Unpub Games - 2 of 3 ZombieZone Version 2.0

The second game that I am bringing to Unpub is a new version of ZombieZone!

ZombieZone is my head-to-head asymmetric battle game of humans vs. zombies. The Preview Edition made its way to a few events and recently ended its 3 month run at The Game Crafter, and now I'm taking all of the feedback and moving towards the next version of the game. Luckily, most of the feedback was really good. Father Geek gave us a great, gamer-defensive review back in October.

     Posted on October 24, 2012 by  Father Geek

If you are looking for a quick game of zombie survival that is easy to teach, well-balanced, and perfect for those times when you just want a quick game€, do lock your sights on ZombieZone. While not the most complex of zombie survival games on the market, it is certainly no cakewalk and was found to be much fun to play. Full review at http://fathergeek.com/reviews/zombiezone/

The current version is a 12 space x 12 space gridded board where the humans and zombies go head-to-head similar to chess or checkers. 

In the new version, the board breaks apart into multiple pieces so that you can play the classic gaming style, or you can create your own map before playing the game. Along with this, I would like to introduce additional map pieces and additional character types to give a ton of variety to the sessions.

Here are some rough ideas that I'm planning for Unpub.

First up is the modular board. Here is the standard board, broken into pieces and assembled a little differently. You could simply twist and turn each of the corners and keep a standard square OR you could stagger them a little bit.

With this in mind, I would like each of the pieces to be double-sided allowing for more room to mess around with harder areas, changing the landscape of the battle. And with this in mind, we could introduce all-new scenarios. 

This could have a new tile type that is a Dropzone. Each turn, an unarmed human could be dropped there to battle off the oncoming wave of Zombies.

Then we could have quick and brutal battles on just one square. Like this one:

I've also thought about introducing additional tiles into the game. If we can make it all on thick chipboard, we could consider extra pieces like the one below.

With a few of these, you can make tight corridor areas that are tough to pass. 

And finally, it would be great to be able to remove some space from the game board. I've been trying to think of how to handle the overhead view without making it look like a black hole / dungeon. Here are some rooftops for now.

I'll be making about 6 different double sided tile types as well as a few of the little corridor areas to try out at Unpub. I'm also bringing some new character tiles, which I will share soon enough. And if that isn't enough, I have a slightly lighter, trimmed down version of the game, that takes the basics and makes it a very accessible Zombie checkers type game. I'll post that soon too.

If you've played the game before (or not!) all feedback is very welcome. Even if you just want to say that you hate zombies!

Father Geek Review - ZombieZone

Father Geek has provided another one of their massively detailed reviews, and this time it's for ZombieZone!

They do such a great job with their reviews, covering the perspective of the Child Geeks, Parent Geeks and Gamer Geeks. Their tagline "better parenting through games and geekiness" is great, and we definitely promote it in our home as well. My kids are still very young, but all love to play games. Elle (4 years old) even likes to make her own. I have a video that needs to be edited down of her in action.

Anyway, speaking of action... we have a really awesome ZombieZone review! I'm glad to hear the Child Geeks and Parent Geeks approve of it, and I'm hoping to capture some of the Gamer Geeks over time. As we progress outside of the basic 2 player game, I think the additions will appeal to the Gamer Geeks, while still keeping the function and form of this standard 2 player version.

The Zombie Invasion caught everyone by surprise. Despite the movies, the t-shirt slogans, and books that detailed how the zombies would attack and how to defend yourself, the population of the world shifted from alive and bored to undead and stiff. Once the initial shock wore off and the human race organized itself to fight and contain the zombie outbreak, life more or less returned to normal. Oh, sure, there were some changes. For example, EVERYONE now carried a handgun, graveyards had watchtowers, and the most popular TV show in history pitted willing living participants against mindless undead in a battle royal. In fact, you just signed a contract to be part of the next season, alive or undead. Good luck!

Read the full review at: http://fathergeek.com/reviews/zombiezone/

CHILD GEEKS

"Fast and fun, this is a great introduction to the more complex zombie-themed games you will doubtlessly play in your future."
PARENT GEEKS
"Some of the Parent Geeks thought the game was perfect for easy plays and introduction to more complex strategy games where location of pieces was very important to achieving victory."
GAMER GEEKS
"One Gamer Geek said he was going to look into replacing his copy of Candy Land with ZombieZone. I imagine his little geeks will have nightmares in the future…"

I'm taking that Gamer Geek comment as a compliment (and I think it was intended that way?). I wouldn't mind it replacing Candy Land, even if just in one home.  

Thanks again to Cyrus and Father Geek!

Congress of Gamers 2012 Recap

Congress of Gamers is a small(ish) gathering of board gamers in Rockville, MD, just outside of Washington DC. It's just under 3 hours from my house, so I took the long solo drive down to see what it was all about. I really had no clue going into it because 1) Like I said, it's small(ish), 2) It's only been around for a few years, and 3) Their website is a little rough. Just finding out the location requires the user to channel their inner internet detective.

Even walking up to it, I still had no clue what to expect. The event was in a Senior Center, which sounds like it'll be a one or two room building, but this was bigger than most high schools. Tons of themed rooms, with tones of things to do. It made me want to skip 30 years into the future just to have the possibility of hanging out at one of these places.

But I was there to play games. The main room had a whole bunch of people playing Power Grid at once, with a silent Board Game Auction happening along side of it. Instead, I spent my time in the Unpub Protozone, a room for established, and up-and-coming designers to demo their new and unpublished games. The mood was very upbeat and creative in there, with a lot of great minds huddled around each game. I only played a few, and photographed a few more, but overall had a great time.

ZombieZone

I was one of the first designers to arrive, so my first few games were play tests of my own game, ZombieZone. It's a 2 player head-to-head battle game, currently in beta testing.

We played the game about 8-10 times throughout the day, with most players getting in more than one session, which is always a great initial compliment in these testing sessions. Everyone seemed to be having a blast, with it being the loudest game in the room (at least until Pole Position got rolling) and the anonymous user feedback forms proved that everyone did enjoy themselves.

My goal with the game right now is to finalize the basic units and start introducing new ones. The balance leans a little bit to the Zombie side right now and these sessions have helped tighten it up. You can pick up a copy of ZombieZone at The Game Crafter, or print your own at this link: http://buttonshy.blogspot.com/2012/10/zombiezone-full-pnp.html

VivaJava: The Coffee Game: The Dice Game 

With VivaJava just shipping out to its Kickstarter backers, getting a chance to play TC Petty III's dice version of the game was an unexpected surprise. I knew TC would be in attendance (as he was co-running the event) but I had no clue such a prototype existed. I think this was the one of the first public tests of the game.

So what can I tell you about it? Well, it's basically VivaJava lite. Just replace the beans with dice. If you've played VivaJava, you'll recognize all of the familiar mechanics. There are the blends (and even the epic Rainbow blend), the research (which modifies your die rolls instead of your bean pulls). Players can bet on other blends, and also obtain more/better dice.

If you haven't played VivaJava, the prototype might take a little more explanation, if only to bring in the coffee theme. Players will roll dice trying to make their best coffee blend. A blend is similar to a poker hand, with 3 of a kind beating a pair, and 4 of a kind beating 3 of a kind. Only one blend can be in play at once, so a better blend will dethrone the previous leader. Points are scored throughout the game, with the most coming in after successfully surviving a full round as the top blend. The alternative to blending is to research, which gives you special abilities once you reach certain checkpoints on the blend board.

As a fan of VivaJava, I was instantly hooked on this. And as a fan of great mechanics, I think most would also get hooked in. The only thing missing from VivaJava is the social side to it… but this is smaller, lighter, and quicker. It really captures the brilliance of VivaJava, with dice.

Walls of Light

I didn't expect to get to play Walls of Light. This is Jesse Catron's Game Crafter game about stained glass windows. Probably one of the most extreme themes (extreme, as in far from the normal, not to be confused with an EXTREME! theme) I've played in a while, and it meshes really nicely with the mechanics.

In the game, players are completing windows by playing transparent tiddly winks on top of each other to form various colors. When two colors form a third color, a player may earn extra points (as points are calculated by the amount of different colors in a single window).

The game is very inexpensive and you can get a copy at The Game Crafter for just $9.99. It's light on components, but the quality of the design makes it feel like it should cost twice as much. I ordered my copy and I'm looking forward to playing again.

Salmon Run

I've talked about Salmon Run a few times before. It's a very solid, customizable, deckbuilding Salmon racing game, and it's currently nearing the end of it's very long Kickstarter run. You can still pledge for the next 12 days.

Each time I play, I enjoy the game more and more. Even this time, I lost terribly, but still had a great time. Gryphon Games lis doing an amazing job with the production mock ups, but I will miss the art and appeal of the prototype. Look at that 3D rendered bear!

Compounded

I didn't get to play these last three games, but everyone seemed to have a great time with them. I can vouch for event co-organizer, Darrell Louder's upcoming Dice Hate Me game, Compounded. It's solid. Absolutely solid.

Pole Position

I didn't get the names of the designers of Pole Position, but they came in asking if there was space to demo their game, and they quickly had everyone in the room playing their horse race / auction game, ALL AT ONCE. It was crazy how it took off, and sustained that momentum all day long.

East India Company

The final game that I missed was Paul Owens' East India Company. I was told that it was THE game to play at Congress Of Gamers, but it didn't make the table the day I was there. I got to chat with Paul for a while (great guy) and he let me take a few shots of the game. Hope to play at an upcoming event.

And that was my day at the Rockville Senior Center a/k/a Congress of Gamers. A nice, small gathering of great designers and great games. I say it was small because there were only a few dozen people in the room throughout the day, but that was plenty to keep the games going on a consistent basis. The silent auction was worth it too. I didn't get anything because I saw it too late, but I know someone bought Power Grid with 2 extra maps for $20. That would have been worth the 3 hour drive alone.

ZombieZone: Full PnP

I've been promising a full Print and Play version of ZombieZone, and it's here!

You can play three different ways, depending on how much time you want to spend and how much ink is in your printer.


FULL PRINT AND PLAY 
Thematic, Printing and Cutting Involved! Uses printed tokens and is an exact replica of the complete game.

Rules: http://buttonshy.com/bs/zz-rules.pdf
PnP: http://buttonshy.com/bs/zz-pnp.pdf

Needs: 2 standard six sided dice, 1 additional six sided die to be used as the custom shotgun die

1) Print all 6 pages of the PnP.

2) Cut out the 4 board sections and assemble them to make one big square with a black border all the around it.

3) Cut out the 20 Human and 20 Zombie images and tape/glue them together so that one side is the Zombie face, and the other side is the Human face. You could tape them to Nickels for support When you have finished you will have 20 double sided Human/Zombie tokens. 

4) Cut out the 20 Red Ammo Discs. You can tape these to 20 pennies. They are single sided.

5) Cut out the 4 Blue Ammo Discs. You can tape these to 4 pennies or dimes. They are single sided.

6) Cut out the 6 Red Shotgun Die squares and tape to a six sided die.

POCKET CHANGE EDITION

Quick Start, Less Printing! - Uses $1.60 in pocket change as the tokens.

Rules: http://buttonshy.com/bs/zz-rules.pdf

PnP: http://buttonshy.com/bs/zz-pnp.pdf

Needs: 2 standard six sided dice, 1 additional six sided die to use as the custom shotgun die

1) Print only pages 1-4 of the PnP.

2) Cut out the 4 board sections and assemble them to make one big square with a black border all the around it.

3) Replace the 20 Zombie/Human tokens with 20 Nickels.

4) Replace the 20 Ammo Discs with 20 Pennies

5) Replace the 4 Bomb Discs with 4 Dimes.

6) Use this conversion for the custom six-sided shotgun die: 1=X, 2=1, 3=2, 4=2, 5=3, 6=3

POSTCARD EDITION

Less Printing! Maybe No Printing At All! - Small taste of the game. Uses 48 cents in pocket change as the tokens.

Rules: http://buttonshy.com/bs/zz-rules-postcard.pdf

PnP: http://buttonshy.com/bs/zz-postcard.pdf

Pick up a ZombieZone Postcard at a convention, or print your own. Uses the Postcard Edition Rules.

1) Print the postcard (if needed).

2) Use the change shown on the Postcard Edition Rules. (8 Nickels and 8 Pennies) 

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Please let me know what you think, either in the comments below or by email to JTagmire at gmail.com. I really appreciate any feedback and support.

If you enjoy the game, you can get a high quality version from The Game Crafter until 12/31/2012. It comes with a full-sized, standard folding game board and solid poker chip style tokens that look and feel really nice. The link is: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/zombiezone

ZZ: The Postcard Edition

The full ZombieZone Print and Play is still on it's way, but for now I have a tiny taste of the game for you... it's the Postcard Edition!

In this version, instead of battling Humans against Zombies, you will put your finest pocket change against each other. Heads (Humans) are armed with pennies for ammo, but at a quick flip of the coin they will become savage tails (Zombies). The game can be played with a total of 48 cents and 2-3 dice.

If you have received the postcard, click on to the rules and you will be good to go. If you have not received the postcard, you can print your own right here.

And a quick note on this. The board is usually a spacious 12 X 12 grid with enough space to escape your opponent, and form a plan of action. This Postcard Edition is a tiny 5 X 7 grid with no room to think. This is like fighting Zombies in your closet. You can't back out of this area, and things are going to move very quickly.

It's a different experience than the full game, but the gameplay is the same. The Game Crafter limited preview edition includes high quality Zombie/Human tokens, bombs (as well as an alternate win condition for the Humans), matching dice for each unit type, a custom shotgun die (for those who don't want to convert their dice numbers after rolling them) and much more.

But for now... Enjoy The Postcard Edition of ZombieZone!

Download: ZombieZone: The Postcard Edition - Rules
(http://www.buttonshy.com/bs/zz-rules-postcard.pdf)

Download: ZombieZone: The Postcard Edition - Postcard
(http://www.buttonshy.com/bs/zombiezone-postcard.pdf)

And if you like it, please check out ZombieZone: The Limited Preview Edition at The Game Crafter.

ZombieZone: Available Now!

It's October 1st... which means ZombieZone is out!

Here is the link to purchase your copy of the Limited Edition Preview version of the game: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/zombiezone

This version will only be available at The Game Crafter until 12/31/12, at which time we take the next step of this journey.

The print and play sample will be coming in just a few days. Hope you enjoy it!

12 Hours Until Launch

Zombie lovers... see you tomorrow morning.

ZombieZone: The Story

Here's a little history of the ZombieZone.

ZombieZone: Photos

We've seen a lot of the art for ZombieZone, but we haven't seen what the game looks like. The wait is now over. 

Yesterday, "Awesome Alex" Bryant of A Squared Photograpy took a whole bunch of awesome photos during a rare lunch break game session. My co-worker Michael Fleming's zombies were out in full force too, as you will see below.

Setting up the zombie side.

Taking a chance with one on the humans.

A human "flips" into a zombie.

The blue token is a bomb, a last resort for the outnumbered humans.

Completely surrounded. Game over.

Over the next few days, I'll be posting the print and play version, the full rules, upcoming demo sessions that you can attend, and the information on how to purchase your own copy of the game. Check back!

ZombieZone: Art

I ordered a copy of the ZombieZone preview version from The Game Crafter for quality control and also to bring to upcoming events. And now, I'm excited to say that it's here and it's awesome. The tokens have always been my favorite part,  as they provide the main game mechanic (flipping zombies! ...more about that later).

Here's a quick teaser image of the tokens for now:

The tokens really came to life when Carey Pietsch started the artwork. If you don't know Carey, she's an artist from Philly, who I met at the IGDA Philly Games Showcase. There are all kinds of goodies at her site (http://www.careydraws.com) like this one called "woofs". Carey is super talented, and I'm really happy to have her involved.

Images of the board and the rest of the components will be coming very soon!

ZombieZone: Intro

ZombieZone is my head-to-head human vs. zombie battle game. I originally designed the game as a personal challenge to use one token, which would be printed in bulk. I planned on using business cards as tiles, and as you may know, you can buy 1000 of the same business card for about $20.

The game has evolved and mutated quite a bit since the original concept, and I am releasing a "Limited Edition" preview version of ZombieZone at TheGameCrafter.com starting October 1st. It will be available until December 31, 2012, at which time I will finalize and tweak everything for a full 2013 release. 

Here's a sneak peek at the postcard that will be available at upcoming events:

The game is an epic battle of humans vs. zombies. It's played on a gridded pavement board, using dice for movement. Each side will roll two dice for movement, but they are played very differently. Humans (with their functioning brains) can choose which die will represent the amount of humans that will move, and which die will represent the amount of spaces they can move. Zombies will move slower and in groups. The higher die will always be the amount of zombies, and the lower die will always be the amount of spaces they can move.

Attacking is also unique. Humans are armed with a shotgun and use a custom d6 to reach the zombies. And the zombies, armed with their teeth, just need to move adjacent to a human to INSTANTLY flip the human token over, revealing the zombie on the other side. This token is now under the zombie player's control.

There is more to the game, but those are the basics. We'll have the full rules and a print and play sample up very soon. You can also try the game at any of our upcoming events.

And don't forget to keep an eye out for ZombieZone on The Game Crafter starting October 1st!