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on hiatus
New this week:
Spared
I'm driving towards Khaled's house, listening
to Fleetwood Mac: "First you love me, then you get on down
the line, but I don't mind.
contumacious (con-t(y)oo-may'-shuss)
adj. stubbornly disobedient; rebellious (see
also: contumelious (...-meel'-ee-us) adj. insolently abusive
and humiliating) [both fr. L. con + tumere: to swell, be proud]
- Run Lola Run :)
- This is not a film.
It is a video game
without a joystick.
 Sorry, Daddy-O didn't see anything new this week (except
for part of "Growing Up Brady", which he doesn't feel
like trying to review). Instead, he went to see some live theater
(plus he's been busy compiling a tape of all the basement scenes
from "That 70's Show"...)
 
New York World's Fair 1964
.com
License
Plates of the World
The Wandering Ones
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Computer Malfunctions and
Chrononauts Production |
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 Last week, I talked about my efforts
to get a good photo for our ad in the Origins program book, and
complained about a roll of film that hadn't come back from the
lab on schedule. Well, it did in fact show up the next day, and
here's the image we've decided to use. (Now we just need to make
up our minds about the ad copy that'll go on it...)
Just as I was finishing up the site last week, we started
having a bizarre computer problem. One of our Macintoshes, a
computer named Rapunzel, suddenly decided to start turning herself
off whenever she felt like it. She'd operate just fine for a
few minutes or a few hours, and then just suddenly power off.
Needless to say, this made it hard to use, but we kept trying
for a couple of days anyway, until Rapunzel finally shut down
for good.
Being just a software guy, all I could do was tell Kristin,
"It doesn't turn on anymore." It certainly wasn't how
she wanted to spend her Sunday, but she started taking it apart
and moving things around (moving several other computers around
in the process) but when she ran out of ideas, she called Kevin,
this guy we both worked with at NASA, and later at TSI, who has
a magical touch when it comes to fixing computers. Happily, he
had some free time and came right over to perform open-Mac surgery
for us. (Thanks Kevin!) He and Kristin swapped the hard disk
inside the dead computer for one in an unused external drive,
so that we could get at our data, and then they tried to figure
out why Rapunzel wasn't getting power. As you might expect, the
trouble seems to be with the power supply, which provided exciting
fireworks during one particular test. So, we've been making do
with one less workstation while waiting for replacement parts
to show up...
Aside from battling computer malfunctions,
the main thing we've been doing this week is production work
on Chrononauts.
I've been working night and day on the next prototype deck, Alpha
2.0, which looks and plays great, and Kristin's been getting
quotes from (and going on field trips to) various local printers,
bringing us to the very brink of deciding who will print the
Beta-test version of the game. Kristin's hoping this new printer
will also be able to do other specialized printing work for us,
like making more Paper Icehouse pieces, more of the little rule
books for Icehouse games (like the Black
Ice book now in development), and even perhaps some of Eeyore's
3 player chessboard panels. But with printing schedules being
what they are, we need to choose this printer now if we're going
to have copies of the Chrononauts beta-test version ready to
sell at Origins, and that also means I need to finish up the
design and card layout work ASAP. Said tasks have been dominating
my thinking all week, but I'm happy to report that it's all going
extremely well. The game just gets better and better with each
new rev, and it's really starting to feel ready at this point.
I'm incredibly excited about it!
A final note for any readers in (or visiting)
the Bay Area this weekend: Don't forget The
2nd West Coast Icehouse Tournament, run by Eric Zuckerman,
on Sunday at 2. As the reigning World Champion, I wish I could
be there to compete myself... Ironically, John is out there now
on business, but he's going to miss the tourney by a matter of
hours... so if you've got the option, make up for our lame butts
and go compete!
 Have
a great week!
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"Featuring what can only be described as
a 'classic simplicity,' this little game is a joy to play! This
is one of those truly delightful discoveries that quite simply
has NO real minuses! Way to go Looney Labs! Q-Turn is a winner!"
- from the review
by the San Fernando Valley Gamers |
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Wow, did you see the exciting cliffhanger season
finale to "That 70's Show?" What a great ending! Poor
Hyde! |
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Last night Kristin made a great discovery about
Chrononauts:
It's actually 3 games in one! My design features action on a
couple of different levels, and previously Kristin had thought
of a way to play solitaire using only a portion of the card set.
Turns out you can play a fast, simple, easy, and very fun (and
Fluxx-like) multi-player game using the cards you set aside for
solitaire! |
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