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. 

Mark 3 Hex Prototype: Demo Days

-CJ Andersen

With crisp new tiles, 3D tokens, and a need to show these off and get opinions from real players, Erik and I will be taking our new prototype out for a spin.  We need some good feedback from people who don't know us personally, as well as start to show our faces around the local board gaming scene.  So during this weekend and the next we will be demonstrating Battle Tank: Escape From Giant Robot Island in two locations.

This Saturday, February 16th at 2:00pm, Inspired Press will be at Battleground Games & Hobbies in Abington, MA.  If you haven't been there in a while, be aware that they've moved to a new location just down the street.

On Sunday, February 24th at noon, we will be at TotalCon in Mansfield, MA for the day.  We plan to set up in the Open Gaming area to demo the game and answer any questions people may have.  So if you are attending, come by and check us out; online preregistration ends Feb 17th (only $10 for a convention day pass).

Spreading the Word

-Erik McGrath

By now you may have seen the pictures and read the rules for Battle Tank. The game has been playable for months now so the work we've been doing is all about improving the experience by making it look better and read more easily. I feel we've been quite successful at that. Here's a side-by-side of the board tiles so you can see clearly what I mean.

                                 Before                                                                After

                                                     

And after doing all that, I have come to appreciate that it was the easy part. It has taken a long time, sure, but at every stage from conception to now, the tasks have been within our skillsets or close enough that we could expand our abilities and get things done.

No, the hard part isn't making the game, it's getting the word out. None of us at Inspired are marketing professionals though a few of us have some experience. Some experience, as it turns out, isn't really that helpful so it has taken some serious effort to figure out what to do and start doing it right.

We've been fortunate in that CJ has a cousin who is a marketing professional and we've gotten some great feedback and assistance from the people we talk to through social media and in person at our game demos.

Eventually everyone comes up with the same advice: get engaged, post on forums and pound the pavement. So that's what we are doing. We are ramping up our presence on social media, posting in communities and trade groups and of course getting our names out at Boardgamegeek and looking for other forums as well.

The most visible thing that will be happening in the near-term is more blog posts here at inspiredpress.net  and those will be showcasing the views and contributions of all the members of the team so you can read what someone besides me (and occasionally CJ) think about what we do.

Ongoing Inspiration

-Erik McGrath

We are still working on recovering from the first unsuccessful attempt to publish Battle Tank: Escape From Giant Robot Island, and I feel it is going pretty well.

The big thing now is to make sure we have a crowd from which to crowdsource. Looking back, it's obvious that to make crowdfunding work you would need to make sure enough people who like your idea already know about it. C'est la vie.

So to that effect, Inspired has been branching out to more forums and communities in order to get not just our products out there, but to get ourselves out there so that people can see what we do and who we are. I personally feel that knowing a game's designer is more likely to make me want to know more about the game and it also helps to know what their opinions are on other subjects as well.

And just because our focus is on the final stages of Battle Tank doesn't me we aren't still hard at work on the other ideas we've come up with.  Here's a draft of the board for our Romance of the Three Kingdoms effort currently called Rise of the Warlords.

It's a complete map of China circa 200AD with fifty major cities and dozens of ports and fortified passes. This draft is 24"x36" (approx 60x90cm for our international friends). The one I'm working on now is slightly larger at 30"x40" (75x100cm) and makes the image look less stretched east-to-west as well as being a quad-fold instead of the bi-fold you can see here.




You can also look forward to a new version of Celestial Warriors in the near future with the existing rules tuned up and some more genre-enhancing subsystems as well as more support for multi-fighter combats.

Battle Tank Upgrade: Demo Prototype!

For a look at the older prototype for comparison, click here

-CJ Andersen

Hello all.  We've been hard at work improving our prototype to be easier on the eyes and much closer to what a finished version would look like.  And now we have results we can actually show you!  I hereby dub this iteration our Demo Prototype.  Click this link to see Erik's gallery of pictures of the new prototype

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111668000868504045251/posts/F1Mbuo2Fpg7

Aside from minor tweaks, the tile artwork is done and updated with suggestions from you all.  The tiles are now printed in full color and not in draft mode, as our first prototype was.  You will notice the center hex on each tile is now colored red to help visually when you're playing robots (since new robots enter play from the center hex).  Rather than being pasted onto corrugated cardboard we had lying around, our Demo Prototype is glued to hardboard (as of now our plans are for the salable products to be glued to chipboard).  We are getting quotes for the price of a custom hexagonal die to make cutting these in bulk much easier and streamlined.

You may also notice some colorful additions.  Through trial and error, we have been experimenting with molding our own tokens and casting them in resin.  They're not perfect yet, but with steady improvements as each batch is made we're getting a firm grasp on the process and will be able to produce as many of the little tanks and robots as we need.

Next on the itinerary will be to make a MegaMech token, and then this thing will be fully playable.  For those of you in the south shore of MA, we will be arranging a time to Demo this game at Battlegrounds in Abington, MA, so stay tuned for future announcements.

A Learning Experience

-Erik McGrath
Yesterday we decided to cancel funding for the Battle Tank Kickstarter. We didn't want to do it but it was apparent we weren't going to make our goal in the time we had left and that we were better off stopping now and regrouping.

We have learned some valuable things about what to do (and not to do) in the future though, so all in all I consider this a win. In the next few weeks we will be physically improving our prototype, making new videos, expanding the storyline and spending much, much more time getting the name out there.

All of yesterday was spent strategizing. We need to make our operation as small as possible and do as much in-house as we are able. That means sourcing materials and putting our own skills to use assembling the game rather than sending it out for production. In the future, or as a stretch goal, we want to be able to produce a larger number of sets but that would require a larger goal and we would much rather succeed small and have to work overtime rather than fail again.

For right now my focus is on building molds and casting tanks and robots to replace the cardboard chit stand-ins we have been using. CJ will be putting the finishing touches on the artwork for the tiles.

So please continue to give us feedback.  This campaign has been extremely educational, and will allow us to focus our zeal for making games into better marketing.  You can give us feedback here by leaving comments, or by emailing us at inspiredpressgames@gmail.com.

One Week On

-Erik McGrath

It's been a week since we launched our Kickstarter project for Battle Tank: Escape From Giant Robot Island and we have gotten mostly positive feedback, but we are still far short of our goal and we can see a few things we should have done better.

Luckily it isn't too late yet.

In the beginning, we were really worried about the budget. It would be pretty terrible to fund and find out we couldn't deliver after all. But even still there are some things that need to get done and are worth the added expense so as of now we are working overtime to get those things added.

And the main targets among those things are:

All Plastic, All the Time
Forget cardboard tokens; we're working on making custom, plastic miniatures. In the next few days we will discover if my sculpting and molding skills are still sharp. The sculpting will be relatively easy, a tank is mainly a block though the robot I've got right now looks sort of like a nefarious gingerbread man.

More Rewards
Not just more levels, but more goals built right in. We have already planned several expansions for Battle Tank so we're going to add more information about them starting with Battle Tank: Assault on Laser Shark Lagoon.

Assault on Laser Shark Lagoon
Whereas Escape From Giant Robot Island is all about running away, this expansion is all about taking the fight to the mad scientist's doorstep. This expansion introduces Dr. Aquaria Bublé, an expert in melding flesh and machine. Due to her lack of an imposing fortress she is easy to underestimate, but who needs a mountain when you can live beneath the waves, hidden by the majestic (and largely artillery proof) sea?

Future Expansions
Each new set will introduce a new mad scientist and the necessary tiles to construct their lair as well as introduce any new rules necessary to handle them. Laser Shark Lagoon, for example, introduces water as a major terrain feature as well as melee attacks from the fearsome metal jaws of the cybernetically augmented great whites favored by Dr. Bublé.

Beyond these early sets there will come flying vehicles and monsters, submersibles, new terrain types and many other things that we hope will be as fun for you as they are for us.