Drewcifer

I learned the basics through Game Maker's Apprentice - you can find a pdf of the book online with a quick google search, but you may have to hit up a certain plunderer's bay to get the associated files if you don't want to purchase it outright. Don't be discouraged by how crappy the games look/feel, if you finish all the tutorials you'll be quite well equipped to make your own.

oh man, I just watched the opening video. That was brilliant in every way, I wish I had contributed! I guess I'll just have to catch it the next go around...

This is a great idea! It seems we're all of varying levels of experience, and I'm shocked to realize I've moved up from amateur to something else - I have a couple GameMaker experiments and prototypes under my belt already. I'm actually determined to make a new game every month this year, and I have two so far (the last one was that Candy Jam game I posted in the 'plug your shit' thread). I've only just started work on March's game if anyone wants to get in on this... Also I've never used IRC, but I'm down to try it out!

Noyb, I think I found a bug... I made 1 move and it sent it into an endless chain of matches. I stopped playing after the voice over ended and the chain reaction was still going... Not sure if this is a feature, which would be interesting, but the text on the game page suggests there are other levels... Thought you should know.

wooo Candy Jam! Here's mine:http://drewdunaj.itch.io/to-the-edge-of-candy-island

Why is he juggling??????? Why can't I stop watching that????????

This makes me want a game about angry rabbits.

Sorry, I wasn't being specific. I was talking about my reaction to everyday strangers, not my reaction to when a friend or family member is offended. With them, I agree it's important to talk it out. But when someone I don't know confronts me, I'd rather not offend them than debate over it. I agree with what everyone's already concluded on, that people have a right to be offended. Generally, what the person is offended over doesn't cross any boundary with me, so I just say fuck it, and stop.

I'm not sure what this is a reflection of, but when someone is offended by something I say or do, I usually just stop saying or doing it until they are gone. I don't try to figure out why it was offending them, I usually just chalk it up to them being weird or something. What was offending them is typically something petty in my eyes, so I usually see knocking it off as less energy-consuming than trying to understand them.

That's Lord Creamo to you.

Yeesh, in the wake of a real game coming out I feel pretty lame saying I finished a prototype for my first game, Decoys, and you can play it now for free, but only if you tell me about your experience. Thanks, Lacabra. But seriously, congrats man, that's gotta be an amazing feeling. I feel like I saw this on tigsource at some point in an earlier form?

EDIT 5/30/13: It's about time I got this update out - you guys are gonna enjoy this. Decoys now has cards that you can pick up from Objective Points! They do some interesting stuff that dramatically change the way the game is played. Makes the game a bit more fast paced, though you'll have to draw them out before playing - sorry! Download the new complete rule-set here, or just the new rules here! EDIT 5/12/13: Howdy! I've got another update to Decoys! I introduced the score grids Berzee suggested - thanks mate! Download the complete updated rule-set here. If you already have the core rules, download the addition here! And let me know if you do! I Still need a lot of feedback. Cheers! EDIT 5/6/13: Hello again! I've updated the rule-set with pictures and such! I also accidentally made a digital board so you won't have to draw it up or gather game pieces! Download the new rules here, the digital board here, and if you're interested head over here to read a bit about how it all happened. There's more changes coming to Decoys so be ready! I'm going to leave this original post up for my own sake. Thanks, enjoy! --- Hey guys, I'm developing a two player stealth strategy board game called Decoys and I'm looking for people to playtest it for me. I need to make sure people can actually understand my rules and play through a game without me there to answer questions! I posted this in the Video Gaming forum a couple weeks ago but didn't get enough feedback. I hope you folks will be more up for playing some games! It's all about perception and deception, hiding in plain sight. Each player has three game pieces. At the beginning of the game, they secretly choose one of the pieces to be the Spy, the other two are Decoys. To win, players use the Spy to capture objective points on the board before moving it to the Exit, or they can use their Spy to attack the piece they think is their opponent's Spy. The purpose of the Decoy pieces, since they cannot complete any game-winning objectives, is to trick their opponent into thinking they are the Spy so that the real one does not get attacked. It's like Chris Hecker's Spy Party, but both players are hunter/hunted at the same time, and instead of hiding in a crowd of NPCs, the crowd is made up of players' game pieces. If anyone is interested, what follows is the core rule set of Decoys. There exists another version with a couple extra mechanics, but I want to make sure the core of it works and can be played. If anyone has the time, I would greatly appreciate some feedback! It only takes about 20 minutes to play, and you'd be helping me out quite a bit! Thanks! What you need: A pen, some paper, 6 unique game pieces, and a friend. The Board: Here is an example of a Decoys board - The red dots are Player 1's starting squares. The blue dots are Player 2's starting squares. The yellow dot is the Exit. The green numbers are Objective Points (OPs). The numbers themselves are Objective Numbers (ONs). Notice there are three OPs for every ON. Setting Up: Start by drawing the grid board as shown (I recommend 1"x1" squares), including all the numbers. You may want to mark the starting squares and the Exit, but it's not required. Then, each player secretly chooses one of their 3 game pieces to be their Spy, as well as a set of OPs to capture by picking an ON (1, 2, or 3). Record these choices on a piece of paper, for honesty's sake. (For example; a player has a red piece, a blue piece, and a green piece. He chooses the red piece to be the Spy, and decides to go for the 1s. He writes "Red" and "1" on a scrap of paper without his opponent seeing.) The two pieces not chosen to be the Spy are called Decoys. To determine who goes first, play a best 2 out of 3 game of Rock Paper Scissors, it gets you in the right mindset. Objectives: Use your Spy to capture all three of your OPs (determined by your ON) and reach the Exit, or Attack your opponent's Spy. Decoys cannot capture objectives or Attack. Turns: You start every turn with 3 Movement Points (MPs) to spend on moving all three of your pieces. It costs 1 MP to move any piece 1 square in any direction, but not diagonally. You do not have to spend all 3 MPs on your turn, but you always start with exactly 3.Your turn is over when you declare it is, and any number of pieces can occupy the same square. (For example; you can move one piece 3 squares, or one piece 2 squares and another piece 1 square, or move all three of your pieces 1 square each, etc.) Capturing Objective Points: To capture an OP, simply move your Spy into a square marked with your chosen ON and leave it there for the duration of your opponent's turn. There is no special action required, as it is meant to be as subtle as possible. The number stays on the board, as players may choose the same ON and will have to capture the same OPs to win. Only the Spy can capture an OP, and only if it matches the player's ON. A Decoy can be left on an OP during the opponent's turn but will not capture it. Reaching the Exit: If you have captured all three of your designated OPs with your Spy, you can win the game by moving your Spy into the Exit square. As soon as the Spy enters the Exit square with three captured OPs, the game is over and you win. Decoys cannot enter the Exit square. Attacking: If you think you know which of your opponent's pieces is the Spy, you can move your Spy into a square adjacent to the piece in question and declare an Attack against it. To do this, reveal to your opponent which piece is your Spy and point out which piece you are attacking. Your opponent then reveals whether or not the piece you attacked is the Spy. If it is, then the game ends and you win. If it isn't, the piece is removed from the board, your turn ends, and the game continues on. Decoys cannot attack.

Hey guys, I hope you're ready because the brand new Decoys is here! It's faster and less tense (at least for the first half...) so it shouldn't be as draining as before, but I won't know for sure unless y'all play it! Help a brotha out!!

Thanks, people were getting really confused by all the numbers so I figured simple shapes would make a fine replacement. And there is something endearing about digital boards, I can't quite put my finger on it though.

I edited my original post again, check it out! Also, I wrote a blog post in which I name-drop the shit out of Berzee here.

Yes! I have been looking for a solution to that awkward duel once someone screws up an attack - this sounds like it could work. I'm glad you two enjoyed it! Those two victories you described tells me you both got it, despite the capturing mistake. Really, making your piece wait on an objective is just a way to make the capture stand out more, since there can be no other way to signify they move without revealing your Spy. And the strategies you develop from game to game becoming moot is just a factor of the players' relationship. After playing a few games against the same opponent, her play style will become more apparent and you will adjust your strategies accordingly, and vice versa. That's when your previously winning strategy becomes obvious - the dynamic between two continuous opponents changes from game to game because of that very effect. But when you are playing against a new opponent, all of those strategies you've accrued are valid again - or not! The first match against a new opponent is more "excruciatingly tense" than following games because of the unpredictability of your opponent's skill. I'm still working on the new rule set, I hope you guys will try it out. It involves cards that you can pick up from objective points that give you special abilities - they open up some interesting strategies! Should have the update soon.

Berzee, to answer your two questions first: An attack does NOT cost any MP as I want to give player's as much movement as possible before making an attack - I actually experimented with that idea but it was too hard for player's to position themselves the turn before the attack. And no, you can't attack diagonally, though this is really just an arbitrary decision to match it up with no diagonal movement. I really like your suggestion about the scoring grids! Eliminating the need for the honor system is ideal. It may be a bit difficult to keep 6 separate grids from cluttering the board, but it is a clever solution that I'll have to try implementing. Having cards that randomly assign ONs and a Spy is actually a suggestion I got from a lot of the developers that played the game during GDC, and I plan on making them a part of the game since choosing them at the start is more or less a meaningless choice and doling them out would help get players to the interesting ones sooner. As for attacking, it is meant to be extremely high consequence - win or lose - and most people will go through the game without attacking at all, opting to sneak their Spy to the Exit. But as soon as one player gets a piece too close to the Exit (4-5 squares), their opponent tends to freak out and attack for fear of losing on the next turn. And really, that's kind of how I wanted the mechanic to be valued - a last resort kind of thing. As for the rule set, failing the addition of the randomly assigned objective/Spy cards, this is the most up to date version. I'm hoping to have the new version finished by the end of the week - it introduces some new features that spice up the normal progression of things. Thanks for the feedback, man. I hope you and the Mrs. have a good time!

I think im going to the secret black fedora party Thursday night if anyone else is. Also, why don't we meet up in the park above the north hall? Its right there and we can go get some drinks or something.

Woo! Got my badge, hangin out in the West Hall. About to grab some food from one of the suggestions in the other GDC 2013 thread. I say we need a way to communicate a bit faster, like a twitter # or something because logging into this forum takes a bit longer than checking my phone. Any ideas? #GDCthumbs?

I landed in San Fran Thursday morning, I'm staying with a friend in Oakland. This is my first time going to GDC (also my first time anywhere on the West Coast). I didn't get the volunteer position sadly, but I got a Summits pass and will be attending the entire Game Narrative Summit. These food recomendations are great, I love a good bite. And the meet-up has got to happen, but I'm mostly looking forward to the chance to talk with other designers/people in the industry. I'm from a small town in New Jersey and the development community is quite lacking, so being able to geek out with other people who know what they're talking about is going to be amazing. Also, I'm probably gonna get star-struck a couple times! There are some people going who I can't wait to meet...

Codicier, I'm well aware of this problem, and I forgot to put the solution in my rule set, sorry! In most situations, I have a third party read the recorded information from both players, and they are in charge of keeping track of captured OPs. When there is no third party, players make a mark on their paper every time one of their pieces lands on an OP. When it matches their ON they make a special mark. This still isn't perfect, but it fixes both problems you identified. It's true that the honor system and human memory aren't the best things to rely on, and I will take a look at that link.

subbes, do it! Most of my own testing was done in similar conditions... And dibs, that sounds like a good alternative, but its reasons like that that make me want to digitize the game.

Hey guys, I'm developing a two player stealth strategy board game called Decoys and I'm looking for people to playtest it for me. I need to make sure people can actually understand my rules and play through a game without me there to answer questions! It's all about perception and deception, hiding in plain sight. Each player has three game pieces. At the beginning of the game, they secretly choose one of the pieces to be the Spy, the other two are Decoys. To win, players use the Spy to capture objective points on the board before moving it to the Exit, or they can use their Spy to attack the piece they think is their opponent's Spy. The purpose of the Decoy pieces, since they cannot complete any game-winning objectives, is to trick their opponent into thinking they are the Spy so that the real one does not get attacked. It's like Chris Hecker's Spy Party, but both players are hunter/hunted at the same time, and instead of hiding in a crowd of NPCs, the crowd is made up of players' game pieces. If anyone is interested, what follows is the core rule set of Decoys. There exists another version with a couple extra mechanics, but I want to make sure the core of it works and can be played. If anyone has the time, I would greatly appreciate some feedback! It only takes about 20 minutes to play, and you'd be helping me out quite a bit! Thanks! What you need: A pen, some paper, 6 unique game pieces, and a friend. The Board: Here is an example of a Decoys board - The red dots are Player 1's starting squares. The blue dots are Player 2's starting squares. The yellow dot is the Exit. The green numbers are Objective Points (OPs). The numbers themselves are Objective Numbers (ONs). Notice there are three OPs for every ON. Setting Up: Start by drawing the grid board as shown (I recommend 1"x1" squares), including all the numbers. You may want to mark the starting squares and the Exit, but it's not required. Then, each player secretly chooses one of their 3 game pieces to be their Spy, as well as a set of OPs to capture by picking an ON (1, 2, or 3). Record these choices on a piece of paper, for honesty's sake. (For example; a player has a red piece, a blue piece, and a green piece. He chooses the red piece to be the Spy, and decides to go for the 1s. He writes "Red" and "1" on a scrap of paper without his opponent seeing.) The two pieces not chosen to be the Spy are called Decoys. To determine who goes first, play a best 2 out of 3 game of Rock Paper Scissors, it gets you in the right mindset. Objectives: Use your Spy to capture all three of your OPs (determined by your ON) and reach the Exit, or Attack your opponent's Spy. Decoys cannot capture objectives or Attack. Turns: You start every turn with 3 Movement Points (MPs) to spend on moving all three of your pieces. It costs 1 MP to move any piece 1 square in any direction, but not diagonally. You do not have to spend all 3 MPs on your turn, but you always start with exactly 3.Your turn is over when you declare it is, and any number of pieces can occupy the same square. (For example; you can move one piece 3 squares, or one piece 2 squares and another piece 1 square, or move all three of your pieces 1 square each, etc.) Capturing Objective Points: To capture an OP, simply move your Spy into a square marked with your chosen ON and leave it there for the duration of your opponent's turn. There is no special action required, as it is meant to be as subtle as possible. The number stays on the board, as players may choose the same ON and will have to capture the same OPs to win. Only the Spy can capture an OP, and only if it matches the player's ON. A Decoy can be left on an OP during the opponent's turn but will not capture it. Reaching the Exit: If you have captured all three of your designated OPs with your Spy, you can win the game by moving your Spy into the Exit square. As soon as the Spy enters the Exit square with three captured OPs, the game is over and you win. Decoys cannot enter the Exit square. Attacking: If you think you know which of your opponent's pieces is the Spy, you can move your Spy into a square adjacent to the piece in question and declare an Attack against it. To do this, reveal to your opponent which piece is your Spy and point out which piece you are attacking. Your opponent then reveals whether or not the piece you attacked is the Spy. If it is, then the game ends and you win. If it isn't, the piece is removed from the board, your turn ends, and the game continues on. Decoys cannot attack.

Right, all 6 game pieces can be in the same square.

I actually made this account sometime last year but never made a post, so hello hello! I'm Drew Dunaj, a game designer from New Jersey and a long time Thumb fan. I'm in the middle fo developing a stealth-strategy board game and I'm hoping to conduct some blindtesting with the community. Anyway, cheers, video games!