We Are There!
about 7 years ago – Sun, Apr 23, 2017 at 12:48:25 PM

And by "we", I mean you, me, and the team at Trilobyte Games. On behalf of us all, I thank you most sincerely. We are humbled and you are awesome!

I'll just leave it there for now. We have work to do. Although we are there, we are not all there... if you know what I mean. ;-)

As Karen Carpenter once said, "We've only just begun." (although "only just" seems redundant)

Anyway...

Onward and upward!

Game Changers
about 7 years ago – Sat, Apr 22, 2017 at 06:29:05 PM

The Virtual Stauf: Master of Ceremonies

After due consideration, we have decided to include as Stretch Goal #3 an accessory game component - an app that will run on any mobile device - The Virtual Stauf: Master of Ceremonies (VSMC).

The VSMC will provide the proper atmospheric music to set the right mood. It can be used in place of any or all of the three card types so that it is Virtual Stauf who provides players with their Destination Rooms, casts the Mystery Spells and, of course, presents the Puzzlers, Hints and Answers. It can be constantly updated with new Puzzlers and expansion packs with new and surprising Mystery Spells. And of course, what would a virtual Stauf be without his mocking taunts and sometimes annoying, but often funny wisecracks?

More details will be forthcoming in upcoming updates. In the meanwhile, here is a quick mockup of what the app might look like on a smartphone.

 Imagine hearing a little music going on in the background while Stauf comments on your puzzle-solving acumen.

Multiple Choice

Due to the way the prospective app will work, and to maintain consistency between the physical board game and the digital accessory, I decided that the Puzzlers would be multiple choice, offering up to four possible answers.

A Puzzler's answer will be hidden on the physical card but can only be revealed using the Magic Decoder Window.

I hope and trust that you had a very pleasant Easter weekend .

As always, I ask that you share the this campaign so that all this isn't just a virtual reality, but can become a real reality.

 

Just a Tad
about 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 07:09:01 PM

The Tad Challenge

The Tad miniature was originally conceived just to be a nice little collector's item or even an additional player token. But now, after seeing the miniature, and the reality starting to come alive, I think it would be cool to go a step further and create a special role for Tad within the gameplay, as we did with the Lady in White. (Using either would be optional.)

So I invite you to take The Tad Challenge and help us come up with a cohesive set of rules that would make this work within the existing structure of the game. To that end, I've outlined some initial ideas and conceptual parameters to get us started in the desired direction:

One player plays Tad, but he plays by a different set of rules. Essentially, just as in the original videogame, everybody is out to get Tad, while Tad tries to avoid everybody. He still competes by answering puzzlers, but he is a roamer and a wildcard. He disrupts the play of the regular Guests. Perhaps he can position himself to steal their Puzzlers and collect their Destination cards, and if he manages to collect as many Destination cards as originally dealt to start the game, he earns his way to the Little Room at the Top before the others do. So, while everyone else is trying to rid themselves of their Destination cards, Tad is trying to collect them. And so, for the Guests, it is in their interest to gang up against poor little Tad and set him back in his quest to escape the house.

That's just a rough overview. The devil, of course, is in the details.

You are invited to share your ideas here in the comments.

And speaking of Tad

We are in need of more than a tad more backers to make it all happen. So, as always, please spread the word to all your friends and followers and then proceed to have a wonderful day!

Figurine It Out
about 7 years ago – Tue, Apr 18, 2017 at 04:54:10 PM

Be sure to check out important news at the end of this update.

Just a few words and images to take you behind the scenes in the creation of the miniature playing pieces.

 Making decision about the design of the board was not exactly excruciating (see Update #4). We had the floorplan from the video game and that dictated most decisions regarding the layout. By the same token (pardon the pun) the number of player pieces as well as their character, was dictated by the original storyline (although the game is called The 7th Guest, there were really only six guests who competed against one another, the identity and nature of the 7th guest being the mystery). I mention this as another example of how and why this game practically designed itself.

The first matter to address was how to sculpt the models. It soon became apparent that the best way would be to find an accomplished artist proficient with Zbrush, the digital sculpting tool from Pixologic. After putting out a call on Pixologic’s forum, and screening several applicants, we were fortunate to settle upon the very talented Romanian artist Romeo Salbatecu, aka Silvaticus, who, when not sculpting, often wonders the Carpathian mountains in the footsteps of Vlad the Impaler. (Okay, I’m being a bit melodramatic here, but it’s a good story, and true.)

Yet there was a slight hurdle to overcome - that being the dearth of good reference material for the character design. Certainly, we had the videos from the game, but because they were pixelated and halfway transparent - literally ghosted - that source was almost worthless.

At the same time, it was not critical to get accurate likenesses of the original actors. It would be much more important to capture the nature of each character through body pose, gesture and attitude. So it was a matter of me providing quick sketches and notes to Silvaticus, him submitting initial roughs, me making additional notes and going back and forth in that manner two or three times until we got the the desired results.

Here are some examples of that process, from initial conceptual character sketches and reference materials, to first rough sculpts, follow-up notes, and final results.

In Other News…

I was interviewed by the good people at To Die For Games. I thank Halden and Mandi for their thoughtful questions and for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts about how I approached the design of the board game as well as the original video game on which it is based. A highly recommended read, if I do say so myself.

 

Also, I very nice mention from Geek Mom. Thank you Sophie Brown!

 

 Lastly, but not leastly, many thanks to my old friend and partner Graeme Devine for supporting and backing this project. Without him, The 7th Guest would not have been possible. He is always invited to participate in all things Trilobyte, although as chief game wizard at Magic Leap, I know he has plenty of magic fish of his own to fry.

And as always, please share and reshare again.

 

It’s In The Cards
about 7 years ago – Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 10:49:32 AM

Continuing with more background regarding the development of The 7th Guest Board Game.

(Be sure to check for important information at the end of this post.)

After the determining the design of the board (see Update #4), the next crucial components to address was the cards. The first consideration would be the design for the card backs. After a few conceptual experiments, I decided on restating the theme of the tiled floor of the Foyer and the rug runner paths. The three types of cards are labeled and color coded.

 

Destination Cards

Upon arriving at the mansion, Stauf assigns each of his guests a series of rooms they must visit and solve the puzzles therein. This takes the form of the Destination Cards. The number of cards used can be determined by the players for longer or shorter games. Since the decks are shuffled prior to play, the sequence is random and unknown. The design and layout for these would be fairly straightforward and simple with only a label and an illustration. Once again, the Attic Door folks came to the rescue, providing snapshots of the room interiors.

 

Mystery Spell Cards

This is a game of skill and smarts, but there is also quite a bit of randomness thrown in for some unexpected twists and turns. Like any indecent haunted house, Stauf’s mansion has “cold spots” that are haunted with magic spells that are sometimes good, sometimes not-so-good, and sometime just bad. You never know what you’re going to get. There are currently 18 different spells with more on the way. Each spell is duplicated once for a total of 36 cards. You can try to avoid the spells, or you might just want to take your chances in hopes of drawing a card that gives you an edge.

 

Puzzler Cards

Finally there are the cards that lie at the heart of the game. They would consist of three basic types of brain-teasers - logic problems, riddles and trivia. In the original video game, Stauf was generous with his hints, and here is no exception. With most of the more difficult puzzles, hints are provided and players may ask for them. However for every hint requested, some navigational ability is sacrificed.

Here are example cards typical of the three types of puzzlers. Good luck coming up with the answers (without Googling).

 

 

 

New Add-On Offers

Be sure to check out the Add-On section of the page for the latest add-on offers.

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