« Sharon J. Cichelli |
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Game Designer and ukelele player.
Jonathan’s “Us” statement for 2004:
So it’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, eh? Obviously, we’re still updating other parts of the site (like the Games District, Weblog, and Agora). Let’s pull out a quote from my 2001 statement:
So, where do I want to go from here with ICP? Well, I still want to see us produce and distribute at least one board game this year – ideally Inevitable, but I’d settle for getting Psycho Killer out by October ‘01 (but making that deadline would be problematic at best – I’m going to have to settle for an ‘02 release). Perhaps a retail copy of Run Hamster Run or RYB…
We still haven’t had a commercial release, but it’s by choice – not for lack of effort. We did the math and figured out that publishing a board game of the quality that we wanted would cost at least $20,000. That’s a lot of money to risk, whether it’s mine or someone else’s. If I’m making that kind of a gamble, I need to dedicate more than just my spare time to it. With my job at Apple, my other hobbies to keep me sane (Yes, I do things with my spare time other than making up games.), socializing with friends, maintaining my part of a happy and healthy marriage… There’s just not space in there to take the risks involved in starting a traditional commercial game publishing company.
The kicker there is the word traditional. Since the beginning, we’ve been anything but traditional. Our primary goals for now are:
Revamp the Site – Sharon is guiding us through setting up databases to make the Games and Zines Districts data-driven. You’ll be able to sort through the games by type, # of players, and lots of other criteria; Jeremy will be able to enter new zine reviews more easily. It’ll be great! We’re also working on a thematic redesign; inspired by SEPTA maps.
Make Merchandise Available – We’ve been building up readership since our launch in January of 2000, averaging about 200,000 hits from 12,400 unique visitors per month. Although a lot of traffic consists of ‘bots, I assume that we have at least a few fans out there. I’d like to make some products available to y’all. We’re assessing CafePress mug and T-shirt options (Bonus: They handle store and billing. Minus: Some people have voiced concerns about quality of product and profit margins.) and ideas for publishing short-run board games. There’s a few ideas on that path: Make the games by hand as they’re ordered out of good-quality parts (better than Cheapass Games, but not as good as Fantasy Flight Games); release exclusive games on CD with high-quality layout and art; license / sell our game designs to other publishers for release. We’ll see what happens…
Invisible City Productions is a collective of game designers, writers, and artists who provide this as a space for the creators of secret media to come together and touch antennae.
How are you? Good to see the IC is still going strong. You may recall I submitted the Dungeon card game to IC back in 2001… and then vanished.
Well, 4 years, 4 jobs, 6 locations and 2 daughters later I’m wondering if you would like to consider an external submission again.
Hope to hear from you.
Daniel — Daniel Bullen Jan 11, 04:12 AM #
I think you’ll like this,
http://www1.analogik.org/video/tetra_vaal__.mov
tetra.mov
best cgi yet. — Dave Burchill Apr 21, 05:23 AM #
This way is easier to get to than Hotmail is.
So I could have written you sooner, but I thought I’d start off with a new /old topic. I’m on my first paid vacation since I left AccuWeather. I’ve had up to a month out of work, but that’s not the same thing. {my_current_job=, ‘inserting mail in envelopes’}. I grabbed this week off on a 2 hr notice that it was available. I’m the newest person at my job, been there 2 years only now have vacation. I was a temp. A long story short.
I just finished writing this email, then came back and wrote this. If your already are familiar with Star Wars galaxies, do you know about the Macro language and Politician class.
Here’s what I’m doing on my vacation. It over-answers the question on your site what game should you two play next. Immersive fantasy world = Star Wars Galaxies. “But I already have a job,” you say. Why is this a great game? Several answers, some of which are just hearsay. After all, I’ve only played the game for a week. A week straight. A week that I’ve been on an unexpected vacation. I’ve barely slept and I’m shaking as I write this from lack of sleep. I work night shift. I do read your site, though my atom feed is on the blink. I have to keep deleting foolish non sequitirs (sp?). Thesis statement: This game is cared for by a rich backer.
It’s a Star Wars game. You have to pay to play, but no game is better maintained. It’s appearance is peerless.
It has a Macro language which is exploited by people familiar with market economies. Some of whom interact with the real world. I bear them no ill will. They really can’t affect you. I’ve never even tried to attack another player. I’m not sure what would happen. I’ve never seen people fighting, but I know it happens at higher levels.
They give you things in game for playing a long time.
They play their own games.
It is a somewhat difficult game to play. For me. But I interact with a trackball and keyboard while standing at work, and I’m generally not that skilled at video game dexterity. You need two handsto play because you must type. I use the Macro language so I type a lot.
What I like is the Macro language. I’m going to make my guy sing and dance when I’m at work. And make magic items. I mean, hummm, ‘blasters.’ Then I don’t have to sit in front of the screen to play. I can just leave it on. It’s ill supported, but the easily accesable lists {via googled forums) have enough. But no walking or moving. Which is good. My guy can accpst people in one place while I’m at work. Accost them with fliers. I was thinking of Macro-ing my own plot. Use already existing elements. There is a plot, but I don’t know it. Some of the people I meet know about it and track the changes to it over months. Maybe a weird airport cult. But I changed my mind. I’m going for conquest legally. Try to form my own city by recruiting via Macros. By exploiting that all new people come through the same door and hang out there.
I think that MMORPG is a good format when the players are given freedom to plot-autonomy. I’ll play the game. But if I want to give it up when the free month runs out, I’ll let my guy die, run the Macros again, and start from where I left off. I’m trying to talk myself out of video game addiction. Work will do that.
Incidentally, I bicycle every day to work so get plenty of exercise. 4 miles through Easton. We have are share of crime. cya — Kristian Chickey Jun 17, 03:37 AM #
Thanks! — Marci Aug 4, 06:50 PM #