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#12's Nanofics

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Spared

4:11

I'm driving towards Khaled's house, listening to Fleetwood Mac: "First you love me, then you get on down the line, but I don't mind.

Cool Words

contumacious (con-t(y)oo-may'-shuss) adj. stubbornly disobedient; rebellious (see also: contumelious (...-meel'-ee-us) adj. insolently abusive and humiliating) [both fr. L. con + tumere: to swell, be proud]

Haiku Reviews

Run Lola Run :)
This is not a film.
It is a video game
without a joystick.

Daddy-O's Reviews

Sorry, Daddy-O didn't see anything new this week (except for part of "Growing Up Brady", which he doesn't feel like trying to review). Instead, he went to see some live theater (plus he's been busy compiling a tape of all the basement scenes from "That 70's Show"...)


Tirade's Choice

New York World's Fair 1964 .com
Fruits of Chaos
License Plates of the World
#12's Webcomic picks
The Wandering Ones

Thursday, May 25, 2000
by the Wunderland Toast Society

What's New?


What's Going On? Computer Malfunctions and Chrononauts Production

Last week, I talked about my efforts to get a good photo for our ad in the Origins program book, and complained about a roll of film that hadn't come back from the lab on schedule. Well, it did in fact show up the next day, and here's the image we've decided to use. (Now we just need to make up our minds about the ad copy that'll go on it...)


Just as I was finishing up the site last week, we started having a bizarre computer problem. One of our Macintoshes, a computer named Rapunzel, suddenly decided to start turning herself off whenever she felt like it. She'd operate just fine for a few minutes or a few hours, and then just suddenly power off. Needless to say, this made it hard to use, but we kept trying for a couple of days anyway, until Rapunzel finally shut down for good.

Being just a software guy, all I could do was tell Kristin, "It doesn't turn on anymore." It certainly wasn't how she wanted to spend her Sunday, but she started taking it apart and moving things around (moving several other computers around in the process) but when she ran out of ideas, she called Kevin, this guy we both worked with at NASA, and later at TSI, who has a magical touch when it comes to fixing computers. Happily, he had some free time and came right over to perform open-Mac surgery for us. (Thanks Kevin!) He and Kristin swapped the hard disk inside the dead computer for one in an unused external drive, so that we could get at our data, and then they tried to figure out why Rapunzel wasn't getting power. As you might expect, the trouble seems to be with the power supply, which provided exciting fireworks during one particular test. So, we've been making do with one less workstation while waiting for replacement parts to show up...


Aside from battling computer malfunctions, the main thing we've been doing this week is production work on Chrononauts. I've been working night and day on the next prototype deck, Alpha 2.0, which looks and plays great, and Kristin's been getting quotes from (and going on field trips to) various local printers, bringing us to the very brink of deciding who will print the Beta-test version of the game. Kristin's hoping this new printer will also be able to do other specialized printing work for us, like making more Paper Icehouse pieces, more of the little rule books for Icehouse games (like the Black Ice book now in development), and even perhaps some of Eeyore's 3 player chessboard panels. But with printing schedules being what they are, we need to choose this printer now if we're going to have copies of the Chrononauts beta-test version ready to sell at Origins, and that also means I need to finish up the design and card layout work ASAP. Said tasks have been dominating my thinking all week, but I'm happy to report that it's all going extremely well. The game just gets better and better with each new rev, and it's really starting to feel ready at this point. I'm incredibly excited about it!


A final note for any readers in (or visiting) the Bay Area this weekend: Don't forget The 2nd West Coast Icehouse Tournament, run by Eric Zuckerman, on Sunday at 2. As the reigning World Champion, I wish I could be there to compete myself... Ironically, John is out there now on business, but he's going to miss the tourney by a matter of hours... so if you've got the option, make up for our lame butts and go compete!

AndyHave a great week!


New Iceland cartoonthe story so far

Thought Residue
"Featuring what can only be described as a 'classic simplicity,' this little game is a joy to play! This is one of those truly delightful discoveries that quite simply has NO real minuses! Way to go Looney Labs! Q-Turn is a winner!" - from the review by the San Fernando Valley Gamers
Wow, did you see the exciting cliffhanger season finale to "That 70's Show?" What a great ending! Poor Hyde!
Last night Kristin made a great discovery about Chrononauts: It's actually 3 games in one! My design features action on a couple of different levels, and previously Kristin had thought of a way to play solitaire using only a portion of the card set. Turns out you can play a fast, simple, easy, and very fun (and Fluxx-like) multi-player game using the cards you set aside for solitaire!

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