Quick Review - Runika And The Six-Sided Spellbooks - Kickstarter Preview

Runika and the Six-Sided Spellbooks
Designed by: Shannon Kelly
Published by: Fox Tale Games
2-4p | 60-90m | 14+

Quick Review - Runika and the Six-Sided Spellbooks - Kickstarter Preview
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About two years ago I reviewed a game that ended up being one of my favorites of 2017.  It was chock full of gorgeous, translucent, custom dice and fantastic, horrifying artwork.  Lucidity: Six-Sided Nightmares from Fox Tale Games was a fantastic press-your-luck game that ended up getting picked up by Renegade Games before the initial Kickstarter campaign was fulfilled (Fox Tale Games and Renegade Games ended up doing the manufacturing at the same time).  So when Shannon Kelly asked me if I'd like to take a look at his next game, which uses a bunch of awesome dice, just like Lucidity, I jumped at the chance.

Runika and the Six-Sided Spellbooks also uses a pool of gorgeous 12mm, translucent dice, but this is no press-your-luck game.  Runika is a dice drafting puzzle game that, while it can be played with the same dice as Lucidity, is a very different game.  Does Runika's departure from press-your-luck work in its favor?  Read on to find out!

Runika and the Six-Sided Spellbooks is available on Kickstarter starting Tuesday, April 30 through Thursday, May 23.  The game will be about $49 ($69 AUD), plays 2-4 players age 14+ in 60-90 minutes.  Unlike Lucidity, which is also listed as 14+, but can be played by much younger gamers, I think the minimum age of 14 is pretty accurate.  It's a very puzzly game and kids will need both a good grasp of more complex mechanics (like dice drafting and pattern building) as well as good spatial reasoning skills.

Overview:

Runika and the Six-Sided Spellbooks is a major departure from designer Shannon Kelly's previous hit, Lucidity.  In Runika each player takes on the role of a student at a school to learn magical arts, particularly rune casting.  Through dice drafting, you'll work to build patterns on a Spell Grid on your player mat that match patterns on Rune Cards.  These Rune Cards give you prestige points as well as special abilities that you can use throughout the game.  Whoever has the most prestige at the end of the game is the winner.  I've seen similar mechanics in quite a few games however the really unique aspect to Runika is how dice are added to your grid.

Runika is a captivating puzzle game with a unique grid mechanism.

Each player's Spell Grid has a ring (Elemental Disk) around it, divided into quarters, with each quarter representing a different element (colored dice).  When you add dice to your grid you slide them in from the side of the square that corresponds to that die on the ring.  You'll also be able to rotate the ring so that over the course of the game you'll be sliding different colored dice in from different sides in order to create your patterns.  Let's get into the game a little deeper so you can see how this works.

This Spell Grid and the surrounding Elemental Disk are core to the puzzle.  You can only add dice to the grid from the
side that matches the element you want to add.  The Elemental Disk can only rotate when you use certain dice or abilities.

To setup the game each player gets a player mat, Elemental Disk, and four Influence tokens for their character.  Place the four Spell Masters, the Prestige tokens, and the deck of Merit Cards near the play area.  Place the four Mastery Rune Cards out and near them create a 'market' of the standard Rune Cards consisting of one more rune than the number of players.  There can be no duplicates, so if you draw a duplicate rune, place it on top of the previously drawn rune of that type so you have a stack.  For example, in a three-player game you'll have four runes available, even though some of the runes may have more than one card in the stack.  Make sure all the dice are in the draw bag, choose a starting player to receive the Initiative Token, and you're ready to go.  Setup is relatively simple.

Setup is straight forward and the game looks great on the table.

Runika is played in a series of rounds.  Each round has three phases: Drafting, Activation, and Cleanup.  The Drafting and Cleanup phases are pretty quick, but the Activation phase is the meat of the game.

In the Drafting phase the first player for the round (whoever has the initiative token) will draw four dice per player from the bag, so 12 dice in a three-player game.  Then, starting with the first player, each player takes turns choosing one die until everyone has four dice.  Each player can then roll their dice once and place them on the Stored Elements section of their board.  If you don't like your results you can discard one die to re-roll as many as you like.  You can keep doing this, however you must have at least one die to activate during the Activation phase (if you've already acquired Rune Cards you may be able to re-roll one or more dice with your spell abilities).

These are the Lucidity dice that I used for testing.  Runika will have its own unique dice.

Now you can start the Activation phase.  Starting with the first player you take turns Activating all of your dice in any order.  There are three different possible symbols.  There are Prestige, Energy, and Moon dice (I think they'll be called Rotation dice in the final game).  Each symbol can be activated differently.  Activating a Moon lets you rotate the Elemental Disk around your Spell Grid 90 degrees clockwise.  Prestige gets added to your Spell Grid by sliding the die into the grid from the side indicated by the Elemental Disk.  As a die slides it pushes all the other dice in that row/column to fill in any gaps.  If a die is ever pushed off the grid it is discarded back to the bag.

Sometimes Runika makes your head hurt, but it's a burn from mental exercise, so that's good!

Moon dice are a bit different.  They can either be pushed into the grid like Prestige dice, or they can be used to ask a Spell Master for help.  Each of the four Spell Masters have a unique ability that let's you manipulate your board, like rotating your Elemental Disk, gaining additional dice, or moving dice on your Spell Grid.  Each Spell Master can each only be used once per round, so getting to them before the other players is important.  When you use a Spell Master you'll get to add your character's Influence Token to that Spell Master, as long as you don't already have an Influence Token on that Spell Master.  Once you've influenced all four Spell Masters you'll get to gain a random Merit Card.  Merit Cards are randomly worth 2-4 prestige points.

Each Spell Master gives you an ability and you then get to add an Influence token to them. 
Influencing all the Spell Masters earns you a Merit Card and some Prestige.

Once all players have activated all of their dice there is a quick Cleanup phase.  Discard any dice that are on the Spell Masters (so that they're available for the next round), pass the Initiative Token, and then check for the game end.  The game ends at the end of the round when one player has 20 or more prestige points, counting all prestige earned on Rune Cards, collected in Prestige Tokens, and on any earned Merit Cards.

So, how do you earn prestige points?  This is why Runika is a challenging puzzle game.  Each Rune Card shows a pattern of dice that you must match in your Spell Grid in order to acquire that Rune Card (i.e. master that spell).  Some Rune Cards can only be acquired with a specific type of element (colored die) and some can use any element to make the pattern, but all dice used in the pattern have to be the same element.  After activating all of your dice, if you have a pattern on your Spell Grid that matches the pattern on a Rune Card (including any rotation or position, but not flipped) you can gain that card.  You'll score any prestige indicated on the card, plus you'll then discard all the dice that were used to gain that Rune, gaining 1 Prestige Token for each die with a Prestige symbol showing.

Here I have four dice to activate.  I'm trying to complete the Shimmerfield rune above. 

First I'll push an Air die in from the Air side of the grid, pushing the previously placed Air die to the right.

Now I just need to figure out how to get another Air die up at the top of the Spell Grid.

First I'll add a Fire die to the top left corner, then I'll use an Earth Moon die to rotate
the Elemental Disk 90 degrees clockwise.

Now I can slide in the last Air die from the top of the grid.

I've now completed the pattern to earn the Shimmerfield rune card!

The dice are removed from the grid (they'll be added back to the bag).  I earn 1 Prestige for the Shimmerfield Rune Card,
plus 3 more Prestige for the dice used to create the Rune.  Now, once per round, I'll be able to
return a die from my grid or rolled dice.

There are also four Mastery Rune Cards.  These are a bit more complicated to craft since they require an exact pattern match, with no extra dice.  For the standard Rune Cards you can have extra dice in the element used to create the pattern (these don't get removed after completing the rune), but for the Mastery Rune Cards you can't have any extra dice.  Plus the Mastery Runes are larger than the standard Runes, creating a pattern that fills the entire 4x4 grid.  Spaces between the required dice can either be empty or have a different type of element die in them.  Mastery Runes can score you quite a few prestige points themselves, but they also use more dice, so you can get even more bonus points from those dice.

These are challenging to get, but offer more Prestige and a pretty powerful ability.

All runes include special abilities that you can use.  There are three general types of abilities: Continuous, Once per Round, and Discard.  Continuous abilities are always available once you've acquired these Runes.  They're generally passive abilities, like allowing you to add a Moon die to your grid.  Once per Round abilities are generally more powerful, but can only be used once each round, like removing dice from your grid, or changing dice to a different side.  Discard abilities are pretty powerful, but can only be used once.  You don't actually discard the Rune, you'll just flip it face down so you can still score the prestige points it is worth, but you can't use its ability again for the rest of the game.  The Discard abilities also increase player interaction by allowing you to affect opponents' boards, however that is likely changing from the version I played (take-that interactions are probably going to be moved to a mini-expansion and stay out of the base game, which is good in a game that is this puzzly).

Deep in thought.  This is how most turns go.

That's pretty much it.  Mechanically the game is pretty simple and straight forward.  However it's a real brain burner when working through the puzzles that are presented to you each round.  Games were pretty much spot on with the 60-90 minute time frame.

Just starting out on a new game.

At first it feels like there's a lot going on, but one of the really nice things about the game is how it is taught.  In addition to the traditional rulebook, Runika includes a short graphic novel style introduction to your first game.  This introduces the characters, setting, and overall theme of the game while also walking you through all of the major mechanics, adding complexity one step at a time.  It's possible to learn the game completely from this guide book, aside from the initial setup.  Runika isn't a super difficult game to learn, but having the option to jump right into a tutorial game is a nice option for people who learn by doing.  It also helps people teach the game to new players, either by setting up a basic game, or by giving them an outline to teach from.

The tutorial comic walks you through a short story that teaches you how to play.

Final Thoughts:
My game group really liked Runika and the Six-Sided Spellbooks.  We quite enjoyed Lucidity, but I think Runika was an even bigger hit.  This definitely isn't a game for everyone though.  The game can be very AP (analysis paralysis) prone, and sometimes feels like multi-player solitaire.  There is some light player interaction (which was still being worked on when I played - see below), but for the most part each player is trying to solve their own puzzle with the dice available to them.  If you like games like Roll Player or Sagrada, Runika should be a big hit with you.  Weight wise I'd rank it as heavier than Sagrada, closer to Roll Player.  It's more of a puzzle than Roll Player though, and a more challenging puzzle than Sagrada.

Still deep in thought.  It paid off though, he ended up winning!

The few runes that added player interaction in my early copy of the game were more take-that style interactions than I think the game needs.  It really didn't feel good to have your personal puzzle solved then have someone else rotate your Elemental Disk on you and mess with your whole plan.  The good news is that these take-that cards are likely going to be removed and replaced with more positive player interactions (like gaining an advantage when another player does something).  These should help improve player interaction a bit without feeling destructive.  The take-that abilities may be removed and added to a mini-expansion, so if you like the idea of take-that you'll still have that option.

One other aspect of the game that didn't feel quite satisfying to my group was how the Spell Masters worked.  We didn't like that they were first-come, first-served each round.  We felt that their cost (having to spend a die and having to roll just the right symbol on the right colored die) combined with a pretty powerful effect should make them available to anyone at any time, but with an extra benefit for the first player each round to use them (e.g. placing your Influence Token or gaining a Prestige Token).  One of the complaints from my group was that you couldn't really start planning your turn ahead of time (sometimes, but not all the time).  This was partly because the instructors may or may not be available by the time it got to your turn.  Having the instructors always available would help you plan ahead, which would in turn speed up the game.

The Spell Masters have pretty powerful abilities, but they can only be used once per round.

I've mentioned these minor things to Shannon, the designer, and I know he's considering all ways to improve the game.  Neither of these were a dealbreaker for us though and we really, really enjoyed the game.  There was a lot of head scratching going on, and plenty of thoughtful grunting.  Don't let the cute art fool you, Runika and the Six-Sided Spellbooks is a brain burner, but in a great way!  If you like puzzles, dice drafting, spatial patterns, and a lighthearted, mystical theme, be sure to check out Runika and the Six-Sided Spellbooks on Kickstarter now!

Preliminary Rating: 8.5/10

Rating Scale

This review is of a prototype game.  Components and rules are not final and are subject to change.


Did you like this review?  Show your support: Support me on Patreon!Also, click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

NOTE: These are for the Lucidity dice.  Runika will have updated reference cards for it's own custom dice.

GJJG Game Reviews are independent, unpaid reviews of games I, George Jaros, have played with my family and friends. Some of these games I own, some are owned by friends, some are borrowed, and some are print and play versions of games. Where applicable I will indicate if games have been played with kids or adults or a mix (Family Play). I won't go into extensive detail about how to play the game (there are plenty of other sources for that information and I'll occasionally link to those other sources), but I will give my impressions of the game and how my friends and family reacted to the game. Quick Reviews will only get a single rating of 1-10 (low-high) based on my first impressions of the game during my first few times playing. Hopefully I'll get more chances to play the game and will be able to give it a full review soon.

Huawei Sees Fall In Revenues Due To US Ban - Ars Technica

Huawei sees fall in revenues due to US ban

LEGEND OF LOTUS SPRING

On this most romantic of days, why not play through a traditional Chinese love story in The Legend of Lotus Spring (1999, Xing Xing). Taking place in a beautifully re-created Garden of Perfect Brightness (Yuan Ming Yuan or the Old Summer Palace) in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty, it recounts the tragic love story between Emperor Xian Feng and his concubine HeHanQu, a woman who he lovingly renames Lotus Spring.

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Not So Lucky!

What's going on everyone!?

Today was spent running errands and preparing for our big move to our new place so by the time we got home this evening, everyone was ready for bed. 

That being the case, I decided to play a solo game of Carcassonne on the mobile app for the #2019gameaday challenge. 

Tonight I got my butt kicked by the Ai which surprised me because I thought I was actually doing good, lol!

As always, thank you for reading and don't forget to stop and smell the meeples! :)

-Tim

Applied Neural Networks And Soft Computing - ScanLibs

Applied Neural Networks and Soft Computing

People Behind The Meeples - Episode 163: Nicholas Hjelmberg

Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers.  Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before.  If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples. Support me on Patreon!

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Name:	Nicholas Hjelmberg
Email:	nicholas.hjelmberg@gmail.com
Location:	Sweden
Day Job:	I work with quality assurance of IT systems at Systembolaget, the government-owned liquor retailer of Sweden.
Designing:	Two to five years.
Webpage:	http://novasuecia.se/
Blog:	http://novasuecia.se/blog.html
BGG:	nhjelmberg
Facebook:	Nova Suecia Games
Twitter:	@novasuecia
Other:	Indie Game Alliance, studio name Nova Suecia Games
Find my games at:	The Game Crafter for print on demand, Boardgamegeek and novasuecia.se for print & play documents.

Today's Interview is with:

Nicholas Hjelmberg
Interviewed on: 1/11/2019

This week we meet Nicholas Hjelmberg, a Sweedish designer that has a number of projects active right now. You can find some of his games on The Game Crafter and follow along with him on Facebook or his Nova Suecia Games website. Read on to learn more about Nicholas and his projects!

Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.

How long have you been designing tabletop games?
Two to five years.

Why did you start designing tabletop games?
I've been a gamer for many years but I'm also a professional within the field of quality assurance. Once a colleague of mine (who also is a gamer) asked me whether I had tried to apply QA methodology to design a game and since I can't resist a challenge...

What game or games are you currently working on?
I'm working with a publisher to kickstart "Soviet Party", a package comprised of my micro games "Comrade", "Gulag" and "Politburo". The games are party games for 5-10 people, designed with Russian political jokes in mind to convey the paranoia and resignation of a totalitarian regime.

Have you designed any games that have been published?
Apokalypsis, a small game about manipulating and predicting omens to survive on a sinking island, was sold to a local game shop (https://www.sfbok.se/produkt/apokalypsis-42093). It's now sold out but I do consider a reprint.

What is your day job?
I work with quality assurance of IT systems at Systembolaget, the government-owned liquor retailer of Sweden.

Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.

Where do you prefer to play games?
At home, where I have access to both my kitchen (to prepare food and beverages) and to my game collection.

Who do you normally game with?
I don't have a regular game group but instead have a big network of gamers that I meet at meetups and other events.

If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
A perfect game night would start with a medium Knizia (perhaps Samurai or even better Tigris & Euphrates), then continue with a heavier economic game (a Wallace or a Splotter game), and finally end with a lighter game (a card game like Innovation or a party game like Avalon).

And what snacks would you eat?
If I have the opportunity, I always bring a basket of fresh bread or buns.

Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
Possibly, if the music fits the theme of the game, but usually there is so much table talk that noone misses the music.

What's your favorite FLGS?
Since I often buy older classics, I have no favorite FLGS but rather buy games wherever I find them. However, Alphaspel (https://alphaspel.se/) has a gaming room which I often visit.

What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
In my opinion, Tigris & Euphrates remains the best game ever designed. Catan is an old favorite that rarely hits the table nowadays but I still think it's a good game. Cards Against Humanity is one of few games I'd refuse to play again.

What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
Tile laying, particularly if the tiles are laid on a common board. Tigris & Euphrates has already been mentioned, Reef Encounter and The Great Zimbabwe are two other great representatives. Take that, when impossible to predict and defend against, doesn't belong in modern games in my opinion.

What's your favorite game that you just can't ever seem to get to the table?
Tigris & Euphrates. Call me old fashioned but I think many gamers today prefer games which I would label as "multi-player solitaires with instant kicks" - build your own engine and accumulate victory points for everything you do. Tigris & Euphrates on the other hand rewards long term planning, where you sometimes have to take small steps to set up a strong finish. This is nothing you understand in your first game and few gamers have the patience to continue playing and discover new layers.

What styles of games do you play?
I like to play Board Games, Card Games, RPG Games

Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design Board Games, Card Games, RPG Games

OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
No

You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.

When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
It often starts with a basic mechanic that I want to explore. Then I think about which theme that would make justice to that mechanic. After that, it's an iterative process, where the theme provides new ideas to the mechanics and vice versa. It happens that I have ideas about themes that I would like to turn into games but it's not until I get an idea for a new mechanic that I actually realize those ideas.

Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
I've entered several competitions and reached the final in several of them, among them World Original Design Contest of Board Game (http://wodc.yokagames.com/) with the game Dyce, the Thundergryph Survival Design Contest (https://thundergryph.com/survival-design-contest-finalists/) with the game Apokalypsis and the TGC Killer Gamer's Remorse Challenge (https://www.thegamecrafter.com/contests/killer-gamer-s-remorse-challenge) with the game Mingle and Murder.

Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
Reiner Knizia, particularly when it comes to his games around the turn of the century. The way he takes a well-known mechanic and turns it into a unique game experience is unprecedented.

Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
New ideas may erupt anywhere and anytime when I least expect them (but never when I want to). Once I have an idea, it grows most easily when I exercise (jogging, cycling etc.), during which I think about possible ways to implement. If the idea survives the "designing in the mind", I put it on paper and start drafting various options and scenarios.

How do you go about playtesting your games?
First I playtest them myself over and over by simulating and documenting the game flow in a spreadsheet. I also consider early rule writing as a good test, since it's a measure of how simple and intuitive the game is. When I don't think I can improve the game anymore - but no sooner than that! - I present it to fellow designers. If the game passes their critical eyes as well, I test it with people I know and prepare print & play documents for blind tests. I used to send physical copies to testers as well but recently I have started using Tabletopia instead.

Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
I would like to design as part of a team one day but so far I've only worked on my own.

What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
Testing. It's ironic that I work with quality assurance and yet have such challenges in finding enough time and people for testing.

If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
Generally I prefer not to be restricted by an IP but a game based on my favourite book The Name of the Rose could be interesting. (I know there is one already but a game closer to the actual story.)

What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
They did tell me but I should have listened better: When you feel that your game is ready, do another iteration, and another, and another...

What advice would you like to share about designing games?
Do a lot of iterations but don't forget what your game wants to be. If you start deviating from it, your game may lose its soul and become just similar to every other game out there.

Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
Published games, I have: Apokalypsis.
Currently looking for a publisher I have: Mingle & Murder (a murder mystery game)
Cosmoclasm (a trick-based area control game)
Find the Bug (a game aimed at teaching IT)
Iconoclasm (an abstract conflict game with shifting support)
I'm planning to crowdfund: Soviet Party (Comrade, Gulag, Politburo).
Games I feel are in the final development and tweaking stage are: Dyce (a trading game with AI buyers and sellers)
Warring States (a trick-based area control game)
Lucca (a tile-laying game both horizontally and vertically, building towers)
Games that I'm playtesting are: Peoples - Civilizations (a simplified civilization game)
Suecia (a trading game with shared infrastructure and player-driven supply and demand)
Games that are in the early stages of development and beta testing are: Find the Bug - Agile and Find the Bug - Project (additional games in the Find the Bug series)
And games that are still in the very early idea phase are: I'd like to design an Arthurian game where the players goals develop due to game events but haven't come up with the right mechanics yet.

Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker's Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
IGA Developer's Lounge, Card & Board Game Designers Guild, Speldesignerträffar (Swedish group).

And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I'm sure are on everyone's minds!

Star Trek or Star Wars? Coke or Pepsi? VHS or Betamax?
Star Wars, one coherent saga is better than many loose episodes. None, I've reached the age where I need to look at healthy options. None, content is more important than format.

What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
Baking and cooking, which fits well before game evenings. Cycling and jogging, which fits well after game evenings...

What is something you learned in the last week?
How easy it is to set up a game in Tabletopia.

Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
Classical music, synth music of the 80s. Classical books and books with historical themes often appeal to me. Same goes for movies.

What was the last book you read?
I recently reread the Foundation Trilogy.

Do you play any musical instruments?
No, and I could probably get paid not to play any.

Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
My wife doesn't enjoy games at all.

Tell us about something crazy that you once did.
Wearing an Arsenal shirt during a night out in Manchester perhaps. I had just received it for my birthday. Nothing happened, though.

Biggest accident that turned out awesome?
Unfortunately, my accidents rarely turn out awesome.

Who is your idol?
I've had my success stories in many areas but I'm still waiting for a game design breakthrough and until then my idol remains Reiner Knizia.

What would you do if you had a time machine?
Probably spend more time in the past and in the future than in the present.

Are you an extrovert or introvert?
Introvert.

If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
I was more into Donald Duck comics than Marvel comics as a kid so none.

Have any pets?
No.

When the next asteroid hits Earth, causing the Yellowstone caldera to explode, California to fall into the ocean, the sea levels to rise, and the next ice age to set in, what current games or other pastimes do you think (or hope) will survive into the next era of human civilization? What do you hope is underneath that asteroid to be wiped out of the human consciousness forever?
A chess set, to inspire the next generation to design games. There are many mistakes that should be erased but perhaps it's better to learn from them (if the next generation is able to do so).

If you'd like to send a shout out to anyone, anyone at all, here's your chance (I can't guarantee they'll read this though):
If you ever visit Stockholm, Sweden, you're welcome to a game night!

Thanks for answering all my crazy questions!

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Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html

Did you like this interview?  Pleasse show your support: Support me on Patreon! Or click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

The CollectorVision Phoenix Part 2 - The FPGA System Built By Thieves And Sold On Disinformation

Three blog posts ago, I was rather critical of the CollectorVision Phoenix, an FPGA console which implements the ColecoVision : https://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-collectorvision-phoenix-fpga.html  I said all that I believed needed to be said, but since then I have determined that the console was deserving of further criticism.

Before we go into the specifics of my claims, let's review the basic hardware specifications of the ColecoVision and similar systems which are based off the TMS9928A Video Display Processor (VDP).


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You say "obsessed" as if it is a bad thing.