I just got my Dragoncon schedule. It is a busy one, with lots of good sessions. I look forward to seeing you there, but due to how many panels I am on, the best way to catch up with me is to attend one 🙂 Here are your options:
Read more »Launching in a Recession
We have gotten a lot of great response since we announced last week that Emperor of the Fading Suns is finally coming to Steam on April 4 (Wishlist it now at https://store.steampowered.com/app/2799350/Emperor_of_the_Fading_Suns_Enhanced/). In fact, really the only negative response I have heard has been from fans worried about us launching our game during an economic downturn, or a “correction” as it is currently officially named.
However, this is not the first time I have faced this. When we launched “Vampire: the Masquerade,” it was during the 1991 recession brought on by the Gulf War. We worried about how this would impact our fans, but it proved to be an advantage. The base rules were $20, and they offered a huge amount of entertainment value for the dollar.
As opposed to a movie, that you would go to a theater and watch once, this game offered hour after hour of fun. Many of our players who bought the book figured it ended up costing them less than 10 cents per hour of fun, and of course many people played the game without ever buying the book. I love that social component.
Read more »Educational Games for Older Kids
I got a DM on LinkedIn from a friend asking for recommendations for educational games for older kids, since my friend was having trouble finding any worth spending time or money on. We are having a similar situation. Our nine-year-old no longer has any use for the learning games she used to play or her school offers, like Teach Your Monster to Read, Prodigy or ABC Mouse.
Minecraft has stepped into this space, creating more educational modules. The GGDA has even advised the Georgia DoE on, but teens now often find Minecraft to be a kids’ toy (https://education.minecraft.net/en-us/resources).
My main recommendation are entertainment titles that do a great job of Stealth Education. “Civilization” is the best example of this. I also recommended HDI’s own Machiavelli the Prince for politics, economics and Renaissance history (now on sale at https://www.gog.com/en/game/machiavelli_the_prince for less than $4). We want people to learn before they realize that is what they are doing 🙂
There used to be some excellent Flash games like Darfur is Dying, which taught about the Rwandan genocide, but the end of Flash means these games are hard to find and play, and who wants Flash on a computer they care about?
Steam does have the Education tag, but I find that a lot of games have that tag that should not. However, I have been told good things about https://store.steampowered.com/app/1270620/Project_Chemistry/ but since I have not played it, I do not feel I can specifically recommend it. Still, it might be worth taking the time to explore that tag on Steam. If you have explored that tag, or have your own recommendations, I would love to hear them.
