The Devil in the Details

by | Jan 20, 2017

Happy New Year and welcome to the post-truth era! It is more important than ever for folks to get together in person and remind each other what it means to interact and respect each other. I am not looking forward to the next four years but I am more resolved than ever to get this game out there. Wu Wei: Journey of the Changing Path is about living in harmony with the natural order of the universe. This is a concept sorely lacking in the current political landscape. I hope you will stick with me on this journey and help me bring this fun and educational game to folks from every corner of the globe.

I have been busy the last month or so learning how to use Google Sketchup. It’s a fairly intuitive 3D program that has allowed me to model all of the elements from my board game using textures. This is a huge step forward in my pursuit of the final design for the box and rule book. It has also given me an opportunity to look at a few possible changes to the components for Wu Wei. I had been considering a change to better illustrate the quadrants of the board. After I saw the texture applied to a fully set up board I realized that it made everything too busy. It was too hard for me to look at the board and try to make strategic choices. The octagon artwork became drowned out and everything sort of dissolved into chaos. It’s funny how that happens. You pull on a thread and the whole tapestry unravels. Oh board game design. Gotta love it!

On the other end of the spectrum, I was able to see the chi pieces in a more final state. Of all the components I feel like these have gone through the most changes. I’m committed to making the game as accessible as possible and I feel like this incarnation of the chi pieces addresses the needs of color blind folks.

I’ve also added a 3D model on the website that you can play with here: https://graywolfgames.com/wuwei/model/

The heart and soul of Wu Wei: Journey of the Changing Path is this god forsaken rule book I’ve been slaving over for the last year. I say that with love. I’m working on the third (and hopefully last) major revision with the amazingly talented Dustin Schwartz from The Rules Forge. He has helped me untangle a bit of the mess and streamlined the way that new players will come into the game. We are probably a week away from wrapping up the text and then it will take me another week or so to throw it all back into InDesign and move around all the graphics. I seriously cannot wait to show it off.
One big life-changing event that has happened for me: I am leaving Panda Game Manufacturing after working there for almost three years in a variety of capacities. I started as an Account Manager taking on hundreds of quotes, worked as a Project Manager on over a dozen projects, and ultimately became their Technology Manager in an attempt to streamline their processes . It was a great ride and I learned pretty much everything there is to know about manufacturing games. I’ve also established a solid relationship with the PandaGM team which bodes well for producing Wu Wei: Journey of the Changing Path and Dueling Cupids for Gray Wolf Games.
As much as it pains me to say it I have to push the Kickstarter back to March. Unless I am hit by a truck this should be the final push back. The month of February will be all about shooting videos to promote the game. I’m getting in touch with a number of Taoist abbots and martial arts masters and historians to get their take on concepts included in the game. I’m also planning to send out the prototypes again and hopefully get a couple of substantial reviews from the tabletop community. Thank you for hanging in there with me. This has been a really tough process and I’m hoping that it will get better for future games.