Remember the Word: Book of Mormon Edition

I just came across this (link) "interactive dvd game." It's a trivia based game aimed at families. From their site:


Remember The Word is an interactive DVD scripture trivia game the whole family can enjoy. Your family and friends will delight in testing their scriptural knowledge with these fun and engaging questions. A sure boost to any personal or family scripture study, REMEMBER THE WORD will increase your desire to feast upon the word of God.

The site also mentions how it makes a great family home evening game/activity.

The game was created by RB Studios and is sold by Enlightened Imaginations, Inc.

They will also have a second volume coming out in the Fall of 2010. Looks pretty interesting.

Treasure Hunt

Recently I was looking for some sort of treasure hunt (based on the Book of Mormon or scripture) that I could use with my kids during family home evening. I came across this (link) idea from About.com. It looked promising from a quick glance. But after reading through it a little more carefully, I found that it didn't make a whole lot of sense. I understood how to set it all up, printing out clues and gluing things together, getting the appropriate pictures, hiding things, etc. The problem came with the clue cards. There are the "right" clues and then there are "dummy" or "incorrect" clues. Well, you glue the big X on the back of the incorrect clues. Isn't that a dead give-away to kids? I mean, all they will have to do is look at the back of the two clues they are given? Anyway, it didn't make sense to me and I had promised the kids that we would do a treasure hunt (I don't know about any of you, but I love the idea of hunting for something and using clues to find it, and my kids are no different than me; they love it as well). So I had to think of something. This is what I came up with:

I thought of a few (I think it was 5) scriptures that included things that could be found in my home. For example, I used Mosiah 3:10 where it talks about the Savior and how he would be resurrected and judge the world. We have several pictures of Jesus Christ in our home. So I cut some 3" x 5" cards in half, wrote the scripture reference on one side, and wrote a short clue on the other side. In this instance I wrote something like, "Who does this scripture refer to?" I didn't even have to say "look through the house for Jesus." The kids just automatically started looking at all the pictures of the Savior throughout the house (I had "hidden" the next clue on one of those pictures). So they went along like that until they found the last clue which directed them to the treasure we had picked out for them. All in all it only took about 10 minutes to set up and the kids really enjoyed it!

Through this activity we could help the kids become a little more familiar with scripture references, with the Book of Mormon (like where different books were found, etc.), with numbers and sequences (some of our kids are younger so they are still learning how to look up verse 20 that it comes later on in the chapter than verse 8), and we could help them with their reading aloud as everyone needed to hear the clue so that they could go searching for the next one. It's great how even little things like this really offer quite a range of teaching and learning opportunities!!

Gaming with My Wife

At times my wife and I have a hard time playing games (competitive games that is). We both are quite competitive so when we are not winning we are a bit upset (it's even more difficult to be upset with your spouse). But recently we've been able to get over this a little bit as we've played Missionary Impossible, Warriors of the Promised Land, and Settlers of Zarahemla. My wife won all three games, even though I attempted to slow her up as much as I possibly could. I've decided that I'm not much of a gamer. At least, I'm not a gamer that wins very often. As I've thought about this I reflected on my experience at A Gathering of Strangers (probably the most I've played games in a long time). I only won one game during the two days in Salt Lake! And that was a game of Dominion: Intrigue (I think I played it 3 or 4 times). On that note, my wife enjoys Dominion as it's not for sure who is going to win until the end (unless of course, you can keep track of exactly how many points your opponents have been buying up). Anyway, I think I'm learning to be ok with the fact that I don't win a lot. I think I just need to enjoy playing, regardless of who wins. Besides, I think I prefer designing the games so I get caught up in thinking about the design of the game a lot when I play.

Total War Title of Liberty Mod

Darren, from the UK, is a video game "modder." And he did his thing on Total War a while ago. He added Book of Mormon names and places to the game, allowing players to enter the Promised Land and the battles that took place between the Nephites and Lamanites! Check out this game trailer:


View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


As it is a mod, you will need a copy of Total War with the Barbarian Invasion expansion, along with the mod file provided by Darren, via the Book of Mormon Battles website (link).

On the Book of Mormon Battles page, near the bottom, Darren gives thanks to several who contributed to helping him complete the project. It looks like there were a bunch of people who helped out. It's great to see that so many are open and willing to share their talents with others.

Overall, it looks like a fantastic game! I really need to get a copy and try it out.

Hagoth at GenCon 2009

Seth had told me that he would be taking Hagoth (both the prototype that he put together and a big banner that he had made) to GenCon this year (it ended last week).

Anyway, he also had the other game he is doing, Space Junkyard, with him. He had a finished version of that game. Anyway, up on boardgamegeek now is an image of Space Junkyard at GenCon. And, looking closely enough at the image you can pick out Hagoth on the side. Here's the image (with nice annotations included, ha, ha). Thanks to Chester for finding this little gem.
















I'm getting very excited to see the final, produced version of Hagoth. Scott did a great job with the artwork and I know that the components will also be very well done!

Yehuda: A Great Blog

Yehuda (link) is a great blog! The subtitle to the blog is: Gaming, Technology, Philosophy, and Life. It definitely discusses those four subjects and especially how they interact and are related to each other.

I wanted to touch on one particular post from Yehuda titled: How (and Why) to Play with Your Child in Six Steps. It was posted on October 5, 2006, so it's rather old (compared to how quickly things move forward with all this technology and internet stuff), but it is an excellent post.

I'm a parent and I love to play games. That's why I like this post so much. He starts off with an awesome view on parenting and children:

"The difference between a happy parent and an overwhelmed one is the difference between a parent that sees the big picture and one who is caught up in the drudgery of the moment."

It is really hard to "see the big picture." I mean there is so much going on that pulls my attention (school, work, etc.). But my family makes up the majority of the "big picture." So there shouldn't be any drudgery. The question becomes, how do you keep the "big picture" foremost in your mind? I have a tough time with messes. I have my stuff and each thing has it's proper place. Well, this kind of perspective doesn't work too well with children. But that doesn't need to make things into a drudgery for me. I just need to know that they are learning and keeping things clean and organized isn't something that is easy to learn. Someday they will get there and I just have to remember that. Besides, it's not a huge part of the "big picture." Helping them learn that is part of the "big picture." So, as I attempt to help them learn, that is a major part of the "big picture."

He follows this statement up with:

"You don't need to spend money to make children happy; you need to spend time."

Isn't that the truth!! It reminds me of the Church info-mercials: Family; Isn't it about, TIME. Here's a prefect example, from youtube:



He goes on to talk about all of the things that are available for families and their children (video games, summer camps, to name a couple) and how those things separate children and parents. There are many things available for children to do, some good, others not so good. But even the good things can often times take the place of the "essential things." Now, I'm not trying to say that board games or card games are the "essential things." But I am in complete agreement with Yehuda: it's the time spent with family in playing those games. Therein lies the value. After all, all of the other things we do in life, work, school, etc. we do to be able to spend time with our family. Yehuda puts it this way:

"All of those other things you do, you do to spend time with your children; maybe you forgot that."

So, here are the six steps he gives for How & Why to Play with your Child:
1. Accept that playing with your kids is time well spent
2. Know your child
3. Broaden the definition of play
4. Narrow the definition of play
5. Find good games
6. Adapt games

This is a great read and I encourage you to take a look; don't forget the big picture; and figure out a way of playing with your children. They won't be children forever.

BookofMormonBattles.com

A few weeks ago I talked with James H Fullmer about his games and his experiences designing them and getting them published (link). Today I wanted to talk a little about his website: www.bookofmormonbattles.com.

Jay has put a lot of stuff up on his site. The first link goes to a page of games. It highlights his 2 games, Book of Mormon Battles and Warriors of the Promised Land, and also shows off his Book of Mormon chess set that he designed! Below that though, he has several games that you can play online or print and play on paper. The Book of Mormon Match Game is a nice online matching game created using his artwork from Book of Mormon Battles.

Weapons of War (link)
This section of the website is pretty cool. Jay goes through, step by step of how to make padded weapons (swords & shields currently, with more weapons to come). He does this both in written format and via video. Here's the video of how to create a padded sword (looks pretty fun)!


Watch Making a Level 1 Foam Padded Sword in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

He also has an "interactive" (interactive because you can move around and look at things and even zoom in) map of the Promised Land. Jay says that the map is based on the book Mormon's Map by John L Sorenson. It would be cool to add in some 3d buildings for the cities and stuff like that (a la Google Earth).

All in all, it's a great site to learn more about Jay Fullmer and his work, what he thinks, what he likes to do, etc. I'm sure that kids out there would highly enjoy putting together some padded weapons to use on each other.

Bi-Weekly Poll & BoMToons

I've decided to attempt to solicit ideas and opinions from any who read this glorious blog. To accomplish this I'll put polls up for about 2 weeks at a time. The first one asks about your favorite Mormon themed game. If your favorite isn't listed please let me know and I'll revise the list so that it is included. Let me know what you think!

BomToons (link)
I came across the BoMToons website quite a while ago but have finally decided to write a little about it (it fits here now that this site is about games in general not just board/card games). Anyway, it is a website that hosts flash format games based on Book of Mormon stories and LDS/Mormon culture. From their site: it was "started as the crazy idea of a few returned missionaries who wanted to feature some of the funnier things from the Book of Mormon and Mormon culture."

They have several games. I found that I enjoyed playing BoM Battle Beat and LDS BMX.

They also have a section with flash animated short cartoons. Very interesting stuff. And you can even order 2 different t-shirts with their logo and games on them!

Logo Contest Update: I've already received 2 entries in the contest!! And I've decided that I'll post the entries and then let everyone vote on the one they like the best. That way we can get a look that everyone likes, not just me.

About Mormon Game Design

Mormon Game Design is a site on the internet where LDS/Mormon themed games are discussed.

The word "games" can refer to board games, card games, video games, games and activities that are used for Primary or Young Men/Young Women. "Games" should be taken in the broadest terms possible.

"Discussed" means there will be postings about (a) games in general, (b) what people have said about games, (c) experiences playing and designing games, etc. If it is somehow related to games, then it will be discussed. Hopefully it can become a discussion with everyone sharing their opinions, perspectives, and insights as well.

Lastly, this site is dedicated to promoting the design and publication of quality LDS/Mormon themed games. There need to be original LDS themed games designed and published. How can that happen?

All in all this will be a fun, resourceful place for people who are looking to find LDS/Mormon themed games.

Orson Scott Card Talks About Games

I received a link this morning (read it here) to an article written by Orson Scott Card talking about LDS themed games (focusing on trivia games), his experiences with them, what he liked and didn't like, etc. Needless to say, I was very excited to see that people really do think that LDS themed games can be fun and that they NEED to be fun!

Now, how do I get my fun LDS themed games out for everyone to play and enjoy!!?

A Gathering of Strangers

That was a whole lot of fun!! I was able to make the trip down to Salt Lake City on both Friday and Saturday. I had never attended A Gathering of Strangers, or any game convention for that matter, before, but I really enjoyed it and can't wait for next year!

Friday I presented my game, the Armor of God, in the guild competition. It went pretty smoothly. There were 2 groups of 5 judges (from places like FRED Distribution, Out of the Box Games, and Games Unplugged), so the game was played twice. Then the judges rated the game following Mike Compton's Evaluation Form (find it on baordgamegeek here). A total of 8 games were entered into the competition. I'm not sure what place I ended up taking, but it wasn't in the top 4. Not really a big deal though. I mean, I didn't really expect to win. There are a whole lot of great games that the members of the guild design. It was just great to be a part of it and I can't wait to get the feedback from the judges. I'm sure it will help me improve the game a lot.

There were a few highlights of the weekend that I wanted to touch on. After the judging on Friday, Carey from FRED Distribution approached me and asked about taking a copy of the prototype to Armor of God home. In other words, he's interested and thinks it's a pretty good game! No guarantees that they will publish it, but success!!! Part of the purpose of the competition was to get publishers to see the games from the guild and hopefully get them interested in the games we had to offer. Carey was also interested in Mike Compton's game Bandits of Persia! It's exciting to see that publishers have an interest in games designed by guild members!

Also on Friday, Seth picked up the finished painting that Scott has been working on for Hagoth!!! Here it is!!!

He brought it to the Gathering. We both had prototypes of the game as well and we got about 10 people to demo it during the weekend. Ryan from The Board Game Guy was very excited! We're getting closer and closer to being ready for production!!

Lastly, I wanted to add that there was a lot of free stuff given away by all the publishers and game stores on hand. On Friday I won a brand new copy of Dominion Intrigue!!! I ended up playing it 3 times that evening (I even won the first of the 3 games, which was pretty big because I don't thing I won anything else during the 2 days). It's a great game!

All in all, I just loved the convention. I got to meet new people (another guy from here in Logan, now we'll have 4 of us here that design games). I got to play a lot of games. And I found someone interested in another one of my designs. Really, what more could I ask for from 2 days?

Conversation with James H Fullmer

I recently was able to speak with James H Fullmer about his experiences with designing, illustrating, and publishing (via Covenant Communications) his two games, Book of Mormon Battles and Warriors of the Promised Land.



Download the conversation here.

I had a list of questions that we discussed. We didn't really read them out loud or anything, so here they are.

1. What made you first decide to design a game?
2. Was the idea Book of Mormon Battles from the beginning or did it sort of evolve to that as you worked on it?
3. How did the design process go? I mean, did you get some paper, cut it up, and mark them for cards, or how did it go?
4. When did Covenant Communications enter the picture? Did you contact them as you were working on the idea or more after you had it all worked out?
5. How did the whole relationship work with Covenant?
6. What was your process for the artwork (there are a lot of images in both games)?
7. What made you decide to go the second game Warriors of the Promised Land?
8. Was the process with that game pretty much the same as with the first?
9. Do you know the print run size for either game?
10. Do you know how successful the games have been (how many have sold)?
11. What did you learn from your experience that you would like to share with other "would-be LDS/Mormon game designers?"

This is my first dive into doing a podcast or recorded interview/conversation, whatever you want to call it. So I learned quite a bit about that. Plus I enjoyed meeting James (Jay as he prefers to go by) and learning about him and his experiences.

Hopefully this will be of benefit to someone besides me, but if not, I enjoyed it and found it enlightening.

Busy Summer

Things have been pretty busy lately. I was looking forward to summer as I thought it would be a little more relaxed and give me more time to work on my games and whatnot. Anyway, I just defended my thesis! So now I have to wait for the secretary to read through it, make the changes, wait for the grad school to read through it, make the changes, and then pay fees, get it bound, etc. Hopefully by the end of August I'll officially be a MASTER! Plus I'm trying to get going on the dissertation proposal, so that's keeping me busy.

I recently got the Armor of God printed by BluePanther. (I'll be posting a comparison between Guild of Blades, Artscow, and BluePanther here a few days.) I'm ready to take it down to SLC for A Gathering of Strangers. I'm really looking forward to that.

As I worked with Steve at BluePanther to get the cards printed he asked me about doing some artwork for his Nepal game! It was quite a surprise to me. I mean, I've been a little hesitant about my art abilities, but this gives me some added confidence that I do pretty good work. It has made me think more seriously about doing my own thing, publishing my games myself. I mean, having someone do the artwork is a big expense, but if I'm able to do it myself that would definitely cut back on costs. We'll see if I can get enough money together to really go out and do something like that. It would be great!!

The Game Design "class" (Game Design Concepts) started at the beginning of this week. It looks like it's going to be fun to follow along and hopefully contribute something. The problem will be trying to find enough time to participate in such a way that will allow for some contributions. There's a lot going on this summer!

On boardgamegeek a competition was posted for teams of 2 to design and produce a print n play cooperative game. Dane and I are going to design and submit to the competition. It will be a lot of fun to work with Dane, brainstorm, playtest, etc. as we move from idea to prototype to production. The brainstorming process has begun!

Lastly, we've had a little more discussion on the Korihor game that our Google Group (join us) is working on designing. This whole experience has been very educational and informative already. It's not easy working together on a game design, especially when it involves people from 5 states, many who have never met face to face, with so many different ideas and perspectives on what will make the game not only work but FUN! It's actually a lot of fun working on this project with the group. I hope that the end result will be a great game that we will figure out how to publish and offer as a ZGDI game!!! Then we'll put it up on our website as a great LDS/Mormon themed offering!

Anyway, quite a bit going on this summer! I guess it's good to keep busy.

New Game & the Satisfaction that's Come from It

I have been working on a children's game, aimed at 5 year olds and up. It's a cooperative game where the players are working toward completely building a temple. It's turned out to be pretty basic, but I think that's important because younger children will be playing it. Anyway, they roll dice and collect "resources" that are then used to "build" parts of a temple. Once they have all the parts they can put them all together and voila! a TEMPLE!!

I got a good prototype put together and Sunday morning before church (we go at 11:00 am) my kids played through it once. My three oldest played (a 7 year old, 5 year old, and 4 year old). The four year old had a hard time understanding that the three of them were playing together on a team. He liked collecting the pennies (which represent tithing) and always commented about how he had more than his sisters. The older two grasped the whole idea and could play through quite easily. They, in fact, helped the four year old several times with his rolls and whatnot.

The best part of the whole thing was that they were totally enjoying themselves! They played for about 30 minutes and were loving their time together. They were working toward a common goal and no one (well our four year old got a little distracted a few times) complained about playing or got tired of it and moved on to something else. It was very satisfying to hear them working together and having a good time playing a game that they could play together without much supervision from my wife and I (we were working on getting the other two ready). All I can say is that it was very satisfying. I was very happy, and still am.