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Kickstarter Spotlight: THE AGENTS

This week’s kickstarter spotlight is a game currently looking to be funded for printing.  It is a card game called THE AGENTS.  In the game you take the role of several agents you assemble as a team, and the game uses a brand new card mechanic called double edged cards which makes you choose whether or not you score points or take advantage of a special character attribute.  Be ware though your opponent will reap the opposite choice of your decision. Meaning if you take the points they will get the skill and vice-versa.

This game gets our weekly spotlight because it seems simple enough to learn and step into, but still provide plenty of room for strategy and intense gaming sessions.  Our favorite kind of game!

theagents

From Kickstarter

A strategic 2-5 players card game of clever tactics & critical consequences, set in a world of spies, sabotage, secrecy and subterfuge.

Double Edged Cards

The Agents gameplay is based on a unique, new mechanic we like to call ‘Double-edged Cards’. Each Agent card features a ‘command’ on one end of the card and ‘points’ on the other end. However, the direction in which you place the card will determine from which asset you benefit. If you choose to perform the command, one of your opponents will get the points. If you keep the points for yourself, an opponent gets to perform the command.

doubleedged

Throughout the game, you’ll need both commands and points to advance. Commands will allow you to manipulate Agents, control your Factions, and influence other players. But you’ll need points to buy more Agents and Missions. And ultimately, the player with the most points wins.

Deciding how to place each card will require strategic precision and calculated foresight, as you try to further your own goals, and prevent your opponents from reaching theirs.

Want More Info? Check the Kickstarter

Kickstarter Spotlight: Shuriken Board Game

 

This weeks Kickstarter spotlight is a fast paced miniatures combat game called Shuriken.  It pits players against one another allowing them to wield an army of ninjas.  Throughout the game you will go head to head to see who can skillfully master the arts of ninjitsu.

This project looks like it could be a lot of fun, and is very early in it’s Kickstarter life cycle, I recommend you back it so that you can propel your clan to the heights of power and drive your enemies away from your game table. Or at least take a moment to toss a few shurikens into an empty pizza box.

From Kickstarter

“In Shuriken, players take control of 250 plastic ninja including unarmed, sword, shuriken, and master ninja. During the game the players place, move, and upgrade their ninja forces on the modular board as they attempt to learn new techniques and battle enemy ninja — often destroying the board in the process.

The winner is the player with the most victory points when the sun rises at the end of the night.”

shurikenbox

Here what you will find inside the Shuriken board game:

  • 250 plastic ninja miniatures (28mm): 50 each of 5 colors. Each color (one for each player) has 24 Unarmed Ninja, 12 Sword Ninja, 12 Shuriken Ninja, and 2 Master Ninja
  • 12 double-sided modular gameboard tiles
  • 20 Hour of Night cards
  • 80 Mission Cards
  • 5 Clan Cards
  • 10 custom 6-sided dice, black plastic with white icons
  • 42 tracking tokens (for tracking upgrades and noting damage to board tiles

shurikenninja swordninja

 

Check the Kickstarter

Fireside Games Interview!

I got to grab Justin DeWitt for a few minutes to talk about Fireside Games’ tour, advice for game companies, gaming as a passion and the upcoming Dead Panic.  Check it out!  Special thanks to San Angelo’s Specialties Games, Toys, and Gifts for providing the location and for letting me record!

Fireside

Check out Fireside

Kickstarter Spotlight: Boss Fight

BossFight

Outwit your friends. Kill the hero. Become the Final Boss. A fast-paced, strategic card game.

This weeks Kickstarter Spotlight goes to Boss Fight, a fast paced card game that has players take the role of a boss in a dungeon.  Each player is competing to be the one who kills the would be hero who happened to enter your dungeon and in turn taking the mantle of the Final Boss of the dungeon.  The game developer, James Johnson, describes the game as a hybrid of Magic the Gathering and Uno.  In short Boss Fight seems to be a great game to bring to the table any time you want a fast, yet competitive gaming experience between your friends.

It also is a game that is primarily finished.  While the funds from Kickstarter can be used to polish the game a bit more James and the rest of New Game+ Studios are using the Kickstarter platform to provide a bit of press on their product.  With an extremely low $2,000 goal in mind.  This project is also a member of the Kicking it Forward initiative, which means that James has promised to donate 5% of profits earned by this project back to other Kickstarter projects.

 

From Kickstarter

Game Mechanics

At the beginning of the game, a dealer shuffles and deals five cards to each player.  All players share the same single deck.

In Boss Fight, players only draw cards when they deal damage to the hero.  The amount of damage a card deals is circled in the upper right corner.  Do 1 damage, draw one card.  Do 3, draw three.  Do zero, and you don’t get to draw that turn!

It’s not just death and destruction, though.  Accidents happen.  Sometimes a healing spell backfires and manages to hit the hero, or incoming damage mysteriously turns into healing instead.  Potentially lethal Spells fizzle out.  Mighty, dangerous Minions fall into friendly Spike Pits.  The dungeon isn’t well-lit.

There are three basic types of cards:  Minions, Spells, and Traps.  Thoughtful use of all three types is critical for any prospective Final Boss.

BossFight_Minion BossFight_Trap BossFight_Spells

Expansion Ready!

The first expansion is tentatively titled Rooms, and introduces the titular Room card, which is permanent on the board until another Room replaces it or it is otherwise removed.  The premise is that these are special areas of the dungeon set up by the Bosses to hinder or help the Hero as he explores — think a convenient healing spring, or a room that suddenly fills with choking poison gas.

Want More Info Check Out The Kickstarter!

Kickstarter Spotlight: The Great Gaias

My child hood was spent gaming, and some of my favorite gaming memories are waking up as early as I could to play my favorite jrpgs (Final Fantasy 4, 6 & Chrono Trigger).  I absolutely loved the concept and genre.  I played most of the U.S. releases and would often replay my favorites.  That is why I think everyone should take a look at this weeks Kickstarter spotlight, The Great Gaias.

great-gaias-tome

The Story

“The Great Gaias is an ancient tome authored by the Gods that is able to reincarnate the souls of ones who have led a life that was supremely influential and helped shape history. The First Men, the Chosen Ones, having been granted immortality by the Gods and free will, were charged with the governance of lesser man and ruled justly and righteously their new city called Validus. After years of prosperity, a stranger from the east, Grindelwald Maultor, brought magic to the First Men, and with this new-found power came tyranny.

Using this mighty gift he corrupted the immortal First Men, transforming them to wickedness. The Gauf, as these ten immortal warlords were named, waged a bloodthirsty war against the other free folk of Tenat.  It wasn’t until the Warriors of Old, souls birthed from The Great Gaias, battled Validus, and pushed their forces back, imprisoning the immortal Gauf and Lord Maultor within an ancient Tower of the Gods.

Peace has reigned for a millennia, but a new age is dawning in which an ancient magic is returning to the world. The souls of the Great Gaias have all been reborn into existence once again, and the seals of the ancient tower are weakening. It is up to a small group of unlikely adventurers to uncover the past and fulfill an age-old prophecy that will undoubtedly shake the very foundations of the modern world and shape the direction of a new age.”

The Features

The Great Gaias is a throwback to the jrpg video games I loved growing up and is being developed by people who seem just as passionate as I am about the genre Horizon’s End.

  • Exciting player classes
  • No Leader
  • Dynamic Boss Fights
  • Interesting story line
  • Raise by use skills
  • Player created city
  • Over 50 playable hours
  • Crafting
  • Multiple Endings

And many, many more.

gaiasmap

Why Back It?

It is obvious that the folks at Horizon’s End care deeply about this project and the genre.  They are offering something that although a throwback, will stand on it’s own if the project is backed.  Not only that but I admire the story regarding the development status, specifically the come back story that could come from this when Hurricane Sandy is factored in.

horizonsend

If you like the project take a look at the official Kickstarter page and show some love to a great gaming genre and awesome looking game.

Want More Check The Kickstarter!

Xbox One vs PS4 – Here’s What I Am Getting

xboxoneps4

The console wars have been quiet for the most part of this year, but since the unveiling of Microsoft’s new console, the Xbox One, things have heated up quite a bit.  There were many questions lingering around the web and a ton of rumors regarding the console.  At E3 2013 Gamers expected Microsoft to deliver answers and ease some of their troubles, they answered most of the questions but according to feedback on twitter it didn’t help Microsoft’s cause.

So let me stop with the history lesson and tell you a bit why I decided to pick up the Xbox One at release vs the Play Station 4.

Confession

Actually before we begin you should know a few things about me.

  1. I am a big fan of the Xbox 360, and Play Station 2 consoles.
  2. I am the primary income provider for a family of 4.
  3. I am a gamer, and will hopefully be purchasing the PS 4 in 2014 *crosses fingers*.

Clearing the Air

xbox-one

Let’s address the two primary concerns that most people tend to have with the Xbox One.  (Note I am leaving out the required Kinect complaint because MS said that it can be turned off/paused and the system still run.)

  1. Will not function if left without internet for more than 24 hours.  This is a bit of a disappointment because I used to travel for work quite a bit, and was fond of bringing my 360 with me and playing in hotel rooms.  Since I travel on the cheap I do not always have internet access.  However my internet at home fairly powerful and my ISP offers relatively great up times.  So while I am not thrilled at this, I am okay.
  2. Xbox One offers game companies the option to deny resale of games.  Here is another area where I am okay with.  I tend to buy games new and haven’t rented for awhile so I am not really out a whole lot.  I do however borrow games with friends.  Since the Xbox allows a limited one time loan of a game it makes things more difficult in this arena.  I am not happy about it, and hopefully Microsoft will hear our complaints and adjust this policy.

So… Why are you spending more money again?

It may be a crazy notion but I am going with the company who is doing more to expand the industry, in a word the XBox One is innovative.  The Play Station 4 seems like a great console, excellent hardware, finally a redesigned controller – but as someone who creates things I have hard time thinking that developers are going to be able to break the mold with the PS4.  I feel that the biggest innovations and the most mind blowing projects are still to come, and the XBox One is going to get us one step closer to that mind blowing gaming experience I am addicted to.

xbox-one-vs-ps4-580-75

There are other reasons as well, I am dying for a new home theater setup.  The Xbox One has all the features I could want with built in DVR, the HDMI input port to avoid input switching, integrated Skype and Twitch TV, multi tasking, etc… etc…

It simply does more, with the added benefit that the Kinect has been overhauled completely to remove most of my complaints and expand on its ability to operate in poor lighting conditions and read things like heart rate and facial features it seems again like developers are going to be able to do more.

The Play Station 4 doesn’t provide the same WOW factor that the XBox One does, again I hope to get one sooner than later I am fine with waiting until the first price drop and pick one up cheaper than the $399 price tag it currently sits at.  My PC will do everything it, the PS4, will for the time being and still process faster graphically and other wise.

How Soon We Forget

As far as reliable online service goes Xbox Live is light years beyond the play station network.  It wasn’t long ago that my PS 3 was in an off state for months for fear that hackers would steal everything I owned (slight dramatization).  Seriously though, the entire PSN service was down for months, and while Sony made good by offering a few free games Xbox Live is giving games away on XBLA for subscribers and promises to continue the trend.  Also as of late XBLA has been price matching the crazy sales that Steam has been using to boost it’s player space.

Hardware Breakdown

original