Category Archives: Human Contact

Kodrek: Now in a Volume Near You

September 22, 2011 – 4:31 pm

I’m very pleased to say that all Kodrek sets have now been sent! Some folks may have already gotten them. I’m really looking forward to hearing about peoples’ games — video some and show me! — and how they house rule the game. It’s designed with some deliberate flexibility and commentary on what taking advantage [...]

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Want to see how to play Kodrek?

August 31, 2011 – 10:16 pm

Hurricane Irene really set me back on finishing up Kodrek. But I managed to get a video of play up in time to get it into the Thousand Year game Challenge! Also excitingly, I’ll be printing up booklets and sending out games in the coming week!

By joshua | Also posted in art, Boardgames, playing games, publishing, science/fiction, shock:, visual design | Comments (1)

Kodrek rules, version 1.0

August 25, 2011 – 3:23 pm

The 1.0 rules of Kodrek are complete! I’ll be sending boards out to all the Kodrek-level Kickstarter backers just as soon as printing is complete. The timing means that I’ll also be entering the game in the 1000 Year Game Challenge. It’s got some stiff competition! Kodrek is a game with a funny background. It comes [...]

By joshua | Also posted in art, Boardgames, community, information and object design, making stuff, publishing, science/fiction, shock: | Comments (10)

Connecticon is great fun.

July 11, 2011 – 5:16 pm

I just spent the last weekend at Connecticon with Emily Care Boss, Robert Bohl, Epidiah Ravachol, and a ton of really awesome people. Thousands of them, in fact. We played some games, sat on a couple of panels, and sold some games. Connecticon’s got a real concentration on making stuff. The costumes are ubiquitous, handmade, [...]

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The Contactor Spooky Motion At A Distance

July 11, 2011 – 4:52 pm

Want to see something neat? This is Scott Dunphy’s Contactor, Spooky Motion At A Distance. The game’s got some really neat features! The expedition has already failed once — they got to their intended colony, only to find it dead, with evidence that its inhabitants came from somewhere else! Does that mean that a Rectifier [...]

By joshua | Also posted in community, playing games, science/fiction, shock: | Tagged | Comments (6)

Aliens Have Edges: The Storm Sailors of Relimeët

April 21, 2011 – 9:00 am

When the Contactor Temporary Reduction in Entropy arrived in orbit around Relimeët, its members found themselves in intense debate over the proper location for their elevator. The environment faced them with extreme hostility. Two stable Coriolis storms slowly orbited the equator-spanning ocean of the planet, spinning off unpredictable eddies of smaller hurricanes and ruling out [...]

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Everyone is a Person (But That Doesn’t Mean They’re Not Weird)

March 31, 2011 – 5:20 pm

The colony Efwehasht The subtle axial tilt and mid-habitable zone orbit of Efwehasht (“Arbor”) make for a wide, verdant temperate zone. The three smallest continents cover much of the northern zone, while the southern hemisphere is dominated by vast, rocky deserts. In the temperate zone lives a robust and varied ecosystem. Many subtle niches exist, [...]

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Jennisodes!

March 31, 2011 – 4:26 pm

Hey, I like to talk a lot! Want to hear me talk about Shock:Human Contact? Listen to the first of the two parts! Want to talk listen to me talk about Kickstarter? Listen to part two!

By joshua | Also posted in community, publishing | Comments (0)

Why We Explore

March 2, 2011 – 11:51 am

In an early Human Contact game, a player asked me why Academics go to the stars. The answer is this video. Another Sagan quote, this one from a rejected layout that we might yet see in a future edition of the game: As the ancient myth makers knew, we are children equally of the earth [...]

By joshua | Also posted in art | Comments (1)

First Human Contacts Roll In!

February 23, 2011 – 12:08 pm

Good news! After two weeks of technical issues, the first copies of Human Contact are in! The technical issues persist, unfortunately, so there’s not quite closure, but I have 60 copies now, should have another 200 or so next week, and another 50ish the week after that. The nature of the technical issue isn’t clear; [...]

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