I’m giving myself permission not to release a video this week. Probably not next week either. I’ll be back in the second week of the new year. I’m not taking a break, instead I’m doing some much needed prep work to make my videos better. But I’m not sitting around either.
After chess fan Isaac Ruben actually played a project game that I’ve had out there since March of 2012, Meta Chess has gotten a minor overhaul to make the end game manageable. In games he played the king would board a rook or queen and “whoop whoop whoop whoop” around the board, impossible to pin down. To fix this, any piece conveying the king now has to move only one step, even if someone else is on the piece and could be driving it faster. In game I imagine this as the king telling whoever’s driving to slow down, and them having to do it because royalty.
I also have another variation for meta chess that I’ve been wanting to try; playing it on a mini chess board, so I’ve included my mini chess game and I’m hoping someone will try it out.
If you’ve been on my Discord channel, you’ve also seen my other big project that I’m working on; a version of Waldschattenspiel, but rethemed to take place with cute robots evading an alien in a hay field that’s been crop-circled. I’ve also automated the light casting character so no one has to be the bad guy.
You would not believe the lore that I’ve developed with these little robots I’m making. Their designs are based, generally, on other classic robots, if a little loosely at times. I’m calling the whole set “Bot Blitz” and, in my mind at least, they’re a part of a whole pantheon of tabletop games (many reskins and modifications of existing games) that all exist within the same universe. But who cares! I’ve got a hello kitty version of Voltron!
The models for this game will all be release in 3MF format, which is a bit more work for me because nothing exports 3MF right now, even though every slicer can read them in. But I really feel like this format needs a boost and, darn it, I’m do my part. They’ll all have color data, so if full color printing is in your wheelhouse you can do that, or you can just print them monochromatic and they’ll still work.
I may need some help with the alien, which will be in a future video. Also, I want to show off all these board games, so I’ve got videos I want to do. I may not end up taking as much of a break as I’d like.
On my discord channel I’ve got a “Whatcha Makin'” text group, where you can post your current projects. I’d like to maybe show these off in future videos, so submit your great projects there! Until I see you again, thanks for the support and the amazing year you’ve given me, better than I deserve. No one could have asked for more.
