Origins Day 2
/It's been a crazy day of game playing and I still haven't gotten enough or seen everything I have wanted to yet. One of the final games we demoed at the end of day one was Unfair by CMON. I have to say, this game kind of caught me off guard. I had heard some really mixed things about it, but I really liked it. I thought it was an interesting take on card drafting, set collection as well as hand management. The tableau builder has some take that but we were informed you can control how much of that is contained in your game. Since we only played a demo I really would like to play through a full game of this one and some of the expansions that they have in the works sound like it can really add to the game.
This morning I stopped by and was talking to Patrick Leder of Leder Games and we were able to be some of the first to sit down and play their new game, Deep Enemy Frontier. This is a 4X space game where each player takes a different role in the game. The components we were playing with were prototype materials, but we still were able to get a good feel for the game. It sounds like this game is currently in competition to be their next Kickstarter and it's up against the expansion for Vast: The Crystal Caverns. I will say, I really enjoyed playing The Captain role in this game and I think Leder games is going to have another successful game in their library. The game has different play styles and win conditions for each of the roles in the game and at time you may be working with your opponents to stop another player and in the next round you may be fighting against the person you were just working with. I can't wait to see this game in its final form.
We then turn around and saw that Pinball Showdown was being shown. We got a quick overview of the game but we didn't get a chance to play it. I will definitely be stopping back to play this one in between interviews tomorrow. It actually sounded and looked like they turned a pinball game into a card game. The art on the cards was very well done and the game play sounded fun.
After this we stopped over at the Renegade Games booth. Sentient was there, but they weren't able to demo the game yet as it sounds like there was a component missing from these early shipped versions and it wouldn't be in until late Friday. I will definitely be stopping back to demo this game. But while we were there we jumped into a quick game of Flipships. I haven't played too many dexterity games, but this one plays a lot like a game of Space Invaders or Centipede. Enemy ship cards are moving towards you and you need to work together with the other players to destroy these cards as they advance. Each player has a couple of discs they will flip to try to land on the different cards to destroy them. These discs are on a card that matches that players color and each player has a different action on their card which can change strategy or how or where you flip your disc. I don't think any of us hit the "mother ship" once, which is a big box like alien ship at the top of the table. Sadly, we all died a horrible death and lost but everyone had a lot of fun trying to stave off the alien invaders.
One of the last games we had a chance to play before we completed our first scenario in True Dungeon was over at Daily Magic Games booth and it was a small card game called Kitten Clash. Each player has a deck of cards with pirate or ninja kittens on them. The cards are also varied in color and each player plays three cards in a row from left to right and once you match a color orthogonallyeither player can try to grab that column of cards. It's a fast paced crazy little game that can fit in your pocket.
So as I mentioned above the next thing we did was spend several hours with the crew at True Dungeon. This is definitely an experience that you need to try at least once. The puzzles were definitely difficult but our group slowly got through them. The combats were a lot of fun, but the size of our party was a bit tricky and we were one short of being full. I was playing a druid and sometimes trying to get to the DM to cast a spell was a bit tricky as people who had already slid their pucks stood around him talking. I was also a little bummed out when our party walked into the last room and the DM had already started going through a puzzle before the whole party was in the room. By the time my wife and I walked in we didn't hear one thing that was said, and the battle went horrible and we actually had a full party wipe. Up until that point, I had a great time, but we kind of stood there once that happened and thought, what just happened and we were pushed out of the exit. I would definitely like to try this again, but I would suggest trying it with friends and not a pick up group.
That's pretty much the end of day two. I stopped and talked to quite a few other publishers and designers about some games and will have more to talk about tomorrow, but until then you know what to do! Go play some gamesand let me know, what you're playing now!