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Another year, another Board Game Jam . This was the fourth appearance for Jenning and me, and I have to say it felt like our weakest attempt. Not that we didn't try, but I was not happy with what we came up with, a derivative of many other popular, more fun worker placement games. I suppose not every year can be a great success in creativity. The event itself was much the same as last year -- same workshop space at George Brown College, same party space at Mill Street Brew Pub, same format of introduction lesson, building and playtesting. The theme was "How do we know what we know?", which I probably put too much emphasis on. Thinking on it now, it makes sense to simply work on our previous unfinished works, which are otherwise sitting collecting dust on shelves, unplayed and forgotten for months and months. It takes two to build a village The weather has turned! And what a quick turn it was, spring kicking down signs left and right of winter. I've taken to ridi...

Oh hello. No, I didn't forget about you. At least, there were periods when I had you in mind; it's just that, whenever I found myself sitting at the computer, I was distracted by other things... Work: It is what it is. Coming on eight years, and I float along, letting the waves pull me in and push me out. The company has recently released a product for the Windows 8 platform, that poor, deformed monster. We'll see how it works out, as it's but a couple weeks old. M.J.: Things are going well, really well. Went swing dancing a couple times. More than that, we'll see. Board Games: I went to Board Game Jam this past weekend, that was fun.  Jenning  and I came up with a relatively simple yet engaging tile-placing game. Laughably simple, it's a wonder it hasn't been invented yet. We're hoping to do something with it in the coming months. Oh, we playtested Automa Arena a bit too, but it's clear that there are lots of balancing issues already -- we we...

Welcome back. It sure has been a while. Much has happened while you were away, which I'm not sure that I can sum up entirely here. But I shall try. Most notably, I have a new girlfriend, Mary Jean. Things are going well, really well.. what can I say, other than she's awesome and I'm incredibly lucky that she isn't repulsed by my hideous visage. So much of my time has been shared with her, every hour delicious, every day brighter. The birthing of Automa Arena Back in February, Jenning and I participated in a boardgame design contest, Board Game Jam Toronto . Though I wasn't entirely happy with how the event was run (judging process and prize allocation patently unfair), I had a lot of fun and I think we created a damn good game. We somehow managed to stamp out an interesting, straightforward, yet rich mechanic in about a day, and the process brought me back to my university days; brainstorming and talking ideas through, trimming here and adding there. I hav...