Making My Game

Wednesday, September, 10th 2008 at 1:01am

Tomorrow (technically today) Crusipher has off work. There is a sale at Hyatt’s art store, but we’re not going because we’re trying to save up for bigger things right now, which is logical, though I do regret not having the luxury of going there and spending oodles of money. It’s slow season for tattoos in September, so there won’t be much to go around for a while. My mom took me to Hyatt’s today because she was interested in the sale as well, and she bought a bunch of paints. I spent my last dollars on some replacement markers, making my wallet more empty than it’s been in months, maybe in over a year. My mom helped me pay for my total charge, which was well appreciated.
I’ve made some more progress on the recreation of the board game cards... Boy is that a nasty task. I’ve done 200 cards so far... Of the total 2000 that need doing. I can’t believe I spent so many months on making those cards only to discover that the resolution was too low for print. It’s a very hard lesson, and one I won’t forget. Like the time I had only one copy of a file for a story I was working on. It was around 50 typed pages and I was eleven at the time. I accidently saved over it and that was that, months gone. I’ve not made the same mistake since. Like the time I forgot to bring mom’s stocking to x-mas at Aunt Martha’s house. I cried. I had worked so hard on collecting up things for it, I was no older than thirteen at the time, more likely twelve or eleven at that time. I never forgot that again either, that’s for sure.
Well, that was rambling... The internet is out again, that’s dandy. I think I’ll play Final Fantasy XII some more now.
I get so lonely so easily. Over years I’ve learned how to distract myself. I’ve learned that complete solitude feels better than partial solitude. In other words, being completely alone is easier to handle than being half-way engaged in activities with other people. Unfortunately people for the most part are always half-way engaging unless you’re dating them. That’s why I like board games I suppose. It’s fully engaging, keeps my mind focused.
I have way too much doubt, and that is something you don’t know about me. I talk bravely to cover all the doubt I feel on the inside. The things I believe in are nothing more than the most logical things I’ve ever read or been told, and they can go up in flames with one good argument against them. I have no faith in anything whatsoever, and hardly any hope. I believe in the world continuing to do as it has done, and I believe in myself continuing to grasp for understanding and constantly failing, constantly being as naive as slow as I’ve ever been. Those are two things I believe in that won’t be shattered very easily because there can’t be a counterpoint without changing my entire known world.
When it comes to what to do, what is good for me and what is not... I have mountains of doubt. There are some certainties, but they are few. One certainty is that being sick and unhealthy and overweight is completely miserable and unacceptable and doing what it takes to be otherwise is worth whatever it takes.









Wednesday, September, 10th 2008 at 3:00pm
Polymancer Studios,
(As a side note before I begin, your e-mail is not only protected from spambots, but from humans as well. When I right clicked and selected "copy e-mail' I got a long code that in it said "this e-mail is protected from spambots." I thought that was pretty funny, so I just copied your e-mail manually from your paper-hand-out thingy that I got from the FanExpo in Toronto instead, lol.)
My name is Atara Phoenix. My boyfriend and I make-up a tiny business called Phoenix's Muse Creations, where I'm Phoenix and he is Muse. Muse is a tattoo artist here in Buffalo, NY and does very amazing pencil work and dabbles in digital work as well. I fancy myself a designer of all types. Any design at all – clothing, buildings, recipes, video games, board games, and pretty much anything – I feel like I have something to add to it. However, it’s unpractical to pursue all of those interests, so I’ve narrowed down my focus to making a board game. I thought the process would go very quickly because my ideas come to me like water in a thunder storm... Alas, the design process was much faster than the creation process.
I’ve had a number of hold ups, the main one being making the cards for the game. This may sound completely insane, but the game requires about 2500 cards, and around 1600 of them are unique content and about 40 unique card designs including the backs and fronts of the cards. I had finished 2000 of these cards minus proof-reading them, and submitted one to a printing company to ask about prices and sizing and all of that good stuff, and they replied simply “increase resolution or your card will be blurry.” I almost quit then and there, because this meant that all the cards needed to be made in a new resolution, all 2000 of them, which meant new designs, new files, new everything.
It’s been almost a year now since I first got the idea for my board game, but now that I’ve invested at least six months of that year into working on it day after day, I’m certainly not giving up on it. The game can be played between two to six players, and requires a large game board, 2500 cards, and 372 pieces. This sounds insane when I lay it out this way, but my main problem with board games is the lack of expansiveness. One sit-through of this game should take several hours, which is what me and my hard-core gamer friends like.
I’m expecting this game to be appealing to people who like Warhammer, hex-based games, and anybody who plays Civilization the computer game. I’d say my design pulls elements from Conquest (board game), Final Fantasy (computer game), Civilization (computer game), Risk (board game), Settlers of Catan (board game), and perhaps just a hint of Dungeons and Dragons. Needless to say, I’m confident in it being marketable.
All of that aside, here is where you guys come in. I need a first-print of the cards (I’m painting little wooden pieces for the first draft of the pieces) so that I can test the game out throughly and make final changes. I also need the board itself made which is probably the more tricky aspect. I’m interested in the price range for 2500 glossy full-color cards sized at 2.5in wide by 3.75in tall and a full-color game board (will probably three folds, possibly four) that would be about... 5.5ft by 4.5ft. The board size is just an approximation since I don’t have a final sizing on the aspects of the board yet.
Please write back with all comments and thoughts and with a price range for the board and cards if possible as your leisure.
-Atara


Wednesday, September, 10th 2008 at 4:36pm
Angel writes me:
YES we are actually going to meet!! It’s so exciting, eh? I cannot wait.
Hmm, well he and I are just friends and I’m over him. Sometimes I reflect back on it but still I feel apathetic towards him and the situation… anyway, that’s all gone and I really enjoy being the girl nobody can have =]] I’ve been thinking of how when I was younger, I always wanted to be an independent girl. I wanted to be the one girl who didn’t need to depend on anyone (especially a guy) for happiness. On some level I do create my own happiness but others do play a large role in my blissfulness too. It sort of balances out I suppose. I find it hard to really depend on anyone these days which is probably the main reason why I try not to. I’m not very reliable myself and I admit that but I do try and to me trying is the best thing anyone can do. Trying is what builds strength ….at least in my eyes.
Anyway, in one of your entries, I noticed that you mentioned your father lecturing you about college. I also recall in one of your entries from years ago (or perhaps it was last year) how you noted that both of your parents were smart but yet their intelligence didn’t get them anywhere and you blamed it all on society’s ways. Hmm, I see a lot of smart people graduate but none of them really put forth the effort in the goals they once had. After high school, they usually drink their life away or get caught-up in drugs… My point is maybe your father doesn’t want you to be in the same situation he found himself in. Do you know what I mean?
Now, I’m definitely not going to preach to you about how education is important (though I believe it’s the key to a whole new life). I respect your morals and your decision. I know you want to be a housewife and that’s where we’re different (We’re probably a whole lot different but this one probably separates us most) you like to do whatever Crusipher wants you to do. If he wants you to cook, clean, or do whatever else, you’re willing to do it for him because you love him. You just want him to be happy and of course you want yourself to be happy. That’s not a bad thing but in this new world that we find ourselves in today, talk about it as if it’s a bad thing, right? Everyone is so built-up on education and all that…. academic skills are vital but most people don’t have the confidence or the willpower to actually go through with their life plans. I keep straggling off but what I’m trying to say is you are dependent and don’t mind whereas I strive to be independent (though I’m not that independent considering the fact that my parents are super duper overprotective!) :]

I write back:
You know, that's a very good analysis. Few people can accurately say what pleases me and why it pleases me. And beyond that, you even pointed out one of the best reasons to not go to college. So many people go, and then do nothing with it. What a waste of money and time if you don't do anything with it! My parents have no college friends that they still hang out with. My parents don't have jobs that relate to their college experience. The things they learned in college aren't the things they use most often in their day to day lives, and this just doesn't apply to them, but to many, many people. I've even heard people say that college helped them mostly to learn what they didn't want to do, and not what they did want to do. I won't go to college without life-goals in mind, and that is that. I also won't go to college without intending to set aside my life for the entire time I'm in college and spend all my time learning and memorizing information. And I also refuse to take out a ridiculously large loan that I'll spend my life paying off. Without those three elements, it's just a waste, don't you think?
Do you still have the list I sent you off stuff you should bring?
Wednesday, September, 10th 2008 at 8:37pm
I don't deny that I'm paranoid, tater. And I may be coming up with excuses because I want a baby so badly, and my mom's experience may differ from mine. However, I've had way too many health problems to not be paranoid. Mono four times. Chicken pocks twice. Remadic fever as a baby. Constant constipation. Harsh cramps. At least two yeast infections each year since I was eleven. At least one episode of strep throat for every year I've lived. Unexplained fevers. Colds that doctors couldn't identify. Severe headaches as a child. Chronic tiredness that didn't stop until I was fifteen. And I'm sure I'm missing at least ten more items that should be on this list. I have every reason to believe I will scream in horror as I give birth and that having a baby late in life would be a bad idea.