Thoughts of a Mad Scientist: Grunts

YES I'VE GOT IT!

I have discovered the best solution to my military quandary. No, not creatures of myth and legend. No not mercenaries. No not mindless machines.

The answer is Grunts! Yes, genetically engineered Grunts. They are the perfect solution to every mad scientists needs. They are loyal to a fault. They will do anything you tell them to. They especially enjoy smashing things. Seriously, Just send them into a place and they will smash it all up. They can't really make plans for themselves, but who cares? That's what I'm here for! Their horns, and rough skin make them terrifying opponents for the inexperienced mad scientist. Yes.... they shall be my army.

They aren't indestructible, but they're are easy to replace. They can subsist on essentially nothing at all and even if they do get hungry they can just eat each other. They are all made out of Gamma Juice after all.

Now all I need is a ready supply of Gamma Juice and my plans will come to fruition.

Protospiel Cleveland Here We Come!

Kyle and I are going to be at Protospiel Cleveland from March 9th to 11th this year. It's going to be happening at Cleveland Concoction, a small sci-fi, games, and comic convention at the Bertram Inn & Conference Center in Aurora, OH. So we get to go to a convention but what is Protospiel you ask?

Protospiel is an event where people can bring their prototype tabletop games for other game designers and publishers to check out. They play your game, you play theirs, and everyone gets constructive feedback to help make their games better. It's perfect! A group of people who are all trying to have fun and get better with one another. So much fun. 

So, before we go to Protospiel there are few things that they say people should do to prepare: 

(This info comes from http://www.protospiel.org/page2.html) 

-Mention your design goals from the start. It helps playtesters to keep things in perspective and have accurate expectations.

-Be respectful of everyone's time. Anything you can do ahead of time to sort components, have summary cards available or even plan out how you'll teach the game will be greatly appreciated.

-If it's clear a game is not working well, or that additional play isn't going to reveal much additional information, the best thing to do is stop early. You'll still get plenty of feedback and playtesters will appreciate your consideration.

-After a playtest session, fellow designers will share their thoughts about the game. Be open to their feedback, but make it clear what you're looking for. For example, do you want suggestions for rule changes or are you just looking for their thoughts on card distributions?

These are the big things that we're going to be focused on while we're there and I can't wait to see what other people are making. Hopefully we get to see you there! 

Thoughts of a Mad Scientist: Building New Friends

Since I last left you I had discovered the truest form of happiness... World Domination.

I have mused on how to create my army. There are many different ways to build an army. For example, I can hire mercenaries. They have a history of impressive feats and getting the job done. Too bad they think too much and demand pay. They also have no loyalty, except to the highest bidder of course. In the end, I would have to worry about someone paying them to dethrone me. Can't have that....

I could build an army of machine warriors. They would be practically indestructible, fully loyal and never get tired. These machine warriors would break through the defenses of my enemies and NEVER DIE... because they're not really alive. Sadly though, they are too expensive to make. Seriously, have you seen that Honda Robot Azimov? It cost like six million dollars to design and didn't even include weapons or combat systems and can barely walk. Can you imagine how much that will cost. At least like six million and one dollars. And then there's production costs and labor. Even with forced labor the parts alone will break the bank.

I could always tie myself to the occult and make a dark pack with the Darkest of Dark beings. Unknown to the world is the insanity and power of the "Other" world. The greatest of creatures and most terrifying of aberrations will be unleashed. My enemies would go insane not trusting their senses. Perhaps, they would be consumed with fear and be unable to leave their homes ever again. Sadly though, there is a high price to this dark pack. One of the aberrations I summon could quite possibly be the spirit of my dearly departed Great Aunt Havisham. A dreadful woman indeed. The risk is too great, far too great to have to deal with that woman. Who knows, perhaps even they would drive me quite even madder than I already am.

I could enlist the aid of the fantasy creatures of yore. Yes, YES!!!! Dragons and trolls, goblins and orcs. They would suit my purposes well. They could bring ruin to my enemies. Dragons can fly through the air and breath death from the skies. Trolls could crash through the walls of my enemies smashing and bashing all the way through to the heart of their complex. Lets not forget the goblins and orcs. Goblins can wreak havoc on the robots they so foolishly built where I was smart enough to avoid. The orcs in their massive hoards can spread through the landscape and pillage all of the resources I could ever need... Oh wait.... these creatures aren't real. Oh well, the trolls would probably just find themselves arguing with people in the VideoTube comment section anyways.

Hmmmmm, none of these are just quite right. What can the solution be?!

Check Out Our Artist!

So Kyle and I have made it all official. We created HipLein Industries LLC-a game company, we have our tax ID, and we have opened our business account. If you're looking for an awesome deal for small businesses, check out Huntington Bank. They made the process super easy and we were able to get a checking account for our small business. No limited amount, no yearly fees, limited fees, etc. It really puts us in an easy place to just focus on completing and promoting our game.

We also officially announced it on Facebook!!! We went live and went over how the game generally works. We also threw a big shout out to our artist, James Koenig. We love his style and really enjoy what he does. You can check some of his work out at www.freelancefridge.com, which is filled with a variety of designs.

Here are a few examples of his artwork. Note: THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE IN GAMMA GRUNTS but we wanted to share the kind of work he does.

 

Keep an eye out for news to come and we'll go into our process with everything!!!!
Thanks for being some of the coolest people we know.