Stop Press! Stop Frame!

Back to the relative civilisation of NZ after a three week break in Bali. A good deal of time there was spent digesting Immodium and running to the toilet. John has sworn that our next holiday will be in Norway or Denmark! On the plus side, we did take some amazing photos of monkeys that will be needed for the game called Kenakalan (or Monkey Business) that I am designing.

SchilMil is keeping busy while we wait for the manufacturer near Shanghai to regroup after the Chinese New Year. Several new games are in the pipeline plus we are starting to prepare promotional material for Komodo and Raid the Pantry.

Here are short stop frame animations we've made for each game:

A momentous moment for SchilMil Games

Today, Julia and I took all our artwork to the printers to run a proof copy for inspection. If all goes to plan, on Friday we will be waving goodbye to our first two creations as the files wing their way to China for a production run of 1,000 of each game! Next stop world domination. 

Ahem - reality check. Next stop = a lot of hard work marketing and selling the products. But with an interlude for Xmas and a holiday in Bali, we can kick back for a few weeks until the next hurdle runs towards us.

Here is a sneak preview of the Komodo box design. I think it stacks up pretty well against my other games...

Into summer with rugby and shipping

I have come across some interesting articles about board games lately. This  one explores the history of how game goals changed from morals and virtue to the selfish and cunning aim to win with piles of money.  And this about politically incorrect and distasteful games to avoid.

SchilMil Games has been taking up a fair bit of time.  We have been keeping  two copies of Komodo and three of Raid the Pantry circulating amongst blind testers and also in the last fortnight have started development of a game with a cargo shipping theme called Manifest.  The mechanics and most of the rules of this game came to me during a night of fitful sleep. I woke at 7am and spent an hour writing it all down. My business partner Julia (Schil) has also hit inspiration with squirrels and nuts.

No ideas yet for a Dylan related game. May happen though.

The Rugby World Cup is still on here, with a few days to go until the final between France and the All Blacks. Quite a nice festival atmosphere in the city.   Since watching a few matches I think I may be starting to understand the rules of the game but one thing that is a mystery is why there aren't deaths in every match, its pretty brutal.

Partying and playing

Yesterday saw Auckland reveling in party-like atmosphere as the rugby World Cup Commenced on our doorstep. The planets aligned as it was a perfect sunny day, Aucklanders were mostly let off work early and were in a good mood. Then came the amazing opening ceremony that involved music and light shows choreographed from all parts of the city centre and waterfront. Three tonnes of fireworks from across the wharves and barges on the harbour. Topping off, the All Blacks won their first game against Tonga.  As one writer in the Herald put it, "Auckland is going off like yogurt in the sun".