93 Made Games Managing Director, Sean Carroll, talks about his unexpected experiences at PAX Aus 2013 - the first Penny Arcade Expo held outside of the United States. Warning: This article contains many “shout-outs” to the wonderful people that I met at PAX Aus. Alright, I've been to plenty of expos and conventions over my time as both visitor and exhibitor and have learnt to generally ignore the hype coming from organisers. In all fairness, show conveners need to big note their expo; otherwise, who would bother to show up in the first place. This is what I thought PAX Aus would be like. The PAX Aus website was replete with event listings and exhibitor names but I was very ho-hum about the whole thing apart from the fact that I would get the chance to join some great people on the Indie Board Game Design Panel. I was so blasé that I booked a late flight out on the opening day of the expo and an early flight back on the closing day. Thus limiting my expo exposure to less than half of the time available. [Cut to the PAX Aus Queue Room at 4:30pm on Day 1] I strolled in and I was like, “OK, the Queue Room is bigger than most expos I've been to.” It was impressive; however. I didn't want to be hasty in judgement so I took some time to check out the other halls after getting my speaker pass. The pass came in very handy for jumping queues all weekend. I can't complain about a little rock star treatment. [10 minutes later, cut to the Expo Hall] I stepped through the front doors and looked out across a dimly-lit hall that was filled wall-to-wall with buzzing stands and towering wide screen displays offering the ultimate in PC and console gaming experiences. I thought, “Hmmmm, well, this is rather promising but I'm only a casual computer gamer. I like electronic games but I just don't get as much time to play as I used to.” Even so, I took some time to walk around and check out the latest games from local and overseas developers. [20 minutes later, cut to The Big Top] After walking past line after line of expo-goers queuing for hot food, seminars, DJ sets, special invitation events and so on, I reached The Big Top. This is where my cynicism was finally tipped over the edge. (It only took 30 minutes!) I peered across the vast expanse of The Big Top, which was populated with rows of modern consoles, costume-clad pop culture fanatics, herds of gamers with their heads down in their portable consoles, columns of tabletop gamers playing released and play-test versions of games, more hot food, retail stalls and, my personal favourite, retro consoles! I was in pop culture heaven... and I wasn't alone. The preliminary figures from the show conveners claim that there were at least 35,000 unique visitors to PAX Aus. That's more than half the current population of my home town. For the next few hours I took in the whole experience as I ambled around The Big Top. Even though the expo was massive, I ran into some familiar faces, including Andrew Lum from Aetherworks. He was playing Magic against enthusiastic newbie Nicole, whilst her friend Ben watched on. Nicole almost demanded that I sit down and was all too accommodating when I asked if I could challenge her to a game or two. After conversing with Ben for a while, I found out that both he and Nicole were also Sydneysiders. The number of people venturing South for PAX Aus was quite astounding. Time ran out for playing Magic as I had to dash to meet with the other panellists. I ran across to the board game free-play tables and was met with an extremely welcoming reception from Alex Dijk and Paul Nicholas from Blue Room Games, Wesley Lamont from RAEZ, Anthony Sweet from Handwritten Games and Thomas Eliot from Sixpence Games. We went through our game plan for the following day's panel, which didn't take long as everyone was extremely professional in nature and definitely new their game design theory and practice. Everyone had to run off after the meeting so I took this opportunity to grab a snack and continue wandering around The Big Top. After filling my belly, I decided to settle down in the Retro Consoles area where I would spend the remainder of Day 1 playing old favourites such as Mega Man, Space Invaders and Batman (the 1989 movie version). Day 2 was a bit more business-orientated as I caught up with industry luminaries such as Gerard How from Paradigm Infinitum Games, Christopher Badell and Adam Rebottaro from Greater Than Games, Dann May from Game Salute and Sol Green from EuroGameFest. Gerard and I discussed plans for a big Southeast Asian release of Monster Town, Zombie Viewpoint and the re-release of Viewpoint and Viewpoint Reflections. I had a chance to try out some games seen in Australia for the first time but the clock was against me again as I had to hot-step it to my 6:30pm rendezvous with the Indie Board Game Design Panel. I won't harp on too much about the panel as the other guys prepared a video of the panel, which you can watch below. I will say, however, that imparting wisdom to up and coming game designers is one of the most enjoyable parts of being a game designer and publisher. I think Alex and Paul would say that having groupies cheer you on is also boast-worthy. Kudos Hannah! After the panel, Melissa Rogerson from Boardgames Australia, organised a few tables for the panellists to demo our games. Once again, this was an awesome experience as I got to share Viewpoint with other gamers and got to know some more game designers in the process. A big wave goes out to Tom, Diran, Rebecca and Lachlan. Thanks for letting me win at least one of the games. A “heya” also goes out to Jeremy and David from LXG. I'm looking forward to seeing you next year in God's Own Country for some more gaming shenanigans. The demos didn't stop there as I got to play-test Anthony Sweet's latest creation - Breakwater - until Day 2 closing time. I love the New Orleans voodoo/steam punk theme. This is going to be a great game so I recommend that everyone buy it. Be sure to buy Alex and Paul's game NinjitZoo, Tom's game Professor Pugnacious and Wez's game Gaeon as well. With the business and panel out of the way, I squeezed in some time on Day 3 in the Expo Hall and The Big Top playing PC and console games and snapping up some bargains from the retail stalls. I said my goodbyes (rather see-you-laters) to Anthony and Wez as I made my way out of PAX Aus 2013. Without a doubt, I will be back next year... and this time... I'm bringing reinforcements. PAX Aus 2013 was the first Penny Arcade Expo held outside of the USA. Go to the PAX website for more information on all Penny Arcade Expos.
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93 Made Games Managing Director, and designer of Viewpoint and Viewpoint Reflections, Sean Carroll, will be guest speaking on the Indie Board Game Design Panel at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Melbourne this year. Sean will be joined by other designers including Alex Dijk and Paul Nicholas from Blue Room Games, who created Ninjitzoo!, Anthony Sweet from Handwritten Games and Wesley Lamont from RAEZ. Panel topics include the stages of game design (from concept to release), reasons for becoming a game designer, getting the most out of play-testing and ways to get your game published. If you're going to PAX or will be in the general area then be sure to take some time to drop in and listen to the panel and also to get your hands on some free games. The panel will be speaking from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Skippy Theatre on Saturday, 20 July 2013. PAX AUS 2013 is the first Penny Arcade Expo held outside of the USA. Go to the PAX website for more information on all Penny Arcade Expos.
93 Made Games received its second gong for having a game short-listed in the Boardgames Australia (BGA) Australian Game of the Year Awards. The original Viewpoint game was short-listed last year. This year Viewpoint Reflections was short-listed for the award. Everyone at 93 Made Games is so excited to be short-listed again and aim to, one day, win the coveted Australian Game of the Year Award. Once again, the competition was very strong with the four short-listed entrants included Phil Harding who designed the 2008 award winner Archaeology. Phil showed his class by taking the top award again with his game Dungeon Raiders. Dungeon Raiders proved so popular that it is now sold out across the world. Well done Phil! The Boardgames Australia awards were presented at the 2013 Toy and Game Expo, which was held at Sydney Olympic Park over the June long weekend. More information about the awards can be found on the BGA website.
On the 25th and 26th of August 2012, Anthony Condos from 93 Made Games attended the Heroes and Villains Pop Culture Expo in Penrith as a part of the Mega Games stall. With cosplay, numerous special guests and a range of other events that occurred during the expo it was a fun and fantastic weekend for all. It was a pleasure for Anthony to show the attendees how to play Viewpoint. Some of the Magic: the Gathering players attending the expo strolled over to have a taste of the Viewpoint experience. The people who came to us for demonstrations ranged from children of the age of seven to adults aged thirty plus; even entire families came to have a go of Viewpoint and Viewpoint Reflections. 93 Made Games would like to thank Manuel and Christine of Mega Games for inviting us to demonstrate Viewpoint and Viewpoint Reflections to the expo attendees that came to their stall. And, as you can see from the photos, Viewpoint is not only global, it is now intergalactic! Viewpoint is a fun-packed and easy to learn card game for 2 or more players aged 7 and up. Be the first player to reach 100 points by looking into the future, spying on other players and blindsiding your buddies!
Viewpoint was short-listed as the Australian Game of the Year by Boardgames Australia at the Toy & Game Expo. The other nominees were Caption If You Can!, Cuble, Dungeon Raiders, Dweebies, Higher or Lower and Rosetta, with Dweebies winning the coveted award. This is why Viewpoint was short-listed... Viewpoint is a fun card game of tit for tat with a psychedelic theme of vision: spectacles, TV, blurry vision, and shadows all appear in this game! Each player is trying to get 100 points out on the table, but every card that they play also gives them special actions: moving cards back into their hand, drawing more cards, stealing from opponents and so on. The game hinges on timing the play of your key cards to have the best effect, but a little bit of luck never hurts either! Viewpoint is a fun-packed and easy to learn card game for 2 or more players aged 7 and up. Be the first player to reach 100 points by looking into the future, spying on other players and blindsiding your buddies!
The anticipation keeps building as the fun of the Carnival of Games gets closer. Not only will there be games galore but we'll also be holding a Viewpoint Trivia Challenge and COG Art Competition. Both of these are free and open to anyone to enter. The Viewpoint State of Origin, on the other hand, will pit a select grouping of 6 players against each other in a 3-on-3 'best of three' series of Viewpoint games. VIEWPOINT TRIVIA CHALLENGE The Viewpoint Trivia Challenge will test your knowledge of the Viewpoint card game. The trivia challenge will be held at 12pm. Each entrant will need to answer 10 questions with a possibility to answer 3 tie-breaker questions, if necessary. The winner will receive a new Nintendo Gameboy Micro and Gameboy game. ART COMPETITION The Carnival of Games Art Competition is open to artists of all skill levels and illustrative mediums - paint, chalk, pencil, crayon, macaroni, etc. People can bring their art to the event or they may sketch something up at the event. All works of art will be placed on display as soon as they are received and a winner will be selected at 12:30pm. The judging panel will be a selection of the Carnival of Games stall operators who will assess each piece based on its uniqueness, creativity and relevance to gaming (e.g. a Picasso-esque box of dice). The artwork does NOT have to have relevance to the Carnival of Games, 93 Made Games or anything associated with them. The winner will receive an autographed graphic novel (Witch King: Autobiography of a Dark Lord signed by the illustrator Paul Abstruse) and the opportunity to provide an illustration for one of 93 Made Games' upcoming games. VIEWPOINT STATE OF ORIGIN The Viewpoint State of Origin tournament will once and for all settle which state is best at playing Viewpoint - New South Wales or Queensland. Three representatives will be selected from each state who will then form teams to play in a 'best of three' series of games. Official Viewpoint tournament rules will be used with the following exceptions/clarifications: RULES FOR THE TOURNAMENT
PRIZES: The victorious team will be awarded the Viewpoint State of Origin Shield for 2010. Viewpoint is a fun-packed and easy to learn card game for 2 or more players aged 7 and up. Be the first player to reach 100 points by looking into the future, spying on other players and blindsiding your buddies!
The list of games on show at the Carnival of Games keeps growing and continues COG's theme that there will be something for everyone! There will be games for kids, teens and adults, card gamers, board gamers, Eurogamers, CCG enthusiasts, tournament gamers, casual players, girls and guys. Some of the games are listed here as well as details of the main tournaments and competitions that will be held throughout the day.
SETTLERS OF CATAN TOURNAMENT The Settlers of Catan was one of the first German-style board games to achieve popularity outside Europe. Over 15 million games in the Catan series have been sold and the game has been translated into thirty languages from the original German. The game has rapidly become popular in part because its mechanics are relatively simple, while its dynamics are quite complex. The players in the game represent settlers establishing colonies on the island of Catan. Players build settlements, cities, and roads to connect them as they settle the island. The game board representing the island is composed of hexagonal tiles of different land types which are laid out randomly at the beginning of each game. Now you can play in a tournament of this classic game. RULES FOR THE TOURNAMENT
MAGIC GRAND MELEE Dust off your decks and fight it out at the Magic: the Gathering Grand Melee Event to determine the best Wizard at the Carnival of Games. The Grand Melee is brought to you by the League of Extraordinary Gamers, a Brisbane based club who have been running Grand Melee events and leagues since Magic: the Gathering emerged in the early 1990's. RULES FOR THE TOURNAMENT
PRIZES: The winner of the Grand Melee will receive one Magic booster pack per player in the tournament. i.e. If there are 12 players then the winner receives 12 Magic booster packs. The set(s) will be determined on the day. Viewpoint is a fun-packed and easy to learn card game for 2 or more players aged 7 and up. Be the first player to reach 100 points by looking into the future, spying on other players and blindsiding your buddies!
Just when you thought December was going to be a quiet month for gaming, the Carnival of Games will be in town to eliminate your pre-holiday boredom. 93 Made Games, Mega Games, Good Games and several other industry participants have teamed together to put on a show designed for gamers of all types, from kids and adults who enjoy sitting down to play a fun family-oriented card game to those who have dedicated themselves to some of the most strategic board games on the planet. The Carnival of Games will have something for everyone! What’s better is that entry into all side events and most of the tournament games is free! Anyone can just walk on in and sign up to play one of their favourite games, browse the stands of some of the best games stores in Australia or just relax at the main stand and try out some of the newly invented games. Wait! It gets better… there will be tons of prizes handed out all day. This includes gift vouchers, booby prizes, games, cash, trophies and much more. So let us break down what you can do when you turn up to the Carnival of Games:
Now all you need to know is where and when… the Carnival of Games will be held at Parramatta RSL, O’Connell Street, Parramatta NSW on Sunday, 5 December 2010. The day will start at 10am and wrap up at 5pm. A schedule of events for some of the key events is shown below. 10:00AM to 1:45PM - MEGA GAMES VIEWPOINT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 11:00AM to 1:00PM - SETTLERS OF CATAN (maximum of 12 players) 1:45PM to 3:00PM - VIEWPOINT STATE OF ORIGIN (NSW vs. QLD) 3:00PM to 5:00PM - MAGIC GRAND MELEE (Vintage Constructed) The timing for each event includes registration, meal breaks and award ceremonies. Check out the website for more details on the Carnival of Games and key events. Viewpoint is a fun-packed and easy to learn card game for 2 or more players aged 7 and up. Be the first player to reach 100 points by looking into the future, spying on other players and blindsiding your buddies!
93 Made Games are proud sponsors of the Gamicon Tau gaming convention in Iowa City, Iowa running over the weekend of the 12-14 of February. Our friends in the US will get a chance to check out Viewpoint up close at Gamicon. Gamicon is the longest running Iowa gaming convention. 93 Made Games, who are patrons of Gamicon, sent packs of Viewpoint to the convention organisers for prizes and demonstration of the game. Other sponsors of Gamicon include Out of the Box Games and Rio Grande Games. Attendees of the event will be able to play role-playing games, board games, card games, miniature games and the like. There will also be a Game Auction and attendees may purchase all sorts of games and gaming equipment in the Dealer's Room. Attendees may see the Gamicon officials to receive a demonstration of Viewpoint or to arrange a tournament for a chance to play in the 2010 Viewpoint World Championships in Sydney, Australia. Viewpoint is a fun-packed and easy to learn card game for 2 or more players aged 7 and up. Be the first player to reach 100 points by looking into the future, spying on other players and blindsiding your buddies!
If you are a gamer, game designer, artist, graphic designer, publisher, retailer or distributor then the Australian Games Expo - Australia's premier tabletop gaming exposition - is the unmissable event of the year. The 93 Made Games team (Sean, Anthony and Julia) recounts their wonderful weekend in Canberra at the 2010 expo and highlights why it is such a great event. Friday - Setup and Boardgames Australia Awards We arrived at site of expo - Exhibition Park In Canberra (EPIC) - just after 9am. Expo coordinator, Phil Davies of Mind Games Albury gave us a tour of the expo hall and a run down of each of the exhibitors. The 93 Made Games booth was conveniently positioned in between Even Toys & Games (Australian distributor) and Crown & Andrews (Australian publisher). Our interior design extraordinaire, Julia, whipped us into action as we setup our booth in quick time. Afterwards, we took the opportunity to check out the neighbouring hall which was hosting CanCon - Canberra's yearly gaming convention. The hall had gaming tables clustered as far as the eye could see. We hadn't been to CanCon for a few years and it looked like participation had more than doubled since our last visit. After spending some time talking to booth operators at the expo and CanCon, we got prepared for the Boardgames Australia (BGA) awards being held that night. The awards are held to recognise excellence in game design and are judged in accordance with a range of guidelines such as enjoyment, originality and replayability. This year's and previous winners of the awards are listed on the BGA website. The awards night gave us and other designers/publishers an opportunity to mix and mingle with various industry representatives including the BGA crew, Giles from Rio Grande (US publisher) and Naomi from Elementaurs (Australian designer/publisher). The free drinks and food were an added bonus. Saturday - Visitors from UoW and Learn About Play Forum Day one - fun, fun, fun. We demonstrated Viewpoint all day to people new to the game and existing fans of the game. We also had a special visit from Barry and Jason from the University of Wollongong Gaming Club. We revealed our latest prototypes of Show'n'Go, Gladitorus Millennia and Viewpoint Reflections to Barry and Jason who were so enthusiastic about them that they wanted copies for their club as soon as possible. We also made sure that Barry and Jason received their very own Viewpoint t-shirts so they could be the envy of their gaming club. Whilst Anthony and Sean continued to entertain the expo-goers and mingle with other exhibitors, Julia participated in a 'Learn About Play' forum convened by Melissa Rogerson from BGA. The forum had four main sessions - Learn Through Play (a presentation by Dr Wood Challenge Centre about lesson planning with games), The School Game Night (a presentation on boardgaming nights for community-building and fundraising for schools), Play Time (a hands-on session in which people got to play with the games presented during the two previous sessions) and a Round-Table Discussion (a discussion of the use of games in education). Sunday - Protospiel and Viewpoint Tournament Day two - games for me and you. Demonstrations of Viewpoint continued as Sean play-tested games at the Canberra Protospiel, which was organised by Richard Vickery from BGA. He discovered a space-based Euro/strategy game and an NRL Trivia game; the latter of which he somehow managed to win. He also demonstrated Show'n'Go and received valuable feedback from his play-test group. BGA plans to hold Protospiels throughout 2010 and beyond. Sean also sat in on a talk on 'designing games and getting them published' by Craig Browne (inventor of Sorts for Kids - 2009 BGA Australian Game of the Year). Meanwhile, Anthony ran the CanCon Viewpoint tournament as a precursor to the Viewpoint World Championships to be held in the second half of 2010. More qualification tournaments will be held around Australia and the world including those at Good Games stores up and down the Eastern seaboard. Check out the Viewpoint Leaderboard for a list of those who will receive free entry into the world championships. The prize pool and international representatives will be revealed later in the year. Monday - Chill Out Day and Pack Up Day three - you can't do that with a Wii. After two full-on days of demonstrations, workshops and seminars, we got to play some of the games from the other booths such as Elementaurs and Motus. Pack up began at around 2:30pm but not before the team and some fans got in a monster game of Viewpoint in which two decks were used with the objective being to reach 200 points. The dust settled after about 30 minutes with Shirley winning (again!), Ed, Claudia and Julia close behind and Sean lagging well below 100 points. Obviously, the game's designer needs to reassess his game play strategies for larger games. The car was abuzz with energy on the trip back to Sydney after such a wonderful weekend where we got to meet so many nice people and play so many enjoyable games. To cap off the great weekend, the 93 Made Games oztag team scored its best result of the season that night - a draw! 2010 was the last year that the expo will be organised by Phil Davies. Phil started the expo in 2006 and it has been growing in attendance and stature ever since. The expo will be coordinated by Charles Bishop and Steve Rohan-Jones of O2C Solutions in 2011. Both Charles and Steve were at this year's expo and gave us plenty of their time to discuss how we think the expo can improve on its impressive roots. 93 Made Games would like to thank Phil for all of his time and effort in building up the expo and wish Charles and Steve all of the best for future expos.
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