Map tiles!

I got the first printed set of map tiles! They look great. Finally something solid I can hold and play with and experiment on. My graphic designer brought them over on the weekend, totally unexpectedly. I was hoping for new photoshop images or something, but he went ahead and printed them off on good mat board, plus he made a box for the whole thing! (If he had sent me the draft images I would have caught the glaring spelling error, but that is easily forgiven.)

Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think.

The next problem is this: how can I arrange the map so that the buildings connect up nicely, without any distracting abrupt edges, yet keep the layout of the building random so that each game is unique. I've got a couple ideas and I'll blog about them next time.

Check out facebook.com/organicgames!

The Facebook Page

I made a little Facebook page for Thief. One of those annoying posts that you can "Like", which will then spam you with irrelevant jabber on the minutiae of one crazy person's life. Come on and sign up!

Lots of new Developments!

I've been working with a graphic designer for the last few weeks and I've now got some mockups for the card and map tile designs. They look great! I'm not ready to post them here yet though.

I'm reworking the map design to make the buildings line up more, which will means the city has more twists and turns to make it more interesting. The cop has a harder time moving through it. The cop moves more often now, whenever an alarm is set off. Players are going to set off alarms all the time if they're not careful, so there is a strong incentive to do things as sneakily and quietly as possible.

Furthermore, players no longer have the ability to create new cards all willy-nilly. There is a resource management element to the game now, meaning players will have to make decisions about when to create new cards and what kind to create. Someone who makes wise decisions will definitely have an advantage.

The long and short of it is that Thief is now more game-like. It's not just a hilarious romp through a bizarre series of obstacles. This is good!