Thursday, August 10, 2000

by the Wunderland Toast Society

---

• Number #12 says Goodbye, and shares some final thoughts
• GinohnNews: Raves and Pennyfarthing Thoughts (plus Booda Speaks)
• Bonus HMR: the 1998 version of Lolita
• August's Hero
  

Response to last week's playtest upgrade has been great. We're feeling better than ever about the gameplay, and everyone agrees that Alison's color re-design of the cards is making the game look as good as it plays. But last week's preview was incomplete; everyone (including the three of us) was curious about what the final Paradox artwork would be like, and we hadn't yet settled on the cardback or final logo designs either. And we've been struggling all week with these issues, but here you see the answers we came up with.

The cardback you see here was basically created by Alison, on the last day of the week; but the Paradox art was a collaboration between us that we struggled with all week long. As opposed to her other re-designs, I wasn't taken with her new version of the Paradox; it was neat, but it wasn't what I had in mind. So I took over and did my own version, and then she took over again and spruced up my version, and then, just when we thought we were done, we realized (after fondling our first prototypes) that the "bubbles" needed to be Ripplepoint Blue, not Linchpin Purple. But the end result was worth all the trouble!

Incidentally, the bubbles were inspired by a comic book depiction of time travel that has been stuck in my mind since I was a kid. It's from the Classics Illustrated adaptation of the HG Wells classic, The Time Machine, published in 1964. I still have my copy, which I unearthed to show to the girls during one of our many Paradox design meetings. "See," I'd say, pointing to the panels on page 43, "this is what time travel actually looks like." But even with bubbles my design wasn't working until Alison tweaked them into the third dimension.

Things are even going well (and similarly hecticly) on the financial side of the balance sheet. Sales volume has been excellent lately, and it seems like our Product-Backed Investment concept is going to work. Our new warehouse space is brimming with sparkling new Fluxx 2.1 decks, made possible by a check from Objective Consulting, Inc. (Thanks Gene!) They have a particular interest in Fluxx... they're currently producing a text-based, networked version of the game! It started as something they were doing for their own amusement (and because it was a useful programming example), but given our new corporate partnership, who knows where it might end up! Stay tuned for more information about a limited alpha test in the coming weeks!

And speaking of ASCII-based electronic versions of our games, Jason McIntosh has created Martian Chess: The Computer Game, and it's already open for playtesting! If you can use telnet, you can be among the first to try out his adaptation, and be sure to send him your feedback if you do, since the project is still in development and he's looking for comments. (I'm looking forward to trying it out myself... on August 25th.)

And speaking of people with looming, important deadlines, Number 12 is getting married next month and has therefore chosen to make this his last week (for the time being) of regular WTS updates. Well, I can't say as I blame him! It's a lot of work maintaining a regular feature like this, and let me just say thanks Charles, for entertaining us these many months with your comic picks, your own forays into the realms of Nanofiction, and all the other bits of e-musement you've been providing us with. I must say I've really enjoyed the friendly competition we've been having in this new medium, and I'll miss your weekly 55-word accompaniments to this page. But you've obviously got more important things on your mind right now, so we'll look forward to hearing from you again, after you settle into married life. And in the meantime, good luck, have fun, and best wishes to you and Lisa!

Remember Peter McWilliams!