuff.

So, what am I doing for Day Of The Tiki? Unlike all my comrades at Secret Lab, I have very little in the way of real skills. It appears, as no shock to anyone who knows me, that I have squandered the vast majority of my life playing games and not doing any work. It is in this capacity that I assist the team - my extensive experience with games. I provide the gameplay and puzzle ideas, although not exclusively (all of Secret Lab contributes).

I’m proud to be the member of the team who can convey a game idea by citing older, obscurerer games. I’m proud to be able to begin an explanation with “Who here has ever played A Boy And His Blob? Nobody? Well, in it…” or “What about Blackhawk? On the Snes? Anyone?”.

So that’s pretty much my involvement in a nutshell. If you like thinking about games when you’re not playing them, check out the Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 blogs. They have some good articles.

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Keep Your Ear To The Internet

April 25th, 2009 Zen

And ignore the strange noises.

Important news coming up this weekend. Keep your eyes on the Secret Lab website in the next few days to see what the next Big Thing On The Internet will be. More on this as events unfold.

Captain’s Blog, Supplemental: The announcement has been delayed, but is set to be made very soon.

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Suspicion, Distrust and Teamwork

April 20th, 2009 Zen

I tend to favour games with flimsy alliances and deadly tactical consequences. To explain, I like games that allow you backstab, and be vulnerable to the same. When I half-bake an idea for a board or card game in my head, I deliberately keep teamwork in mind.

Permanent alliances, or teams set out from the start, harbour a sense of security. You know who your friends are, you know where the enemy is - you build your tactics on numbers and probability alone. However, when you play a game in which you form alliances that can be broken, or you just don’t know who the enemy is, a human element of suspicion and distrust develops - which extends the game beyond simply knowing the rules and the best tactics. Note that these rules apply to certain fantastic electronic video computer games, in which Spy Checking can be a waste of time and ammunition.

In a card game idea that has been ongoing for some time now, I have toyed with the idea of players’ reliance on each other, even though there can be only one victor. It is my hope that players will begin the game with complete teamwork in mind, in order to complete their common objective, but as they get closer to the end, will begin playing against each other or, at the very least, leaving each other to die.

So, if you ever aspire to making a computer game or two, throw in some suspicion and distrust with your teamwork.

Posted in Board Games, Card Games, Game Concepts, PC Gaming | No Comments »