The grant-folk didn’t go for it, not even close. The submission got a score of 65 out of 100. I have two reactions:
Me:
This is disappointing, but par for the course. Getting grants is hard, and it’s normal to miss a number of swings. They gave fairly good feedback, and we actually did pretty well for where I’m coming from (outside of an institution, no previously awarded grants). We learned a lot by going through the process. I can rest, prepare, and try again next year having addressed their concerns.
I also was able to talk to some teachers and have ideas for a micro version of the game that could be used in classrooms almost as-is, so this will give us time to get some kind of minimum viable product living out there in the world.
You poor, simple FOOLS. Thinking you could defeat me, ME? The MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL?!
Skin in the game
Not at all because I was sad and needed to google animals, I did some work going back to the game’s roots for the creature’s designs: nudibranches (and squid)!
So cute! So squishy! CL’s creatures don’t look much like them, though. It’d be cool if things could be more… squishy? I had a system at one point to have deformable skin. Playing around with that again:
Some errors: that weird popping-out of the skin when it bends far. Math is hard. If you happen to know about polygon convex hulls (and related things), I could probably use a hand?
Other projects
I’m also taking a look at heating up two other games that have been on the backburner for a while now. I’m partnering with an artist to give my first game, Starship Rubicon, a facelift.
Old:
New (VERY VERY work-in-progress):
IMO my original art never really popped, so it’s super exciting to see it decked out to be a lot more colorful — it’ll be an interesting design challenge to keep that color while also preserving visual clarity amid the explosions.
Second, I have a geology board game that’s been begging to have its rules solidified enough that I don’t make up new ones every time we play through it.
It’ll probably need a kickstarter once it gets solidified, but seeing as I’ve never made a board game before, this is another one I’m gonna need to find some collaborators for.
🌈 Friendship is magic 🌈
~ Wick