Daily Illuminator

May 14, 2008: Doodle 4 Google

We really like Google around here, and love the logo changes they do on special occasions. (We even copied the trick, for Warehouse 23's logo on the holidays!)

Google has opened their changing logo trick up to a contest for students, called Doodle 4 Google. Prizes include scholarships and laptops, as well as grants to the student's school for improvements to the computer lab.

The entry deadline was last month, but from now until the 18th, the public can vote on their favorites from the Regional finalists.
-- Paul Chapman

May 13, 2008: Why Iron Man Is So Good

The director is a roleplayer. Coincidence? I think not.
-- Steve Jackson

May 12, 2008: Spaceships 2: Ready For Launch!

GURPS Spaceships 2: Traders, Liners, and Transports is now available from e23.

Building from the simple design system found in Spaceships 1, David Pulver has created nearly three dozen sample ships to fill the role of "moving stuff." From tramp freighters and heavy lift boosters, from passenger liners to yachts, this release has ships you need for any interstellar merchant campaign.

Spaceships 2 also covers the financial aspects of finding a ship, booking cargo and passengers, and making a profit. From operating expenses to speculative trade, this PDF details everything you need to know, including how to fudge it all!
-- Paul Chapman

May 11, 2008: Public Service Announcement

Rickrolled

To post a link with a on-topic subject which actually directs the viewer to a video for Rick Astley's debut single, "Never Gonna Give You Up".

Now you know . . . and have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Hey, if I'm going to be humming it, then I might as well share the pain*, right?

* Pain is not actual pain, nor is said pain caused by the song itself, which isn't all that bad. It's the inability to drive the tune from your consciousness that's maddening.
-- Paul Chapman

May 10, 2008: Slightly Heavier Metal

Okay, kids, it's time for another Good News/Bad News situation. Allow me to hit you with the Bad vibe first. The price of metal has gone up. Ogre minis, being made of metal, are more expensive to produce. What that means is come June 2nd, the individual Ogre minis will increase in price slightly. We're looking at about a 10% increase. Yeah, bleah, not exactly happiness. If you've been on the fence about filling out your army for The Last War, now is the best time to pick up those Raptors you've had your eye on.

This only affects the individual minis, mind you. The boxed sets will remain at their current prices.

The Good side? Your Ogre collection just jumped a little bit in value! Score!

(Hey, come on, lemme have my silver lining here, huh?)

-- Fox Barrett

May 9, 2008: Illuminated Site of the Week: Early To Bed, Early To Die

It's not enough the world has things keeping you awake at night and a plethora of items to plague your dreams, now they're getting you in that space between waking and sleeping. The Sleep Invaders are, according to this site, malevolent entities that want . . . uh, well the site isn't really clear on what they want. That must be why they offer you the book; it has all the answers. Could be another fly-by-night operation, assigning all the woes of life to otherworldly critters, but that's one spooky - and surprisingly well-produced - video.

-- Suggested by Kim Bernard

May 8, 2008: Warehouse 23 And e23 Site Maintenance Today

Just a reminder, the Warehouse 23 and e23 websites and stores will be closed today for site maintenance. The stores will reopen tomorrow. If you need to contact customer service for those stores, please do so by email, orders@sjgames.com or by phone, (866) 366-7323.
-- Jimmie Bragdon

May 7, 2008: Obligatory GTA Post

Since every other news source on the planet has covered it, we're obligated to point out that, although Grand Theft Auto 4 was released last week, we haven't picked it up yet. Fox has played it, and enjoyed it. It is, as he confirms, "evolutionary, not revolutionary" -- the core of the game keeps the good stuff from the earlier games of the series, and adds incremental improvements.

There are, of course, the predictable howls of outrage as various watchdogs groups realize the storyline hits topics popular movies have explored for years. While I understand the concerns of parents groups, GTA4 is clearly labeled as "for Mature audience only." It isn't for children, any more than Reservoir Dogs or The Godfather were.
-- Paul Chapman

May 6, 2008: Warehouse 23 And e23 Site Maintenance Thursday

The Warehouse 23 and e23 websites and stores will be closed this Thursday, May 8th for site maintenance. The stores will reopen on Friday, May 9th. If you need to contact customer service for those stores on Thursday, please do so by email, orders@sjgames.com or by phone, (866) 366-7323.
-- Jimmie Bragdon

May 5, 2008: The Cognitive Surplus

An interesting argument by Clay Shirky: the free time of Internet-connected individuals might be the defining asset of the next phase of history.
-- Steve Jackson

May 4, 2008: Illuminated Site of the Week: Because No One Knows What A Foon Is

A spork, if you've ever been to a greasy fast-food joint for lunch, is a combination fork and spoon. Not just useful for eating fried meals, the revolutionary Battlespork helps with dental hygiene. It stops diseases in their tracks. It's a utensil and a razor and . . . okay, that's enough now.

-- Suggested by Tony Hitchens

May 3, 2008: Not All Fun And Games

If you've been with us long, you have probably figured out that life at a game company is not all Game Days and menacing each other with huge foam chainsaws. Sometimes it gets pretty real. This week has been like that.

Munchkin Quest was originally planned to be at print a long time ago. We got thiiiiiiis close . . . and realized that the game still wasn't all it should be. So we went back to work. And believe you me, you do NOT want to know how nasty it is to deal with a game that's already in final Quark layout when you start making daily changes on it.

A few weeks ago, if I remember correctly, Phil set yesterday (Friday) as the no kidding, darn it, to-press day for the game. It made it. In fact, it could have gone to press Thursday if I hadn't found one crummy glitch on one room tile, just a bit after Alex had left for the day. (Sure, anybody here can work with the multilayered, Photoshopped Quark layouts of the rooms, in the same way that anybody can get nothin-but-net from 40 feet out.)

But it is ALL OFF TO PRESS now, except for the rules and the box bottom - which require photographs of actual printed components that don't exist yet. And there was great happiness.

Things around the office have been a teeny bit stressy for the last couple of weeks (the timing of GTS didn't help). Some of our staff, especially those not involved with the game, have made no secret of their opinion that the game has taken too much time, and that we (by which is meant, Stevie) will never stop fiddling with it. (That's not an unfair opinion. I'm the guy who, three days ago, looked at one of the cards and said "You know, that whole card has to come out. Mighty John Kovalic, will you draw this new cartoon for the new card I just wrote?")

(And Mighty John did, and it rocks.)

And if anybody out there still thinks that making games for a living is Automatic Magic Fun, let me disabuse you. MQ needed enough playtesting that a lot of people in all departments got to play the game during business hours, on the clock. At first, a novelty! Getting paid to play games and shoot holes in Steve's card text! Yah boo! Well, that didn't last. Fact: There are people here who have reached the point where they would far rather do their daily work than play Munchkin Quest again. (Actual quote: "I would have really had fun the last time we played, if I weren't sick of the game.")

And, of course, those whose important jobs have been made harder because some of us are barely even answering internal mail have been a bit miffed. And in turn, those of us spending all our waking hours in Getting The Darn Game Out were somewhat stung by the naysaying. We're all human, after all. (No, really. Technically, we all really are. I've got the lab reports.) I devoutly hope that we will all be friends again next week, or at least that there will be no irreversible maimings.

No real point to this, except to make sure you know - because, if you read this far, you're interested - that these things do not write themselves. Nor are they found in baskets along with chocolate eggs. And everybody at the company, whatever their role, is part of the process of getting a big game out - if only because they have to put up with the development and production staff at deadline time, and work around them to do their own jobs. And I appreciate those who have been martyred on the tear-stained altar of "one more playtest," and the dedicated few who have pitched in and made this game more than I could have made it by myself . . . and, indeed, I appreciate everybody who has put up with ME.

It's going to be a heck of a game.
-- Steve Jackson