December 2, 2013 – 5:44 pm
Well, I hope we can all forgive and forget the pacing monstrosity that was 0.2!
In 0.3, you will find:
- A much smaller number of tactical assets on the table at once. That should reduce the time of play down to more :RA-like duration.
- Boarding rules that fit more tightly with the general techniques of the game and make boarding less of a sure thing.
- Rules for high maneuverability are moved to small (<4 system) ships, rather than double green. Double green might still be worthwhile, though.
The rule about A-range weapons damaging boarding companies makes sense, but might wind up being too costly. This is a playtest problem to solve, though; it has to do with how it moves around player motivations.
Download Mobile Frame Zero Alpha Bandit playtest 0.3
November 5, 2013 – 3:40 pm
Download Mobile Frame Zero 002:Alpha Bandit v0.2
Want me to mail you a copy of the super-limited edition of playtest docs that I printed out for the Metatopia 2013 game design convention?
I’m happy to answer questions and discuss solutions in the comment thread below, but I’d imagine most of the action will be over at the Mobile Frame Hangar thread!
October 21, 2013 – 9:00 am
I often talk about the future, thanks to Alvin Toffler, as a shockwave. I have to figure out how to face that wave every day. If I’m too far out in front of it, the best I can hope for is to be posthumously recognized as a person ahead of their time. Alan Turing was such a man, tortured to suicide by the government and country that he saved, for the homosexual proclivities that his country’s enemies had vowed to eradicate. And here I am, typing in a café on a Turing Machine the size of a single information theory paper written by Turing. Even worse, I don’t have the intelligence, talent, or clarity of thought that Turing had. So the best I can hope for is to be a third-rate Manfred Macx. And he’s not even real.
Another danger is to try to live on the crest of the wave. But it’s crowded with the cowardly investors of Wall Street, who recognize when risk has been carefully polished out of a system by the hard work of creators and laborers, then extract its benefits at minimal cost. These are also consumers, who choose from available, low-cost products and services. They benefit from shaken-out designs, mass production, and the low costs associated with both. The particular goods eventually fail (through wear or obsolescence), and they discard them for new ones. They don’t feel the need to understand the materials of their lives; they’ve been driven into a panic by the value-extractors taking all the space at the top of the wave, and so don’t have the time to self educate. Eventually, though, propelled up faster than they can move forward, they fall into the churn behind the shockwave with a collective cry of “I don’t understand Dubstep!“.
But the rising wave. Ahh, the rising wave. That’s the slope lift that carries gulls in that skating, sideways motion at the shore and, facing them, is the curl ridden by surfers.*
Read More »
September 24, 2013 – 1:22 pm
Until I get tired of doing it this way, Shock:Social Science Fiction, the literary SF RPG, is Pay What You Want Dollars for the PDF! The average payment is about $13, but you can give me any amount you want!
I’ve seen players use Shock: to make stories in the style of Kurt Vonnegut, Ursula K. Le Guin, Philip K. Dick, C.J.Cherryh, and Octavia Butler. It works with your group’s sense of humor for playing tragedies, comedies, and adventures, so long as they appreciate the irony that defines science fiction.
I do ask that you sincerely pay what you feel you can afford. Game publishing is my living and, while I’m very happy about every download, I can only make a living at it if you help.
Enjoy it, and may you never experience the vast and terrible worlds you create!
The Mobile Frame Zero Kickstarter was a huge success! Thanks to the thousands of backers, enormous creativity of my co-creators, and big ups from Tycho and Kotaku, the game is under full-steam production!
You can expect me to be a little quiet — it’s a huge project — so if you’re curious about what’s going on, please follow me! I’m also on Facebook and G+, though I don’t really have time to interact there very often.
You might want to keep an eye on everything in the Community sidebar on MobileFrameZero.com, especially the Mobile Frame Hangar. There’s amazing creativity going on over there, from creation of mobile frame companies to fan art and t shirt designs.
I’ve got a whole ton of work to do. Hope I get to build some robots soon!
February 15, 2012 – 9:48 pm
