Dice for Non-Mathematicians - 301

Besties
The the previous two posts, we've talked about how adding dice together changes the weight of different kinds of rolls.  But what if we AREN'T adding the dice together? What if people roll several dice and keep only the best roll?

Let's assume you have a game where a player rolls 1d6 and scores a point if it's a 4 or higher. What are his chances? 50%: [1,2,3] don't score and [4,5,6] do. Same as flipping a coin, right? So what would happen to his chances if you let him roll 3 times and keep the highest roll? Would his odds of scoring improve?

Dice for Non-Mathematicians - 201

Rolling At Leasts
Let's imagine a game where you I roll 1d6 and you roll 1d6 and have to tie or beat me.  So, I roll a 5. Sweet. What were the odds that I would roll a 5? Well, obviously 1 in 6.

Now, what are the odds that you will tie or beat me? Your possible roll table is [1,2,3,4,5,6], meaning out of 6 possibilities, you have 2 chances. Ergo, your odds are 2-in-6 (33%).

You probably could have worked that out without a roll table. What you probably didn't do, but is at the heart of this topic, is to add together the individual chances for each winning roll... but that's exactly how it works.

Dice for Non-Mathematicians - 101

Six Times Two Doesn't Equal One Times Twelve
When I was in college, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who was insistent that one 12-sided die was equivalent to two 6-sided dice.

He was adamant. I was... trying to be patient.

If you don't immediately see why he and I disagreed, that's okay. You've probably never been introduced to ideas like "roll tables." You maybe never had a statistics class (actually, neither did I).

That's okay. This isn't complicated.  In fact, when you actually see it, it's pretty intuitive.

Synergo

Over the past 2 weeks Synergo went from request to concept to prototype to an almost finished product!

It all started when it was suggested that we make a game little kids could play.  The thing is, we like to make the kind of games that we will play.  Which begged the question: could a game be both?

Within the span of a day, we had a rudimentary concept.  Within 48 hours we had a paper prototype.  Before the week was out, the first rule sheet was drafted.

And today, after several small refinements and a healthy dose of playtests, we're ready to order up our copy of the finished product.

What is Synergo?

Skatepark Legends is here!

Just got my prototype in the mail!  Everything looks great, which means...

You can pick up your copy today!

And don't forget to download the papercraft patterns while you're there.

Skatepark Legends Update

So... it's pretty much done!

Still looking the game over, making sure I didn't miss anything.  The manual may still need one or two tweaks.  Nevertheless, it has been officially submitted into the Game Crafter's Time Challenge contest.

I'll be ordering my prototype in the next few days, and when it arrives, I'll publish. (Then you can order yours!)

Also, I have updated the Papercraft models which you can download here.  I have to say they look pretty good, and even with cheap "multi-purpose" printer paper they are pretty durable.

Prototyping Skatepark Legends

I have been working (whenever I can steal a free minute) on a new project for the Time Challenge contest on TheGameCrafter.

While not all of the features are fully realized yet, I am pleased to share a look at the current prototype. I think I would go as far as saying this probably marks the turn from alpha to beta.

Prototype Board with Papercraft models!

The basic gameplay is a risk/reward mechanic, where players must manage their speed and movement efficiently, while still throwing down the most challenging tricks they think they can pull off.

Only one player is active at a time, and I may address that in a formalized way, but I want to see if the social component of the game (i.e. watching your friend's run, cheering them on, trying to talk them into risky tricks, etc.) are compelling enough to leave it alone. I suspect it might be... I hope so, honestly, because that keeps it more in line with the spirit of competitive skating.

As an aside: you'll notice I've included little "papercraft" models. They are purely ornamental, and do not change game play - but they sure make the board look cool. I plan on shipping the game with the templates in the box on nice glossy paper for folks to make their own.

I heard quite a bit of skepticism about papercraft components when I pitched the idea to some peers - principally because of how fragile they would be. But I designed them with durability in mind, and because of their small size, they've stood up pretty well so far.

And of course, downloads of the template will be available, so the models will be inexpensive to replace, if need be.