Recap from TotalCon XXVII

Dr. Mechanstein wins with a Volcanic Eruption!

-Erik McGrath

We may have only made it down for Sunday, but TotalCon in Mansfield, MA is a great event. I learned it's actually the largest pure gaming con in New England which is neat. We will definitely be there next year.

Once there, we set up in the board game room near the door and played Battle Tank: Escape From Giant Robot Island and Chem 101. The gaming highlight was a victory by Dr. Mechanstein due to the volcano erupting and melting a tank that had rushed back to protect a crew that had lost their own vehicle. Alas, poor Stammel, I knew him, Horatio.

The best part was the people we got to talk with and the feedback about our games. The black robots in Battle Tank now have slightly better stats than the grey ones due to the most common question simply being "do the black ones have better stats?" The color coding was originally just so we could separate the units for 4 players but now the black robots are Mechanstein's elites and have thicker front armor than their more numerous, grey counterparts.

Chem 101 is a surprise hit so far with much more interest than I had figured for an educational project. So much so that we have decided to develop the first planned expansion, Basic Ions, concurrently with the Octet Rule basic set. Octet Rule uses only H,C,N,O & F while Basic Ions currently will be adding Na, Ca, Cl & S.

This week Inspired will be at Battleground Games and Hobbies in Abington, MA on Wednesday, February 27th. Being as it's the closest LGS to us, this is looking to become a regular thing. I'm also looking forward to going to their monthly boardgame meet-up on Wednesday, March 13th.

TotalCon Playtest, Goblin Sketches and More

-Erik McGrath

The Good

Chem 101 is coming along admirably. Laura's post earlier this week is now our most viewed and the interest has galvanized our design team into making a prototype fit for outside testing. The purpose of the game is for it to be a fun way to help students learn how to make Lewis Dot Structures of molecules and ions. The basic game will include the elements H, C, N, O & F and focus on the importance of the Octet Rule.

We will be at TotalCon this Sunday, February 24th with both Battle Tank and Chem 101 in playable form.  Look for us in the Open Gaming area. We will be happy to answer any Inspired related questions as well as talk about gaming in general.

The 100 Goblins Challenge CJ started is proceeding well.  CJ, Laura and I will each post 100 sketches of goblins in an effort to solidify an art style for future games that will use line art. Only a few of the games we have in process will fit with a cartoon style but we want them to be unified in their style across the lines where possible.

The Bad

Our best quotes for production of Battle Tank are still well out of our price range. It's looking like the price concerns are going to push Battle Tank off the front burner. Without significantly more interest bubbling up around it, it won't ever see full production but there is still some hope as we continue our play testing and marketing efforts.

A very small run of Battle Tank, made basically by hand, is still a possibility.

The Ugly

Board games are my favorite thing to design. I like all the possibilities that the moving parts present, but for a tiny company with no market share the simple cost is a difficult hurdle. Card games are liable to be the immediate future of Inspired Press simply due to the ease of bringing them to market with the abundant Print-On-Demand resources available for card-only games.

Chemical Development

-Laura Andersen

Approaching Educational Game Design

Gaming is an important aspect to education in every stage of development.  From social behavior, memory exercises, science & mathematics, to art, storytelling and anything in between, a well-designed game can teach a child so much more richly than just rote memorization alone.  Because of the effectiveness of gaming in education, it is exceedingly important to hold these games to the highest standard so they are as educational as possible, entertaining, and do not come off as patronizing to the audience.  Chem 101, our first educational game at Inspired Press, is proving to be a fantastic challenge in these respects.

In Chem 101, players will build molecular compounds with element and bond cards, following a set of rules that are intrinsic to the subject matter.  Designing this game has required us to not only take a critical look back on what we learned about chemistry in high school, but also to consider how an educator might use this game in the class room most effectively for the students who pick things up more quickly, the more meticulous learners, and the myriad levels of intermediate students.

Approaching the game’s design in this way has led to some very interesting results. In order to convey all the information inherent to an element in such a way so that every student can construct a compound even if they are just beginning to learn chemistry, we had to reexamine the shape of a traditional playing card.  Not only are we now able to fit all of that information in an easy to interpret way, but the new shape also lends itself to lessons in how molecules naturally form.

The Trouble with Points Systems

Developing a point system has also been an interesting challenge. It is exceptionally important in any educational game for the point system to feel organic to those playing.  If not, the players can feel, patronized, overwhelmed, or not engaged at all.  In Chem 101 we are developing a points system based on the complexity and density of the molecule. So far this points system has displayed a tendency for better understanding of the structure and strength of the molecules due to the different type of bonds.

We feel we would be short of the games potential to set its goal to something as simple as “first to 100 points.”  So, the win conditions of the game will be versatile, to keep the players coming back.  Through game development it has become increasingly apparent that there is a chance here to provide a sense of agency for the students while giving the educators an in-depth multilevel teaching tool. It may take more time to fully develop the game, but I for one believe the meticulous development phase of this game will lead to a phenomenal reward for teachers and students alike. 

Chemistry's in the Cards

-CJ Andersen

The main point of games is that they are fun and engaging; something that is often lacking in the classroom.  Thus we were inspired to create games that also had educational value, particularly in the area of STEM.  It's an subject area near and dear to our hearts, as we have such a lot of big nerds for developers.  Our man Erik has his BS in Physics, Laura teaches engineering to kids, Jillian works in finance, I manipulate numbers for a living, and we all agree that education needs more games.

Enter our latest inspiration that's in the testing phase; currently with the working title "Chem 101".  Using hexagonal element cards and rectangular bond cards, this game attempts to teach players how to create Lewis structures in a competitive point based game.  Our first installment will limit the elements to four of the most common; hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen.  Basic molecule creation objectives will teach about the "Rule of Eight" (valence shells), single/double/triple bonds, formal charges and electronegativity.

One of the more entertaining aspects of creating this game has been that it is teaching me Chemistry all over again.  Erik, as our resident scientist, has been supplying the chemistry expertise, and as the game has taken shape, it proves itself well by reinforcing and building on my dusty high school chemistry knowledge.  Of course the cards can also be used simply as visual aids to demonstrate Lewis structures, but in the end, we will create a game entertaining enough to make you want to learn.

New webhost, new look, new games!

Time for what's new at Inspired. 

First we are going to be using blogspot to talk about our process and what's next for us. We are also going to use it as our webhost due to how much easier it is that what we currently have so all our files are migrating over the next few days.

In Battle Tank news we have established a budget after getting quotes from several printers and we will be giving Kickstarter a try to raise the initial funds. 

And our newest goal, given our team's interest in STEM, we have decided  to create educational games for all ages. Our first project is called 'Chem 101' and will teach players how to build Lewis Structures using hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. 

Stay tuned for more and if you want more info don't be shy, Erik will gladly talk about his creations.

-Erik