For the last few years, I’ve thought about my tabletop games Puzzle Strike and Yomi. I have not been thinking about new editions of those games, but rather entirely new games that are inspired by those games. I’ve done a whole lot of work on that, but I really need your help at this point.
The status right now is that my patrons on Patreon have access to all of the new Puzzle Strike-inspired game’s materials. They’re having a great time playtesting that (both print-and-play and online virtual tabletop versions) and you can too if you join. I’ve just started rolling out content for the Yomi-inspired game to my patrons as well. I will continue to do this for sure no matter what. If we are able to get a lot of interest—which means you joining to support us too—then we will also make a digital version of that Yomi-inspired game.
Here’s a preview of a little bit of the Puzzle Strike-inspired game:
And here’s a preview of a little bit of the Yomi-inspired game
You can join my Patreon here to see more of these games as they develop.
Make an Awesome Digital Yomi-ish Game?
I have high hopes that if we do make a digital version of the Yomi-inspired game that we’re now equipped to create much better production values than we did on old Yomi’s digital version. We’re also able to do higher production values than in Fantasy Strike. As for the gameplay, I like it even more than Yomi. Also, both the online play and even single player experience can be better than in our previous digital card games.
But software development is very expensive and I’ve reached my limit. We need a bare minimum of $20k/month to sustain that development, and really more like $30k/month. That is doable and is being done right now by other designers. So please, if you would like to see this happen, let’s make it happen. As I said, I will continue to roll out the tabletop content to my patrons no matter what. Even better if you join and we can get this going.
More About These Games
Both of the new tabletop games I’m working on have a lot in common with each other, philosophically. They play nothing alike, but in both cases, they take the core thing about the games they’re inspired from, then take a different fork in the road. Both these new games mark the same shift in my tabletop design toward asynchronous play. That is, they let you get through your turn without having to go back and forth with the opponent(s) several times, yet still retain their strategic depth. This is very helpful for creating the possibility of play-by-forum, of asynchronous play in a digital version, of pass-and-play in a digital version, and even if only ever played as a physical tabletop game…it’s just a lot faster to get through the game without needing to break the action of your turn.
Both these new games have cleaner rules than my previous games. Fewer fiddly edge cases that rules that can be stated more simply and intuitively than before. I have always strived to do as good as I can on that issue, but it was really Pandante’s 2nd Edition that was the key for me. I’m usually checkmated by situations where a rule seems fine, but then playtesting shows it absolutely must have some small change to stand up to rigorous play. Then it needs a second fix and a third band-aid. No matter how hard we try to revise it to not need those fixes, it really does need them, and nothing can be done. In Pandante 2nd Edition, I finally took the more bold step of giving up on trying remove these band-aids (can’t…) or state them more cleanly (only slightly helps). Instead, by changing some fundamental working of the game, the entire realm of the problematic rule is avoided in the first place. No band-aid needed because the rule itself is gone and obsolete. (Btw, you can get that Pandante 2nd Edition here. It’s great!)
That’s also what I’ve done with these new games. The most annoying areas of rules aren’t “fixed” because these are not new editions of those games. Instead, these are different games that simply chose different rules-waters to play in—ones that happened to “just work”. No need to wonder if crashing zero gems gives you money or not in Puzzle Strike. No need to wonder how you play “no-card” at all in Yomi, what that even means, or how you handle the timing of it. That stuff is all gone.
Both these games are also more flavorful than their predecessors. The Puzzle Strike-ish game achieves that by coming alive with actually showing you the gems the game centers on manipulating. It all has a lot more “table presence”. The Yomi-ish game takes mild things that differentiated characters before and really amps them up. Projectile characters really feel like they’re zoning you compared to before. Special moves generally have whatever special properties they need, rather than my old insistence that they be rationed out in some certain way. And if a character needs some extra cards, or even an extra deck to work, so be it! Whatever is cool and flavorful is how it should be.
Conclusion
Please help me be able to afford the production values these games deserve, and have some fun seeing how they progress, too. Tell some friends to get on board so we can make an awesome digital version of the Yomi game. Also feel free to drop in our Discord chat and you can ask other people how they feel about the whole process.
Thanks for your consideration.
