We Have a Winner!!

Today marks the day that we've (or at least I've been waiting for)!! This ol' blog hit 100 total Fans/Followers (20 Followers through Blogger and 80 Facebook Fans)!!! I'm pretty excited and glad that I get to share the excitement with the internets (and maybe anyone who comes along, they may get excited too, maybe).

Anyway, so as promised I held a little drawing, putting everyone's name in and we have a winner!! The winner is, the Facebook Fan:

Pedro Ramirez

If you, Pedro, will contact me (send me a message via Facebook or email me at mikedrys@gmail.com) then we can figure out how to get you your copy of the Armor of God (check it out here)!


Don't everyone else lose hope. Like I said before, we'll hold another drawing every 50 new Fans/Followers. So be sure to spread the word and let people know about the blog here. For the next drawing we'll give away a copy of James H Fullmer's Warriors of the Promised Land (here).



Thank you all for letting others know about this blog. It's a lot of fun to post and share my excitement with others.

Mormon Game Design 101: Episode 01

Mormon Game Design 101 has finally started moving forward. This is the first episode in a series that will be looking at the game design Armor of God Jr. This is a game aimed at children 4 years old and older. So it won't be too complex but hopefully fun enough that kids will enjoy it and hopefully parents can join in and have fun as well. Enjoy!



One of the goals with the games I'll be covering in Mormon Game Design 101 is to put them online in pdf format so that others can play them and give some feedback. That will mean that there will sometimes be some assembly required. But I'll probably go over that in the videos as well.

Hagoth Demo Copy!!

Recently Seth from Mayday Games sent me on of the demo copies of Hagoth. He received 3 from the factory. These demo copies are sent as a way of checking to make sure everything is good before doing the full print run.

I figured I'd share some pictures of the game up to this point. For the most part everything looks good. There are a few things that need to be fixed before full production, but that is being taken care of and shouldn't take too long to finish.

It's great to get the game in my hands and see pretty much what it's going to be like once it's officially released. It sure is a lot different from the prototypes I had put together at the beginning. It's actually really cool to see how it has changed over time. I'm going to do a write up of the development of the game from idea to publication. But that won't be ready until the game has been officially released.

 

Also, SaltCon that is taking place this weekend (there's a link to the site in the right-hand column of the blog here). Seth will be there and is going to be running a session or two with Hagoth so that people can see the game and learn how to play it!

Cureloms & Cumoms

Ether 9:18-19 mention several of the different animals that the Jaredites found in the Promised Land. Among those mentioned were cureloms and cumoms (no image posted here; I didn't want to ruin the surprise). Have you ever wondered what they were exactly? Wikipedia has a small article about them (here). There's also a short article about them on dictionary.sensagent.com (here). Well, if you've ever wondered, www.mormonzone.com has the answer for you, and they've made it possible for you to adopt your own, virtually that is (here). Not technically a game, but it sort of fits the category of online game. And kids might enjoy it for 5 minutes or so.

The website also has some LDS news (made up, parody type news that is) and LDS jokes.

Chapter & Verse Update

I just wanted to send out this quick update about Mark Hansen's Chapter & Verse CCG (go the Facebook page here.) He's been working on updating the artwork on the cards. He's got 13 card prototype images up on the Facebook page. He's also got an update to the rules. So go on over to the game's website (here) and give it a try. The rules are here and the card set is here. I'm sure he's ready for more input on the game.

Scriptures 4 Kids

I came across this website recently: http://scriptures4kids.com.

The site is the creation of Angela Roberts, mother of 6. She wanted to create something to help kids not only learn to read but to do so in the context of the scriptures. 

It's got stories from the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants (Bible stories coming soon) written for kids. The stories are written at 4 different reading levels to allow kids of varying ages to take advantage of the site. There is also narrative with each story so that kids can have it read to them over the computer.

The biggest draw for me (no surprise here) is that there are games associated with the stories as well! They have focused on trying to use current technologies to offer fun games for kids to play online.

From the website:
"Scriptures 4 Kids has embraced this technology and gaming.  We have created, what we hope, will be fun and educational games that will not only be fun, but will help your children apply the scriptures to their daily lives. Each game teaches gospel principles from the scriptures.  At the end of each game thought provoking questions, relating to the principles taught in that game, are asked so that children will have help applying those principles to their life."

There are currently only 2 games open for kids to play, but the site explains that more games are scheduled to be released in the summer. I contacted Angela and she sent me several images from games that are forthcoming. Find them below.

Hagoth Mentioned in Interview on Youtube

Seth Hiatt (owner of Mayday Games, publishing Hagoth) was interviewed at GenCon in August or thereabouts. And the interview has shown up on Youtube. Mostly just about Mayday Games, but there is a small mention of Hagoth toward the end, as well as a shot of the large banner that was up at his booth!! I'm getting pretty excited! Shouldn't be too much longer now and the game will be available.