Very well, thanks.
My New Plan to post something every day seems to be working alarmingly smoothly. Although I mentioned it on the 31st of March, I’d actually been following it since the 21st, which means that I’ve managed a post every day for over a month without missing any. It does seem to suit me a lot better than my previous system so I’ll be carrying on like this.
There is a downside in that the endless march of new things sweeps interesting posts and discussions away rather quicker than I’d like, so I need to rethink how I archive stuff and review tags and suchlike. Just because a post has been bumped down the front page doesn’t stop it being worth commenting on or reading. I know I read all the comments that come through even though I may not have time to answer them all immediately. I do get there eventually. It does bring up the subject of what’s worth keeping/archiving and what’s ephemeral. Many of my articles are intended to be discussion seeds and reference that is worth reviewing regardless of when you find them, and so these need to be archived accordingly. Not everything is worth keeping though.
So what have you got to look forward to over the next month(s)? More of the same to start with. More rambles, a lot more design notes and conceptual stuff (on DZ, for example), more reviews, some painting and modelling work in my newly cleared painting area, and other things besides. Some of my games have expansions and additions waiting to be posted, and others need proper FAQs. I’m curious about whether video posts would help or at least add to my writing in parts. I don’t want to just talk to camera, but for some FAQs and certainly if I try battle reports and tactics articles they may be helpful. That will be a bit of learning on my part.
There’s always loads to do, and as long as you guys are happy to come back to read and comment I’ll be here posting.
See you tomorrow 🙂
Quirkworthy 
Hi Jake,
Just a quick opinion on the video posts really.
I think it might be worth trying to do one ‘video post’ per week in which you can reference any normal posts, recent or not that has a direct bearing on the subject you are talking about, that way visitors I think will take more heed rather than going through ‘hunting’. Of course battle reports are also much easier to follow visually than in writing so I think in this respect alone the ‘video post’ would be a brilliant advance.
You will know from the forum, KS comments, etc., that DZ has certainly seems to have caught the imagination of both wargamers and board game players alike, but some of us wargamers wish to expand already the concept into multi-board games, if this happens would you be interested in receiving reports in how the games played and the house rules that we adapt for such. (I realise that your workload is tremendous already and with likely upcoming projects it is unlikely to reduce so I would rather ask than assume.)
If I may one quick question has just occurred to me about DZ. Do you foresee scenarios where the Enforcers are not part of the game, e.g. scenarios whereby other factions battle it out before the Enforcers arrive on the sceen and therefore at an earlier stage of the infection spread? It might be nice in campaigns rather than individual games for Marauders to get a foot hold against The Plague forces before the Enforcers turn up to try and retrieve the situation and valuables for the Council of Seven from the Marauders rather than The Plague?
Now stop reading this rubbish and get back to work and keep designing great games for us! 🙂
Bill
There would be plenty of fights without either the Enforcers or Plague as rival factions fought over the spoils of the largely abandoned world.
Battle reports are always good and gamers love them. They are very good at showing how games work and rules with in them flow.
video will show this alot and make things more clear.
The concept of video replies on FAQ or obscure at first appearance for a particular rules would be useful.
Never actually watched a video blog, combination of time and convenience I guess.
Going off topic it seems GW (and forgeworld) is pulling the plug on specialist games games (and the forgeworld airplanes one), so a potential boost there for deadzone?
I’ve heard a similar rumour.
Apparently confirmed now from multiple enquiries with GW and forgeworld by individuals world wide. I can see why they are being cut. It is annoying for those fans of those systems, though I suspect blood bowlers will barely notice. Is amusing in the sense that they represent with rulesets like warmaster their best actual games (sadly will be forced to continue on with blitzkrieg commander and cold war commander to name but 2 of the variants), but the company stopped being a games company some time ago so no surprise there.
Of course they could be run as a successful business independently, just with no headline amounts of profit so no interest from GW proper mixed with the concern that sales would cut into core lines sales. A more business minded friend has suggested the dropping of the smaller niche games by GW way back when has affected their market share in the long run as it gave space to other companies to fill and start digging into the market proper, as evidenced today by GW’s market share falling (note share not profits, the market has expanded in terms of total £ spent, both due to renewed interest in games and the normal inflation effect and so on) and alleged problems with the fantasy battles side of things. Apparently there is even a name for this in business though I can’t remember what he called it.
Specialist games not only cut a share of the main games sale, but also offer an embarassing comparation to the main games.
As a fanatic BloodBowl player (30+ tourneys a year and 3 leagues) I’m not worried about GW dropping the game (it can perfectly go on on his own), I would be a lot more worried if GW did something about it.
After reading the current edition rules of WFB and W40K (and dropping both games), the only thing I would ask GW is:”Please, leave my favourite game ALONE.”
Better for us gamers that GW leaves this large niche of games. So that more competent people, like Mantic, Jake or Alessio, that love what they do and are GOOD at it, can fill it and give us awesome products.
I’m still waiting to see what GW brings us in the way of LE this year, if anything. I’ve been busy with DZ. Is BB still the internet’s favourite rumour?
I think so. And I pray that, if that is the case, they had at the very least, the common sense to consult Galak.
Anyway they can always end up like the “Golden Rulebook”.
It’s disconforting. GW should be the most “professional” gaming company But their current rules are amateurish at best.
I believe (from my browsing of exactly 1 forum, I am not the worlds most internet connected individual) it is the favourite rumour every year since the LE run of spacehulk went well.I guess they must hold back on it in some ways because it is a disruptive product for their main lines. You buy it, it has some sort of linked campaign you play more than fantasy and similar because it s simply more fun, you discover the big world of balls (Blood and Dread, the latter likely a 1/3 of the cost of this oft rumoured set), the number of companies churning out now $35 teams, the computer game(s), and get diverted from buying more space marines. Something space hulk didn’t do.
That distraction has long been GW’s reasoning for sidelining Specialist Games.
I just want to chime in and say that I don’t find video posts very useful. I can read faster than someone can speak and video also makes it difficult if you just want to use the post as a quick reference.
Sure, I understand the benefit of a demo video, but for the most part I’d prefer to see your thoughts in words. Perhaps this is a side effect of being a writer.
I think that both have their uses and it’s finding the balance. I prefer to write as I find it far easier and quicker, but having said that there are times when a picture is the easiest thing to use and the same applies to video. As mentioned above, FAQs would probably benefit for specific questions and in-game examples.
I second that, and add that if I am in a public place I can always read a post, but not always watch and listen to a video.
On another note, any chance we could get Secret Weapon to build 4 boards for Deadzone? Be a great cross over for both companies.
Never mind, looks like we just have to break 300k to get the deluxe gaming mat. 🙂
I would expect that to happen.