tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18180734177095617732024-03-11T10:10:34.349-04:00Daniel SolisArt director and graphic designer for board games, card games, and tabletop hobby products.Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.comBlogger1109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-61024713887436661122024-02-20T16:46:00.000-05:002024-02-20T16:46:17.251-05:00Three Principles of Card Design: Visibility, Hierarchy, Brevity<p>This is an excerpt from the rough draft of my book <i>Graphic Design for Board Games.</i> If you want early sneak peeks at the rest of the draft, including editorial comments and discussion, <a href="https://www.patreon.com/danielsolis" target="_blank">head over to my patreon</a>! </p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0ce51b61-7fff-bec6-f85c-afcdd3c7995b">Three Principles of Card Design</span></h2><span id="docs-internal-guid-0ce51b61-7fff-bec6-f85c-afcdd3c7995b"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I spend most of this chapter getting in the weeds of print production and manufacturing. That’s just where I spent most of my time in my career, so that’s where I have the most information to share. However, if you’re just getting started designing cards, you don’t have to worry about all that just yet. There are three main principles of card design to remember as you design your card. These are not “rules” per se, just useful concepts to keep in mind. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHLfqPRgWnHnrOTkYhX_iuXqAwJTtKH_iXoThG_UVGIQRtcLuWRPazeHzWhZlOqXbjOW3jBFFYShIka1NokwNhi3VqhMMO8dYDhFFEjP3wB2xx6XWU_878ad6VjoHuSJ9Z5il_fpauFbGfEXpPXmq1_xvCJqqv9IA2VSrUISBhDsSK9JooS6aw_4vdOU/s1650/FIGURE%204.3%20THREE%20PRINCIPLES%20OF%20CARD%20DESIGN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="1650" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHLfqPRgWnHnrOTkYhX_iuXqAwJTtKH_iXoThG_UVGIQRtcLuWRPazeHzWhZlOqXbjOW3jBFFYShIka1NokwNhi3VqhMMO8dYDhFFEjP3wB2xx6XWU_878ad6VjoHuSJ9Z5il_fpauFbGfEXpPXmq1_xvCJqqv9IA2VSrUISBhDsSK9JooS6aw_4vdOU/w640-h494/FIGURE%204.3%20THREE%20PRINCIPLES%20OF%20CARD%20DESIGN.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Figure 4.0a Visibility of cards from </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ettin</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (2020).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Visibility: </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Make the most important information easily visible.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> If your cards are held in hand, stacked, splayed, or tucked, consider the areas that are going to be most visible at that moment. Check corners and edges in particular, since those will most likely be hidden by a thumb or other components. You can use this to your advantage by hiding information that may only be relevant in special circumstances or edge cases.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKv_wwVUfRWKOdMOp4KiVZLAoCyeJt2HyFJvXWYuSnY4BJ-85eZkE2qaISC94Dxn8tOqbsV5UAJv6K298_a_M7r8awasKEyOSPYBcqiM8UQBZvVopIumV7R8nfeY9rY-AyfKKoHb7IFPx4QbClHwmXKroboRzmk0Ue51qpjcJSw3JycMHf3Bl2fQb9vT0/s1650/FIGURE%204.3%20THREE%20PRINCIPLES%20OF%20CARD%20DESIGN2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="1650" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKv_wwVUfRWKOdMOp4KiVZLAoCyeJt2HyFJvXWYuSnY4BJ-85eZkE2qaISC94Dxn8tOqbsV5UAJv6K298_a_M7r8awasKEyOSPYBcqiM8UQBZvVopIumV7R8nfeY9rY-AyfKKoHb7IFPx4QbClHwmXKroboRzmk0Ue51qpjcJSw3JycMHf3Bl2fQb9vT0/w640-h494/FIGURE%204.3%20THREE%20PRINCIPLES%20OF%20CARD%20DESIGN2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Figure 4.0b Hierarchy of cards from </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ettin</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (2020).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hierarchy: </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Arrange information from the most important to least important.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> List all of the elements on a card and make a decision about which is most important. (Don't be precious and say everything is important.) For example a card title comes up a lot, so you probably want that closer to the top and a visible corner. A card cost may be relevant as well, that is conditional to your specific game. If you have to pay for a card each time you play it, then it's very important. If you only pay for the card once, then you can afford to tuck it away in a more hidden area.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJkqcxFfIrrPA42L-StzsLwcIhIbnEggjx8KZfvMU-uQF0Ordw58AZU8Xo9EPanE_v0-IJ_smVZYKrBZ_Qs7EZwCNxDTDayN5AgIlTXjU_jzuY-12cF0dbRNsOcYUOpWGo775LMmppktc-7tcnmp1GmjIJkiPz7_WbOF8jnUpeLEJktz_uKq1JipKpv0/s1650/FIGURE%204.3%20THREE%20PRINCIPLES%20OF%20CARD%20DESIGN3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1275" data-original-width="1650" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJkqcxFfIrrPA42L-StzsLwcIhIbnEggjx8KZfvMU-uQF0Ordw58AZU8Xo9EPanE_v0-IJ_smVZYKrBZ_Qs7EZwCNxDTDayN5AgIlTXjU_jzuY-12cF0dbRNsOcYUOpWGo775LMmppktc-7tcnmp1GmjIJkiPz7_WbOF8jnUpeLEJktz_uKq1JipKpv0/w640-h494/FIGURE%204.3%20THREE%20PRINCIPLES%20OF%20CARD%20DESIGN3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Figure 4.0c Brevity of cards from </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ettin</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (2020).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Brevity:</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Abbreviate common phrases with key words or icons.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> When your game has many cards, you have to be efficient with how much text you fit onto each card. More content means that the font has to be smaller and/or more compressed, making it harder to read. Looking for other solutions helps keep the card approachable and fun to play. Discuss with your game developers whether lengthy and recurring game terms can be condensed into shorter key words or even use icons. For example, "Rotate this card 90º" can be condensed to the key word "tap" or "exhaust." This is such a common action in card games, most just replace the entire clause with one simple icon that takes a fraction of the space.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You might be able to cite a few long-standing successful card games that violate one or more of these principles. Some may place critical information at inconvenient spots, or arrange information in an unintuitive order, or squeeze in paragraphs of information into tiny fine print.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bear in mind that many of those venerable titles were first published before best practices had been established, so they’re doing their best to retain their identity while still serving a more sophisticated audience. Established games also have the luxury of a built-in player base that can tolerate the quirks of their favorite hobby. (In fact, some very belligerent veterans may protest any attempt to streamline or improve their game’s visuals.)</span></p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Your new game doesn’t have such a luxury. Instead, it has the </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">advantage</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of learning from the mistakes of all those prior games. You can risk breaking any of these principles at your discretion, but it’s worthwhile to know the nature of that risk so you can make an informed decision. Make it clear to any player that you willfully </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">chose</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> to break these “rules” of design.</span></span>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-73077742311153185462024-02-03T16:02:00.004-05:002024-02-03T16:02:50.352-05:00What to do with Trickster, hmmm...<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRiMqrdjmZtgUobdi0PQR4IEcZO5UGbK81Jl5W9iUXghjaSha-FlL-5t9CQLXyEM_zhN8s0TAji8QnyVBVU3Q5w7g_wmIIcrK9d_DWEbKaGEnmM-4r7QTv0uLYan39s-PfojHwRqW98lQ88YbufTRarioGxORnj4ouH7dn1CANPWVg4CpUef28LBqLxm8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRiMqrdjmZtgUobdi0PQR4IEcZO5UGbK81Jl5W9iUXghjaSha-FlL-5t9CQLXyEM_zhN8s0TAji8QnyVBVU3Q5w7g_wmIIcrK9d_DWEbKaGEnmM-4r7QTv0uLYan39s-PfojHwRqW98lQ88YbufTRarioGxORnj4ouH7dn1CANPWVg4CpUef28LBqLxm8=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigE_gqzXJWnyiTSh5KLdNWD8g-bvYZ0D0vqxHy3asKUXkzLWMARIuUZhPqUR3Q7LrIUtk0tM0_bgF0KpPCtS5-PEb3_KDGLaeBJkgvK6FzE0VObJ-LxHxWtTbbuf9hMFwh9U93jBaaIid3S-aog9O6QYRFXaO4tEkID0Ubp1gIxnn-KFQlXif1X_CMfRo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="1023" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigE_gqzXJWnyiTSh5KLdNWD8g-bvYZ0D0vqxHy3asKUXkzLWMARIuUZhPqUR3Q7LrIUtk0tM0_bgF0KpPCtS5-PEb3_KDGLaeBJkgvK6FzE0VObJ-LxHxWtTbbuf9hMFwh9U93jBaaIid3S-aog9O6QYRFXaO4tEkID0Ubp1gIxnn-KFQlXif1X_CMfRo=w640-h434" width="640" /></a></div><br />I've got the rights to Trickster back in my hands! I'm considering where its future may lead. <p></p><p><a href="https://www.drivethrucards.com/browse.php?keywords=Trickster&manufacturers_id=5381&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=" target="_blank">Trickster</a> was my first attempt at really pushing print-on-demand as a primary distributor. It was an ambitious plan back in 2015. In those days, it was a series of individual small-deck card games. The deck sizes were optimized for best margins and ease of shipping from POD.</p><p>Each deck was standalone, but could be shuffled together. The core rules were the same for all of the games, but the cards in each deck had unique abilities. (I would attempt this again with the "<a href="https://www.drivethrucards.com/browse.php?keywords=I+Can%27t+Even&manufacturers_id=5381&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=" target="_blank">I Can't Even</a>" series and with the <a href="https://www.drivethrucards.com/browse.php?keywords=plume&manufacturers_id=5381&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=" target="_blank">Plume</a> decks.) </p><p>After releasing the fourth deck, Trickster got picked up by a publisher as a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/actionphasegames/trickster" target="_blank">big box edition on Kickstarter</a>, with a new look at revised theme. Unfortunately it never really caught on in retail. I think it's really better for a small indie channel like DriveThru. I'd been waiting for the retail inventory to run low before promoting the classic decks again. So for now it's back to POD! </p><p>You can find them here on my store at DriveThruCards.</p><p><a href="https://www.drivethrucards.com/browse/pub/5381/Smart-Play-Games">https://www.drivethrucards.com/browse/pub/5381/Smart-Play-Games</a></p><p><br /></p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-70147493696969085442024-01-30T09:07:00.001-05:002024-01-30T09:20:21.474-05:00Rocket Broker - Worker Placement Area Control Roll-and-Write<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjwXCgEuUZSpGbskQNocBH5mu84a2T_0PivuQkKuEphlmZ0_tcsyKexA-CMNCTmjvZ4Vv7RjSes4tnKXRXYlaMKwDmVeMps5mH5RDu0SpmyRcmU4quu8n1_qM4E5AtgfE8JxGLOQYsi2ecAlMaIWxbkXKeGkEHdBjO_3poq4FCyX32nmhwUqdPQzYwUlo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photo by Monstera Production from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/vector-illustration-of-cheerful-man-in-flying-rocket-6289027/" data-original-height="1418" data-original-width="2520" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjwXCgEuUZSpGbskQNocBH5mu84a2T_0PivuQkKuEphlmZ0_tcsyKexA-CMNCTmjvZ4Vv7RjSes4tnKXRXYlaMKwDmVeMps5mH5RDu0SpmyRcmU4quu8n1_qM4E5AtgfE8JxGLOQYsi2ecAlMaIWxbkXKeGkEHdBjO_3poq4FCyX32nmhwUqdPQzYwUlo=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></div><p>(This is a rough sketch of a game from 2017, when dice placement and roll-and-writes were gaining more popularity. I was in a phase where I was just merging as many different ingredients together to see if they'd stick. You can see some of these ideas in Pencil Park.)</p><p><i>You’re trying to get your payloads onto rockets and into orbit. Rocket space ain’t cheap and neither is the fuel. You have to invest wisely if you want to launch! </i></p><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Setup</h2><div>The game comes with a deck of rocket cards. Shuffle a number of cards based on player count. (Designer note: I never determined a number since this prototype never got tested.)</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKaWg0FmnrQ7ECNluY0mpqq-Ju41YddGPlc0S3TwCiZ6B-AJVOSbLFrdKeRyjETnWLs9b1c_wa7_OTxz0M8rlgkoe1DZu6C0wBK-fF78gxi4kY1EZDGZmTDUAG36wZHuiirxWZrwiZiyTDcUhFCJyMm6s4coCOApXeoHYxRIpqYnNh30ZJFKiR8ZjjiNY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1724" data-original-width="1392" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKaWg0FmnrQ7ECNluY0mpqq-Ju41YddGPlc0S3TwCiZ6B-AJVOSbLFrdKeRyjETnWLs9b1c_wa7_OTxz0M8rlgkoe1DZu6C0wBK-fF78gxi4kY1EZDGZmTDUAG36wZHuiirxWZrwiZiyTDcUhFCJyMm6s4coCOApXeoHYxRIpqYnNh30ZJFKiR8ZjjiNY=w517-h640" width="517" /></a></div>Lay out six random rocket cards onto each of the launchpad spaces. Each rocket card has a space agency that is sponsoring its launch, like NASA, or JAXA. Each rocket has a different arrangement of spaces representing its cargo capacity. The oval below each rocket card space is its fuel, which will be needed for the rocket to launch at all. <br /><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Start of Round</h2><p>At the start of a round, a player rolls three dice and sets them where all players can see.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">On Your Turn</h2><p>On your turn, you may do one of the following actions. You must have enough cubes available in your supply to take the chosen action.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Action: Load</h3><p>Choose one die to represent the type of cargo you want to load. The other two dice represent which launch pads you may load with that cargo. All our cubes cubes must fit in the on empty spaces of the chosen cargo. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhc5okq5BROerNMJ3fP-hqUwjLbhRPA8FzfrAec7g9SRMHj4Dwe3cO8XHO8qtly7U56rMy65crll0od6XRtwL1Ob5-FuNVaD07bETjzM0flUOg8mYNAjPuvCLligzYzlVWFs8zAyru6nzlUD7Uv2XWL1HlJ7-uls0Za4qs40Am49CkZ3YD5W5MUbfSa7ek" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="1074" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhc5okq5BROerNMJ3fP-hqUwjLbhRPA8FzfrAec7g9SRMHj4Dwe3cO8XHO8qtly7U56rMy65crll0od6XRtwL1Ob5-FuNVaD07bETjzM0flUOg8mYNAjPuvCLligzYzlVWFs8zAyru6nzlUD7Uv2XWL1HlJ7-uls0Za4qs40Am49CkZ3YD5W5MUbfSa7ek=w640-h284" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #666666;">With the results <span style="background-color: white;"><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">⚀ </span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">⚁ </span><span face="arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">⚃</span></span>, you can place ■ on launchpad 2 or 4; or ■ ■ on launchpad 1 or 4; or ■ ■ ■ </span><span style="color: #666666;">■ </span><span style="color: #666666;">on launchpad 1 or 2.</span></p></blockquote><p></p><p>Some rockets give immediate benefits when you load certain types of cargo.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Action: Fuel</h3><p>Add together two of the dice and place that many cubes in the dotted area below the launch pad of your choice. There are no spatial requirements for fuel. Just pile up those cubes!</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Action: Launch</h3><p>Choose a rocket that has more fuel cubes than cargo cubes. That rocket launches! A launched rocket rewards whoever has most, 2nd most, and 3rd most cubes in cargo and/or fuel. Tied players get equal rewards. </p><p>⚡: Gain 1 power in the rocket’s agency.</p><p>★: Increase the agency's prestige.</p><p>♥: Gain 1 popularity.</p><p>Replace the rocket card with a new one from the deck.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Midgame</h2><p>Crossing milestones on the ♥ track give you points, plus ⚡ or ★ for you to assign to an agency of your choice.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Endgame</h2><p>The game ends when the rocket deck runs out. Your endgame score is (⚡×★) in each agency where you have either, plus points from ♥.</p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-52200871194384931212024-01-24T09:10:00.004-05:002024-01-24T09:10:28.310-05:00Ludology discusses imposter syndrome<p>It's the annual recap episode of the Ludology podcast. Important notes on imposter syndrome here. Host Erica Bouyouris is the designer of "Dumb Ways To Die," the best-selling new card game of the year. That should be a huge achievement for any game designer. Unfortunately, that doesn't align with BoardGameGeek buzz or lead to big awards, so she's had to come to terms with that as she continues in her career.</p><p>Good discussion on feedback, mental health, and managing your well-being as a game designer.</p><p><a href="https://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-315-happy-2024">https://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-315-happy-2024</a></p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-72550417077163757972023-12-31T11:00:00.001-05:002024-01-01T10:07:26.126-05:002023 Book Review<p>Here are all the books I've read and reviewed over the past year. As is typical of my lifestyle, I take in more audiobooks than physical books. I'm not a purist about that sort of thing. The one hitch is that I've already burned through a LOT of the audiobooks from the library that had my interest. It's forced me to branch out to other genres, so you'll see some more non-fiction and a couple of mysteries here. Plus one or two books I'm categorizing as Fantasy, though there are no swords and sorcery in the mix.</p><p>There is one very specific element that kept popping up in the sci-fi I read this year: A distant-future community of humans has their Earthly origins kept secret by a manufactured religious authority.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Interdependency Trilogy features a theocratic government put in place to manage an interplanetary alliance of traders and producers.</li><li>The Safehold series backstory, human survivors of an alien purge get their minds erased and rewritten to avoid any new industrial technology that might draw the aliens' attention.</li><li>The SILO trilogy has an isolated community of humans living underground, compelled by religious doctrine to never leave their enclosed environment.</li></ul><p></p><p>What a peculiar recurring theme to encounter in books from very different authors at very different levels of quality. I wonder if something's just been in the air the past ten years or so.</p><p>Anyway, what follows are my gathered book reviews from my Mastodon account. (https://mastodon.social/@DanielSolis) Follow me there if you'd like to see more!</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Non-Fiction</h2><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUn_sN_udkAYQBEy_ScZBPe7_ctnUtdQm2pRDNDL5Mw2uBM-YFFPPVNozL4o_78qxOAMJnVq5xmR2nom5YyFKFw1qfTO1qBniiJw5pqCdpy3QrcLQkjicRaDmC_fCGtf1gUx2FNfzJRv53Thu-UTa3ZdTmcKuPmndzJ7vKvk__fUGWc4vS1lzP69psfDY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1659" data-original-width="1249" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUn_sN_udkAYQBEy_ScZBPe7_ctnUtdQm2pRDNDL5Mw2uBM-YFFPPVNozL4o_78qxOAMJnVq5xmR2nom5YyFKFw1qfTO1qBniiJw5pqCdpy3QrcLQkjicRaDmC_fCGtf1gUx2FNfzJRv53Thu-UTa3ZdTmcKuPmndzJ7vKvk__fUGWc4vS1lzP69psfDY" width="181" /></a></div><div>DUCKS by Kate Beaton covers her time working and living on the oil sands, just before her rise to fame. Beaton is unflinching as she presents all layers of the oil sands' fraught economies, flashes of empathy, banal commonplace brutality, and heartbreaking rage. Throughout the slices of life, a question lurks: Has this system changed these people or just exposed something already within them? This is the kind of book that sits in your gut for a while.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9Fq5xqmPeqIPoliK5wcI9Gg_FiSMneNHDeK5CkwKG9T87LRnf5-sGCFCLPUfhaVOJF1eaOGX8ek0RLQ2kxG1k_gBqU6kfhkC2xwLFUfN8fw3SZ2MASkaTcTzQXq2R6XEcew4DoqYOnxVn9HsmkTq3vdJ44Hm0qGNEwWThghv3X28iYlBFhuwHdYtuBr4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="338" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9Fq5xqmPeqIPoliK5wcI9Gg_FiSMneNHDeK5CkwKG9T87LRnf5-sGCFCLPUfhaVOJF1eaOGX8ek0RLQ2kxG1k_gBqU6kfhkC2xwLFUfN8fw3SZ2MASkaTcTzQXq2R6XEcew4DoqYOnxVn9HsmkTq3vdJ44Hm0qGNEwWThghv3X28iYlBFhuwHdYtuBr4" width="158" /></a></div><br />I'M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jennette McCurdy</div><div><br /></div><div>This memoir hits different because I never watched the Nickelodeon show and I wouldn't recognize any of the cast in a crowd. (I was just a few years too old for it.) So instead of the celebrity aspect, what hit me most was deep gravity that poverty and mental illness can have across generations. In particular, how little that new wealth or fame can heal those deep scars.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6lQkVpwmH3rKTWDfEfXEJNypxJcvN6Qs1270iuRxIFm00WXz3Aih1LVV-eS6-YsHTNBCJxQdcG1m5A_j2nF3Ri356Czj-YfY5yBUJGMESuX0Km5ILgnrmlFCotKP3ZLHeXO71FsCdLDUMUknu3pO717I47gY8NVIJA6DHgR8iowtEfNqPNd4IgzuUD0o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6lQkVpwmH3rKTWDfEfXEJNypxJcvN6Qs1270iuRxIFm00WXz3Aih1LVV-eS6-YsHTNBCJxQdcG1m5A_j2nF3Ri356Czj-YfY5yBUJGMESuX0Km5ILgnrmlFCotKP3ZLHeXO71FsCdLDUMUknu3pO717I47gY8NVIJA6DHgR8iowtEfNqPNd4IgzuUD0o" width="240" /></a></div><br />THE SIRENS OF MARS</div><div>Sarah Stewart Johnson</div><div><br /></div><div>A wistful memoir of a planetary science career, contextualized by anecdotes from our historical fascination with Mars. A fun read, even if you're familiar with bits of that history. It's humbling seeing it braided together.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_8yWIqD0aJlxIP27RTu6GOrQx391Hkk04pq3fkOTxbOB5X0flsgpP0Dc5tr-VSh0NBpL5uWVVCmgGKuQkKtYiduELLmD2E4Qj54r0ZRhAb-9R5b3V6tg8rQ8O3ZuCcJ5hofreHjb19xIcNFzxsISC0u8f0OcXLffa3LQNrzAzKPRlbLnfY271wezCsf4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="308" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_8yWIqD0aJlxIP27RTu6GOrQx391Hkk04pq3fkOTxbOB5X0flsgpP0Dc5tr-VSh0NBpL5uWVVCmgGKuQkKtYiduELLmD2E4Qj54r0ZRhAb-9R5b3V6tg8rQ8O3ZuCcJ5hofreHjb19xIcNFzxsISC0u8f0OcXLffa3LQNrzAzKPRlbLnfY271wezCsf4" width="244" /></a></div><br /><div>ACROSS THE AIRLESS WILDS by Earl Swift</div><div><br /></div><div>A loving history of the hectic development of the three rovers that Apollo astronauts drove on the moon. Detailed with actual memos and diaries, but never mired in minutia. I have a deeper appreciation for the LRV as more than a mere "moon buggy." Throughout, the events leading to the final Apollo missions have a wistful, ominous tone. Everyone knew this would be the last trip, they just didn't know how long it would be.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJxGNFv_7kjW8T9WnnByEs3K_4uBgSi93WgeSq01g4Jt7lu5kcSnJrABYQ4sGxGXoPzOHu_To0S4_GnSw3cHX0H1Gln0Tp72OmHQCtMrl2RvFzaliw8nEoRlaSWeDUE31sTO3d3A3SzckZvRoA8PvTIu6Ld0DSIaHdDKRAJ_IQxTwYNHoXXLwP0w034g8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="394" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJxGNFv_7kjW8T9WnnByEs3K_4uBgSi93WgeSq01g4Jt7lu5kcSnJrABYQ4sGxGXoPzOHu_To0S4_GnSw3cHX0H1Gln0Tp72OmHQCtMrl2RvFzaliw8nEoRlaSWeDUE31sTO3d3A3SzckZvRoA8PvTIu6Ld0DSIaHdDKRAJ_IQxTwYNHoXXLwP0w034g8" width="239" /></a></div><div>THE NEW GUYS</div><div>Meredith Bagby</div><div><br /></div><div>In the late 70s, NASA introduced their first class of civilians, women, and POC — "those f*ing new guys" as the old-timers put it. Bagby details four decades and a dozen astronauts, offering plenty of space history without getting bogged down. In effect, this is a biography of the space shuttle program itself. That includes cynical beginnings, heartbreaking tragedies, and infuriating mismanagement. The New Guys rise above it all.</div></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Sci-Fi</h2><br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4m1YIXS6yFTqaTZ8I9htAgXuHyaPRn-5XvLmoP1wt5865lJAwCmAbPTQeftF9ngi_OxpVrsEWJUJwi9ono6vj7VmnBKdoKFQF8vW-7yOtpfHa7f_2XfbZoox3JqR83gQOC3330XDgI_66DEAv_sI65ms-Q-6nDTAjeJyL10mjp2VKn7wyfImJOn08ehk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="224" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4m1YIXS6yFTqaTZ8I9htAgXuHyaPRn-5XvLmoP1wt5865lJAwCmAbPTQeftF9ngi_OxpVrsEWJUJwi9ono6vj7VmnBKdoKFQF8vW-7yOtpfHa7f_2XfbZoox3JqR83gQOC3330XDgI_66DEAv_sI65ms-Q-6nDTAjeJyL10mjp2VKn7wyfImJOn08ehk" width="247" /></a></div><div>DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis</div><div><br /></div><div>This 1992 time travel novel was eerily prescient about the pandemic, aside from the absence of cell phones and internet.</div><div><br /></div><div>Alas, I found the present-day plot full of fretful complainers and anime-style repetition. The 1300s story had more emotional stakes, though also its own share of nasty fretting.</div><div><br /></div><div>I grew impatient with the delirious evasions that slowed the 1st half. It recovered in the 2nd half, but I don't think I'll revisit this series.</div><div><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzb6fI8nIAWA1j-zEoj5ZjzzPuzxe0mzv2qZGkS9i0wOPCYagL2C8TDrJbJ69bTuj4zbSxBNbjkPSVLSzb9bqmLyfNfaw_Cwk6PXfKRS_YJlcF8pJP2O7QwM7nBjVSgFozyHX5_55BU6EiSJoB5RwYYu8NL2wJPPqkTaRntR5o-HwaZAtwSx3tgRVhVsQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="214" data-original-width="223" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzb6fI8nIAWA1j-zEoj5ZjzzPuzxe0mzv2qZGkS9i0wOPCYagL2C8TDrJbJ69bTuj4zbSxBNbjkPSVLSzb9bqmLyfNfaw_Cwk6PXfKRS_YJlcF8pJP2O7QwM7nBjVSgFozyHX5_55BU6EiSJoB5RwYYu8NL2wJPPqkTaRntR5o-HwaZAtwSx3tgRVhVsQ" width="250" /></a></div><br /></div><div><div>AT THE SIGN OF TRIUMPH</div><div>David Weber</div><div><br /></div><div>I haven't recorded my thoughts on each of the SAFEHOLD books since my opinion has only lessened over time. The nautical stuff was fun, but increasingly rare amidst other cringey, repetitive plot points. (I made a bingo card of Weber's oft-used phrases, like "he showed his teeth" or "in the fullness of time.") This is not the last book, but I'm ending here since it took nine doorstopper novels to close just *one* major arc. That's it, I'm done.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrWqiuz7czWKLHhUQtG8ZwEnTXiUTMZgASNRi__y5Z5BkIm5aEK96iCzNshZ3qOYvHAE0WT8l9fwlMlatUHCQ4jgAeO5ocXc9TzzqV5FmTwZ5Pu-usk7RvWBe-hyYGFnBE00aW_U2qX5NneDmyeueOdN2YGJQT80LV-UIwap-bl_NXEBmep46pNyLEEC8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="863" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrWqiuz7czWKLHhUQtG8ZwEnTXiUTMZgASNRi__y5Z5BkIm5aEK96iCzNshZ3qOYvHAE0WT8l9fwlMlatUHCQ4jgAeO5ocXc9TzzqV5FmTwZ5Pu-usk7RvWBe-hyYGFnBE00aW_U2qX5NneDmyeueOdN2YGJQT80LV-UIwap-bl_NXEBmep46pNyLEEC8" width="239" /></a></div><br /><div>WOOL</div><div>Hugh Howey</div><div><br /></div><div>A centuries-old community lives in a mile-deep subterranean silo, forbidden from mentioning anything "outside" or "before." That pressure cooker ratchets up the tension while confidently answering each question raised by the central premise. No interminable mystery boxes here. The world unravels just enough to tantalize. What a blessed relief it is to sense the author has an endgame in mind and does not dawdle. Props to the editing team.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheBaBSaEwTHgOlmDSJv-pZyk3Sqhco9-r1dH_sm4TFTRlkAGpkysADDeqFrU1wqU7H0Hi3vaz7rQAwW6X59fd6y0X_aSRpH9BC3jmSIhB_nz3tPaPWlo3Zcu-pRPyeKMVdLnzQsDu_r2P4ZeIbMQsT0FA37a2UR1sX9DrzqH8zEeK-sgMu6ibPVDVx704" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEheBaBSaEwTHgOlmDSJv-pZyk3Sqhco9-r1dH_sm4TFTRlkAGpkysADDeqFrU1wqU7H0Hi3vaz7rQAwW6X59fd6y0X_aSRpH9BC3jmSIhB_nz3tPaPWlo3Zcu-pRPyeKMVdLnzQsDu_r2P4ZeIbMQsT0FA37a2UR1sX9DrzqH8zEeK-sgMu6ibPVDVx704" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div><div><div>SHIFT</div><div>Hugh Howey</div><div><br /></div><div>Howey doesn't dawdle with a mystery. SHIFT lays bare the backstory of Silo's core premise. While those answers require *many* suspensions of disbelief, the greatest is that we're expected to have empathy for such a feeble, weak-willed protagonist. His milquetoast hand-wringing directly leads to the end of most life on Earth. Made even more inexplicable by the only two female characters being desperately in love with him? Oy vey.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-fhFWw0SPaHYYijKPX0eRMPSkn5CWaYujsAnhL37PwWPkXvy-B-cGcBpu_2jQneaMatVPXcrPAl3fyla0gopl29MN8DpCvw8iD6xVyJMMBGlJsWvjAFSa8l-lXZcSViARVGrHPRapBgHGiNi0xBr1beuol-8oslqY0-AvkoGppqoUpgXSQ1dwBqxFOow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-fhFWw0SPaHYYijKPX0eRMPSkn5CWaYujsAnhL37PwWPkXvy-B-cGcBpu_2jQneaMatVPXcrPAl3fyla0gopl29MN8DpCvw8iD6xVyJMMBGlJsWvjAFSa8l-lXZcSViARVGrHPRapBgHGiNi0xBr1beuol-8oslqY0-AvkoGppqoUpgXSQ1dwBqxFOow" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div><div><div>DUST</div><div>Hugh Howey</div><div><br /></div><div>After SHIFT, you might be surprised I read on to book 3, but the plot veered back to book 1's much more endearing characters. (Thankfully.) As usual, Howey isn't coy about doling the outlandish premise a definitive answer, even if the details strain credulity. (How long are canned vegetables still edible?) There's a brief unnecessary digression into a sadistic apocalyptic cult that goes nowhere, but overall a satisfying conclusion.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlp_O6HgOGoacFUT-ajQsiC3yvY2qn_neTPd4LdLQq09uU-Iuko5Axyso0G5Wx-At4b47qv7zH68aJ4Fb0wFCEL_FpJY8uYWiMntsKyxyuTjpSYqi0dzi7VwLAg-vRfQs1Ww45B1kH8vmTa85RKj6K2XKynR-1-yglMp3zPzjQmRNMy0TjJ4k6qB_9Who" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="325" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlp_O6HgOGoacFUT-ajQsiC3yvY2qn_neTPd4LdLQq09uU-Iuko5Axyso0G5Wx-At4b47qv7zH68aJ4Fb0wFCEL_FpJY8uYWiMntsKyxyuTjpSYqi0dzi7VwLAg-vRfQs1Ww45B1kH8vmTa85RKj6K2XKynR-1-yglMp3zPzjQmRNMy0TjJ4k6qB_9Who" width="156" /></a></div><br />KAIJU PRESERVATION SOCIETY</div><div><div>John Scalzi</div><div><br /></div><div>The hero's pandemic job loss leads to a new gig with an intergovernmental group managing an alternate Earth's colossal wildlife. A breezy adventure written mostly during the depths of the pandemic. Office Space meets Godzilla. Funny how the threat of a giant radioactive monster is a light-hearted escape from the grim reality of a tiny virus. Thankfully, this closes with a tidy happy ending without loose threads suggesting an ongoing "saga."</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgN6qtNXjsd3CsO_uE8Mkh-7FYMWOHUOVTUk4kBI_zogswZDQIoPjsK6_xmNrFdj8uEi67DgazGXTO78rHu3MGZKKbL6Cczh4pjZsBppbyw_2ouoE6wfg3gv5yKFqJXk9dtAxgHlpbM_LwjYMMGnzz7keaaEoEAe1NYVRBqV8mOUbgSwvw_EBMRajaK_QE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="864" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgN6qtNXjsd3CsO_uE8Mkh-7FYMWOHUOVTUk4kBI_zogswZDQIoPjsK6_xmNrFdj8uEi67DgazGXTO78rHu3MGZKKbL6Cczh4pjZsBppbyw_2ouoE6wfg3gv5yKFqJXk9dtAxgHlpbM_LwjYMMGnzz7keaaEoEAe1NYVRBqV8mOUbgSwvw_EBMRajaK_QE" width="240" /></a></div><br />MICKEY 7</div><div><div>Edward Ashton</div><div><br /></div><div>Sometimes, you accept a core premise to get to the rest of the story. </div><div><br /></div><div>Accept that a planet colony requires one laborer who is replaceable with their own clones. It's a role valuable enough to spend scarce resources, but for various reasons that tech is not used to help any other colonists "survive."</div><div><br /></div><div>The resulting story is mostly inoffensive. It skirts towards a bro-ey voice at times. I'm not surprised it will become a movie. I'll read the sequel.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiuArhoKZCZvAShdV-HL2fwhZHphtVzg1vVleTdFH2MT5KjF8z2EmrI07XcNR54peN2VZAOzR-c2dV0CK5lD2MLf95ilKUBKSerSGC3i_kIE_0ZvLJ9cP02bA7zgiG58JqlUYLYKrZvrCnBQoU5jW4UembZaK7Z5a2lIfwhvJRFTrS0_OL5AnYRC8uMbQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="863" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiuArhoKZCZvAShdV-HL2fwhZHphtVzg1vVleTdFH2MT5KjF8z2EmrI07XcNR54peN2VZAOzR-c2dV0CK5lD2MLf95ilKUBKSerSGC3i_kIE_0ZvLJ9cP02bA7zgiG58JqlUYLYKrZvrCnBQoU5jW4UembZaK7Z5a2lIfwhvJRFTrS0_OL5AnYRC8uMbQ" width="255" /></a></div><br /></div><div><div>ANTIMATTER BLUES</div><div>Edward Ashton</div><div><br /></div><div>Mickey7's sequel is fine as far as the plot went, except that characters wouldn't share vital information with each other when it would be really useful. Lots of </div><div><br /></div><div>"Well are you going to TELL me?"</div><div>"Not yet" </div><div><br /></div><div>or </div><div><br /></div><div>"Why didn't you warn us?"</div><div>"I did, technically."</div><div><br /></div><div>Makes sense for nascent alien miscommunication, but got increasingly bizarre for the humans. One character's arc hinges on a series of unanswered text messages. Odd.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1grqTqqAtA5QWe8SbgZOKnptmHTbyH8URf2SpCNkANGRwwu15B_TwjHWVkFeApqMjobdUEsXVF2AgiAgf1EIa6AIKaFMpQ3e2tPVfs6q23ThiafNQskbRV6PO2pzrkfbXbYRKd55A-l33vgIhdaY9AQQqsMepHZdh6rVY-W_v4npwI0pR5eiaGO50r2Y" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img alt="" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="1024" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1grqTqqAtA5QWe8SbgZOKnptmHTbyH8URf2SpCNkANGRwwu15B_TwjHWVkFeApqMjobdUEsXVF2AgiAgf1EIa6AIKaFMpQ3e2tPVfs6q23ThiafNQskbRV6PO2pzrkfbXbYRKd55A-l33vgIhdaY9AQQqsMepHZdh6rVY-W_v4npwI0pR5eiaGO50r2Y" width="320" /></a></div><br />EMBERS OF WAR</div><div>FLEET OF KNIVES</div><div>LIGHT OF IMPOSSIBLE STARS</div><div>Gareth L. Powell</div><div><br /></div><div>This feels odd to say, but this trilogy is the first time I've read something where I felt like I had read the same books as the author. The alternating POV chapters feel like the Expanse. The scrappy rogues' gallery of crewmates feels a bit like Wayfinders (though might just as easily be Firefly- or Farscape-inspired.) The sprinkling of opaque alien artifacts left behind as warning and security from an ancient galactic threat feels Revelation Space. The snarky ship minds having hyperspeed conversations in virtual environments felt like The Culture. In the end, the melange never quite gelled for me though. I could see the seams between these disparate inspirations to clearly. This is a shame, because I do desperately want a new author to pick up the mantle of Banks.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmbSRuoH2zYb2hj-_A92doB18GXTT-OtXcTXYT8ZsFe_6Li9_blJlgtiugnrDRNQC-6f-GbItPzI1ZMhTauzUHmWO3WPvjD5OcTMEsW_Mam4GTUDjPiXTXuo0fWj_Meyd14Rkb90l-GhsAEcLCtHENRAao0fydPINt_VXcn1dg8B8xgqPveAE4wHOFugk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmbSRuoH2zYb2hj-_A92doB18GXTT-OtXcTXYT8ZsFe_6Li9_blJlgtiugnrDRNQC-6f-GbItPzI1ZMhTauzUHmWO3WPvjD5OcTMEsW_Mam4GTUDjPiXTXuo0fWj_Meyd14Rkb90l-GhsAEcLCtHENRAao0fydPINt_VXcn1dg8B8xgqPveAE4wHOFugk" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>FRACTAL NOISE</div><div>Christopher Paolini</div><div><br /></div><div>I like "doomed exploration" scifi stories into the heart of darkness. Here, a crew of blue-collar space workers find the first sign of sentient alien life: A giant hole, kilometers deep, emitting megatons worth of energy into space at regular intervals. They must approach on-foot, testing their humanity at each step. Alas, this genre too often has an obtuse antagonist seemingly intent on worsening any crisis. This story has TWO of them.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvzcYSg0l16t3ktZx-0PUSE1ixpHSyIGgNIvFxZ2utYbPMUT96CvUGZ6_BQ37LbS0rVvidgRGDxaypXqVAqBVRK4HJ2-wfx-K1loVzK0byVB9yBuKujc0hbA8tE4QtKKFvlpLanpc8Q0hlb6zz8sHu7bGzcm_9NTmJfn0j4mBEF3tQWyY923z5mr4TMdI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvzcYSg0l16t3ktZx-0PUSE1ixpHSyIGgNIvFxZ2utYbPMUT96CvUGZ6_BQ37LbS0rVvidgRGDxaypXqVAqBVRK4HJ2-wfx-K1loVzK0byVB9yBuKujc0hbA8tE4QtKKFvlpLanpc8Q0hlb6zz8sHu7bGzcm_9NTmJfn0j4mBEF3tQWyY923z5mr4TMdI" width="192" /></a></div><br /></div><div>THE CONSUMING FIRE</div><div>John Scalzi</div><div><br /></div><div>Happy to come back to this trilogy after a long time since I read book 1. Lingers on the court intrigue for my tastes, but the players are down-to-earth and find some fun space opera hooks. Immediately checked out book 3.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfbAur0qRN61BIh1M9RObT0HAFufSmXd9V1YQw0ssbfIuA5M6GyhXtXpPG5pwlcoHApjVsLzdph9P-582KNLCcp0Ud8oJ06JGbN0_Xw-Gf4V-lB7hQ6eqhKXfWNALwbHxYGLEmlsc2-Rt_mmmsLxKLMInF35ixBklBR5Y79qc5O46ewvPUTxBPjUtNDEk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfbAur0qRN61BIh1M9RObT0HAFufSmXd9V1YQw0ssbfIuA5M6GyhXtXpPG5pwlcoHApjVsLzdph9P-582KNLCcp0Ud8oJ06JGbN0_Xw-Gf4V-lB7hQ6eqhKXfWNALwbHxYGLEmlsc2-Rt_mmmsLxKLMInF35ixBklBR5Y79qc5O46ewvPUTxBPjUtNDEk" width="192" /></a></div><br /></div><div>THE LAST EMPEROX</div><div>John Scalzi</div><div>Great closer to a tight trilogy. Carries on a bit of the courtly intrigue but better balanced with the revelations and space shenanigans introduced in book 2. Gently opens some possible new stories but I'm satisfied with how it wraps up.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><h2><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Fantasy</h2><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5BC8lW4IQlBbDdNhO5qgDAP7H4lzO02QKD4H5LNMAnIAB9C5-GKXGR5X4K_rdfKOKp_QeCRQvrfe0uSuyubUAOsZGZdQ6c4m-v1lqvj5-TXyUCaI6iAQJ8nLAu0NcHlqk0FwRVpXXxIz-P73slLkk8f9y-4RKP4zDKN9lNK3jSDBn94p6xTROW2K7QvM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="863" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5BC8lW4IQlBbDdNhO5qgDAP7H4lzO02QKD4H5LNMAnIAB9C5-GKXGR5X4K_rdfKOKp_QeCRQvrfe0uSuyubUAOsZGZdQ6c4m-v1lqvj5-TXyUCaI6iAQJ8nLAu0NcHlqk0FwRVpXXxIz-P73slLkk8f9y-4RKP4zDKN9lNK3jSDBn94p6xTROW2K7QvM" width="247" /></a></div><br /><div>BEFORE YOUR MEMORY FADES </div><div>Toshikazu Kawaguchi</div><div><br /></div><div>Anthology about a cafe where you can travel through time, but following such strict rules that it may as well just be a therapy session. Thus the traveler in each story reconciles some deep regret or grief in their life.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is the third book in the series, but I took a chance jumping in. You get the gist pretty well since it's mainly an anthology anyway.</div><div><br /></div><div>A gentle, low-stakes Quantum Leap. Recommended!</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikTgomQqgeeTrx7J3Q5oVFBLlvofWwoc0CFHb9g0ekC4M3J0oHlTtW6-pnjZ6TamU6DYICXPuJtbXwa0b54WCN0wEAa904YEepUs1WmXr_3DJdwWKxt-DEXIB8uNk_9FPOzGyBestWO78W4Z8vBVzmkF_d9x3pGHqRHW3U4jzUir17Ip8J-tjz0gmH3Cc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="802" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikTgomQqgeeTrx7J3Q5oVFBLlvofWwoc0CFHb9g0ekC4M3J0oHlTtW6-pnjZ6TamU6DYICXPuJtbXwa0b54WCN0wEAa904YEepUs1WmXr_3DJdwWKxt-DEXIB8uNk_9FPOzGyBestWO78W4Z8vBVzmkF_d9x3pGHqRHW3U4jzUir17Ip8J-tjz0gmH3Cc" width="240" /></a></div><br />NONA THE NINTH </div><div><div>Tamsyn Muir</div><div><br /></div><div>I already have trouble keeping track of names. Here, everyone has multiple names and bodies are shared by multiple people. Add to this salad a few dozen other Proper Nouns, several vaguely defined disputes between various factions, and a main character who has very little agency throughout most of the story. Protagonist as MacGuffin.</div><div><br /></div><div>I did like getting some answers about the back story of the world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Otherwise, this is not for me.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Mystery</h2><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXoEU2eCC08b5wSwM4pjSIUudYm_WwLuEOPcCCpFQr6VR-9uCECBEQ5o0Qprin2sPRf52doFbmbZCSuEbeQWI5G67kzLyTFUfyA3veVQI_mxFBuaxFuzIS7ugESsLn275IPRkRAPtxSI8QIrtOhFRSCHyVPorz9cFU7z6XWPHLwhIGiHKzwetstRgJgPo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXoEU2eCC08b5wSwM4pjSIUudYm_WwLuEOPcCCpFQr6VR-9uCECBEQ5o0Qprin2sPRf52doFbmbZCSuEbeQWI5G67kzLyTFUfyA3veVQI_mxFBuaxFuzIS7ugESsLn275IPRkRAPtxSI8QIrtOhFRSCHyVPorz9cFU7z6XWPHLwhIGiHKzwetstRgJgPo" width="240" /></a></div>THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB</div><div>Richard Osman</div><div><br /></div><div>A kind and humanist spin on the classic cozy murder mystery. The heroes are septegenarian amateur detectives living in a retirement community. All have histories that contribute to their team, like an elderly Scooby Gang.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijXllhzXMAaw3S7mMvAhK_RrMF8Q1wr16czJFdZqM4p_wSZTl_bueesUyUN73qufUTy_Jf4aGKQ1J8e52gUQ0yD5WHwweYOS7rehMMjyplE8g4-MHeGlgO-wC5sbMXlKmQZdaQSeOLSxAKRLZIDTT-epDerICcUH-fjjfZjGWbH_h917ztXJpvBFRLD60" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="380" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijXllhzXMAaw3S7mMvAhK_RrMF8Q1wr16czJFdZqM4p_wSZTl_bueesUyUN73qufUTy_Jf4aGKQ1J8e52gUQ0yD5WHwweYOS7rehMMjyplE8g4-MHeGlgO-wC5sbMXlKmQZdaQSeOLSxAKRLZIDTT-epDerICcUH-fjjfZjGWbH_h917ztXJpvBFRLD60" width="241" /></a></div><br />THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE</div><div><div>Richard Osman</div><div><br /></div><div>I really enjoyed the first of these mystery novels, but wondered how it could possibly become a series. I shouldn't have worried! Osman ties together about three separate mysteries then cuts them all at once, like a Gordian knot. That said, the real draw is the gaggle of septuagenarian detectives and their widening circle of confidants. A true delight for any mystery fan.</div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-_QVW8q-NJQpCThNYbD-2GJSlCSqKQVMW0CYEUM8Wpw_xkVGorZrY7JleVxWVEOVq87jXJ2Q1ZLV-5M7vkNP3cNLW-GvnpqyeoTugWqd2XG4jJi5Kl7mQLjRFG2nJf_nVHOZa8x5nG903OmtFeK_MinH-zKA6IWSceSO0pAV63wk3TQHAScrpBCsHcYI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-_QVW8q-NJQpCThNYbD-2GJSlCSqKQVMW0CYEUM8Wpw_xkVGorZrY7JleVxWVEOVq87jXJ2Q1ZLV-5M7vkNP3cNLW-GvnpqyeoTugWqd2XG4jJi5Kl7mQLjRFG2nJf_nVHOZa8x5nG903OmtFeK_MinH-zKA6IWSceSO0pAV63wk3TQHAScrpBCsHcYI" width="240" /></a></div><br />THE BULLET THAT MISSED</div><div><div>Richard Osman</div><div><br /></div><div>The geriatric detective gang face unexpected consequences of how they solved their last mystery. Includes some of the enemies-turned-friends arcs that I like. There is one bit of "Knock the heroes unconscious, but they experience no long-term medical repercussions" that is my constant pet peeve. It seems especially galling when the heroes are 80+. Ah well, it's in good fun. I love hanging out with these low-key, smartass old folks.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-46687596078963433252023-12-26T16:26:00.002-05:002023-12-26T16:26:20.228-05:00Five Themes for Set Collection in Board Game Design<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYF0xxlHARY0CmOxPOmqKH6_hGOGGaWltlUP1LtT1xffSH09C2KxebW8VtTIiCRT6p6stGPnOIWNC9BWmST_1kem1xvcuJCqj66I5s5HsSB-xM6BPKfqXHHA8GcOczAOzZVY6SIEZ9hyphenhyphen_M-7otnQTDsM-FKi4eI3zXd-bL3yR4uNDzn_K9Lwv7YLSenuA/s4650/pic2268461.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3100" data-original-width="4650" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYF0xxlHARY0CmOxPOmqKH6_hGOGGaWltlUP1LtT1xffSH09C2KxebW8VtTIiCRT6p6stGPnOIWNC9BWmST_1kem1xvcuJCqj66I5s5HsSB-xM6BPKfqXHHA8GcOczAOzZVY6SIEZ9hyphenhyphen_M-7otnQTDsM-FKi4eI3zXd-bL3yR4uNDzn_K9Lwv7YLSenuA/w640-h426/pic2268461.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>I often rely on set collection for my early prototypes. It's such a simple, satisfying framework to motivate players and give clear goals. The problem is how often set collection becomes a rote, emotionless task list to complete. The theme of the set collection is what set makes it more appealing to new players. An evocative theme suggests secondary mechanisms that help fill out the rest of the game. Here are a few themes I've used or seen over the years.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Recipes and Shopping Lists</b></h2><p><i>Welcome to Stabbed! Impress the chefs, follow the recipes, and you won't be stabbed!</i></p><p>This is by far the most common usage of set collection. Players are tasked with collecting certain amounts or combinations of resources. Then they're rewarded with a certain number of points. That straightforward transactional structure is certainly useful when the rest of the game is rather complex, but it doesn't necessarily suggest fun secondary mechanisms.</p><p>I got around this in <b>Junk Orbit</b> by making the "resources" serve two purposes. On one hand, the tiles you collect are worth their listed value if they're delivered to their destinations. On the other hand, you may discard a tile to move a distance equal to its value. Now you must decide whether it's worth the opportunity cost of tile A in order to deliver tile B.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Awards and Achievements</b> </h2><p><i>Start your research! Bribe the committees! Be the first to publish... or perish!</i></p><p>If you want to add some more urgency to the proceedings, you can award set collection values mid-game in a racing format. Whoever achieves the set conditions first gets the best reward, followed by consolation prizes for follow-up finishers. </p><p>In <b>Monsoon Market</b> and <b>Space Battle Lunchtime</b>, I gave each recipe a perfect "gold" value if you matched the requisite ingredients and quantities exactly. However, I also permitted incorrect quantities and ingredient substitutions for lesser values. There the choice is whether to rush a recipe for a quick gain or hold out for a better reward that may take longer.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Omens and Prophecies</b></h2><p><i>It has been foretold that a hero would deliver three sheep, two lumber, and one stone.</i></p><p>I really love this theme for a set collection mechanism. The theme reframes the set collection mechanism as a foretelling of future events. In essence, you begin the game with an epic debt that must be repaid or face divine consequences. Critically, for this theme to work, the set collection must be randomly assigned. You didn't ask for this! That puts you in the POV of an archetypal hero called by circumstances out of their control, rising from humble beginnings to higher purpose.</p><p>I haven't used this mechanism myself, but I think it suits mythical themes very well. I recommend revealing the set collection goals slowly over the course of the game, letting players predict and adapt to shifting fortunes as they're uncovered. (The game <b>Akrotiri</b> does slow reveal very well.) Consider the secondary outcomes of an unfulfilled prophecy. The impact should affect the central shared game space of the board somehow, like a monster left unslain or a voyage doomed to drift eternally. </p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Pledges and Promises</b></h2><p><i>I do hereby swear to build a train route connecting Seattle to Vancouver via Orlando.</i></p><p>This is a slight hybrid of the Awards and Omens structure. Players must "call their shot" early in the game, declaring that they will achieve certain conditions. The more outlandish the promise, the higher the reward if accomplished. This might be done during the setup of a round, like predicting how many tricks you will take in a card game. It might be done as a part of normal gameplay, such as funding awards in <b>Terraforming Mars</b>.</p><p>This theme works well if you're willing to let players have a loose, unguided couple of turns early in the game. That lets players assess their standing during the first few rounds before they commit to a certain goal. This is great for gambling games where early bets pay out the most money. I recommend giving players some small randomly assigned contract to get things started, like the initial draft of tickets in <b>Ticket to Ride</b>, so they have some initial starting steps to follow. Games like <b>Downforce</b>, <b>For Sale</b>, and many trick-taking games force players to commit to a goal very early, which requires some play experience to make an informed decision. This is great for veteran experts, but can be off-putting to new players.</p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Fuel and Tech Trees</b> </h2><p><i>We need to make a stop at Pluto if we're going to hit our quota.</i></p><p>In this theme, the set collection is a set of prerequisites that must be met in a particular order. It's not enough to get all the ingredients by the end of the game, each condition must be met in a particular sequence to satisfy the ultimate goal. </p><p>I've wanted to use this theme as a representation of gravity assists orbiting through the solar system. For example, the two Voyager probes only had so much space to carry thruster fuel, which wasn't enough to accelerate to the outer planets. To build up momentum and save thrust, they had to do flybys of inner planets at key opportunities when they were aligned. </p><p>---</p><p>What other set collection themes have you seen?</p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-39569318065951813422023-12-20T08:47:00.001-05:002023-12-20T08:47:00.242-05:00Artist Advice: Early in my career, should I focus on building my portfolio or taking on small jobs?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.pexels.com/photos/7578518/pexels-photo-7578518.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="533" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/7578518/pexels-photo-7578518.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=2" width="800" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>This is extremely important:</p><p>What you draw today is what you'll be hired for tomorrow.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>If you draw spaceships, you'll show up on searches for spaceships.</li><li>If you draw dragons, you'll be sorted with the dragons.</li><li>If you don't want to draw spaceships or dragons, don't post them in your portfolio.</li></ul><p></p><p>As an art director, I have to search through hundreds of portfolios for each project, looking for the right potential candidates. If I don't see what I need in your portfolio, you don't even appear in that initial search, let alone get further consideration. </p><p>If you're in a financial position to just work on your portfolio so you can build up your skills, that's totally valid. Just make sure you're posting consistently and that your best work is visible first. You can also delete older work that doesn't show your current skill level. (I see a lot of portfolios with years-old freshman-level work that never got cleared out.)</p><p>To get paid will building your portfolio, search for jobs with licenses or themes that will fill your portfolio with the type of work you want to keep doing. If it pays a little less, but the client pays on time, offers good direction, and it beefs up your SEO, then it might be worth it. Just be prepared to charge higher rates as you move up in your career. You're worth it!</p><p>"Small" jobs should still pay!</p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-25870559624840534562023-12-18T08:38:00.005-05:002023-12-18T08:46:18.578-05:00Artist Advice: How do I pick freelance jobs early in my career? Should I argue for higher pay or take what I can get?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.pexels.com/photos/7147712/pexels-photo-7147712.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="427" src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/7147712/pexels-photo-7147712.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=2" width="640" /></a></div><p>First of all, never work (for someone else) for free!</p><p>I'll break those four ideas down below, but just remember that only you can determine what your time is worth. You can always go lower, but it's hard to go higher. I recommend starting high. Never accept the feeling of being underpaid for your time and skill. You'll be surprised how quickly you can fall out of love with art.</p><p>That said, both of these questions require an honest assessment of your skills, availability, the client's personality, and your enthusiasm in a particular project.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ul><li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>Skills</b>: Browse "open for commissions" tags on social media and look for artists with a similar style and skill level as yourself. <i>Try</i> to do this with a healthy perspective. This isn't an attempt to make yourself feel bad or good. Think of it as co-workers organizing for better pay. You're just assessing a fair pay rate. Even if all other skills are equal, you might still opt to charge more for the same project than another artist. </li></ul><ul><li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>Availability</b>: As you look at the current commission market, check where other artists are based, whether art is their full-time job, and how fast they promise to complete their commissions. Take all of those factors into consideration when you determine your pricing. If you live in a major city, this is your full-time job, and you're very fast, you should charge much more. If you live modestly, this is a side hobby, and you don't promise a fast turnaround, then you'll have to make adjustments accordingly.</li></ul><ul><li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>Client</b>: There's some old advice that there should be a "jerk tax" for working with difficult clients, but I recommend just declining those offers outright. Even a good project can last for weeks or months depending on the scope of work, and you don't want to be chained to a miserable experience that long. Set your parameters in the beginning and stick to them. Be ready and willing to fire a client if the project goes out of scope.</li></ul><ul><li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>Enthusiasm</b>: When I freelanced, I accepted projects that had a noteworthy license or interesting theme that would look good on my portfolio. Beware of unscrupulous licensees using this to their advantage. They'll low-ball their offers because they expect the prestige of the license to be an honor in its own right. Prestige doesn't pay the rent. Get your fair rate.</li></ul>Remember that you should have a contract from the beginning. At minimum the contract should list:<p></p><ul><li>What you get paid</li><li>When you get paid</li><li>What you're expected to deliver</li><li>By what due date you're expected do deliver</li></ul>Get those terms locked down early and you'll have a much better experience earlier in your career. <br /><ul></ul>Never work for someone else for free!Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-54539535903588927942023-05-10T09:52:00.000-04:002023-05-10T09:52:27.260-04:007 and 1: Avoiding Confusion<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2KGeLQ3Aaax_HbzcAP5MyJ3tMoVKW29l8B5SYgT0a2zP-a5mCxDkc766Ct1T-4-DMVWDCsYJXx85NOl558uNE1oFFd1xRbg6HumziHX9VthPpTwTATz5GzJSlA-nf-Dt_K92Ec6NTJ2TBVYTJYeQlNCksc4xLS7dSO_6BwdSXUbufFrsILoHRLGiS" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2KGeLQ3Aaax_HbzcAP5MyJ3tMoVKW29l8B5SYgT0a2zP-a5mCxDkc766Ct1T-4-DMVWDCsYJXx85NOl558uNE1oFFd1xRbg6HumziHX9VthPpTwTATz5GzJSlA-nf-Dt_K92Ec6NTJ2TBVYTJYeQlNCksc4xLS7dSO_6BwdSXUbufFrsILoHRLGiS=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of two tokens. One with a one and one with a seven but they look almost identical making it hard to differentiate. (<a href="https://twitter.com/425suzanne/status/1656115232752939008">Source</a>)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>Some typefaces don’t have enough distinguishing features between their 7 and 1. The usual culprits are sans serif, modernist, or futuristic fonts that have removed so many distinctive features of their characters that they become indiscernible from each other. You may also run into this problem with italicized numerals, where a slanted 1 could be confused for the angle of a 7.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4CH0-8oMB67yrgWRXVQ4ktwJxu_hZ-IshRmaQX1owk-YGMY-NAMdbbBzaSezuiT_0Jev6TloK2NX7ffnO5pnjJVaoRvbVgs39hNBxZjz9WyZtVbag_yAIMK_NVZpe944Vv7GH1oT-4713TIjYhyKms3pkEZfgTv_BT-npimjoZEmxnmITO4ru6h_L" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot: A random sampling of "7" from different Adobe fonts." data-original-height="2306" data-original-width="3136" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4CH0-8oMB67yrgWRXVQ4ktwJxu_hZ-IshRmaQX1owk-YGMY-NAMdbbBzaSezuiT_0Jev6TloK2NX7ffnO5pnjJVaoRvbVgs39hNBxZjz9WyZtVbag_yAIMK_NVZpe944Vv7GH1oT-4713TIjYhyKms3pkEZfgTv_BT-npimjoZEmxnmITO4ru6h_L=w320-h235" width="320" /></a></div><br />7 should have an exaggerated angle, with a wide stance that significantly extends its top bar. It may also be handy to have a small crossbar across the midsection, though this is not a common attribute. Avoid any 7s that have a serif base, since that is more common for a 1 and may lead to further ambiguity.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEVZyRXBD1FownR4x9XXDWlUXdkcaJB-s8TZpkIv-7ZTMeZ9XnYUkbBNm9MrgdoM-WPbPiIf2hxj9psjj4pca1hG81Grlvhsbnq2KkDExqt8xAAS1SCfX2ipKgl9BGy2fGlcJW3KhtEwVqAFLK1I9jkCYJLjFclV1xsE53uahLY4_HEJ7dGYUlK8Af" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot: A random sampling of "1" from Adobe Fonts" data-original-height="2322" data-original-width="3148" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEVZyRXBD1FownR4x9XXDWlUXdkcaJB-s8TZpkIv-7ZTMeZ9XnYUkbBNm9MrgdoM-WPbPiIf2hxj9psjj4pca1hG81Grlvhsbnq2KkDExqt8xAAS1SCfX2ipKgl9BGy2fGlcJW3KhtEwVqAFLK1I9jkCYJLjFclV1xsE53uahLY4_HEJ7dGYUlK8Af=w320-h236" width="320" /></a></div><br />1 is should be upright, to contrast the 7's lean. You can look for an even MORE simplified 1 that is so abstract that it just becomes a skinny vertical line. Just be careful this wouldn’t be found near a capital I or lowercase l, since those may also be mistaken for a 1. I prefer a 1 that has short, downward sloping top stroke and a strong serif at the base. <p></p><p>If you’re putting these numbers on tokens representing different denominations, like money or resources, then you can put the larger values onto increasingly larger tokens, with 1 being the smallest token. You can also change the colors, ranging from gray at the lowest value to gold at the highest value.</p><p>Of course, the easiest solution is to change fonts. However, you may be forced to make manual edits to your numerals in Photoshop or Illustrator. In those cases, adding the details described above should resolve the problem. (But really, it’s better to pick a different font.)</p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-16343573170303872232023-05-07T12:48:00.007-04:002023-05-07T12:48:53.333-04:00"Snappy Dresser" Card Template<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DuoN20UX8mRnyg9rhTsiNvTcf6lZitJKqUw0RtblQhfnuM5bq_nw6iZnllfzjDjdJLK0R3qknTCt888deCsu4_t86vehw0Q9tW_cnLPHUPJXkzYw3SzKFBGaz2r7rQDX1wcDdg7I-N9fflRADFLADO-RCTRSRtuXUxt3gaFnX1baGlBSXJIosf2-/s2362/Snappy-Dresser-Example.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1087" data-original-width="2362" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DuoN20UX8mRnyg9rhTsiNvTcf6lZitJKqUw0RtblQhfnuM5bq_nw6iZnllfzjDjdJLK0R3qknTCt888deCsu4_t86vehw0Q9tW_cnLPHUPJXkzYw3SzKFBGaz2r7rQDX1wcDdg7I-N9fflRADFLADO-RCTRSRtuXUxt3gaFnX1baGlBSXJIosf2-/w640-h294/Snappy-Dresser-Example.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>As a little weekend hobby project, I was thinking about how some of the concepts and visual language of Marvel SNAP would translate into a printed card. </p><p>Very quickly, this spun out into its own concept. I imagined the cost and strength would both have to be locked to the top left for ease of reference. I minimized the cost icon to be less prominent since you'd rarely have to look at it while it's in play. The basic, ongoing, and reveal abilities ought to have distinct backgrounds so you could quickly scan the board for triggers. </p><p>The artwork here comes from "Aguila Negra" (Black Eagle) issue #100, a Portuguese language comic from 1966 that is now in public domain. I loved that this guy wearing a full knight costume would don a disguise OVER his costume, including sunglasses over his mask and a fedora over his helmet! Quite a snappy dresser indeed!</p><p>You can download this Photoshop file at the Patreon post linked below. </p><p>» <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/82651355">https://www.patreon.com/posts/82651355</a></p><p>This includes layered smart objects for the backgrounds, borders, and icon elements. Note how most of the layers are plain vector shapes with layer effects, so it's relatively easy to upscale or downscale them as needed. The only rasterized layers are the halftone textures and the artwork.</p><p>Enjoy!</p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-73829297310306663582023-03-31T11:40:00.002-04:002023-03-31T11:40:56.917-04:00Troubleshooting: How to fix "Remove Blank Lines for Empty Fields" in InDesign Data Merge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'm working on a card design that has multiple variables within the same text field. Each variable is its own paragraph with its own Paragraph Style.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNZTL9z0yv0U502xGgH76zMlmm9oTFqA5N5Zo82WdAknz9snfDyZ2dmcY8YhWPciKfFSI47rjvWZ1-sfa4CYpdaUAAt_GUn9WGg14kEh9JeO5qI-dG_7M8Y1-njPGAHnX99D5sIfw1ecZtJclSZB0l8YEPzXltWaWRk2ofVZ6trPzKbtg9XwKgooc/s1206/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2010.57.38%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Original InDesign Document" border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="862" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNZTL9z0yv0U502xGgH76zMlmm9oTFqA5N5Zo82WdAknz9snfDyZ2dmcY8YhWPciKfFSI47rjvWZ1-sfa4CYpdaUAAt_GUn9WGg14kEh9JeO5qI-dG_7M8Y1-njPGAHnX99D5sIfw1ecZtJclSZB0l8YEPzXltWaWRk2ofVZ6trPzKbtg9XwKgooc/w229-h320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2010.57.38%20AM.png" width="229" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's rare that every card has content for each variable ABC though. Usually it's a mix, like AC, AB, or BC. The issue is that when you delete empty lines, sometimes the remaining paragraph gets re-assigned the deleted paragraph's style. Compound this over a whole document and you can see why it's a pain in the butt.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9p2QvFpfDyzWikSK5dMxGsieQeqqsyVX2sIsytXEt-dNaRX9ODdgJER0A8_Askw9m-u0JchhrXpVpxfg9vBGe58TF3xlz08NvTcmCwSkuN4J77tXBzAkVXeXP_fn0ahnLkFYHuitZhXn6mXhp2Zk_DvKqeXbM_PayzVdr-uMw8XX67Ynn5qRNMxaa/s1212/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2010.58.38%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="870" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9p2QvFpfDyzWikSK5dMxGsieQeqqsyVX2sIsytXEt-dNaRX9ODdgJER0A8_Askw9m-u0JchhrXpVpxfg9vBGe58TF3xlz08NvTcmCwSkuN4J77tXBzAkVXeXP_fn0ahnLkFYHuitZhXn6mXhp2Zk_DvKqeXbM_PayzVdr-uMw8XX67Ynn5qRNMxaa/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2010.58.38%20AM.png" width="230" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Here's a video explaining the situation:</span></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="3ej54-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="3ej54-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGossFqAX2g" width="320" youtube-src-id="FGossFqAX2g"></iframe></div><br /><span data-offset-key="3ej54-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="3ej54-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">Here's my solution:</div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="9vm0a-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="9vm0a-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9vm0a-0-0">To reliably remove blank lines from a merged document, first do NOT activate "Remove Blank Lines for Empty Fields" in your Content Placement Options. It's often too buggy to be reliable, except in the most simple cases where all of the paragraphs have the same style anyway. </span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="ef9jb-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="ef9jb-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ef9jb-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="1u124-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="1u124-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1u124-0-0">Then Create Merged Document as you normally would. The resulting document will have a lot of blank lines because of the empty fields. Here's what you do about that:</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="811po-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="811po-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="811po-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="fania-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="fania-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fania-0-0">In your merged document, run two Find/Replace searches.</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="24ute-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="24ute-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="24ute-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="6t3vv-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6t3vv-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6t3vv-0-0">First, you want to delete the strange white space characters introduced by Data Merge. You have to clear these out first since they get in the way of a traditional find/replace for empty paragraphs. In your Find/Change menu, make sure you are in the Text tab and run this search:</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="ca81h-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="ca81h-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGFZZvy2IpYrARlOpl1S7fgNos9LqzOdB3iEj0t6Uk0mBQh98BHjsGA5m1rOBLupcui2uQEnL8tBccTfiiQkbGYzpQ1q_Mi_c8PLIAgJxfzpV1dvPY7X6tTK0jnQIUjikrgaCS_nOQXFY3G-cU5Bo9NXS0w2lERmHU3wDrTpo_DKPiFXL6h2LzVGHp/s1200/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2011.37.53%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1180" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGFZZvy2IpYrARlOpl1S7fgNos9LqzOdB3iEj0t6Uk0mBQh98BHjsGA5m1rOBLupcui2uQEnL8tBccTfiiQkbGYzpQ1q_Mi_c8PLIAgJxfzpV1dvPY7X6tTK0jnQIUjikrgaCS_nOQXFY3G-cU5Bo9NXS0w2lERmHU3wDrTpo_DKPiFXL6h2LzVGHp/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2011.37.53%20AM.png" width="315" /></a></div>Find what: <FEFF></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="2gkaq-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="2gkaq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2gkaq-0-0">Change To: Leave this completely empty since we want to delete these empty spaces.</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="6sopj-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6sopj-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6sopj-0-0">Search: Document</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="8g28d-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="8g28d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8g28d-0-0">Click "Change All"</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="2uu4t-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="2uu4t-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2uu4t-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="ftuj8-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="ftuj8-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ftuj8-0-0">Next, you can now delete empty lines. In your Find/Change menu, make sure you are in the GREP tab and run this search:</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="dr74s-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="dr74s-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLrab2DD9OWlhi1WT6zPyXMUYKORLyXM7zM_vDWOrI_4JjHIxZZSS_cgAuSAZQYeH4emIQXLHid1sCauWtdAcF9nJH5FlK5T25l4HxstNAg2qHBvh77LyeHcDC9xHWnFXw92jfGHQMB-BuQPxUYMba4ICtKew1B6HovOMNqsXRaEOxI9zKfAOUhnlo/s1212/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2011.38.08%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="1178" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLrab2DD9OWlhi1WT6zPyXMUYKORLyXM7zM_vDWOrI_4JjHIxZZSS_cgAuSAZQYeH4emIQXLHid1sCauWtdAcF9nJH5FlK5T25l4HxstNAg2qHBvh77LyeHcDC9xHWnFXw92jfGHQMB-BuQPxUYMba4ICtKew1B6HovOMNqsXRaEOxI9zKfAOUhnlo/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2011.38.08%20AM.png" width="311" /></a></div>Find what: ^\s+</div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="b0d7r-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="b0d7r-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="b0d7r-0-0">Change To: Leave this completely empty since we want to delete these empty spaces.</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="e73p1-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="e73p1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="e73p1-0-0">Search: Document</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="6e8pq-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6e8pq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6e8pq-0-0">Click "Change All"</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="ahrm2-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="ahrm2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ahrm2-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="ds2ba-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="ds2ba-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ds2ba-0-0">That should resolve any empty spaces you might have in your document.</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="dc36v-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="dc36v-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dc36v-0-0">---</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="2cao6-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="2cao6-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2cao6-0-0">BONUS:</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="5fm1r-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="5fm1r-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5fm1r-0-0">If you happen to have an empty space at the end of your text field that hasn't been resolved by the first two steps, here is an optional third step:</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="612ag-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="612ag-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="612ag-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="b88ql-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="b88ql-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="b88ql-0-0">In your Find/Change menu, make sure you are in the GREP tab and run this search:</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="7b14-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="7b14-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7b14-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWyiktvz_PbkU_JrgpDPS0T_8Swa0R4uBVQNz4XUBCqLokTBDZQ_XdzaDCgxWWIkhQw6Ng4O6CN7-_6gcusgOQx72b3wi9L6bML82Tuj_7df64pak5_iahnC6Y42V7jY3pjBDBtrL_KOUwgztRYv9XeCchFoEFDppgiWjBdRkqic0q65pr1ArghK7/s1212/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2011.38.22%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="1182" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWyiktvz_PbkU_JrgpDPS0T_8Swa0R4uBVQNz4XUBCqLokTBDZQ_XdzaDCgxWWIkhQw6Ng4O6CN7-_6gcusgOQx72b3wi9L6bML82Tuj_7df64pak5_iahnC6Y42V7jY3pjBDBtrL_KOUwgztRYv9XeCchFoEFDppgiWjBdRkqic0q65pr1ArghK7/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-03-31%20at%2011.38.22%20AM.png" width="312" /></a></div><br /><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="7b14-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">Find what: \s+$</div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="638bs-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="638bs-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="638bs-0-0">Change To: Leave this completely empty since we want to delete these empty spaces.</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="f939j-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="f939j-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="f939j-0-0">Search: Document</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="94ikk-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="94ikk-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="94ikk-0-0">Click "Change All"</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="euum7-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="euum7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="euum7-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="efuo-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="efuo-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="efuo-0-0">It's important you only do this search AFTER you've done the first two, but it should work like a charm.</span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="1jre7-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="1jre7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1jre7-0-0"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="3jb7q" data-offset-key="erkbf-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="erkbf-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="erkbf-0-0">Hope this helps!</span></div></div>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-23114013653515212072023-03-08T15:34:00.001-05:002023-03-08T15:34:25.558-05:00Junk Orbit is back! In box form!<p><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://renegadegamestudios.com/junk-orbit/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIrEopY9P7S4hGBNqZ8vDyMQaZr6q2HlVdkGrVNtFVVQ-ZAoMMltmwC-R4mqVwDUOdgaT16dQn_OW67jr95FckOF-fM1HVzLUBIRO6Ldu3oI2TZhIfYymkXY4PfwamkOqsAPq4q2ryK66GYP8cFvxcynpLAFvWn2Y4o2cpgdie3aJivwK4BMUdprqb=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Howdy folks! Big news announced yesterday from Renegade! There will be a new edition coming with new content, some rebalanced ship powers, bigger ship meeples, and all in a proper box!</span><p></p><div class="DraftEditor-paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="ftugj" data-offset-key="954b7-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="954b7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="954b7-0-0">From the publisher: https://renegadegamestudios.com/junk-orbit/</span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="954b7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><br /></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="954b7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">New Features!</div></div><ul class="public-DraftStyleDefault-ul" data-offset-key="2jtvs-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(11, 12, 15, 0.95); font-family: system-ui, Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><li class="public-DraftStyleDefault-unorderedListItem public-DraftStyleDefault-reset public-DraftStyleDefault-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-listLTR" data-block="true" data-editor="ftugj" data-offset-key="2jtvs-0-0" style="counter-reset: ol0 0; direction: ltr; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 1.5em; position: relative;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="2jtvs-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2jtvs-0-0">New box! Now in a standard box with a fitted plastic tray for tile storage!</span></div></li><li class="public-DraftStyleDefault-unorderedListItem public-DraftStyleDefault-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-listLTR" data-block="true" data-editor="ftugj" data-offset-key="6b54-0-0" style="direction: ltr; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 1.5em; position: relative;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6b54-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6b54-0-0">Solo mode included!</span></div></li><li class="public-DraftStyleDefault-unorderedListItem public-DraftStyleDefault-depth0 public-DraftStyleDefault-listLTR" data-block="true" data-editor="ftugj" data-offset-key="6l9ju-0-0" style="direction: ltr; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 1.5em; position: relative;"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6l9ju-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6l9ju-0-0">2 mini expansions included! The Mission Control promo pack with new ship cards and player powers and Tours Mini-Expansion with new Tourist cards and ways to score!</span></div></li></ul>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-3736679252551668572023-03-05T17:26:00.000-05:002023-03-05T17:26:00.294-05:00"Tolstoy" by Sid Sackson (Excerpt from "Beyond Words")<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhJHwg4Dyw7ZBdGS2fLLArCX3sRFMFWbdr799ie6b7G1p9o3wr1tj8gCHt8aemJQAmOKkzYnQVkI6aTV1kvNfQ1MNIKbPpEJojpzD9ZPBzFovcm5c2Cys7L5zdOCH9xq_EuSUfIjDM06dmw7jQ2Y9IJlIc29KvdA_tCDeqJVAGYsFhyCFZkZCCHPr/s4080/PXL_20230305_220409382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbhJHwg4Dyw7ZBdGS2fLLArCX3sRFMFWbdr799ie6b7G1p9o3wr1tj8gCHt8aemJQAmOKkzYnQVkI6aTV1kvNfQ1MNIKbPpEJojpzD9ZPBzFovcm5c2Cys7L5zdOCH9xq_EuSUfIjDM06dmw7jQ2Y9IJlIc29KvdA_tCDeqJVAGYsFhyCFZkZCCHPr/w640-h482/PXL_20230305_220409382.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Cleaning out some old office furniture, I stumbled across a cache of vintage game books I purchased from <a href="http://www.dicksonstreetbooks.com/">Dickson Street Books</a> many years ago. Among the collection is this well-loved 1977 edition of <i>Beyond Words</i> by Sid Sackson, the legendary designer of Acquire and Can't Stop. </p><p>This was the third in his series of "Beyond" game books, the first two being <i>Beyond Tic Tac Toe</i> and <i>Beyond Solitaire</i>. This book contains six word- and letter-based games named in honor of famous writers. The book presents short rules for each game, followed by perforated sheets that you were meant to pull out and play on with pencil or pen. Kind of a crossword or word jumble book you'd find in a supermarket checkout.</p><p>The first of these games is titled "Tolstoy," which I share below. </p><p>First, some historical notes if you've never read rules by Sackson. I've often considered Sackson's designs years ahead of his time, yet I still get tripped up by how he writes his rules. I can't tell what is just 50+ years of linguistic drift, restrictions of 1970s print publication, or just idiosyncrasies of Sackson's writing style. Some examples you'll notice:</p><p></p><ul><li>He calls "Preliminary" what I would now call "Setup."</li><li>He uses third-person male pronouns where I'd use second-person pronouns.</li><li>He uses passive voice where I'd use declarative sentences.</li><li>He uses em-dashes and embedded clauses where I'd advise shorter, simpler sentences.</li><li>He uses only one diagram, where I would have used a series of diagrams.</li><li>He doesn't label the cities on the board, he only using stars.</li></ul><div>I've noticed similar oddities in his other rules. Each of these are small choices that on the whole make his rules feel less approachable. I doubt this is Sackson's intent, given his long history of making mass market board games.</div><div><br /></div><div>I personally chalk this up to a different era of game design. This is a time when a rulebook was written more like "Voice of God" arbitrating disputes, bestowing rules from in a legalistic tone to lend an air of authority. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, I find it a valuable exercise to look back on one of the foundational game designers of the 1970s. I've transcribed the rules text below. If you spot any errors or typos, those are my fault! Hope you enjoy this brief peek at another era in game design.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><h1 style="text-align: left;"><i>TOLSTOY</i></h1><h3 style="text-align: left;">2 Players</h3>Named in honor of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910), author of War and Peace, because both the book and the game are based on Napoleon' invasion of Russia.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Object.</h3>For the "French" player, to move into Russia by forming words to capture Odessa, St. Petersburg, and Moscow — and to escape to the border. For the "Russian" player, to stop this from happening by using letters the invader needs.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQ6ctqwWEoToXIk29SMOl9FiJloZCXHhKFzhOe-PwxbnC9e9-EdVpNM3Pj9xWGaRZaxkNQT1hDUHkPGQ_NI0Fspkc4sjruQCkAaVn1r4AuK0pnbglDCRhEc32uXs6YIv1XXHkW_ckPfSgvb5uYticrTEfOPktMAitgqdeShcaWCKd77V9tCPj52Rl/s2335/Tolstoy-Sheet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2335" data-original-width="1999" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQ6ctqwWEoToXIk29SMOl9FiJloZCXHhKFzhOe-PwxbnC9e9-EdVpNM3Pj9xWGaRZaxkNQT1hDUHkPGQ_NI0Fspkc4sjruQCkAaVn1r4AuK0pnbglDCRhEc32uXs6YIv1XXHkW_ckPfSgvb5uYticrTEfOPktMAitgqdeShcaWCKd77V9tCPj52Rl/s16000/Tolstoy-Sheet.jpg" /></a><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Preliminary.</h3>Carefully cut or tear the sheet along the dividing line into two halves. Each contains a field of triangles, some empty, some with letters, and three with stars. (The triangle with three stars represents Odessa, lour stars represents St. Petersburg, and five stars represents Moscow.) The boxes at the left are for keeping score, and the circles at the right indicate letters that earn bonuses.<br /><br />Each player takes one of the fields and using a black pencil or pen, writes in the letters of the alphabet in twenty-six of the empty triangles. When the letter Q is written, add a u next to it in the same triangle. The fields are exchanged, and the players write in another alphabet in the remaining twenty-six empty triangles. (When the letters are being filled in, a player doesn't know which side he will be playing with that field, so the letters should just be placed at random. And if by mistake a letter is left out or is used an extra time, it doesn't really matter.)<br /><br />Either of the two fields is picked for the first round of the game. Then who will be the French player is determined by tossing a coin, or in any other convenient manner; the other player is the Russian. In the second round, with the second field, the players reverse roles.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJav8PPNfYa18uRI_hT5vA68yJehBmg2PAfddNktsGCUhARfa6ZPwYrwR5BBh7IgYAthVNYxmAnFmGNpn9DtIjr9VDz0O6AEnTJu-O3OVvpuHH7Rb2Z2vlSw-YhgB1S6teNhllNrv7DFNOKTjeHDZllzkRdfmWIMhD_ZVZknDMNct9Pm7HzkXh4c_w/s2000/Tolstoy-Game-Example.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="2000" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJav8PPNfYa18uRI_hT5vA68yJehBmg2PAfddNktsGCUhARfa6ZPwYrwR5BBh7IgYAthVNYxmAnFmGNpn9DtIjr9VDz0O6AEnTJu-O3OVvpuHH7Rb2Z2vlSw-YhgB1S6teNhllNrv7DFNOKTjeHDZllzkRdfmWIMhD_ZVZknDMNct9Pm7HzkXh4c_w/w640-h341/Tolstoy-Game-Example.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">How to Play.</h3>The French player secretly decides in which of the five triangles—numbered from 1 to 5—he wishes to start his invasion. At the same time the Russian player secretly chooses one of six triangles—numbered from 6 to 11—from which to start his defense. Using differently colored pencils, each player draws a circle around the letter in his chosen triangle and lightly colors in the entire triangle.<br /><br />[In the illustration, showing part of a field, the French player—blue—has chosen triangle 1 and the Russian player—red—has chosen triangle 8. The coloring of the other triangles will be explained shortly.]<br /><br />The French player plays first. Starting with a letter in a triangle next to—either along an edge or at a corner—his original triangle, he forms a word of at least two letters, each letter being next to the previous letter. The letter in the original triangle is never used as part of the word. The triangles used are colored and the last letter is also circled.<br /><br />[In the illustration, the French player makes Qu-I-P as his first word.]<br /><br />The Russian player then forms a word in a similar manner. <br /><br />[In the illustration he makes the word N-A-I-L]<br /><br />The players in turn continue by forming words, starting with a letter next to the last letter in the previous word. Colored triangles may not be used again by either player.<br /><br />In order to occupy a city (triangle with stars) the French player must end a word on that triangle. He may use the starred triangle as any letter he wishes.<br /><br />[In the illustration, the French player makes Y-O-U as his second word, occupying Odessa.]<br /><br />The Russian player is not allowed to enter any of the three cities. He is also not allowed to enter any of the seven "border" triangles—the five triangles numbered from 1 to 5 and the two triangles directly above them.<br /><br />The round continues until the French player either reaches the border—by ending a word on one of the seven. border triangles—or until he can no longer form a word. If the Russian player is unable to form a word, the French player continues alone until the round is ended.<br /><br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Scoring.</h3>Only the French player scores. He scores one point (one box in the scoring area) for each word he forms. For each J, Q, X, or Z in a word he scores one bonus point.<br /><br />[In the illustration, the French player scores two points for Qu-I-P: one point for forming the word and one point for using the Q, a bonus letter.]<br /> <br />If the French player occupies a city by using that triangle as a bonus letter, he does not score a bonus point.<br /><br />When the French player occupies a city he scores as many points as there are stars in the city—in addition to the point for forming a word.<br /><br />[In the illustration, the French player scores four points for occupying Odessa—three points for the stars in the triangle and one point for Y-O-U.]<br /><br />If the French player ends the round by reaching the border, he scores again for each city he occupied.<br /><br />[For example, the French player occupies Odessa and Moscow and then returns to the border. He scores an additional eight points. If he returns to the border without having occupied a city, he receives no extra points.]<br /><br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Winning.</h3><p style="text-align: left;">After the two rounds are completed, the French player with the higher score is the winner.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><span><!--more--></span><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Hi, it's me Daniel again here in the 2023. If you like this sort of article and want to support more of this work, drop a buck at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/danielsolis">https://www.patreon.com/danielsolis</a>. Thanks!</i></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-61891615304957120712023-02-22T08:23:00.002-05:002023-02-22T08:23:08.040-05:00New HeroClix card format!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL64WXCN7wW_pKgFqmsrljZsGjEIrisK5uEB6CAjiJnXeKhBEG4QTxhwXeylkAuHwDKFe2_i1dwX8Gu5f6UKYIVQb5_EsbnlAuLKX8BRC_g3tkEblJ5oKA1pqDY6t4roxOReN5zXmHUSPEERlE-qRvJYeT1qAq7D-yBtfzdzcIpQ0xylp1y_mhCOHW/s900/GWEN-Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL64WXCN7wW_pKgFqmsrljZsGjEIrisK5uEB6CAjiJnXeKhBEG4QTxhwXeylkAuHwDKFe2_i1dwX8Gu5f6UKYIVQb5_EsbnlAuLKX8BRC_g3tkEblJ5oKA1pqDY6t4roxOReN5zXmHUSPEERlE-qRvJYeT1qAq7D-yBtfzdzcIpQ0xylp1y_mhCOHW/s320/GWEN-Front.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Qvxb6YfRhlyI05Lu1xxlB_blcfErUjn7r20ojj8CHTXt0R50du1-cD_LHjQbQpNGwekTwQdAui6_zok0IeBdtnX-sSPovB_1riKyCzs979ClcIx4BkxxJCw19H95u1y16lXCX0ESLCYGnGruAqGS-JK5QY_MwSgwMzPDG296OPbvPhJfZdU9wDDP/s900/GWEN-Back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Qvxb6YfRhlyI05Lu1xxlB_blcfErUjn7r20ojj8CHTXt0R50du1-cD_LHjQbQpNGwekTwQdAui6_zok0IeBdtnX-sSPovB_1riKyCzs979ClcIx4BkxxJCw19H95u1y16lXCX0ESLCYGnGruAqGS-JK5QY_MwSgwMzPDG296OPbvPhJfZdU9wDDP/s320/GWEN-Back.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1NoShGVCxQsz-G17JkammQV0YrBOQzMGdI256eyB4facVcHgnESLtJY4zlDVk-D842e1KcoGKq9unnfqvvb_gnjzd0kKnVVO2_wCqSluOw6q6X46ZU3ESaQ3ldJHkfAJ8c8S0PX6v4Q4CCF3xmNWcZrdUSBU6oTkFz4oOgD_WpkAyhkj99tIGKqC/s900/THANOS-Front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1NoShGVCxQsz-G17JkammQV0YrBOQzMGdI256eyB4facVcHgnESLtJY4zlDVk-D842e1KcoGKq9unnfqvvb_gnjzd0kKnVVO2_wCqSluOw6q6X46ZU3ESaQ3ldJHkfAJ8c8S0PX6v4Q4CCF3xmNWcZrdUSBU6oTkFz4oOgD_WpkAyhkj99tIGKqC/s320/THANOS-Front.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsTT4nrXH1xSJGsdu01FAjpetsuCMmA7Onciu-TL30LGVC-qVAhgPvp_x35RarQy-AIgF5KPK2-5VJn4A60a0xy_XnLP9wYB3QSTlbNFfCaIb0srsI-UsR9MruKgsYOpcGM7CgXtcytutHaBbNwHFH8eV2GvO-fkgyez6yqt-UNIEYAKBFMDVfZe-H/s900/THANOS-Back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsTT4nrXH1xSJGsdu01FAjpetsuCMmA7Onciu-TL30LGVC-qVAhgPvp_x35RarQy-AIgF5KPK2-5VJn4A60a0xy_XnLP9wYB3QSTlbNFfCaIb0srsI-UsR9MruKgsYOpcGM7CgXtcytutHaBbNwHFH8eV2GvO-fkgyez6yqt-UNIEYAKBFMDVfZe-H/s320/THANOS-Back.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><p>The new #HeroClix card format is now public! The main goal was to bring more attention to the sculpt, not having it cropped to a little bust on the corner.</p><p>That dominoed into a few other measures to conserve space, compress reference information, and generally make the game easier to approach. I learned a lot!</p><p>While I'm happy with this first wave, the future waves look even better now that the template is stabilized and future-proofed.</p><p>See official release for details: https://wizkids.com/heroclix/2023/01/30/breaking-new-ground-heroclix-2023-rules-4-comprehensive-rules-and-miscellaneous-changes/ </p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-34223949296255911592023-02-19T11:32:00.000-05:002023-02-19T11:32:29.956-05:00Label Punchboard Sheets in Board Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6h7ofbGzJIc" width="320" youtube-src-id="6h7ofbGzJIc"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I'm trying to make it standard that punchboard sheets label the components in the negative space between die cuts. My hope is that this helps the customer during the unboxing process as they're sorting out their bits.</p><p>I know it might seem redundant if they're also looking at the rulebook as an inventory list, but I'm always trying to find ways to improve the customer experience. Sometimes that means an extra affordance that 99% of customers won't notice, but that 1% who feel served will be very vocal about their satisfaction.</p><p>What would you like to see added to punchboard sheets in board games?</p><p>For more tips and tricks, please sub to my patreon at patreon.com/danielsolis. </p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-27970720355844104722023-02-11T15:40:00.005-05:002023-02-11T15:40:51.756-05:00Making a Better Drop Shadow<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ELJWu85csbE" width="320" youtube-src-id="ELJWu85csbE"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p><p>New video! Here's a simple trick I've used for years to make a better drop shadow than the default shadow you get from layer effects. Hope you find it useful!</p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-82570697118520071752023-02-03T10:52:00.000-05:002023-02-03T10:52:02.070-05:00Components and Setup in Rulebooks [Video]<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jfr6HnXXw_c" width="320" youtube-src-id="Jfr6HnXXw_c"></iframe></div><div><br /></div>Here are the two basic methods we've used for laying out diagrams in Components and Setup sections of our board game rulebooks. There are slight variations between these two extremes depending on the game, but generally they start with either of these two options.<div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Combined</h2><div><div>This is one diagram showing a complete game setup. I use numbered tags to that correspond to each step of setup and lettered tags that indicate each game component.</div><div><ul></ul></div></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA2C_RTTO58zQGdhQVLvUtxoFHRq8tnr2LwYdtmtAfLByG--XykzyiqzF7Juv5_VPf7733bzMpl09nNW8KgkmwvyxwoKtqhEGr3ZgrCYVM4vwzo2E3k7el8ZBuQhqkBOOZwOKovxi8jRxRiD2Nz2kdY5cEaLSg01l8KGj3N8ORsoxWc5A-7zzEXPjy" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Components and Setup from Atlantic Robot League" data-original-height="1928" data-original-width="1710" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA2C_RTTO58zQGdhQVLvUtxoFHRq8tnr2LwYdtmtAfLByG--XykzyiqzF7Juv5_VPf7733bzMpl09nNW8KgkmwvyxwoKtqhEGr3ZgrCYVM4vwzo2E3k7el8ZBuQhqkBOOZwOKovxi8jRxRiD2Nz2kdY5cEaLSg01l8KGj3N8ORsoxWc5A-7zzEXPjy=w355-h400" title="Components and Setup from Atlantic Robot League" width="355" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Components and Setup from Atlantic Robot League</i></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Pros: Saves space. Great for small games or small books.</li><li>Cons: Can be crowded. Difficult to see the smallest components. Doesn't easily account for optional modules or variable setups.</li></ul></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Separate</h2><div>This is a more traditional option you'll see in most rulebooks. There's one "contents" or "components" section, usually a full page or a spread. The components will be neatly organized into a clean grid and individually labelled for ease of reference. The components are not at accurate scale, they're sized for optimal readability on the page.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQ7-MKpAVJ5N_OW9DqP43QY_0pm-oyOeMZjPIuVsz7uy7QhAhi9feIcBldKSbnTJYzqCmU2TrZHCvmjnDihSElLHkRMJFRZQ9WF3o1p_4SvdON0gPnDknvgs2SeO4bV9XoypI5S19NcayJ9J9JL_y3NWdpCD3b5pO8yGjkkxK5O4L_MRunv-J7B8GD" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Components section from Gates of Mara" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3730" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQ7-MKpAVJ5N_OW9DqP43QY_0pm-oyOeMZjPIuVsz7uy7QhAhi9feIcBldKSbnTJYzqCmU2TrZHCvmjnDihSElLHkRMJFRZQ9WF3o1p_4SvdON0gPnDknvgs2SeO4bV9XoypI5S19NcayJ9J9JL_y3NWdpCD3b5pO8yGjkkxK5O4L_MRunv-J7B8GD=w400-h258" title="Components section from Gates of Mara" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Components section from Gates of Mara</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div>Then on the next page or spread, you'll see the full game setup with all components at their correct scale to each other. Usually there will be an inset or sidebar mentioning variable setup based on player count or difficulty level. Because there are fewer tags floating around, there's usually more room for arrows to indicate how cards are dealt to different locations or components divided amongst other players.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRvwot8vx9AyqLZpTwmnnnRBtUi_EvoV5xB2Ee_Z57mVc8AcN8MPrdeZV7Hsxg1is0Jqk_0ZuGuBhx9d1wLjyvNrNYfd60CNNk0Rp97hM9gGlpgnkpR2AcwFm1GHUcTb8SVKtqkyBQUV5X8ZtDIRyKyu3Qavx_at0zjCU8qj_JVboWev0OZMCprrrz" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="General Setup section from Gates of Mara" data-original-height="2394" data-original-width="3722" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRvwot8vx9AyqLZpTwmnnnRBtUi_EvoV5xB2Ee_Z57mVc8AcN8MPrdeZV7Hsxg1is0Jqk_0ZuGuBhx9d1wLjyvNrNYfd60CNNk0Rp97hM9gGlpgnkpR2AcwFm1GHUcTb8SVKtqkyBQUV5X8ZtDIRyKyu3Qavx_at0zjCU8qj_JVboWev0OZMCprrrz=w400-h258" title="General Setup section from Gates of Mara" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>General Setup section from Gates of Mara</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div>This option also gives you the advantage of making a separate page focusing just on an individual player's personal setup after the general setup is complete, as shown below.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguxP3zul1ZsUuuPUBL0h1vcSDfkySwCBh6U9a_sx9aZZ8R87u9cjaKGcQfoADPJ4Vy1IeCh3vxS-LIdErlHBVFYW0YlPevAM0tZMs1Hun3CWsgO5dJDptmJWXPLjdXkLZhX-B8jLLku92DlBST6pk967S0CJ-XYCmgCIYTV9vApgBxqCTm0PA30i1D" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Personal Setup section from Gates of Mara" data-original-height="2388" data-original-width="1860" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguxP3zul1ZsUuuPUBL0h1vcSDfkySwCBh6U9a_sx9aZZ8R87u9cjaKGcQfoADPJ4Vy1IeCh3vxS-LIdErlHBVFYW0YlPevAM0tZMs1Hun3CWsgO5dJDptmJWXPLjdXkLZhX-B8jLLku92DlBST6pk967S0CJ-XYCmgCIYTV9vApgBxqCTm0PA30i1D=w312-h400" title="Personal Setup section from Gates of Mara" width="312" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Personal Setup section from Gates of Mara</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Pros: Easier to parse individual steps. Easier to take an inventory of all game components. Generally more generous with text sizes and readability.</li><li>Cons: Makes the rulebook bigger. May make setup seem more daunting than it actually is.</li></ul></div><div>As you can see, both are valid for their use-cases. Neither is inherently better than the other. Do you have some good examples from rulebooks you liked? Please share in the comments!</div><div><p></p></div>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-10736328008370963982023-01-22T12:13:00.005-05:002023-01-22T12:23:05.377-05:00Oort/Pizza Coven, a spatial auction game [Games that Got Away]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmwM0sT0mqo94JuP2__Or8mrDwX7_IFF5_82xxMqTbfwYVF9E_TASejMLjkPTuD9aF2CF9bnFRLa1_q32ieZ0I-ksFoeR0PZVPiY5aglSdxdCF6AWevLLIpGeVDcFbDrfyPXrbJrjXlerucs2EKMsTHxIw0kgU86PHozqkbSEcOH5MyziBN1NkqyGf" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2944" data-original-width="4096" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjmwM0sT0mqo94JuP2__Or8mrDwX7_IFF5_82xxMqTbfwYVF9E_TASejMLjkPTuD9aF2CF9bnFRLa1_q32ieZ0I-ksFoeR0PZVPiY5aglSdxdCF6AWevLLIpGeVDcFbDrfyPXrbJrjXlerucs2EKMsTHxIw0kgU86PHozqkbSEcOH5MyziBN1NkqyGf" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>This is the story of how I tried to make a cool spatial auction mechanism into a complete game, but never quite found a concept that sold to a publisher. The last version was called OORT and the details are here:</div><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c51df5eb-7fff-8a9a-4ca8-28f3bd625ac8"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Theme Pitch:</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Oort cloud is the last stop for a thousand light-years, so you better stock up! Dock your ships at the right stations to claim the best supplies and send their whole fleet further into space.</span></p></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c51df5eb-7fff-8a9a-4ca8-28f3bd625ac8"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gamer Pitch:</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This is an auction in which </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">where</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> you place your bid matters. A top bid only lasts once, but a lesser bid can persist for multiple rounds.</span></p></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><b>(<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cEmASShejlOWL1XY_0-ClzI_oXeOPJ147QVlovbM0Jw/edit?usp=sharing">Rules Google Doc Here</a>)</b></blockquote><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">What Worked: Top bidder wins, but doesn't stay.</h2><img height="240.1296036289016" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PCfWeX40Ni1NaQnBK7XCrhFHeyJlRyMAKi83sKfA0u6flmeIa7vrwuLvK8I-i73tQyBI12Z06h5Kr8VWlEIrFsfAW8iIjV6rRLXEfo1yZilcErvfkpwoZZmMAsfNWJT8PP6Hlp0NCsURO_GPrVFtQ4q_8_R2IsHB1gscYKSXNq3FxiedjxFWhIDzH4pL" /><div style="text-align: left;">Players have "ship" discs valued at 1 to 15. Each round, a random segment of the board is being auctioned. Bids are placed in turns, face-down. Though the bids are hidden, you do know some information: Small ships are valued 0-4. Medium ships are 5-9. Large ships are 10-15. </div><p>You must place bids at specific spots around that segment. Each spot is adjacent to other segments, but those aren't in play during the round. Only the one segment currently up for auction is what gets resolved.</p><p>The "ah ha" moment is that whoever wins the auction must remove their ships from that segment. Everyone else leaves their ships in place, allowing them to contribute to future auctions when adjacent segments come up for auction later. </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Example: Players are auctioning on the station named </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Ride</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Black already had a "1" disc in place from a previous round. They place a "14" disc this round. </span></li><li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Orange already has a "9" disc on the space labelled "rim." They place a "10" disc closer to the core.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Pink places a "6" disc.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Lastly, Blue places a "5" disc. This ends the round. </span></li></ul><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">First Place: Orange's total bid of 19.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">Second Place: Black's total bid of 15.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">Third Place: Pink's bid of 6.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fourth Place: Blue's bid of 5.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">After earning their awards, Orange wins the auction and will remove their chips from the board at the end of the round. Black, Pink, and Blue keep their chips on the board.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h2><h2 style="text-align: left;">Theme 1: Pizza Coven</h2><div>I couldn't figure out something compelling to win in each auction. The first version of this game was called Pizza Coven. Players were competing to surround cauldrons filled with ingredients. The ingredients were shaped like semi-circles, each with up to three toppings. Your goal was to assemble complete pizza pies that had high scoring ingredients based on random recipes active each round. It looked like this:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQQIwjtm8sS9I5NMUFvlvSTSOp9PKzhd0fird-7CCWa44CxHDO4P6hq6gDZsZwQo_IXkr_bhMZ1YnV_HyDzpTpfgxLL0QHLt4401Io-SCNW5o25iAEuJKqZcuJPXcW5z7xLJCpNU3n1RqZe02RlkmyXUgYmBH-SfNjXNIpv8ONGv50mvwDmyFGTQ2X" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3332" data-original-width="3789" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiQQIwjtm8sS9I5NMUFvlvSTSOp9PKzhd0fird-7CCWa44CxHDO4P6hq6gDZsZwQo_IXkr_bhMZ1YnV_HyDzpTpfgxLL0QHLt4401Io-SCNW5o25iAEuJKqZcuJPXcW5z7xLJCpNU3n1RqZe02RlkmyXUgYmBH-SfNjXNIpv8ONGv50mvwDmyFGTQ2X=w400-h352" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately this had such a disastrous pitch at an UnPub that I just had sour feelings about it for years. Regular players loved the theme, but publishers wanted more visible magic in a game ostensibly about witches making pizzas.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I announced that I would change it, former testers lamented about the loss of that theme. Sadly, no amount of player testimonial weighed on a publisher's opinions.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Theme 2: Fall of the Kingpin</h2><div>So I tried paring down the game to just the auction, where you compete for area control. Each city district had a random assortment of scoring tokens, all publicly visible at the start of the game. The top bidder would get the highest scoring token. The second-place bidder got second highest, and so on. The city center was worth a flat value of 7 points, higher than any single chip in the game.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU2hIJFh_LaQSsewqK1TvwrUWWbtSMP234k0FIJN5HAtmekHLrATeW2MHiRf0J-DcYj_rt9S9dw8wHCH2eHWVL1Km1grZrpaEQLo_iSr8iPU-V3LvDUFdKnOsvxJTYmuwqiWKfGbRaD-Tex06MvBjSgCOuYIODgRCsylizZzD_xz2Zv5NG5m93cA-Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1024" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU2hIJFh_LaQSsewqK1TvwrUWWbtSMP234k0FIJN5HAtmekHLrATeW2MHiRf0J-DcYj_rt9S9dw8wHCH2eHWVL1Km1grZrpaEQLo_iSr8iPU-V3LvDUFdKnOsvxJTYmuwqiWKfGbRaD-Tex06MvBjSgCOuYIODgRCsylizZzD_xz2Zv5NG5m93cA-Q=w400-h299" width="400" /></a></div><br />But competing strictly for points was rather flat. This was a boom time for game complexity and modular elements. Publishers weren't interested in something that felt like it was designed in the late 90s. They wanted more content and expansion avenues that fit the stretch goal model of crowdfunding. The city prototype was a complete game in itself, without room for expansion. No powers, no secondary mechanisms, just a cutthroat spatial auction.</div><div><br /></div><div>I couldn't think of a more compelling theme to make it sing, aside from a thin veneer of cyberpunk aesthetics. I couldn't even think of a real reason why the top bidder would lose their chips. Best I could rationalize is that the kingpin gets toppled or retires, clearing space for the next upstart gang to take over.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nowadays, I think this theme would be accepted if the chips were generic icons. Those icons would have different meanings each game, like in <i>Quacks of Quedlinberg</i> and the updated <i>Libertalia</i>.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Theme 3: Oort</h2><div>So I shifted to more familiar territory for me: Space! In <i>OORT</i> each bidding chip represented a spaceship docking at a space station for supplies before leaving the solar system. I didn't go so far as to make a set collection mechanism like Pizza Coven. Instead, I used the movement mechanism from <i>Cartagena</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-ffde4688-7fff-1bda-e3c2-485cdf496982"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 230px; overflow: hidden; width: 298px;"><img height="230" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/GdqohW0lOZID30Aj0BND8tVFuuP3vhcHck3VFJBmK2I6yH_3f4mSf6TtXHTfPKOLMD53u9XYxBEyZxEPJcYFHDRaf3mvZOSF6MaHoZwGLwzL-oZoyW5aeyAw796gJDDCR1mXh9FDUaeOssUdxnKhk0pXNqAsjRA77VJKnzffpcxmql_Ev82EDVcJ-E-k" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="298" /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-84f2eaab-7fff-cb22-eb0e-0c4d17397bb2"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 208px; overflow: hidden; width: 496px;"><img height="208" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/7FmzLd4TDmRRQB6Oo3shJAiCzHliYR01jbsKRrd2bKzsU0kLjhrPS8DDYtoZBlJeyK4vM_mxkgWr_H6gmmucBcV-Xz2TddaklyIHhbxoJ0BE6BvHu3ui6ODJZJYi5OrIraohUMf8pR6iu5vXANZDOO1XqS4dr8xigaNh7pmJyjosifvyqu2PywAD7SBw" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="496" /></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Each segment of the board had a random tile showing a sequence of three icons. These icons corresponded to places along the score track. The first-place bidder moved to the nearest icon A, then B, then C, skipping any spaces without these icons and any occupied spaces. The second-place had a choice of moving from A to B or B to C. Third-place had a choice of moving to either A, B, or C.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also divided up ships into small, medium, and large, which allowed you to displace your own smaller ships in key locations. This gave players more flexibility to raise their bids.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, I gave players extra incentive to place at the central spaces: In round 1, 2, and 3, you'd immediately advance 1, 2, or 3 spaces along the track.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wasn't ever really convinced this was better than a basic score track. I kind of liked the idea of the score track itself being the play field, but the stakes were <i>too</i> hidden. What mattered more than being the top bidder was <i>when</i> you moved. If a space ahead of you was occupied, you'd leapfrog ahead to the next available space with that icon.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nowadays, I think I would have kept the Oort theme, but done a mix of flat point chips and set collection icons, as described in the Fall of the Kingpin theme above.</div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>Do you have any games you never quite cracked? How'd you get past that block? Or did you just let it rest, never to be? Tell me your story!</div>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-2843698242973300952023-01-02T15:28:00.001-05:002023-01-02T15:28:13.376-05:00In Praise of Marvel SNAP's character logos<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNg8Jiwn-Fk4ElscmovJAi2mcDAIKe04O7hI2G7omI33h9c2yKWl5AXuJzkdlngNB5jP8_OVhbgg_VN5pfxwesmgZjExb5NP8fsTaZn3HsXknVzCh6Hfx99U4fS_-Rh0YPpTF5_0vR-LgjTdK2I47tDe5ODU4ljAyJ0XcTihZ_MLLNmhZLgQSAKEGU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1938" data-original-width="2544" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNg8Jiwn-Fk4ElscmovJAi2mcDAIKe04O7hI2G7omI33h9c2yKWl5AXuJzkdlngNB5jP8_OVhbgg_VN5pfxwesmgZjExb5NP8fsTaZn3HsXknVzCh6Hfx99U4fS_-Rh0YPpTF5_0vR-LgjTdK2I47tDe5ODU4ljAyJ0XcTihZ_MLLNmhZLgQSAKEGU=w640-h488" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Like everyone else late last year, I got pretty hooked on Marvel SNAP. But enough ink has been spent praising the elegant gameplay, clever wagering strategies, and rather generous business model. I'd instead like to highlight the logos! The little names you see on every card in the game. Having worked on several Marvel card games in the past two years, I've certainly considered giving every card their own masthead name like this, but the challenge is always three things:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Not every character has an iconic masthead to pop onto the card. Some characters have just not headlined their own comic series, so there's no precedent for their logo.</li><li>We have limited graphic design resources that need to be spent on boards, rulebooks, tokens, packaging, marketing, and web. There's just not room in the pipeline to make a whole new brand logo for each character.</li><li>Even if we had the bandwidth to do it, space on our components is so limited that a big masthead would cut into valuable real estate. Plus it's an extra variable to manage in our automation process.</li></ul><div>So that's what impresses me most about Marvel SNAP. Those madmen actually did it! They did the thing!</div><div><br /></div><div>More than that, the logos aren't merely a nice looking ornament, they serve a valuable purpose in gameplay <i>and</i> business model.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_IPqBMZc4bE9XGp4Ltw2sBiHyL5WUuOWk9z7l9yshEem_sHXY8jZNaJCy4ZW014FivpOKUt0T3cPQEvvX5brnlRSR5aNpDQWi3xneYYbXnR1o9W91jRGGJ1YkaR7c3o1YsBb6F-2AH1K-yOmkhzhMNlK2VlqJzKZQrf5lo774GqvUGf9lPz2M7jfn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="1868" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_IPqBMZc4bE9XGp4Ltw2sBiHyL5WUuOWk9z7l9yshEem_sHXY8jZNaJCy4ZW014FivpOKUt0T3cPQEvvX5brnlRSR5aNpDQWi3xneYYbXnR1o9W91jRGGJ1YkaR7c3o1YsBb6F-2AH1K-yOmkhzhMNlK2VlqJzKZQrf5lo774GqvUGf9lPz2M7jfn=w640-h166" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>Because every card has any number of variant art options, plus visual upgrades that change the borders and backgrounds, it's especially important that one element remain stable and legible on the play area. </div><div><br /></div><div>Each logo has its own distinct typographic style and visual treatment that remains consistent even when the rest of the art is wildly different. In the example above, you'd be forgiven for thinking the characters on the right and left were not the same as the middle, but the logo resolves any confusion.</div><div><br /></div><div>Below I'd like to spotlight some of the logo groups I've identified in the current card pool.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Headliners</h2><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6s-ZCM-9G8i_cGbWTJqEK_UryX5_pKYPa4KrJdJObCMDCfnygwmbXO-j4m5fW2hmI_3Wdg4ItC6tO5gVKvWMEQDIACtXf9bJ9b9cxxtq5d6yEBAMrOkRsTzuCL6kgjXI6JlmrdGAYGkj6itmNgRT1ZUhXj_z6zemd74Kwz65QevhdtkrTXuM2KsMv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj6s-ZCM-9G8i_cGbWTJqEK_UryX5_pKYPa4KrJdJObCMDCfnygwmbXO-j4m5fW2hmI_3Wdg4ItC6tO5gVKvWMEQDIACtXf9bJ9b9cxxtq5d6yEBAMrOkRsTzuCL6kgjXI6JlmrdGAYGkj6itmNgRT1ZUhXj_z6zemd74Kwz65QevhdtkrTXuM2KsMv" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>These are your big names like ol' Webhead here. These characters have long-established masthead logos that pretty much come readymade. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSQegZN6QtCwHWekcOo9nojJHHAJVabE863UNneyBf7WsX1xjX57bWfzQ50juZFzG2d3M35S_jDGWeHJkPyUBpRZmnZhSBjNqh_gNeYeCNhR2GvS_mUpaySZixclOB5t8y4gvq-9N89DFiDHSGIT-70mhsvu_smWFUzozXTuo3C6JpX2Dart_iiNc3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSQegZN6QtCwHWekcOo9nojJHHAJVabE863UNneyBf7WsX1xjX57bWfzQ50juZFzG2d3M35S_jDGWeHJkPyUBpRZmnZhSBjNqh_gNeYeCNhR2GvS_mUpaySZixclOB5t8y4gvq-9N89DFiDHSGIT-70mhsvu_smWFUzozXTuo3C6JpX2Dart_iiNc3" width="240" /></a></div><br />When you have decades of comic history backing up a character's brand, it's wise to take advantage of it, rather than fighting it.</div><div> </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcscb-FflWFT9HEhFvXFbJK7CNN_0heX9fcN1vuUKt5B1Fs9PXAcDoEtvSJq2v55F1Htj4ANpDW4VGy5tE-LDJEOwwjMug6S0Oj0rTf6fRyjVcaTLQvEpVuoDlZmvjkTWpwmXWCrBhtTU6FmiDhqN3sk1H6NXTliRZjyg-s1I--rYzP7eP9LTj3Twc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcscb-FflWFT9HEhFvXFbJK7CNN_0heX9fcN1vuUKt5B1Fs9PXAcDoEtvSJq2v55F1Htj4ANpDW4VGy5tE-LDJEOwwjMug6S0Oj0rTf6fRyjVcaTLQvEpVuoDlZmvjkTWpwmXWCrBhtTU6FmiDhqN3sk1H6NXTliRZjyg-s1I--rYzP7eP9LTj3Twc" width="240" /></a></div><br />Not much else to say with this group. I just want to compliment their decisions here. They opted to keep existing logos when they were available. In some cases, I wonder if they would have preferred to make a new logo, but I think it was smart to capitalize on existing brand equity.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Underdogs</h2><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_Z8xOQ8K7bmedSZCicsPDrjauy57dlD2cBUCdqrsWnZdNdpPfAGrzpdOmW2d-fKYSgTEVeMef8ho6q9oad3dwJQ4iDd0Hm_JTGzoB1RunGebyle5sLQlFVcIb-KDswlTgLt-H0kTvsvYvu2LY-gWuUZjiLu8G5xsvnEitHgcjeO0U-TEdvoPU4f10" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_Z8xOQ8K7bmedSZCicsPDrjauy57dlD2cBUCdqrsWnZdNdpPfAGrzpdOmW2d-fKYSgTEVeMef8ho6q9oad3dwJQ4iDd0Hm_JTGzoB1RunGebyle5sLQlFVcIb-KDswlTgLt-H0kTvsvYvu2LY-gWuUZjiLu8G5xsvnEitHgcjeO0U-TEdvoPU4f10" width="240" /></a></div>I also love that they give everything the same degree of care, even for secondary non-super characters. Here the Squirrel shares the same typographic treatment as the Squirrel Girl masthead.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhh4c-7oJomD-yqUYh3EFj6YZRm6GpM_Nq9ssPYgtZ9ts3jH3mUrTyzlTAc5pr55JDbp3FRGzhUo85cvA3rSGcjM0e63ydVh_PEo_RJLmgCGkB6RmijV9pUO-Da16c3Lo5muA63SzZDy8y5Su_YVTeh8L3n1sv8ivUcC_A2KmrXA1apnVFn5sYqAZxZ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhh4c-7oJomD-yqUYh3EFj6YZRm6GpM_Nq9ssPYgtZ9ts3jH3mUrTyzlTAc5pr55JDbp3FRGzhUo85cvA3rSGcjM0e63ydVh_PEo_RJLmgCGkB6RmijV9pUO-Da16c3Lo5muA63SzZDy8y5Su_YVTeh8L3n1sv8ivUcC_A2KmrXA1apnVFn5sYqAZxZ" width="240" /></a></div>Uncle Ben gets an old-fashioned, almost-noir typographic treatment. I imagine if there's ever an Aunt May card, she'll get a similar logo.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSSiYiGCDGVb98LAQ_fS-68S0M-avMkl1Q67Hu0ZBb_mOw-GnF6aKpC-57F5_tjgulNf2caai035Fv5FZuMuCRr0XqvrxvtfedXicwrqwHwstrxwzsICswh7X9kKHOJ0E_eUUGOcJEFN5i4Rm1RYcg-7FQsgXveRZITCl8U671xk7hxrfhKq1l4VUp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSSiYiGCDGVb98LAQ_fS-68S0M-avMkl1Q67Hu0ZBb_mOw-GnF6aKpC-57F5_tjgulNf2caai035Fv5FZuMuCRr0XqvrxvtfedXicwrqwHwstrxwzsICswh7X9kKHOJ0E_eUUGOcJEFN5i4Rm1RYcg-7FQsgXveRZITCl8U671xk7hxrfhKq1l4VUp" width="240" /></a></div>The baseline of ROCK is chaotic, the letterforms cracked, all helping sell the dynamic motion shown in the card art.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMtQ1_aBsLpwHWLNkho_F6US70xrLNB1Vwz0x21ktYyHPiF2PQqzwu604MRTnL-u20epy-5UxY54myvdehQ1rqcTpNAzwdzHRGP_hEGDjxr_1LeSNZ1sKP8t_KysLr6glw9Y811Og8JTFgs40WG3_N1CtiEru0NmsREDvNSA1zEtn1udMtR-AmTwyD" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMtQ1_aBsLpwHWLNkho_F6US70xrLNB1Vwz0x21ktYyHPiF2PQqzwu604MRTnL-u20epy-5UxY54myvdehQ1rqcTpNAzwdzHRGP_hEGDjxr_1LeSNZ1sKP8t_KysLr6glw9Y811Og8JTFgs40WG3_N1CtiEru0NmsREDvNSA1zEtn1udMtR-AmTwyD" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div>RAPTOR has the rough-hewn strokes that match the other cards related to the Savage Land. You can see similar typography in KAZAR, SHANIA, and ZABU.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Long Names</h2><div><br /></div><div>You may notice that in most of these examples, there are several nested strokes and 3d extrusions. I can't speak with any authority, but I <i>suspect</i> it's because they have to be laid across a border along the bottom of the card. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSdTemR7S1o0p4ma134xPgEVcCIvqeCt4akOz99mmSAJTTJcSHFeUHKyLsTPSuNNH_59TfRA7_CAT_FvsXUPcn7ZdTsTfcm7yzMEPERZPDe81gfHk6dmpcZ1w1xoqsZpWo0qoZhBCLB_tnkdGVV6vhLA45F_w-kkOVNgML_yvwlyNPyK_zo5M9aLU5" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSdTemR7S1o0p4ma134xPgEVcCIvqeCt4akOz99mmSAJTTJcSHFeUHKyLsTPSuNNH_59TfRA7_CAT_FvsXUPcn7ZdTsTfcm7yzMEPERZPDe81gfHk6dmpcZ1w1xoqsZpWo0qoZhBCLB_tnkdGVV6vhLA45F_w-kkOVNgML_yvwlyNPyK_zo5M9aLU5" width="240" /></a></div><br />That presents a problem for logos where the negative spaces have not been filled in. The bottom border resting behind the logo may give the appearance of a <strike>strikethru</strike>. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIGwcXajHdk9dXD2fE1MKLQ04kahIvMkXwhlVw5fuwhxijIRaaMNaTwzneZZUvwFILu9JA8C-3eiYHiNYByhGtdvTwPdjItAUJTGU_RK2azg_e5bRkjmQ3bHzBySUO5sUghfhZ64dl754JssXE5XVG8XAF3PqZvMmRthXux-LLxN-HyJLjj24k-JOE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIGwcXajHdk9dXD2fE1MKLQ04kahIvMkXwhlVw5fuwhxijIRaaMNaTwzneZZUvwFILu9JA8C-3eiYHiNYByhGtdvTwPdjItAUJTGU_RK2azg_e5bRkjmQ3bHzBySUO5sUghfhZ64dl754JssXE5XVG8XAF3PqZvMmRthXux-LLxN-HyJLjj24k-JOE" width="240" /></a></div><br />You can especially see this in long names with compressed typefaces, like the logo for Taskmaster. The grey of the basic border almost exactly matches the grey of Taskmaster's logo. A thin stroke and shallow drop-shadow helps set it off from the border, but it's not quite enough.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWUFHW4gV4UMvUKVFpOG7m-QEzPEcRgn1xUXxYSmtpNsfs_ooJOL9N9IijjzUTW-QZ8zKxVA4hCMM7regYG7THqyQCfg5qta_vBKXDEXBC2Mlxue5y8Z7Gg8wkKcYt6cMb-LpCi7WYuNK4V5gqdKOqztCn6yIN6F5kFkW-RQfj0652jBDgyVR7G18j" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWUFHW4gV4UMvUKVFpOG7m-QEzPEcRgn1xUXxYSmtpNsfs_ooJOL9N9IijjzUTW-QZ8zKxVA4hCMM7regYG7THqyQCfg5qta_vBKXDEXBC2Mlxue5y8Z7Gg8wkKcYt6cMb-LpCi7WYuNK4V5gqdKOqztCn6yIN6F5kFkW-RQfj0652jBDgyVR7G18j" width="240" /></a></div><br />Nightcrawler gets the better deal here, since his masthead is completely filled in and contained by an outer black shape. That lets the light text be legible and blocks out the lower border.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3087p1a6wivs7mqhMVhsQQ5QzUVIHJtc0-vt7lzJK43vUQZ9Rmg5lwfKr1OwufP480dEqU4gARXmdvxRWP7GeCzp82CP0w56qtK2vIcaXDiSAm63lOsLaTokzlB02_xPYjytLLxgvCYJRWL6WctKcKz_L07cR10RwlBI6DLzBCrgnPlCUT5iPjzWb" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh3087p1a6wivs7mqhMVhsQQ5QzUVIHJtc0-vt7lzJK43vUQZ9Rmg5lwfKr1OwufP480dEqU4gARXmdvxRWP7GeCzp82CP0w56qtK2vIcaXDiSAm63lOsLaTokzlB02_xPYjytLLxgvCYJRWL6WctKcKz_L07cR10RwlBI6DLzBCrgnPlCUT5iPjzWb" width="240" /></a></div><br />Negasonic Teenage Warhead has to be one of the very longest names in the game. (Heck, one of the longest names in the entire Marvel superhero roster.) They pretty much had to use a compressed font. Further, added a stroke just thick enough to enclose the negative spaces within the A and G. I do wonder if the NEGASONIC is stretched out wider than the font was originally drawn, which is something I'd normally oppose. Hard to tell, so I guess it's just right.</div><div><br /></div><div>---</div><div><br /></div><div>What do you think of Marvel SNAP's logo treatments? Have you been playing much?</div><p></p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-91579118369594281412022-12-22T10:03:00.005-05:002023-01-14T14:04:38.784-05:00Estimates for Art Costs (2022/2023)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhggNf6gdrUpSL5JYjMXAHv6Rl8czxAl2YC8tAYnXcqrzoUKQIHsVaC0TV4jdj1b1d-PMAB9bamVKLzOnezBqrdpDoTwbSvueMRORTjeaCAhJpBYJoNjlfC1wUThFzCDcSEU4yQB5chkSj64mMlFOBfNDSZtsu3ZP9-Cap1Fh92bNXImqiWZecCTdZ-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2250" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhggNf6gdrUpSL5JYjMXAHv6Rl8czxAl2YC8tAYnXcqrzoUKQIHsVaC0TV4jdj1b1d-PMAB9bamVKLzOnezBqrdpDoTwbSvueMRORTjeaCAhJpBYJoNjlfC1wUThFzCDcSEU4yQB5chkSj64mMlFOBfNDSZtsu3ZP9-Cap1Fh92bNXImqiWZecCTdZ-=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br />Planning an art budget for your board game? Here are average estimates I'm seeing lately, as of the end of 2022. But first, a caveat: Quotes vary by many factors, including but not limited to the following:<p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Dimensions: The bigger the art, the more expensive it is.</li><li>Medium: Traditional paints and inks cost more than digital.</li><li>Style: The more you make an artist work outside their expertise, the more it will cost.</li><li>Complexity: A shot of a superhero flying in the open air is cheaper than the full super-team defending a city. </li><li>Color/Ink: Some artists will cut you a deal if you only need linework.</li><li>Terms & rights: If you want full work-for-hire rights to the art, expect to pay for it.</li><li>Size of cast: Each character multiplies the complexity of the scene. If you want a big battle, it'll cost more depending on how many participants there are.</li><li>Detail: Photorealists charge more than cartoonists, typically. That's not always the case though.</li><li>Timeline: The sooner you need it, the more expensive it will be.</li><li>Planning: If you can provide plenty of visual references, photobashes, sketches, composition notes, and other prep materials, that may reduce your costs. The more mind-reading you make an artist do, the more it will cost.</li></ul><p></p><p>All that said, here are the quote ranges I'm seeing for these typical game art specs:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Isolated Characters (Full-body, no background): $100—$250</li><li>Isolated Objects and Items (Weapons, Vehicles, Tech, Clothes): $50—$200</li><li>Any of the above set in a full scene or backgrounds: Add $100—$300</li><li>Game Cover or Game Board: $1k—$4k</li><li>Card Art (like in a CCG): $150—$550</li></ul><p></p><p>This is the average I'm seeing for <i>board games</i>. Different industries charge and pay their own rates. Even within the tabletop game industry, there's huge variance. For example, one CCG card illo can equal an entire board game's budget, whereas most RPGs barely pay a fraction of that.</p><p>As always, approach an artist respectfully, as a professional, and be honest about your expectations. Even if that particular negotiation doesn't work out, that artist may be able to recommend another artist who is a better fit for your project. </p><p>As always, pay artists promptly and well. Good luck in the new year! </p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-41390396967324685692022-12-18T14:46:00.004-05:002022-12-18T14:46:53.490-05:00More Game Design with Factors of 60 [Tsundoku]<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjV0NZ8g3vQnsk9msXCcT57ZmBHz7dR3hoiO5aWVEq1evSCr28uVvdFLAyxvdyOoCsM_hSuR6ej16tEr6ohZfSftxfdRO1ylycYfwzjF_rqgxwbJ5QnNrDdy4S3rmOXKcYyj1IF023IM7o9v-GdzkuoBnTwfPTVJWh4VEHQdjvbPFtmlVZdl_GEQ9wB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1148" data-original-width="1300" height="565" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjV0NZ8g3vQnsk9msXCcT57ZmBHz7dR3hoiO5aWVEq1evSCr28uVvdFLAyxvdyOoCsM_hSuR6ej16tEr6ohZfSftxfdRO1ylycYfwzjF_rqgxwbJ5QnNrDdy4S3rmOXKcYyj1IF023IM7o9v-GdzkuoBnTwfPTVJWh4VEHQdjvbPFtmlVZdl_GEQ9wB=w640-h565" width="640" /></a></div><br />Building from my previous post about using <a href="https://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2022/12/designing-card-game-with-factors-of-60.html">factors of 60</a> as the basis of a set collection game, let's consider how the game might be played. To recap: <b>TSUNDOKU</b> is a game where you gather a bunch of books and try to read as many of them as possible.<p></p><p>I have a <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N44FJhWWjk0U50ufXsYsCq4CklMpynQBdHPQs1yqbq0/edit">long google doc </a>I keep that documents various ways to acquire cards in a game. I keep this list as a source of inspiration when I just need to start somewhere in a new design. </p><p>I think I'll take a cue from Magic and consider the Winston Draft format. Under normal rules, the Winston draft works like this [<a href="https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Winchester_Draft">source</a>]: </p><blockquote><p>All supplied products are put into one large stack and separated into smaller piles with one card each at the beginning. Usually four piles are used. These piles are face up and the cards in the pile are known. The first player must choose a pile. Then one card from the stack is added to each pile, meaning the chosen pile is now one card while all other piles are two cards. Players take turns taking piles in this manner until the stack is used up.</p></blockquote><p>This appeals to me because I really want my games to be "shuffle and play" setup with minimal fuss about sorting decks and arranging game zones.</p><p>The one downside of this format is some amount of downtime while one player has the spotlight, browsing all the stacks and considering their options. Of course, by the time it comes to each player's turn, they've had all that time to review each stack as it's built up and plan for which one they want to grab. So, some plusses and minuses.</p><p>In my previous post, I considered the core loop of this game as rapid input and slow output. In the theme, that means gobbling up a big bundle of books, but then needing some downtime to read them. My game design experience tells me that players may find it a bit dull to take an entire turn just to bank some cards. Reading the book should be as exciting as acquiring it, even if they're not done at the same pace.</p><p>I'd like to explore giving the active player and non-active players different experiences at the same time. So while the active player "shops" the draft piles, the non-active players are "reading" their cards. The longer the active player takes their turn, the more time the non-active player has to progress their game state.</p><p>Something like this:</p><blockquote><h3 style="text-align: left;">SETUP</h3></blockquote><blockquote><p>Shuffle all the cards into a single deck. The game will be played with a number of card piles in the middle of the play area, faceup. The number is equal to the number of players, plus one. Deal one card from the deck to each of the piles. You're ready to play. Choose one player at random to be the first active player.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">ON YOUR TURN</h3><p>As the active player, you may do one of the following: <i>Browse (up to 3 times)</i> or <i>Buy</i>.</p><p><b>BROWSE</b>: Draw and place one card from the deck onto each pile, faceup. You may Browse up to 3 times or until the deck is empty. After that, you must Buy.</p><p><b>BUY</b>: Take one pile of cards and place it in front of you faceup. This is called your "Unread" stack. Then your turn as the active player ends. The player to your left takes the next turn as active player.</p><p>Each time the active player Browses, the other players may <i>Read</i>, <i>Sort</i>, or <i>Finish</i>.</p><p><b>READ</b>: Choose one card from your Unread pile and add it to your hand. It must be placed on the left of your hand. You may not have more than five cards in your hand.</p><p><b>SORT</b>: Re-arrange your hand of cards.</p><p><b>FINISH</b>: The rightmost card from hand and place it in front of you facedown. This is your "Finished" stack. You may Finish multiple books at once if they are in a continuous group sharing the same Genre.</p></blockquote><blockquote><h3 style="text-align: left;">ENDGAME </h3></blockquote><blockquote><p>The game ends at the end of a turn when the deck is empty. Each player scores cards in their Finished stack. Ignore any other cards.</p></blockquote><p>Given that this deck has 60 cards, I can math out how quickly the deck will run out at certain player counts:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>2-Players: 3 Piles: 20 Browses</li><li>3-Players: 4 Piles: 15 Browses</li><li>4-Players: 5 Piles: 12 Browses</li></ul><p></p><p>I can also figure out how many times each player will have a chance to browse, at a maximum.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>2 Players each have 6.666(...) chances to browse. (Because three cards are lost from the deck each time you browse.)</li><li>3 Players each have 5 chances to browse. (Because four cards are lost from the deck each browse.)</li><li>4 Players each have 3 chances to browse. (Because five cards are lost from the deck each browse.</li></ul><p></p><p>The non-active players have that many chances to read, sort, or finish their books. I can see that having such a short deck for a drafting game that sessions will be drastically shortened by each higher player count. In a worst case scenario of 4-players, each player only has one full turn to get their best pile of books, then spend the rest of the game fiddling with their hand of cards to optimize that scoring. That's not enough time to build up an Unread stack, let alone get any reading done. </p><p>So I can adjust some parameters.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Limit to only drafting and scoring:</b> I could simplify the game a great deal by going back to basics of Winchester drafting. I could convey the tension of an unread pile by saying ONLY complete trilogies may score points at the end of the game. Any incomplete trilogies do not count. I'll be honest, this is the most appealing option to me, but let's consider some other options before we commit to this.</li><li><b>Limit the game to two players:</b> That ensures each player has at least more than one turn to draft and manage their hand. There aren't enough two-player drafting games out there, certainly even fewer with this ease of setup. Normally a 2-player drafting game has some elaborate draft pool structure to build (7 Wonders Duel, Siggil), so there's some commercial appeal here. </li><li><b>Limit the non-active player's options</b>: If I reduce the shorten of reading, it allows players to bank their cards more quickly. I could say "Each time the non-active player Browses, you may move one card from your Unread pile to your Finished pile." There's no middle-zone with your hand to deal with. This might be <i>too</i> tight, since you'd really be dissuaded from Browsing more than once. Instead I could remove the non-active aspect entirely, then just say "On your turn: Browse the piles, then Buy one pile, then Read one book." That's a concrete bottleneck and reduces cognitive load, focusing on endgame set collection.</li><li><b>Extend the game:</b> I can change the Endgame trigger to an End of Round trigger. You'd keep your Finished pile, but then shuffle any Unread piles into the main deck again for a new round. That adds a strategic layer to adding more cards to your hand, since it lets you plan across rounds. Each round would be shorter than the last, since more cards get locked away in hands or the Finished stacks. The endgame trigger should probably be three rounds. This also adds opportunities for mid-game scoring so players feel a sense of progress.</li></ul><div>There's one other factor I've not discussed when designing a 60-card deck: Most factories produce cards in increments of around 54. Using 60 cards immediately kicks us up to another sheet and its commensurate cost, all for just 6 extra cards. The most cost-effective way around this is to either shrink the cards (but non-standard sizes have their own extra costs) or add more cards to the game (filling out the remaining 48 spaces on the sheet). </div><div><br /></div><div>My self-published games are produced with print-on-demand service DriveThruCards, so sheet count isn't an issue for me. Instead, I must consider the size of tuckbox available. <a href="https://onebookshelfpublisherservice.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5828511646739-Packaging-Tuckboxes-and-Deckboxes">DriveThruCards offers three tuckbox sizes </a>for a US poker deck: 54 cards, 72 cards, or 90 cards. I'm already over the limit for the smallest size. 72 ought to be just right, since my games also use cards for a "cover" and as rules pages. I'm cutting it close though! If I add any other components like an active-player marker, I could hit the limit before heading to the next higher box size.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyhoo, I'm getting way ahead of myself now. I still need to make some decisions about the core gameplay before I worry about production constraints. (After all, I haven't even considered the costs of illustrating 60 books covers!)</div><div><br /></div><div>Tell me your thoughts on this game idea so far!</div>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-17493583457110595912022-12-16T16:11:00.002-05:002022-12-16T16:11:16.024-05:00These Birds Do Not Exist<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFEQgwe98Ure7dUqhIH8L9stIbMgg8vdTv_cLoQb7lJZxDWWyoKdtzC_cgHkMmBP1ElhxFs3ls54rIk9JnTmgjm3RaQ8jM0QekKzWuPOlr_qBIQRCV-A-aaRm_5Wc-lVVgTluj9qf8HIXZcDNP3Hbvvjuob_MkdNKQbdUsrmRxPettmgeYFs4_Yk3s" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1966" data-original-width="2018" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFEQgwe98Ure7dUqhIH8L9stIbMgg8vdTv_cLoQb7lJZxDWWyoKdtzC_cgHkMmBP1ElhxFs3ls54rIk9JnTmgjm3RaQ8jM0QekKzWuPOlr_qBIQRCV-A-aaRm_5Wc-lVVgTluj9qf8HIXZcDNP3Hbvvjuob_MkdNKQbdUsrmRxPettmgeYFs4_Yk3s" width="493" /></a></div><br /><br /><div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Great Northern Oyster Cracker</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXKX37j1sLwy0Aejw-TbbPibtjKxunJP3c9zTySjzEYx4ICU7m0-oAwr-syTR4KFB70bJbPft93zImPkRRwyyynsIHKf7DxJ3pT0OJ1TlSSEqJuKHDs9q0BY0VC-zcv8ewE4m3lGwSiFKPive_OA6jgje3boCNeLd9DJCv4--uENwR8KH3AhsSfs00" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXKX37j1sLwy0Aejw-TbbPibtjKxunJP3c9zTySjzEYx4ICU7m0-oAwr-syTR4KFB70bJbPft93zImPkRRwyyynsIHKf7DxJ3pT0OJ1TlSSEqJuKHDs9q0BY0VC-zcv8ewE4m3lGwSiFKPive_OA6jgje3boCNeLd9DJCv4--uENwR8KH3AhsSfs00" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Tawny-Breasted Fishmonger</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9MLkmoa5Rdk-Ekh90axxlvJu8mOZH6dhU1JnnDgcneb5jmDSYTdp-FMVIOsiCY3oz6XyFwWl0Q_2dldc3gFDNWdJKqtxYQJZF4A68tMxpCg6jHB0k1mp2OiZfLun7UXjogjBbPr9zIRvEit2v0NHZ-U9hn8kbXv3ak6Xz2332Yo9f5zTlsZeaYWVZ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9MLkmoa5Rdk-Ekh90axxlvJu8mOZH6dhU1JnnDgcneb5jmDSYTdp-FMVIOsiCY3oz6XyFwWl0Q_2dldc3gFDNWdJKqtxYQJZF4A68tMxpCg6jHB0k1mp2OiZfLun7UXjogjBbPr9zIRvEit2v0NHZ-U9hn8kbXv3ak6Xz2332Yo9f5zTlsZeaYWVZ" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Lester's Finch</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6T3LNqJ4BPuGEvPAoB1QzoHFlAq95vXwp07vh-l20sc55uO_62RUEyZBgZfC2pvTDbJnnF4igU8GqHqvWd3pm_tvV4x6FFH5iwno-A-SQohB5YvDk64dvCcYcQbKo_QRhqDcEbC0LCA-dQMdC8gnfhtLaMaQBh_HdM0_vFhhWqm0zUn6CHHklSWUj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6T3LNqJ4BPuGEvPAoB1QzoHFlAq95vXwp07vh-l20sc55uO_62RUEyZBgZfC2pvTDbJnnF4igU8GqHqvWd3pm_tvV4x6FFH5iwno-A-SQohB5YvDk64dvCcYcQbKo_QRhqDcEbC0LCA-dQMdC8gnfhtLaMaQBh_HdM0_vFhhWqm0zUn6CHHklSWUj" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Forbidden Duck</h3><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDMkYMutS6gVh695dZSmGbWTRlBUwB7Kh37VLGyKtYfbTk2TTIlXjuqensg-71b-7kkHIL20NQteddaURyKUcU8BKdmFG9J0IyUb_lRMJEnS6qM6zP8HSS093NM81ng41FaVaGJA53WyOtsTdk2iNJ5vdnyBpkMdyhQIJjS9bdbVe1k2Ki8v5QXk-W" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDMkYMutS6gVh695dZSmGbWTRlBUwB7Kh37VLGyKtYfbTk2TTIlXjuqensg-71b-7kkHIL20NQteddaURyKUcU8BKdmFG9J0IyUb_lRMJEnS6qM6zP8HSS093NM81ng41FaVaGJA53WyOtsTdk2iNJ5vdnyBpkMdyhQIJjS9bdbVe1k2Ki8v5QXk-W" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Lesser Bobber</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwyy1pcbqhOCCB-rvY83NCyGOArCTqXKZUmAuB2nTuJRqJKkPmlB1VhSO2LpZDslBPuV-2ZgwGLMQYbKE_vunoLt2kjiwI2JrqF43Sawa_NEZHqn59NcIf4X6SlS_vBQGCE3op4iSTYHPDgpyQnmkHZoHtcn8JYcgjEZKsHtd7KK2e6yv3qgJ7D5uU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwyy1pcbqhOCCB-rvY83NCyGOArCTqXKZUmAuB2nTuJRqJKkPmlB1VhSO2LpZDslBPuV-2ZgwGLMQYbKE_vunoLt2kjiwI2JrqF43Sawa_NEZHqn59NcIf4X6SlS_vBQGCE3op4iSTYHPDgpyQnmkHZoHtcn8JYcgjEZKsHtd7KK2e6yv3qgJ7D5uU" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Rabid Wood-chipper</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicV_oVLigdXIojl2QJ7eCc6RP5FsIM889w7O_juidJL37e_A4Hfo2EI0i6BTywhKbzq1lJhz7X09vHp1VYXp5HEM6LU31d2wHmsKBz3vZssoaahXYexflZaVA-WtEg-b-wxsX4a_kk5IV37brRgc52dsa8d7CU1R2mmyu2ildGhx4-NJ2jZRt2uipS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEicV_oVLigdXIojl2QJ7eCc6RP5FsIM889w7O_juidJL37e_A4Hfo2EI0i6BTywhKbzq1lJhz7X09vHp1VYXp5HEM6LU31d2wHmsKBz3vZssoaahXYexflZaVA-WtEg-b-wxsX4a_kk5IV37brRgc52dsa8d7CU1R2mmyu2ildGhx4-NJ2jZRt2uipS" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Henson's Fractal</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA3psYktBQX4oYT7fEUCO56j9RErv0nE26al4L8-bh9jsiUquwBRhKdS7tewRfcHzeIDuod783QbkTOgHNxFLGw9ZFokfGeuEe9zE243fQPsHvuo9Kur5jqVgFEi2zUvatnMjSJ5QOX4hNSq-BGQv57SS4KNL9tNCBW3CaaOke9w5qSe0qmRetS0AW" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA3psYktBQX4oYT7fEUCO56j9RErv0nE26al4L8-bh9jsiUquwBRhKdS7tewRfcHzeIDuod783QbkTOgHNxFLGw9ZFokfGeuEe9zE243fQPsHvuo9Kur5jqVgFEi2zUvatnMjSJ5QOX4hNSq-BGQv57SS4KNL9tNCBW3CaaOke9w5qSe0qmRetS0AW" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Surly Drunkard</h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq93FS5pai-T57SJHjSgThDnk3PnaKosZewHhBno6JjryJ2E-62KnOVvJkWSxTvOvHSwgFCm-GgK40goW3SnoeVqXVpwiX3FoRvcOV1bavnukHIuYiXCKSK4oAh6zpL1v9b23-D5YPe9qxk9cQuKpFCFSfy8EkkLXaBEM8eC--uxvq5uJt8YnH4fVj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq93FS5pai-T57SJHjSgThDnk3PnaKosZewHhBno6JjryJ2E-62KnOVvJkWSxTvOvHSwgFCm-GgK40goW3SnoeVqXVpwiX3FoRvcOV1bavnukHIuYiXCKSK4oAh6zpL1v9b23-D5YPe9qxk9cQuKpFCFSfy8EkkLXaBEM8eC--uxvq5uJt8YnH4fVj" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Spectacled Ringwraith</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2WFztdwFqpFTG1ghDX9Vy5PLWMLzVIlJb1SK18HSoT9foU34ho2PdmpXx7St84omuOMjgN57niqw-FtLYls9C2xtzfEcIXPRlMfEvMSTnNrA3kdMqXsVEKWHLVFSI3FXGhP_RSQl2tJ6GcdeVbWPTD6WhIePx9z5MEnkjczFwPTfIPwB7-knGESJj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2WFztdwFqpFTG1ghDX9Vy5PLWMLzVIlJb1SK18HSoT9foU34ho2PdmpXx7St84omuOMjgN57niqw-FtLYls9C2xtzfEcIXPRlMfEvMSTnNrA3kdMqXsVEKWHLVFSI3FXGhP_RSQl2tJ6GcdeVbWPTD6WhIePx9z5MEnkjczFwPTfIPwB7-knGESJj" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Headless Horseman</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBDbaW5XXByc9iofiSxkDM1PlO0EaJyHHmyeB0JbQjvdvIjVOltTrptKt1HS_Spt9JdkVR7RTSZkOITOjnxq-KxkuVBJvaY-DUCyLgpptrq4KM5tfUvjLlZL9Nxol79_cWJcG3c6H4FmqKWWe_MWxDRoXw6OPdyG3R9kRSmfQNv0ZKuEfrWmRdGmdq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBDbaW5XXByc9iofiSxkDM1PlO0EaJyHHmyeB0JbQjvdvIjVOltTrptKt1HS_Spt9JdkVR7RTSZkOITOjnxq-KxkuVBJvaY-DUCyLgpptrq4KM5tfUvjLlZL9Nxol79_cWJcG3c6H4FmqKWWe_MWxDRoXw6OPdyG3R9kRSmfQNv0ZKuEfrWmRdGmdq" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Eastern Grump</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmBv0AJVdLcn3oLVgqVgcEK7Dn-iTgPyqgxHMoT2baTXS2OjYZNiJ6rfwOH-wTH-REhcVAG8cM_4E5iIZa0G_EhokD-5poc69xD7p6nsNY0GCcl1YldvAiBaiBWWZE1ORX9X75FXQGM7zL71TG5rOOXzBOD1JPp4s26vUYuPJWSIS7Ib7ZDflaXKjH" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmBv0AJVdLcn3oLVgqVgcEK7Dn-iTgPyqgxHMoT2baTXS2OjYZNiJ6rfwOH-wTH-REhcVAG8cM_4E5iIZa0G_EhokD-5poc69xD7p6nsNY0GCcl1YldvAiBaiBWWZE1ORX9X75FXQGM7zL71TG5rOOXzBOD1JPp4s26vUYuPJWSIS7Ib7ZDflaXKjH" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />That-Which-Sings</h3><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg24CVRMssISeaPGbz833GZNAsBInlBv767nnLmBqNJiP_8tV7tAiL0FmcSx9XQlG0_tG2LJvkmpEK658r74H4yjgCpb7pE6k36jmvu5I3yhzQAJTfG2rNQTARQbMyqXBPI93K5gZ55ie5fkzkUuV_v2CCNNVAYKNHESpbDvIn6DiokZEKQRAVS-OUj" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg24CVRMssISeaPGbz833GZNAsBInlBv767nnLmBqNJiP_8tV7tAiL0FmcSx9XQlG0_tG2LJvkmpEK658r74H4yjgCpb7pE6k36jmvu5I3yhzQAJTfG2rNQTARQbMyqXBPI93K5gZ55ie5fkzkUuV_v2CCNNVAYKNHESpbDvIn6DiokZEKQRAVS-OUj" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Turner's Hooch</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijUAp9mJAnA9I7QmY2VH6ElqYKlq-sox5ogEIyGRufG7mwhWd-7Kd_Mj33fqP7jsFOKJhGoaM2Mo5CYHUsoQlz8ybvoCjIelOfN7QWh0_SjuSV_laUIyyyMDhHcjpepJ8nVqBMwDAW9Slq8M_4hH_N6-jB-cDdgraz_HS8yrAQVhRaZUEiikes8BjV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijUAp9mJAnA9I7QmY2VH6ElqYKlq-sox5ogEIyGRufG7mwhWd-7Kd_Mj33fqP7jsFOKJhGoaM2Mo5CYHUsoQlz8ybvoCjIelOfN7QWh0_SjuSV_laUIyyyMDhHcjpepJ8nVqBMwDAW9Slq8M_4hH_N6-jB-cDdgraz_HS8yrAQVhRaZUEiikes8BjV" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Red-Breasted Eye-Poker</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUBv51TbFsDtgNY4rgVqSxXJrB6laKDj-0M6t2rl4ONk-2pHI7nN4AiNg2cypXQqvqi0DGKtB2HEbMZAzIXCMV7nF6-C-625w2tr5HUj2S6FYbfyfUmVKyBJn_qAKyWT7-D_PAvKTCDTfv5ajZV4-g9PZT7T8jynK-nrmt2hw-l-_hAwMN1Jw6Fe8R" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgUBv51TbFsDtgNY4rgVqSxXJrB6laKDj-0M6t2rl4ONk-2pHI7nN4AiNg2cypXQqvqi0DGKtB2HEbMZAzIXCMV7nF6-C-625w2tr5HUj2S6FYbfyfUmVKyBJn_qAKyWT7-D_PAvKTCDTfv5ajZV4-g9PZT7T8jynK-nrmt2hw-l-_hAwMN1Jw6Fe8R" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Giant-Headed Bug-Stabber</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF8jIel-dRkekH1Z_C41QRxMqmx0RLyaAJB41LD2m0oNJYjRzqG4PVhwR242QxCGW_6gVAeDiepjsGM42jIUWiv_nxeKvzo0TvxnMgEv14nGLhY_8fxE60UoWYicO4qq5wvLHQsoM46Dk5uWJPZ439rg6vky9yWUakKqPfMZZrtPkDUp0PzE6sf-Bm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF8jIel-dRkekH1Z_C41QRxMqmx0RLyaAJB41LD2m0oNJYjRzqG4PVhwR242QxCGW_6gVAeDiepjsGM42jIUWiv_nxeKvzo0TvxnMgEv14nGLhY_8fxE60UoWYicO4qq5wvLHQsoM46Dk5uWJPZ439rg6vky9yWUakKqPfMZZrtPkDUp0PzE6sf-Bm" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The False Moffat</h3><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXPRRELKVMADecOeHq65J8QUGeU9NI4K5ugRnO9VipvPYxPkj4ivf-PA_aVEd-0q4iP9XbQsJoPeSjlmiEFrrLcviVzy1bSNnT4r0Ffy_21RHAgQ7q0Ce0BCQvcIYlGtlWYBy0UIEHVoZsBLiTNT8xJRVJBm0p69-aGqvZmIg1_UmBmBEkTn1eTb9r" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXPRRELKVMADecOeHq65J8QUGeU9NI4K5ugRnO9VipvPYxPkj4ivf-PA_aVEd-0q4iP9XbQsJoPeSjlmiEFrrLcviVzy1bSNnT4r0Ffy_21RHAgQ7q0Ce0BCQvcIYlGtlWYBy0UIEHVoZsBLiTNT8xJRVJBm0p69-aGqvZmIg1_UmBmBEkTn1eTb9r" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Humpbacked Quail</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8jEQGQnXAE8Z-D0_IaTkD2-WxpvN2PFN5t8Ia7UGfh_pIk8CNYXZxFUxLbMhyz9Ttqf6-Ii7OLGmJJNjeTdeA5MZwRWf3-33NfsAXIvhYIrVqe1orvpZiVRBj3HDb5_GDqRm3GWlzN6GreDbSS3Z8OVSCIF1lzCBKKiuN8JZ0ASff9pduSGG1LnWv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8jEQGQnXAE8Z-D0_IaTkD2-WxpvN2PFN5t8Ia7UGfh_pIk8CNYXZxFUxLbMhyz9Ttqf6-Ii7OLGmJJNjeTdeA5MZwRWf3-33NfsAXIvhYIrVqe1orvpZiVRBj3HDb5_GDqRm3GWlzN6GreDbSS3Z8OVSCIF1lzCBKKiuN8JZ0ASff9pduSGG1LnWv" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Captain Falcon</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQ1PNYm8VYXytS1qNmjWZWGUNjiUypfGIDTZTC-NBfyVKD3kS3vlIbsrxSvwO8RMBkcErWP3H79SgAb_yeA4_bYOH2P37yS9CCii8IY8UVsNKzDAdBmNFLt4DZjYUDae0MXCJmAKj9BZox707SyYfUVVwu_wZOIflwFGwYxcw0E_HQUR3iyoe7GHlS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQ1PNYm8VYXytS1qNmjWZWGUNjiUypfGIDTZTC-NBfyVKD3kS3vlIbsrxSvwO8RMBkcErWP3H79SgAb_yeA4_bYOH2P37yS9CCii8IY8UVsNKzDAdBmNFLt4DZjYUDae0MXCJmAKj9BZox707SyYfUVVwu_wZOIflwFGwYxcw0E_HQUR3iyoe7GHlS" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Interrupter</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOUh2-zz3tgPYWx8xXIQHF0EmYJBNUyaHbvFUqft4hlGLnwI7Jo1ELrvjPYXfe-Pp3JXHiP7KUzXX_IUwTDXHFbGXZjdl6CHT8RfbXlMrfaMOWE3MXiNenadQoQmKhRJqNiQMto6ErEzuquisskF4UDG66UGOOzpQ2qQ9eLbQO3qjEnCLzx8MG1tyu" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOUh2-zz3tgPYWx8xXIQHF0EmYJBNUyaHbvFUqft4hlGLnwI7Jo1ELrvjPYXfe-Pp3JXHiP7KUzXX_IUwTDXHFbGXZjdl6CHT8RfbXlMrfaMOWE3MXiNenadQoQmKhRJqNiQMto6ErEzuquisskF4UDG66UGOOzpQ2qQ9eLbQO3qjEnCLzx8MG1tyu" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Warped Dangler</h3><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqBOz9QGAQqCHzgEtohZqLutzK5FfU9UIDWk-dMAQ0XVj07fHrQbHulBKB55K6Qe8zfwjwbs_7IUFymn7psmrWHpRb6Mw3h8nSsea0VJqlobkZuXYEqVBuCSgs4lrwYD7F3mZM88ra9ttK2QaKYR8er7vyuekR1PkqMtfRDdJNJDPImjCs7QC9hPfb" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqBOz9QGAQqCHzgEtohZqLutzK5FfU9UIDWk-dMAQ0XVj07fHrQbHulBKB55K6Qe8zfwjwbs_7IUFymn7psmrWHpRb6Mw3h8nSsea0VJqlobkZuXYEqVBuCSgs4lrwYD7F3mZM88ra9ttK2QaKYR8er7vyuekR1PkqMtfRDdJNJDPImjCs7QC9hPfb" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Biblically Accurate Grouse </h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi88LnJjBuxSX86MU2SGK0p7_74IxXHsRO6Cw-2XW8lzPDcwBxSMxnCQVH703unWDsuPRqVUU5wicu5yku_dzoHTnEVsRkZP3uKyqDWwRR9m0s9ylVG-PRmYwiVI_OExKwblitAn1FVDiN0nTtMzSM1kCk8sb52zAUkiAqwlP_ewWaA9IoLFxMFpWOf" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi88LnJjBuxSX86MU2SGK0p7_74IxXHsRO6Cw-2XW8lzPDcwBxSMxnCQVH703unWDsuPRqVUU5wicu5yku_dzoHTnEVsRkZP3uKyqDWwRR9m0s9ylVG-PRmYwiVI_OExKwblitAn1FVDiN0nTtMzSM1kCk8sb52zAUkiAqwlP_ewWaA9IoLFxMFpWOf" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Monochrome Reedwacker</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrZLTgywchVFkuSXjy0oNfrd0T5XIPO15V62lkoM1PSAVI--0mGQHmzkXYwOZL88Q3lMNEAwVMA0fm-iwnoZqa_h9hDaoilKJjlXzGUSoBu_xXeSEUqQa03Xr0aHIhT5gXzsOQJyXRP2NnRcZisLl5meWyLvpcYxiz0_zDA91ShBG4ZQVPjajWIg4G" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrZLTgywchVFkuSXjy0oNfrd0T5XIPO15V62lkoM1PSAVI--0mGQHmzkXYwOZL88Q3lMNEAwVMA0fm-iwnoZqa_h9hDaoilKJjlXzGUSoBu_xXeSEUqQa03Xr0aHIhT5gXzsOQJyXRP2NnRcZisLl5meWyLvpcYxiz0_zDA91ShBG4ZQVPjajWIg4G" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Worst Shrek</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBJ7u48sEGgU2f0l55OReuvFzyIftwAeuNmI04ZO9ShimiQ2xJB0Sgy8ZGXu9dAE0rFAg8YkD9V9BlXNxaWEZoBuecWEWedix6zmRHu2x5avXykCsbeV1P5n-j3Jt4nEfzn6esGNT49KwBrIiVwEwnc1KfaXOJShVXrXmlNu3ctgl6GPb91MCySQF8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjBJ7u48sEGgU2f0l55OReuvFzyIftwAeuNmI04ZO9ShimiQ2xJB0Sgy8ZGXu9dAE0rFAg8YkD9V9BlXNxaWEZoBuecWEWedix6zmRHu2x5avXykCsbeV1P5n-j3Jt4nEfzn6esGNT49KwBrIiVwEwnc1KfaXOJShVXrXmlNu3ctgl6GPb91MCySQF8" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Blue-Caped Buddy</h3><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCLcDXiMF5qjOXE77vMg8Fe-ANKS0yO2ZhC6QQVja2ETZ-1fShk44j0iUWpJPK9fA8cFFMCNsEv6Md7wuPwlwQ2tnvcIcOlkBY67ejNCPJlhRjYvbB1R156eNaEkaAPeuWoB8kzmRQRNRJeVCbRaa6i9l1sTytWmDm1-9r8HOhZamMRKRaE-qAAKNO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCLcDXiMF5qjOXE77vMg8Fe-ANKS0yO2ZhC6QQVja2ETZ-1fShk44j0iUWpJPK9fA8cFFMCNsEv6Md7wuPwlwQ2tnvcIcOlkBY67ejNCPJlhRjYvbB1R156eNaEkaAPeuWoB8kzmRQRNRJeVCbRaa6i9l1sTytWmDm1-9r8HOhZamMRKRaE-qAAKNO" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Flying Nudibranch (shown with chick)</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEim7tc9uWBKeaIk4L7-TvR8-xU1UU9W0ZLJAGAXbriZOa2sSggtL7X3h5CiRZsWgYnF2j42XKix289jWybRL8A5S_ByegaElUPs-IH6rodM6IMobeOiaeLZ5OLgbcAcoHsCIm8yq2ITicjyNdAuo5X12pO0WpYc7PnWayjkbhw0xt1AIDAfMA0OBbDk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEim7tc9uWBKeaIk4L7-TvR8-xU1UU9W0ZLJAGAXbriZOa2sSggtL7X3h5CiRZsWgYnF2j42XKix289jWybRL8A5S_ByegaElUPs-IH6rodM6IMobeOiaeLZ5OLgbcAcoHsCIm8yq2ITicjyNdAuo5X12pO0WpYc7PnWayjkbhw0xt1AIDAfMA0OBbDk" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Jerry's Neighbor</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5kwzrB1-n-IcM3TmXuRBt5wfWjSY5I80VpODL9U7DuazBX1yciXagYgdYbIz8VFM1w5qT4T1QChxk1BXL69TTV72uLPA0SU5ZXlWOLxgw-n41cn3a9NMHWcjzoj2bifBj2THoAJDLp2dtnGwhUtleQ8BHbOhOal2T2nh8HK8OQyuQhLzGbLwq4vMk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5kwzrB1-n-IcM3TmXuRBt5wfWjSY5I80VpODL9U7DuazBX1yciXagYgdYbIz8VFM1w5qT4T1QChxk1BXL69TTV72uLPA0SU5ZXlWOLxgw-n41cn3a9NMHWcjzoj2bifBj2THoAJDLp2dtnGwhUtleQ8BHbOhOal2T2nh8HK8OQyuQhLzGbLwq4vMk" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Lovely Lady</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhikmdcisgxPr4jl6uuwvCYRdv-stoqNudJKgairn3ao7S95-7nNEOHSTNda4vaJyrHlMsy8D9TnXTuX7yFedkYw3Mvfm-2Bb2u7CwzPTvqsJ7ko8xI1raXUWnzQx_-utol0F1tKBhA15X6zFOsap8afGFJpWSICFMDYiccZdrGgEnIFPRGsB4gS-FY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhikmdcisgxPr4jl6uuwvCYRdv-stoqNudJKgairn3ao7S95-7nNEOHSTNda4vaJyrHlMsy8D9TnXTuX7yFedkYw3Mvfm-2Bb2u7CwzPTvqsJ7ko8xI1raXUWnzQx_-utol0F1tKBhA15X6zFOsap8afGFJpWSICFMDYiccZdrGgEnIFPRGsB4gS-FY" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Hostile Witness</h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdSD99Mp4gFsZWyKZ8CcUoPNWzgustpy_4OftvST4baLqTJscuHBBxBsIvufQaHrwpAe58JlE-L7cMkxA65qCjR46P-4sNBCPCgmlEKlG9kjOr6PoGBS3yWlRbGefGpxiNTwkY-pCCE03fogLdfhoUXV0trI9tDfQK43AVs4NQEiIKw6B0GyGFUtEI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdSD99Mp4gFsZWyKZ8CcUoPNWzgustpy_4OftvST4baLqTJscuHBBxBsIvufQaHrwpAe58JlE-L7cMkxA65qCjR46P-4sNBCPCgmlEKlG9kjOr6PoGBS3yWlRbGefGpxiNTwkY-pCCE03fogLdfhoUXV0trI9tDfQK43AVs4NQEiIKw6B0GyGFUtEI" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Sharpest Duck</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDDtDDO7mh9s_r_JTJ8V-gYfcXsTNPuDI70MmqIhM_Q_f_9HmJW8j758hoiTkYJbSd1st07Q19rNPMhWGmtMVw6pzOK8PaROHQIT-Byr-v1qOkfp3-H_8_6M3To6x30wG36SBYFx7DJNiOyUh6bmj3nr-b8aN262EltvWhGl0aZH78S9rPzvhOLtvz" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDDtDDO7mh9s_r_JTJ8V-gYfcXsTNPuDI70MmqIhM_Q_f_9HmJW8j758hoiTkYJbSd1st07Q19rNPMhWGmtMVw6pzOK8PaROHQIT-Byr-v1qOkfp3-H_8_6M3To6x30wG36SBYFx7DJNiOyUh6bmj3nr-b8aN262EltvWhGl0aZH78S9rPzvhOLtvz" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Common Mussel Puncher</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpjZF1sPGtH9PuJWn5DkV3kiyl8sk7MNFUr2J56g12VoQnwZSu5Q2X4HXYo874BCH8TwY-cB4Wum-oixgr5RHHt1RHwvWeOc71ae62yBf9acLDQFrbQc3YC1Ta8Qvo8C1VMRU8J4YMFEIrVT4N2grjqow4bG_fIzt86Rn9z8vDqIljIyjtjwSwsrJu" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpjZF1sPGtH9PuJWn5DkV3kiyl8sk7MNFUr2J56g12VoQnwZSu5Q2X4HXYo874BCH8TwY-cB4Wum-oixgr5RHHt1RHwvWeOc71ae62yBf9acLDQFrbQc3YC1Ta8Qvo8C1VMRU8J4YMFEIrVT4N2grjqow4bG_fIzt86Rn9z8vDqIljIyjtjwSwsrJu" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Marbled Slab</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRhuNL3rMoLlY_oSRF3C81lexS2UMfSAEe5QYj680SfSKL015WP7UeEPJoTa1XfqdjSfAyfoQcbyQis6bEMoZIUhw06-42ZB7jbZJsKMelPexmtujTEbiDgxaxOrIeTWgTrgQII-Gwl-KjGiV8YpQx7_uq45qOPHolBrbBnHWjG-kutGB2WC4ISsbS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRhuNL3rMoLlY_oSRF3C81lexS2UMfSAEe5QYj680SfSKL015WP7UeEPJoTa1XfqdjSfAyfoQcbyQis6bEMoZIUhw06-42ZB7jbZJsKMelPexmtujTEbiDgxaxOrIeTWgTrgQII-Gwl-KjGiV8YpQx7_uq45qOPHolBrbBnHWjG-kutGB2WC4ISsbS" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Hooting Balloon</h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAVNWlupVu05-MqOeEb_4fkzNg332DLX2CCWbGWsIVGmF2VhMOA2lR6D4R00gzCODOPhdSaiZu5jt6gxHldUBvsHkDgfFFihv7qSCq8V_nIbTDdoEXJk5SylAfG7c8DJi4YFlTb7pe6FMHTfpdLLgxa9bcMIViTWuTTiCmHERHPNuHcmkFwSTkvA1C" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjAVNWlupVu05-MqOeEb_4fkzNg332DLX2CCWbGWsIVGmF2VhMOA2lR6D4R00gzCODOPhdSaiZu5jt6gxHldUBvsHkDgfFFihv7qSCq8V_nIbTDdoEXJk5SylAfG7c8DJi4YFlTb7pe6FMHTfpdLLgxa9bcMIViTWuTTiCmHERHPNuHcmkFwSTkvA1C" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Common Benchpress</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwXTByjR9yPeDw1FDuNaN1ERwBSRQs9hgLz_VsNnWfEt6U69YvNkt-8-326E-8yoE5iEROH68AC7UgsFJkg1_PG6f4p9ZyHEYzyJjSX84eE0b2yEVI_lmYg7_KAiGY1e1YyiStOocg9eA7NzdkxYeEZmcLISMRrrQaIuwHZR93x6wmd8kYX0yIcMdx" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiwXTByjR9yPeDw1FDuNaN1ERwBSRQs9hgLz_VsNnWfEt6U69YvNkt-8-326E-8yoE5iEROH68AC7UgsFJkg1_PG6f4p9ZyHEYzyJjSX84eE0b2yEVI_lmYg7_KAiGY1e1YyiStOocg9eA7NzdkxYeEZmcLISMRrrQaIuwHZR93x6wmd8kYX0yIcMdx" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Flagrant Scofflaw</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1C96Hcwlczz89L71gBDifHw82k7H0pqIbjdWpKC9kBT51eAHpKZD5WmFF32FzrvNUp4Y6wTt9kl07Z59D6KWsy0X0JyrZsQSpq-LEZEd5J-um3kirA7MvTlYu5j40TRYmAggLiLDXiwYe260Pi1-yy5csLIWNHJI3eFpQ0K-VqKAKEv9-wu3iFuwV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1C96Hcwlczz89L71gBDifHw82k7H0pqIbjdWpKC9kBT51eAHpKZD5WmFF32FzrvNUp4Y6wTt9kl07Z59D6KWsy0X0JyrZsQSpq-LEZEd5J-um3kirA7MvTlYu5j40TRYmAggLiLDXiwYe260Pi1-yy5csLIWNHJI3eFpQ0K-VqKAKEv9-wu3iFuwV" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Rusted Rooter</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhu0N_GRDrs9B4TX0f_xYOSLGPg-wCBUZij8K_E4L6txt4Qb2OP0IPpVf0YTN2mctU74KRZ4LBNpTNNa4KAw0PbigHNNQW5euf29D82XqdXRNfYw7kDwuMQTxWCnH2tF7dHDyM0nSLN5BsFFFPQuLvQ-Dp_6_en0cV7_LicC1qAHZaSY0ShK70Y6GRf" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhu0N_GRDrs9B4TX0f_xYOSLGPg-wCBUZij8K_E4L6txt4Qb2OP0IPpVf0YTN2mctU74KRZ4LBNpTNNa4KAw0PbigHNNQW5euf29D82XqdXRNfYw7kDwuMQTxWCnH2tF7dHDyM0nSLN5BsFFFPQuLvQ-Dp_6_en0cV7_LicC1qAHZaSY0ShK70Y6GRf" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Wooden Spoon and False Wooden Spoon</h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuJD-D4I9FvEfp7JYTX0m9z2f0VRcjRR4LNbsiDZhcipDCDRaM9vajjRlgEL6RMmKoMAgyPcGkAg7UjqqhXZuM5GiWvAglgCAB0MpmX44weHNSbveHoGuddtcnGi8PoZIa5wbQTkFOFchoOib9B5tpCylBJeMYyTHHINFF4GuINpIPizx9tpHZEzt7" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuJD-D4I9FvEfp7JYTX0m9z2f0VRcjRR4LNbsiDZhcipDCDRaM9vajjRlgEL6RMmKoMAgyPcGkAg7UjqqhXZuM5GiWvAglgCAB0MpmX44weHNSbveHoGuddtcnGi8PoZIa5wbQTkFOFchoOib9B5tpCylBJeMYyTHHINFF4GuINpIPizx9tpHZEzt7" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Freelance Bartender</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7h3YVlJANJ8NmcXF3nm6KTcTwb1F23xT6ysFjd4aWggDJoe5VmSJ_V0eEGVhcZs3G5E6aWGiJYsfhV_MUGoHDRn03GIqOy3AhUSGmYZA5TFoaoPEyIACjA3F3JtgWOd4zJJAnAJPitLjnXEDqYmkhegjcBbQg76ZaLPcBpe0Yyxcboi3r-uxvXFuy" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7h3YVlJANJ8NmcXF3nm6KTcTwb1F23xT6ysFjd4aWggDJoe5VmSJ_V0eEGVhcZs3G5E6aWGiJYsfhV_MUGoHDRn03GIqOy3AhUSGmYZA5TFoaoPEyIACjA3F3JtgWOd4zJJAnAJPitLjnXEDqYmkhegjcBbQg76ZaLPcBpe0Yyxcboi3r-uxvXFuy" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Whole Wheat Breadbox</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRU00iimy9neVXh3xKKvIDi5Yy5moNOt3tZULnYshAzweROzvUS0jCK_janlrJSM4r1-UcopV3wa6G_t9RUnUClM_OPon6OYiEVvr7SKkce7gtFLVDFWcqdA-i6-QSh0CQtN0TmLXU9CaRPLrAKiPmh-pFY22VhywPCStoZV0JJNtxKzBINC1jloMF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRU00iimy9neVXh3xKKvIDi5Yy5moNOt3tZULnYshAzweROzvUS0jCK_janlrJSM4r1-UcopV3wa6G_t9RUnUClM_OPon6OYiEVvr7SKkce7gtFLVDFWcqdA-i6-QSh0CQtN0TmLXU9CaRPLrAKiPmh-pFY22VhywPCStoZV0JJNtxKzBINC1jloMF" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Burrowing Evildoer</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmVmerrxbtg9czGidTa9spwKaBYooIEWaG-NmKGItwAYuKSTQOvxPJXrkngoS35OQgjCcdBNY_jYKfJlcbPufJPLbluNBSO4nkmozmfiyCzbMhDuBppnznabenZ-R1HZxy_1d3BjrE07f_3oTBX590fVdI-kogxQXlkq35CZHKKEhQWz0JLUUs0hgk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgmVmerrxbtg9czGidTa9spwKaBYooIEWaG-NmKGItwAYuKSTQOvxPJXrkngoS35OQgjCcdBNY_jYKfJlcbPufJPLbluNBSO4nkmozmfiyCzbMhDuBppnznabenZ-R1HZxy_1d3BjrE07f_3oTBX590fVdI-kogxQXlkq35CZHKKEhQWz0JLUUs0hgk" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Flammable Finch</h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoTy9aWAG_0LLcmNncNg1YWuoPBtHMRvd5l7dyxnQyNnd0XMysVOjswm-8TrUjw440bLALsDL6b_Ma8fjVk1d437usGPhetTtxoFREJmBdfloEsFHXQrru89eK0-TaqI99S9UBIjEMnDmjEu0jmo2CPAJ6VJBALyeU-dUNfjrvbvgXB-yt6SKDzwb3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhoTy9aWAG_0LLcmNncNg1YWuoPBtHMRvd5l7dyxnQyNnd0XMysVOjswm-8TrUjw440bLALsDL6b_Ma8fjVk1d437usGPhetTtxoFREJmBdfloEsFHXQrru89eK0-TaqI99S9UBIjEMnDmjEu0jmo2CPAJ6VJBALyeU-dUNfjrvbvgXB-yt6SKDzwb3" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Nasty Janet</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifrgEiJMGgzOS8PZYaum1mxPHOBMrCqntjf5v-Mw-t7SNi-sSXSYRMxFEee-MelJjekk_EvAJ-6BAfpD4KOBi7rf82ojZm55InRg-GM3qgy51k2N-fVsM9B-qbkcpkvS96RJOMIcGQ3RBqgWAO22NdcWrfBMUj71zGOiyAY8FHw_Wj5jqjD7q7bfid" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifrgEiJMGgzOS8PZYaum1mxPHOBMrCqntjf5v-Mw-t7SNi-sSXSYRMxFEee-MelJjekk_EvAJ-6BAfpD4KOBi7rf82ojZm55InRg-GM3qgy51k2N-fVsM9B-qbkcpkvS96RJOMIcGQ3RBqgWAO22NdcWrfBMUj71zGOiyAY8FHw_Wj5jqjD7q7bfid" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Painted Pest</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjI_QaQuKhazidu4tIde6F_y8o1xIkOrqvJ2mi6K9wts2pH33uqHARBOmR6boIs4pbFMHbDUVOc5LC5dXyLoGaLl86LvS1Xp5zkNULSXb6EAQGr6RUcMcb1zkEqZ-3WtxDVRt9WjYcKVxamDIGfOgMTvgG7kS3iiON_GYZKdkTDWGZk_Bho3oYwkx0k" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjI_QaQuKhazidu4tIde6F_y8o1xIkOrqvJ2mi6K9wts2pH33uqHARBOmR6boIs4pbFMHbDUVOc5LC5dXyLoGaLl86LvS1Xp5zkNULSXb6EAQGr6RUcMcb1zkEqZ-3WtxDVRt9WjYcKVxamDIGfOgMTvgG7kS3iiON_GYZKdkTDWGZk_Bho3oYwkx0k" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Dominant Dingus</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiW0bmLNEWl2izL7g9nzq0owfDE5G_9HmGY3YEF9oVtTzvvkgkM0DmfMBienfTpR6STlVCzeyGhxNqpJvoXC69XuX5idg6560XsTt2Xdl727ns6pOkINgGaq2a45WhoJdM6HqS474EiXcIpzO1I2_H9Rrgvazb69zIL9LIYdqt2ZvYbhpz5sD1m-HPl" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiW0bmLNEWl2izL7g9nzq0owfDE5G_9HmGY3YEF9oVtTzvvkgkM0DmfMBienfTpR6STlVCzeyGhxNqpJvoXC69XuX5idg6560XsTt2Xdl727ns6pOkINgGaq2a45WhoJdM6HqS474EiXcIpzO1I2_H9Rrgvazb69zIL9LIYdqt2ZvYbhpz5sD1m-HPl" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Bastard</h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuWS6eSw78KFO8mWbXmT-uEhNwjSjz61V8hC2X6RpsPI3DcGWem2VuGdO3veI60s0vhIXcY2quFJIp1qsj8fa3CQAqBzQVuUYsThV61TCiWsQTB2RgJUSawac5xyb9E-_VsUpcri9DP2eI1Dgb0B1TAMOufJOsmhR23kn0LqmoG3l05HarKzIlPE6n" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuWS6eSw78KFO8mWbXmT-uEhNwjSjz61V8hC2X6RpsPI3DcGWem2VuGdO3veI60s0vhIXcY2quFJIp1qsj8fa3CQAqBzQVuUYsThV61TCiWsQTB2RgJUSawac5xyb9E-_VsUpcri9DP2eI1Dgb0B1TAMOufJOsmhR23kn0LqmoG3l05HarKzIlPE6n" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Belter</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEdbhZXDaS8282YIPxxtQKrG3fknBl41B4Nxh06TjzcXhi4jfV_--VVJL9mU9JbUBJMnVQUadT1HYC3oRex7jVwj_MGAByMnQwhv8ERbQHcuFn2p2_yc8WpfC62sQpLfMwJFNXidNigmbs6RaxN1JTPL0WEelk5T5ZODDlUkIyB-GCv_A-HMekHnID" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjEdbhZXDaS8282YIPxxtQKrG3fknBl41B4Nxh06TjzcXhi4jfV_--VVJL9mU9JbUBJMnVQUadT1HYC3oRex7jVwj_MGAByMnQwhv8ERbQHcuFn2p2_yc8WpfC62sQpLfMwJFNXidNigmbs6RaxN1JTPL0WEelk5T5ZODDlUkIyB-GCv_A-HMekHnID" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Cloud Strangler</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiFO8yLNgZgPo3A_bOR80lg4oLkAy_SANzvZOGvElvRF4Uf3QLpUBkoDPeHliMIqZlUULlLH6YJkNjm2Ay4g2cITxlpXkvyI3tMlbvRf9MGrdqA1I4nhzJ_sL4RKYhK3dO_6g1bplD7_S_WQgbmPm910VIRo7E9yV0bA1kJmBpQZ16RxbDKmVlUf48" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjiFO8yLNgZgPo3A_bOR80lg4oLkAy_SANzvZOGvElvRF4Uf3QLpUBkoDPeHliMIqZlUULlLH6YJkNjm2Ay4g2cITxlpXkvyI3tMlbvRf9MGrdqA1I4nhzJ_sL4RKYhK3dO_6g1bplD7_S_WQgbmPm910VIRo7E9yV0bA1kJmBpQZ16RxbDKmVlUf48" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Sailor's Moon</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguEk1eV76s5AMdNFyEA4DFqZW_bIBE4VUs47YmyXTuWZ_PT96I4oVUiyWUEiVXtke2Juo9V2WnCp0fwpLtaVSMBrKzWmnP1n910V3DtPe48H8Ui2Xannt6H6nrXsTHKedpIlgZXWOV4dmGX3AOI4qUBqTtZfaqJCmNfjsc9Hk53f8_ctso6iShZzsI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguEk1eV76s5AMdNFyEA4DFqZW_bIBE4VUs47YmyXTuWZ_PT96I4oVUiyWUEiVXtke2Juo9V2WnCp0fwpLtaVSMBrKzWmnP1n910V3DtPe48H8Ui2Xannt6H6nrXsTHKedpIlgZXWOV4dmGX3AOI4qUBqTtZfaqJCmNfjsc9Hk53f8_ctso6iShZzsI" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />The Flightless Biff</h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgifUVNlh_gwxpKLRruxpu3QD-lJ0OncCc-_NT4aiEBSwvjdeEppkQMzGgZRz38uo9FIV_1TGw6kzedNeIc5ShPxK6Wn6B8OeurFfGmlmS1jm5tdcX5HdWh-0w79ig4a7qvgQGjLYQLTYIVkIx-Bdb7yJyqCPv0NI0nRpa1z0eMYlyefV7exS_DH6lu" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgifUVNlh_gwxpKLRruxpu3QD-lJ0OncCc-_NT4aiEBSwvjdeEppkQMzGgZRz38uo9FIV_1TGw6kzedNeIc5ShPxK6Wn6B8OeurFfGmlmS1jm5tdcX5HdWh-0w79ig4a7qvgQGjLYQLTYIVkIx-Bdb7yJyqCPv0NI0nRpa1z0eMYlyefV7exS_DH6lu" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Blue-Breasted Creek</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3FqhTbFEI7DcOxdHKB3vV2Sm21-CbdIE7Cewfj4FIV1OMKlw_a72aEgIXAC8jezgtOTQ5miZOZxnBD4UBxZ1eXRI6uMpUZrud4EHfWujTLmfqJjLm2N7KT9rARvdT9onn2-5hKfl_Jm1I3LfoU2qsR_iIA3iBXfjgEiTmPY4gVO26CijYN2MP8zwX" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3FqhTbFEI7DcOxdHKB3vV2Sm21-CbdIE7Cewfj4FIV1OMKlw_a72aEgIXAC8jezgtOTQ5miZOZxnBD4UBxZ1eXRI6uMpUZrud4EHfWujTLmfqJjLm2N7KT9rARvdT9onn2-5hKfl_Jm1I3LfoU2qsR_iIA3iBXfjgEiTmPY4gVO26CijYN2MP8zwX" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Sudden Turkey</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiyH3F36MPxKRYiKTkdrswL-9qVvybSz6FzG5NjG256tzI-O74k6DMOtdtFeyDJu_NN6hV0vRkJuY3tw-HjlUqnHjRFHMg3eOhrAZ_thwx78nndaJg3nbtycxCjQ9Shs7LZkJEB4yttvCBmDv8bciCZHqznUq4gWJFtsX0FhAbwwqeqWzSbw_uuV4ai" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiyH3F36MPxKRYiKTkdrswL-9qVvybSz6FzG5NjG256tzI-O74k6DMOtdtFeyDJu_NN6hV0vRkJuY3tw-HjlUqnHjRFHMg3eOhrAZ_thwx78nndaJg3nbtycxCjQ9Shs7LZkJEB4yttvCBmDv8bciCZHqznUq4gWJFtsX0FhAbwwqeqWzSbw_uuV4ai" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Behold Thine Own Sins Made Manifest Before You</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqa4qBniBE3JnGyQCArcCvf-dJps1OD7JT52ieINPos7SUkPEho1FgbnrYNLjIuK575SXZYIzJW5DthqyVtggA2iIsaE4bGVjSJUFu2B_A3nwadh1ELvrsg7NWrY9o3FaPsfbl4_ZXYMSmcRE9F4nwaUDEcdMtpIpwt6yUxYAXhUtdnB6DPahCzzGP" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqa4qBniBE3JnGyQCArcCvf-dJps1OD7JT52ieINPos7SUkPEho1FgbnrYNLjIuK575SXZYIzJW5DthqyVtggA2iIsaE4bGVjSJUFu2B_A3nwadh1ELvrsg7NWrY9o3FaPsfbl4_ZXYMSmcRE9F4nwaUDEcdMtpIpwt6yUxYAXhUtdnB6DPahCzzGP" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Red Bunt</h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgi_IUv8sjYXEWQaElJH1Drs-mgxHIf2pmIiGyx3otVMrLq3AZtOYMyjc-CRzFjF3DHp2FgcxijgE2uJESgsT35gTMjvYfaZhDF2es1bbrD-zpE9bd_O-DNqTyl7saPOS70jb-r-6egxjUrGvPw54AY2unw05D12t85d9UioMdCklJ9rWbWlLF5bGh8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgi_IUv8sjYXEWQaElJH1Drs-mgxHIf2pmIiGyx3otVMrLq3AZtOYMyjc-CRzFjF3DHp2FgcxijgE2uJESgsT35gTMjvYfaZhDF2es1bbrD-zpE9bd_O-DNqTyl7saPOS70jb-r-6egxjUrGvPw54AY2unw05D12t85d9UioMdCklJ9rWbWlLF5bGh8" width="240" /></a></div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Tony's Hawk</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRiskN536L8cLBmG_LL7LM8RQLw1cN0_b0npCZFxg26JIxPhuAnrD4AIU1H70RIXq4e-YmTlnnOuwM13bNFCujQ70kmHO7bXOY2M0uEEaFtDPfFCaEt3RHpgop0ZnxCeDqGJFzlauRGjWnyl5xWhFBlWTZ-Jr-n3gHYB9GzJSRHZwO6WDNYeYNIn-x" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRiskN536L8cLBmG_LL7LM8RQLw1cN0_b0npCZFxg26JIxPhuAnrD4AIU1H70RIXq4e-YmTlnnOuwM13bNFCujQ70kmHO7bXOY2M0uEEaFtDPfFCaEt3RHpgop0ZnxCeDqGJFzlauRGjWnyl5xWhFBlWTZ-Jr-n3gHYB9GzJSRHZwO6WDNYeYNIn-x" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br />Donedone, the past tense of Dodo</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9yz-OYztMJ7DiY5s1e_gVe7g6QLqAyHsNHD_82cQqLpBNssOlG2HoUtSCL3Lr_LvOgyoBUxV7CUGrdZVQar5Wum5hZcjkDqAu0iJx1S_eqGM8Y1gP4Xn6lbuYzSK0nI_BP3f_XpNYpusf0EG9KKT_t0OIIIpMWiWuQMzsoUVqJfcSjolL0bdbogH0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9yz-OYztMJ7DiY5s1e_gVe7g6QLqAyHsNHD_82cQqLpBNssOlG2HoUtSCL3Lr_LvOgyoBUxV7CUGrdZVQar5Wum5hZcjkDqAu0iJx1S_eqGM8Y1gP4Xn6lbuYzSK0nI_BP3f_XpNYpusf0EG9KKT_t0OIIIpMWiWuQMzsoUVqJfcSjolL0bdbogH0" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></h3><h3><span style="font-size: 18.72px;">Dwayne The Flock Johnson</span></h3></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOfaIYWp8IP0oGBdMQ7cZn0laNVbjsn-ZdG7D3KKOGHo_LU50M7yjOWp3UhmIxHevFWkf5S--VDX621lMAGP1ruP-NvN4idjcMnFIN-bIkEslIiGc5gkvux2Ue9XubdvWIm_wk9KlPiiZyxjwfvTiU2GLmUZN8nE-q4eklqoQ-KzPggLwNyFj2ROL9" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjOfaIYWp8IP0oGBdMQ7cZn0laNVbjsn-ZdG7D3KKOGHo_LU50M7yjOWp3UhmIxHevFWkf5S--VDX621lMAGP1ruP-NvN4idjcMnFIN-bIkEslIiGc5gkvux2Ue9XubdvWIm_wk9KlPiiZyxjwfvTiU2GLmUZN8nE-q4eklqoQ-KzPggLwNyFj2ROL9" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /></div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Definition of Terms</h3><p>I'm saving a more detailed policy statement about AI image generators for a future post. For now, I just wanted to preserve my notes from earlier this year in case Twitter goes down. Note that I'm careful to use the term "image generator" rather than "art generator." I call the stuff that AI poops out "images" and leave it at that. I graduated from art school. I've had enough "what is art?" debate to last years. </p><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Beginning</h3><p>In the late winter of 2021, I first started playing around with AI image generators of all kinds. I was inspired by the light-hearted fun of Janelle Shane's <a href="https://www.aiweirdness.com/">AI Weirdness</a> and wanted to explore this new tool myself. Hard to believe it now, but at the time I considered these image generators more like a weird toy than any existential threat to art itself. </p><p>My immediate concern was the training corpus being so hidden to the front-end user. You had no idea how the AI was trained or what it was trained on. Still, with only a little work, you could find the famous photos that lurked somewhere in the training corpus.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjIztWLto4tn2TXrJ7ffP2NA8zUWL-ORU8_hdMzdzNaGwOgSslkGO9JQswBKgOannsxsFaE3sc2lxqDJa1YbR2MI0uARL6upopuH-XQJPgPIGqOMksCvzgHDgUjIs3JsPhkfCRyjhDMFs8paD2QEw42IKpoFbW0DCPX_bcmUWh_8ZT9teNrLv0EASL" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="https://www.artbreeder.com/beta/image/ed9a983624520d18e6ed" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjIztWLto4tn2TXrJ7ffP2NA8zUWL-ORU8_hdMzdzNaGwOgSslkGO9JQswBKgOannsxsFaE3sc2lxqDJa1YbR2MI0uARL6upopuH-XQJPgPIGqOMksCvzgHDgUjIs3JsPhkfCRyjhDMFs8paD2QEw42IKpoFbW0DCPX_bcmUWh_8ZT9teNrLv0EASL" title="https://www.artbreeder.com/beta/image/ed9a983624520d18e6ed" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://www.artbreeder.com/beta/image/ed9a983624520d18e6ed</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p>I started looking at Colaboratory notebooks that I could train myself. I figured that if I knew where the images came from, I could be a little less nervous about accidentally infringing on a trademark. I trained <a href="https://colab.research.google.com/drive/11vdS9dpcZz2Q2efkOjcwyax4oob6N40G?usp=sharing#scrollTo=Vj_dK6U1nED3">an early version of LookingGlass</a> on <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QtzbI69bXBfuFj5kxAJYw0fBcwJQRnTt?usp=sharing">this curated collection of public domain ornithology illustrations</a> sourced from the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/albums/with/72157719472581186">Biodiversity Heritage Library</a>. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEilnDn-wVQujmloz52lWVo1qyka-DaKVtor2XM5-tk82Mr2phzu0end-o-5hX4-FDsTCV53R6xmVa8hO84MjMFgOQsJDxr9t1gVNiGmxZmrMGUTbUMVDBgwT3GBAD22MfLTekXF284_WkqAu6OUjqOsy3y_2rpXcG0k4XDdKReQvAETwq7hJPre5hvT" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEilnDn-wVQujmloz52lWVo1qyka-DaKVtor2XM5-tk82Mr2phzu0end-o-5hX4-FDsTCV53R6xmVa8hO84MjMFgOQsJDxr9t1gVNiGmxZmrMGUTbUMVDBgwT3GBAD22MfLTekXF284_WkqAu6OUjqOsy3y_2rpXcG0k4XDdKReQvAETwq7hJPre5hvT" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div></div><p><br />The results are janky as hell, but also kind of hilarious. Since birds often appear in the context of flowers, leave, and branches, there were often some odd blends of all three. I'm surprised it didn't occur more often, to be honest. It's pretty good at knowing leaves and wings go together. The beaks and heads give it trouble though.</p><div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdpDULud9rnr3hP609SzCqd9Tgap3i7A0St2trmHYITUaAM5lmSTimJ5BzyWbyQ92dIEORVADeK_ISu9NbMtKMmzmiH56HR3YhT8M0qMm8B81zDRZSaURsZkU-OMlStox97tvZJWwOh8J6oHDt8ei42ICODeObEz6IAL-KNWhM46u8F5SH-wXexf5p" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhdpDULud9rnr3hP609SzCqd9Tgap3i7A0St2trmHYITUaAM5lmSTimJ5BzyWbyQ92dIEORVADeK_ISu9NbMtKMmzmiH56HR3YhT8M0qMm8B81zDRZSaURsZkU-OMlStox97tvZJWwOh8J6oHDt8ei42ICODeObEz6IAL-KNWhM46u8F5SH-wXexf5p" width="240" /></a></div><br />Given the widely varying morphology, I feel ill-equipped for judging the success of the AI's training. I just have a gut sense of what's "plausibly bird." The best I can do is like "Uh... Beak? Yeah, somewhere. Wings? At least 2. Funky plumage? Yep. Plausibly bird. Next!"</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbG_0waCkv6Xl1t98co1ah22TfgFF_0CtntFQy3vq0hGAQnPQ6IJu0hbyBtiQ4y5kEOGr03FmWrmYoDMaX8p1F0QC-UgE3HD-UXLnlJ29RWBoYdcilhP25gFQDVL2gPPTaOMp9tttjY9rttTrZ6JuNh7oerWnlw7unxoLHh345alVTJBnNLki4VTng" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbG_0waCkv6Xl1t98co1ah22TfgFF_0CtntFQy3vq0hGAQnPQ6IJu0hbyBtiQ4y5kEOGr03FmWrmYoDMaX8p1F0QC-UgE3HD-UXLnlJ29RWBoYdcilhP25gFQDVL2gPPTaOMp9tttjY9rttTrZ6JuNh7oerWnlw7unxoLHh345alVTJBnNLki4VTng" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Origins of STORK</h3>I can have a juvenile sense of humor, so I started having fun making up names for these birds. Eventually I compiled some of these images into <a href="https://society6.com/product/birds-generated-by-ai-these-birds-do-not-exist-4_jigsaw-puzzle">a jigsaw puzzle</a> and other merch on my Society6 shop. </div><div> </div></div></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJPI9VXIsIJfMLucPeVxw57mdPbRtI1dr0ecJpR7sm7eK5B6rqat-55wR-7SJoEj2Mp-TR3mJjskTu4Htr7yEAQteVUnuHz3-ryEc7WtfX-yd7WOVFpbvyXhMAh-NURqQUptsveBKDbBFzAOrLj6hbZYL6UeLhAFmCIOctl9LUr9_L0zucDJW4ohZl" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2376" data-original-width="1896" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJPI9VXIsIJfMLucPeVxw57mdPbRtI1dr0ecJpR7sm7eK5B6rqat-55wR-7SJoEj2Mp-TR3mJjskTu4Htr7yEAQteVUnuHz3-ryEc7WtfX-yd7WOVFpbvyXhMAh-NURqQUptsveBKDbBFzAOrLj6hbZYL6UeLhAFmCIOctl9LUr9_L0zucDJW4ohZl" width="192" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I created a fictional world behind the images: The Society of Theoretical Ornithology, Research, and Knowledge (STORK) documented the rarest species of avians around the world, noting their behavior and ecological environs. Anyone who has followed me since publishing Belle of the Ball knows how much I enjoy writing lists of ridiculous names and short absurd blurbs. This was the perfect project to indulge that habit.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeArIu7KECvUMJiemUfmGSK4IWEMJcxwobRvOzYnqQ_Or0gpTU9zh6SvPhDxsSxRitpOzekQXS1oQsrwrfXIi3CY9PaEBP9aq2eW_DhAZzK2Bwnub9M0ASAfKQdKWBaEl_XERIyRFo0FqXNxo6SkkX3QqynBPljS2_PDV7pkWpd45aQ06PQTSxe3Qy" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="1598" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeArIu7KECvUMJiemUfmGSK4IWEMJcxwobRvOzYnqQ_Or0gpTU9zh6SvPhDxsSxRitpOzekQXS1oQsrwrfXIi3CY9PaEBP9aq2eW_DhAZzK2Bwnub9M0ASAfKQdKWBaEl_XERIyRFo0FqXNxo6SkkX3QqynBPljS2_PDV7pkWpd45aQ06PQTSxe3Qy" width="235" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div><i>On a certain archipelago, the fertile phase of the "Nest fungus" mimics bird-shapes. Local birds investigate these mushrooms, dropping fresh guano for on the nutrient-poor rocks. Burred spores then attach to the bird's feathers to travel from island to island.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVdM1sppTwLd8c0f7KpwkTZA2ZPdJKcvfiRc5GENqPwZR6HNo_yMl3PUptlubNJh9a-Ugap9VwGJjc7mFASph6n5rLFBNh6w1HsIqffwIXb1EI7VaRv20WKVgJAoQnuRdgWKWuk23MvUQEwZbLs3vQ5PJnPLQvW8zUFGSIeaXZYg8ZaY9otuvoQV3S" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1544" data-original-width="1544" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVdM1sppTwLd8c0f7KpwkTZA2ZPdJKcvfiRc5GENqPwZR6HNo_yMl3PUptlubNJh9a-Ugap9VwGJjc7mFASph6n5rLFBNh6w1HsIqffwIXb1EI7VaRv20WKVgJAoQnuRdgWKWuk23MvUQEwZbLs3vQ5PJnPLQvW8zUFGSIeaXZYg8ZaY9otuvoQV3S" width="240" /></a></div><div><i><br /></i></div>A selection of symbiotic fungii and their partner bird species. Note the dappling along the stalks and caps matches the partner's plumage. The birds seem to benefit from this relationship by coating their nests with potent scent that repels predators.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgddakqU65fGxT-gS515rLbdWkkS1rbh3XAdzqoUq-1yYGpFX1PQqO178Vo4dkx0c3EAT-zaRFJT8V6hFyvIbBitMp4INFZyX9Ejmm7dhx_ZlQq9K7W11VyLQmh3cU3L4s_2dkXVlt6sV7SCnV9l0gbHZzq7Bef58HRtzLqYBeIYCHQqnaqRPgQ-Gk_" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1544" data-original-width="1544" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgddakqU65fGxT-gS515rLbdWkkS1rbh3XAdzqoUq-1yYGpFX1PQqO178Vo4dkx0c3EAT-zaRFJT8V6hFyvIbBitMp4INFZyX9Ejmm7dhx_ZlQq9K7W11VyLQmh3cU3L4s_2dkXVlt6sV7SCnV9l0gbHZzq7Bef58HRtzLqYBeIYCHQqnaqRPgQ-Gk_" width="240" /></a></div><br />In due course, the line between fungus and avian begins to blur, with young chicks being indiscernible from their fungal counterparts. <br /><br /></i></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL_Fna6qFeqeVA5DHpKpVEC8M2QGDQI3BHyRAb1BzFAy5-ZZelMSnYpLeNcSL3zqW65nflYcZ2RLtWsuY__ZnUjeOefehOJt76V_UbzAMDl-ewUST2VyxbNy1zD7CUNcn5EyKwl3gkgpvrEwvIxR6r0p9mB8IDRYWL2B_kTf6jL869-pZRNDvK9IrI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1756" data-original-width="1756" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiL_Fna6qFeqeVA5DHpKpVEC8M2QGDQI3BHyRAb1BzFAy5-ZZelMSnYpLeNcSL3zqW65nflYcZ2RLtWsuY__ZnUjeOefehOJt76V_UbzAMDl-ewUST2VyxbNy1zD7CUNcn5EyKwl3gkgpvrEwvIxR6r0p9mB8IDRYWL2B_kTf6jL869-pZRNDvK9IrI" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></i></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Branching Experiments</h3><div>I did experiment with new settings that smoothed out the pixels, but the results felt more like vintage 1980s hotel wall art. It's charming in its own way, I suppose, but it didn't hold the same appeal to me as the more scientific-skewing illustrations.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0mxyv1X21f32Ry_oGuSbrG224pxiPhky5tr_etxXBHA4OYYykCrc3gOzRVSgJ2u4iZ0v4mTyYymTCjkzg3RJdCWukKiVbpg1sObgtJDf4Mo18-0nNO6LNIdLXSOTpdqHVMIHCNi613D4TIw59qc4xQE0K9X5TA31MvSNFPrraLTfxVdrAAPLti_uG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2630" data-original-width="2652" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0mxyv1X21f32Ry_oGuSbrG224pxiPhky5tr_etxXBHA4OYYykCrc3gOzRVSgJ2u4iZ0v4mTyYymTCjkzg3RJdCWukKiVbpg1sObgtJDf4Mo18-0nNO6LNIdLXSOTpdqHVMIHCNi613D4TIw59qc4xQE0K9X5TA31MvSNFPrraLTfxVdrAAPLti_uG" width="242" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgO4qoR-5Qnew51Dr0BezyPmdU_IL8R4Jk-dfT2JFrDo34rvkTudg3rCHt3abGo3Q7UvCbExU_bWI2dZCJKbzJ0ZKYcVMPNNfC3V0q0xKhL_3nEtPxfRgKWmN2yGXV8T2zn7sjMxzwe__iM4gN_YuzfO4cLvuCnbvzLVUphlPSfRXyD8FuDwE9NkcHR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgO4qoR-5Qnew51Dr0BezyPmdU_IL8R4Jk-dfT2JFrDo34rvkTudg3rCHt3abGo3Q7UvCbExU_bWI2dZCJKbzJ0ZKYcVMPNNfC3V0q0xKhL_3nEtPxfRgKWmN2yGXV8T2zn7sjMxzwe__iM4gN_YuzfO4cLvuCnbvzLVUphlPSfRXyD8FuDwE9NkcHR" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjL6vk7D1Pm8rGIXDRn4R6Qz2rzBkCgTS2SxlL2BGHqws74tG0EQf5EI4lOwgaK5YK34seZ6kaQ6hlIEhQhcGvNY2BJ3alBWrSVMEYOJ48C3EgVnUpWd36aLQ9jYTU1YsLBGCGitbBlitFo-T8hjF4UZPf_EdaX0MisA0vQVn9qlde4vZ1qwum_x7YY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjL6vk7D1Pm8rGIXDRn4R6Qz2rzBkCgTS2SxlL2BGHqws74tG0EQf5EI4lOwgaK5YK34seZ6kaQ6hlIEhQhcGvNY2BJ3alBWrSVMEYOJ48C3EgVnUpWd36aLQ9jYTU1YsLBGCGitbBlitFo-T8hjF4UZPf_EdaX0MisA0vQVn9qlde4vZ1qwum_x7YY" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyoDiH2zvTa-r3JFseX21mt9wPQAh-e23LerKRCZsB-DmgKfLYo8WT1PsQt99dKdG6wkOiTE3N-T6a30Ok9ZK38CqghRFRWpVAxYV4pwCaDtMLH7AhdZD5xbgWhYO8N8xJkkXyRaKcVi6wMig0DP409wW5YeI7WyK3wROJXkKQoSXQWl9LqV1FloDA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyoDiH2zvTa-r3JFseX21mt9wPQAh-e23LerKRCZsB-DmgKfLYo8WT1PsQt99dKdG6wkOiTE3N-T6a30Ok9ZK38CqghRFRWpVAxYV4pwCaDtMLH7AhdZD5xbgWhYO8N8xJkkXyRaKcVi6wMig0DP409wW5YeI7WyK3wROJXkKQoSXQWl9LqV1FloDA" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div></div><div>I also tried mammals, fish, and chimera, but the results also didn't really have much appeal to me. Mammals in particular didn't have the same variety of color, but at the same time were too varied in morphology. So I got a lot of tripedal furry creatures with bland, greyish fur.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUNKyYm6akd_uEwODfbuUhu9RQzws4ZmYUyNLiOHonULzhqtp2ZZrOZB_PbgSmM2p5iP9dvo50IoZBJfENIGrlWVCab5uOcfbZ9LZ6UMyoFd2AeIM8i2YUEorwa6B4a7J2KNfW51s2AoZXzzMM2nUt_Nvqf-mSN-UoUajNSAuAX5NpCABUf_nyB5WM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUNKyYm6akd_uEwODfbuUhu9RQzws4ZmYUyNLiOHonULzhqtp2ZZrOZB_PbgSmM2p5iP9dvo50IoZBJfENIGrlWVCab5uOcfbZ9LZ6UMyoFd2AeIM8i2YUEorwa6B4a7J2KNfW51s2AoZXzzMM2nUt_Nvqf-mSN-UoUajNSAuAX5NpCABUf_nyB5WM" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCtyJxRURIOY2LGNQf_LbsssYiyw3O1iPtEsajqGQMqPRsVKfgkOTq4kF_L0FDtiFVt3GDKMJ4-XxsCS74Zl6zV34thdqLXPvAfC12cqXEpWGYm0Ne0ZKwc23ZU6eEYzx1TbDi3-7DblEditGKmAU5DyJTnnA0CKQGhKuUX9a9j4kbImVJoBBRg9-r" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCtyJxRURIOY2LGNQf_LbsssYiyw3O1iPtEsajqGQMqPRsVKfgkOTq4kF_L0FDtiFVt3GDKMJ4-XxsCS74Zl6zV34thdqLXPvAfC12cqXEpWGYm0Ne0ZKwc23ZU6eEYzx1TbDi3-7DblEditGKmAU5DyJTnnA0CKQGhKuUX9a9j4kbImVJoBBRg9-r" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsZDH9a9VCgOHCoaHJZo2LAR8QqPRZzn7O72yd-gCMazBJ3hE1yRHJrwuM-kVAPVZhxqRyXrer9Rh_IlWbeHs38muCF_iaoNi5sGy2Hv_9XYv7pT3XMP8ZIeYXOWmJJk8fLSueVdzRgipEIMSgkbUhscUgmvADAEWzt_cxoBFy9gfhCL3ncGLdevct" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsZDH9a9VCgOHCoaHJZo2LAR8QqPRZzn7O72yd-gCMazBJ3hE1yRHJrwuM-kVAPVZhxqRyXrer9Rh_IlWbeHs38muCF_iaoNi5sGy2Hv_9XYv7pT3XMP8ZIeYXOWmJJk8fLSueVdzRgipEIMSgkbUhscUgmvADAEWzt_cxoBFy9gfhCL3ncGLdevct" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVUS62veZf1DYTlOsMPSwg-L-CLDwpVJXAzL8cG352pEf0JHrkFdrpQC9NAaFnwYPccBTtxoZ-XCnifwcwCg-z7cdD_pH71-DIW25I8r3wwEbzFz90_nYNJ9D08L55t0lecmwA42ZbirGGfx18e2orOFWBlcyEqjjIcRlxsCJSnVBh-f-k0VRKV4t2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVUS62veZf1DYTlOsMPSwg-L-CLDwpVJXAzL8cG352pEf0JHrkFdrpQC9NAaFnwYPccBTtxoZ-XCnifwcwCg-z7cdD_pH71-DIW25I8r3wwEbzFz90_nYNJ9D08L55t0lecmwA42ZbirGGfx18e2orOFWBlcyEqjjIcRlxsCJSnVBh-f-k0VRKV4t2" width="240" /></a></div><br />Perhaps 1 in every 50 outputs were completely alien. I think the preponderance of legs, trunks, and tails in the training data confused the AI, so it just made these tentacled horrors.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKVGyJxASWju2SjcC-TaezN8D9kZjj6vtkC9jZJmqhRGk8YtEf2SjDCMvT62C6z9CBDazZSo3eN7JFHlEzbCXoLVP92LiDfXiFrwIPiGI4eO_RtzVr682HA6dwi4Nbe7IL4ccj-ZUP0WAz4dJNjmPHyng2aO0uKvNcZ5ZQr3SpZ7ayWk-HB2yYjmcO" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKVGyJxASWju2SjcC-TaezN8D9kZjj6vtkC9jZJmqhRGk8YtEf2SjDCMvT62C6z9CBDazZSo3eN7JFHlEzbCXoLVP92LiDfXiFrwIPiGI4eO_RtzVr682HA6dwi4Nbe7IL4ccj-ZUP0WAz4dJNjmPHyng2aO0uKvNcZ5ZQr3SpZ7ayWk-HB2yYjmcO" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAsKDHTTb727-poFOqHOVB4RJeBgVx4iSi0kkY9uDrAu0OEJn8DT716zj0ORvtfOU-21_N4enywj1ocZ3Z5T2EtFMd-v6urezOQuT703iwcZ7StsxaqB7sZr7PBmqRZO7ornsjFARKPGCDcf-4SYK5pHjxi41TRyyxCRmuKiCQ_wX7BT3Mr2RTMCVI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAsKDHTTb727-poFOqHOVB4RJeBgVx4iSi0kkY9uDrAu0OEJn8DT716zj0ORvtfOU-21_N4enywj1ocZ3Z5T2EtFMd-v6urezOQuT703iwcZ7StsxaqB7sZr7PBmqRZO7ornsjFARKPGCDcf-4SYK5pHjxi41TRyyxCRmuKiCQ_wX7BT3Mr2RTMCVI" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgr8o91fIlDApdVYvb2jcIQfbXVpj5jfhsprpQ0trmbYKm3w5ce13rA6zjrutao9aZMI9wdaNsJh5_m1WV4WPT5ZDBuYRCjVKhQoFHDFIqk1VV2TXrpfrW5SfhDnoef_u7BmbfHBjk6q8pwJkvCEFl_n5idjk2IGjItFR9dnKFz-Kr4kTxvhE06dR9b" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgr8o91fIlDApdVYvb2jcIQfbXVpj5jfhsprpQ0trmbYKm3w5ce13rA6zjrutao9aZMI9wdaNsJh5_m1WV4WPT5ZDBuYRCjVKhQoFHDFIqk1VV2TXrpfrW5SfhDnoef_u7BmbfHBjk6q8pwJkvCEFl_n5idjk2IGjItFR9dnKFz-Kr4kTxvhE06dR9b" width="240" /></a></div><br />Occasionally it was just a long snoot.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikWx_e5JfOBWWvW_53KM-lkxf4IlV4gV-EjXe8I9Aq-7AX6N2aqY2QYYOdL6Vyc50ciWaqRqQikVsNRWnTHDY22XWbEJ3RIS6ko-wV3lhWj1YJisjWvDoxclZ4n0jxJEgmPZL9GfdDk0e-lhZyqg8J3a6-CH11NlYoESxH4-BEAhP2yNrUkNi0q95y" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikWx_e5JfOBWWvW_53KM-lkxf4IlV4gV-EjXe8I9Aq-7AX6N2aqY2QYYOdL6Vyc50ciWaqRqQikVsNRWnTHDY22XWbEJ3RIS6ko-wV3lhWj1YJisjWvDoxclZ4n0jxJEgmPZL9GfdDk0e-lhZyqg8J3a6-CH11NlYoESxH4-BEAhP2yNrUkNi0q95y" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>And that's basically it. I had no greater aim for this experiment than to have some fun and make some weird mutants. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Faith Plummets</h3><div>I tried using newer generators as they arose in mid-2022, but none had the homespun charm of the AI that I had trained myself. The more advanced they generators became, the less weird the birds. Furthermore, the newest generators presented even more conundrums and egotism that soured me on the whole notion of even toying with AI anymore. These results were from the Dall-E generator in early July.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaMriLDyr9HF1rmWAL606gQO2RzKW-S5GKZMJaiaDhy7t96bCYYy_yl6oGD9vskJHtMesaD_EUyIn25RSN7FWf0Vlrk1ipleZARNmV5KNqvP60FefxaXcndzquqpAs30IgNlzhYx9F0VlIVWTCkudlTQHFTFjQzB8Y3qcw-UdmdRPLoAUu3u_uou4B" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaMriLDyr9HF1rmWAL606gQO2RzKW-S5GKZMJaiaDhy7t96bCYYy_yl6oGD9vskJHtMesaD_EUyIn25RSN7FWf0Vlrk1ipleZARNmV5KNqvP60FefxaXcndzquqpAs30IgNlzhYx9F0VlIVWTCkudlTQHFTFjQzB8Y3qcw-UdmdRPLoAUu3u_uou4B" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoBJj87BsfnkdPYhmgI3Ne34KbX4Knfufht7vmE8jFLw4mJpxC6D7J7CLJ6dvAb9_tqv-Q7wxXwDQGhy31jwznDHSwCnffiF0NoxIgYWIpnCe81kQ-CA4Wm4T1fAMp3m9ZeO5K5qE0dMmGm4EZGOEGEKQjmInh7htG1ze6fyppB5KVoK1vIVH77A9x" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoBJj87BsfnkdPYhmgI3Ne34KbX4Knfufht7vmE8jFLw4mJpxC6D7J7CLJ6dvAb9_tqv-Q7wxXwDQGhy31jwznDHSwCnffiF0NoxIgYWIpnCe81kQ-CA4Wm4T1fAMp3m9ZeO5K5qE0dMmGm4EZGOEGEKQjmInh7htG1ze6fyppB5KVoK1vIVH77A9x" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTrMGw1bx2qf7qm1RTgjuLg1xeU0Xaf0rRkvkiFt6P3HW6ok_6wFu7GanhX1YJK1MYtn1VvofjfTEA4RppVbQ6QRenunANE8eeTq3aaGW2oOarT_KkNa1S4HH5tDmsGlRnsxQq0-eHTepUoYVSjCQLlJOF4uPiJr6fufw3USwQTYaLv8Bqkgy1ftS5" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTrMGw1bx2qf7qm1RTgjuLg1xeU0Xaf0rRkvkiFt6P3HW6ok_6wFu7GanhX1YJK1MYtn1VvofjfTEA4RppVbQ6QRenunANE8eeTq3aaGW2oOarT_KkNa1S4HH5tDmsGlRnsxQq0-eHTepUoYVSjCQLlJOF4uPiJr6fufw3USwQTYaLv8Bqkgy1ftS5" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBfiezFJBBh7J6XXyZmzKYWnmfN4y-Fx1GiHuiya2V7iV6XiBnTR7-ns8fdAEruDHyYpLUjD8mzd8g-_2ipZD74G2spkiBrKxQk7XxE0ZJ-5qeD3e2kPybVlgw2mOaKetM2RigNuETh9lcte7PWzP8bvms0PeeLWhAxMyVcTZnSe98hX1h_ClVPGfM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhBfiezFJBBh7J6XXyZmzKYWnmfN4y-Fx1GiHuiya2V7iV6XiBnTR7-ns8fdAEruDHyYpLUjD8mzd8g-_2ipZD74G2spkiBrKxQk7XxE0ZJ-5qeD3e2kPybVlgw2mOaKetM2RigNuETh9lcte7PWzP8bvms0PeeLWhAxMyVcTZnSe98hX1h_ClVPGfM" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div></div><div>Even the AI I trained myself wasn't without its own problems. I was naive and didn't understand at the time that the LookingGlassAI already had some pre-training before I added my own dataset. There were no humans in my data set, yet LookingGlassAI occasionally insisted on trying to make human forms. Some of these are actually quite gothic and haunting. Nevertheless, it made clear that even this seemingly more-ethical AI option wasn't safe from risk of infringement.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA--O_PUxxbsghsJpQpNXbpZyls_WZly6TAJqDQUx3a3HNzDoTgmMe0c76aYP2O9-wfiB9aiV453pGNfocP6eLwmgIinjkizKiBDwGig5pfhMvN5N8fBRPaZo3uA9YECumfgKamVVROU-FpL3MChfBO_9PhdnnySnmro_pFi6rlT4OROEaVBeIfQL1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA--O_PUxxbsghsJpQpNXbpZyls_WZly6TAJqDQUx3a3HNzDoTgmMe0c76aYP2O9-wfiB9aiV453pGNfocP6eLwmgIinjkizKiBDwGig5pfhMvN5N8fBRPaZo3uA9YECumfgKamVVROU-FpL3MChfBO_9PhdnnySnmro_pFi6rlT4OROEaVBeIfQL1" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgae_l0QLaCCKehT8giGajbxofwK0xb1qT76jalsFQzrHp3Ai2C06q78brm36qMwpUJtlXzy2uhPSeRD3RxOyeWFNg8m2Zt6VZXRs9dReNDW-t18PT027NRp0AF6TFImuA0ly_f7NpWGIQy9S6vMxQIKonj6gIOI1EYLbhOw_dTID7YxnnyXyPLbqgK" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgae_l0QLaCCKehT8giGajbxofwK0xb1qT76jalsFQzrHp3Ai2C06q78brm36qMwpUJtlXzy2uhPSeRD3RxOyeWFNg8m2Zt6VZXRs9dReNDW-t18PT027NRp0AF6TFImuA0ly_f7NpWGIQy9S6vMxQIKonj6gIOI1EYLbhOw_dTID7YxnnyXyPLbqgK" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpXYBsNju2odURp8FkvJrt2FTXuAl8hsMmS4JuZqgGxlBiGRTHECJ9vfY-OLnJ2H8EieOjAQyIIrIjd4shDeOWQD66Ekx73EmrwtQ1TUrNI-1reL9jqeHDxox4g8o9xkJ70nM9NdQMDalnZN5CxSZOKc0Exs3WpARNGkazKMsBaEE5PxjBkBAtlFbR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpXYBsNju2odURp8FkvJrt2FTXuAl8hsMmS4JuZqgGxlBiGRTHECJ9vfY-OLnJ2H8EieOjAQyIIrIjd4shDeOWQD66Ekx73EmrwtQ1TUrNI-1reL9jqeHDxox4g8o9xkJ70nM9NdQMDalnZN5CxSZOKc0Exs3WpARNGkazKMsBaEE5PxjBkBAtlFbR" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>This became most evident when stock photo watermarks started appearing in some of my results! </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXpMTCBf2iZ8ikXieDpLpCa5BhglUIrd0iao5_MWh6NMWpD2PxtAK1XWHdh0aAxgxvAneNkE957nhd2DYVcXe4HkqvvJAzDF87eRGHKitee7FF2O2QdSmmjBfZ_taihTqpN9HoUnWNkdev_XTct_dIx3yISxycQ5d4Vwg-gdswxKSGfo5T043ep8r1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXpMTCBf2iZ8ikXieDpLpCa5BhglUIrd0iao5_MWh6NMWpD2PxtAK1XWHdh0aAxgxvAneNkE957nhd2DYVcXe4HkqvvJAzDF87eRGHKitee7FF2O2QdSmmjBfZ_taihTqpN9HoUnWNkdev_XTct_dIx3yISxycQ5d4Vwg-gdswxKSGfo5T043ep8r1" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKekP-0sGyx42V7888at56Vo1DIqi_GwURt4DGLQBLYGsv6Ra-FdUvqJJ5POhn6cLcaOk5axMq5-58CEAy3Q5LSQeZ0lt3xEIqwp0syjK2cYWKnzUwMuvJqWectM1ZkiMJ8IKu_MZrOLzj95gB6U-e9D5NjKqqQQYD8pQEK3m28Jl5pNYZL1PDi7dr" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjKekP-0sGyx42V7888at56Vo1DIqi_GwURt4DGLQBLYGsv6Ra-FdUvqJJ5POhn6cLcaOk5axMq5-58CEAy3Q5LSQeZ0lt3xEIqwp0syjK2cYWKnzUwMuvJqWectM1ZkiMJ8IKu_MZrOLzj95gB6U-e9D5NjKqqQQYD8pQEK3m28Jl5pNYZL1PDi7dr" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion?</h3><div>And so my last project using AI was "<a href="https://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2022/11/these-books-do-not-exist-jigsaw-puzzle.html">These Books Do Not Exist</a>" jigsaw puzzle. I'm still mulling over what I will do with AI next, if anything. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnclYINKKOjHrtB-WzM6WixF9LuXGpIPpUcHGYggyoA_V4_MK6mmnnRVaobB6AcNG6suHoB_a_ByT-tY9F_yrHMkqKT9x2DdkHMowNH8IJvyUSzb0XdMtHwns3sVp2CSuOSv8hZT413qlp2p-XG282-YdL0Py94S_jaBHkXXz5qalfa5Dy00WPvyVy" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnclYINKKOjHrtB-WzM6WixF9LuXGpIPpUcHGYggyoA_V4_MK6mmnnRVaobB6AcNG6suHoB_a_ByT-tY9F_yrHMkqKT9x2DdkHMowNH8IJvyUSzb0XdMtHwns3sVp2CSuOSv8hZT413qlp2p-XG282-YdL0Py94S_jaBHkXXz5qalfa5Dy00WPvyVy" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiW7LeGGOiB6Ge6w8_oINZLIMTu20w2DkcCjRzkC3hrpo92iW2TSXSGv5S8jL_KGBVzhgQtdWWQGU2RCUMJpEtdVsvAIfmm1FrapDPON-VcWdAxMCCkVyGBqZV2v6GzYk9BGsNFcOc8PDZQwJtNAa2dYlD_HoSXaZEy5gnOF2LX3CM8J4Nx3XkOoKB9" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiW7LeGGOiB6Ge6w8_oINZLIMTu20w2DkcCjRzkC3hrpo92iW2TSXSGv5S8jL_KGBVzhgQtdWWQGU2RCUMJpEtdVsvAIfmm1FrapDPON-VcWdAxMCCkVyGBqZV2v6GzYk9BGsNFcOc8PDZQwJtNAa2dYlD_HoSXaZEy5gnOF2LX3CM8J4Nx3XkOoKB9" width="240" /></a></div><br />I've saved a bunch of LookingGlassAI outputs in <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19CGrjEdiGEMsjRdrpbBDq36yAm-4Xr5A?usp=share_link">this folder</a> for posterity. Who knows what I'll do with them next, if anything. As I've come to realize, no AI-generated image is without legal risk, even if I make a transformative work like my posters and jigsaw puzzles. </div><div><br /></div><div>So for now I'm happy with the weird little birds that I made over a few weeks in January 2022. Making up names was fun. I hope this silly venture brings a little joy to your day as well.</div>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-53314150930561524722022-12-14T01:00:00.001-05:002022-12-14T01:00:00.163-05:00Measuring Success as a Professional Game Designer<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZD7rsO47DFicmPhbh2W8wjWRVy6UXUeGCpF8il2PygkCzyepzIy2kRVfydxHoBALJNbWbSsC6ZDSKupzYTmH8ZWKEa90lBC6_yEtOh6egkV6OMBHnTEgrGLQUKFR0gz3n7nyJy2H_BqkHxszYDJotyuRyX462uLT8oQHq19gw8e0Q0w-laK-fsAoY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="416" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZD7rsO47DFicmPhbh2W8wjWRVy6UXUeGCpF8il2PygkCzyepzIy2kRVfydxHoBALJNbWbSsC6ZDSKupzYTmH8ZWKEa90lBC6_yEtOh6egkV6OMBHnTEgrGLQUKFR0gz3n7nyJy2H_BqkHxszYDJotyuRyX462uLT8oQHq19gw8e0Q0w-laK-fsAoY=w640-h344" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>Game designer Nick Bentley posted <a href="https://twitter.com/Nick__Bentley/status/1601818689929875456">a thread</a> on how Underdog Games is measuring improvements in their game design. Note that this is not a measure of sales or revenue, but literally the <i>quality</i> of game design. How do you objectively measure something like that? They defined success as "improve ratings on BGG and Amazon without raising complexity."</p><p>Some interesting findings: </p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Their lowest-complexity games correlated to higher Amazon ratings and sales. Average Amazon ratings of 4.8 are displayed as if they're full 5-stars. Amazon also displays more 5-star products more often, which attracts more clicks and improves odds of purchase.</li><li>They've not yet found a stronger selling theme than Trekking the National Parks. It has a medium BGG rating, but has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. That theme appeals to a broad demographic and the promise of easy play doesn't scare away the casual shopper. </li><li>Their quality improvements have been costly. They paid more designers to spend more time developing. They also split-tested each design, which multiplied development costs.</li></ol><p></p><p>I love seeing small publishers share real data like this. Years ago when I was hustling to sell my POD ventures, I'd share <a href="https://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/search/label/sales%20report">monthly sales reports</a> to show the pragmatic reality of a tiny operation like mine. </p><p><b><i><a href="https://www.underdoggames.com/collections/all-products">You can find more at Underdog Games' website.</a></i></b></p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-33735192639885128852022-12-10T17:05:00.000-05:002022-12-10T17:05:26.917-05:00Designing a Card Game with Factors of 60 [Game Design]<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8wZX9TDiZdKbQlCD1QPB6FGeHfDGFJO2FXCZJF91y4USsqPigMZi-r8MRif3fZvXykXoJJ3QXOau-OrEiZbh2c4XTGWhATsJjvRurd7-zdWgaCOOUDrxkCvBNjvwiHCWzO2rZQneZjQQqdvjlGNTn2G28KSHlKI34thHlWv5DpN1K-ygaGOKpg1pr" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8wZX9TDiZdKbQlCD1QPB6FGeHfDGFJO2FXCZJF91y4USsqPigMZi-r8MRif3fZvXykXoJJ3QXOau-OrEiZbh2c4XTGWhATsJjvRurd7-zdWgaCOOUDrxkCvBNjvwiHCWzO2rZQneZjQQqdvjlGNTn2G28KSHlKI34thHlWv5DpN1K-ygaGOKpg1pr=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>I'm a big fan of designing around set collection mechanisms, but the trickiest of that design is starting with a balanced set of variables. You can use an existing familiar set like a deck of cards, or a PAIRS deck, or even a <a href="https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/370035/Mirror-Deck-Decade?filters=44560_44564_0_0">Mirror Deck</a>. The problem is that if your initial baseline is too ordered and symmetrical, you'll get kind of boring endgame scoring. </p><p>For example, if apples, oranges, and pears are in equal quantity in a bag of chits, then any endgame scoring condition that favors one of those fruits doesn't feel unique to that fruit. If each fruit has some other attributes, like freshness, or sweetness, or rarity, then you start getting a little bit more grit in the gears. Now you've given players more factors to consider as they collect their fruits.</p><p>Speaking of <b>factors</b>, I've always been a fan of the number 60 because it can be subdivided into 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.</p><p><google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin></p><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="100"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"1 × 60"}" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); color: #333333; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;">1 × 60</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"2 × 30"}" style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;">2 × 30</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"3 × 20"}" style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;">3 × 20</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"4 × 15"}" style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;">4 × 15</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"5 × 12"}" style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;">5 × 12</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"6 × 10"}" style="background-color: white; border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;">6 × 10</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>I like to use this basic structure to create a deck of 60 cards, each with a mix of independently variable attributes that mix in a roughly ordered fashion. You can see an example of how I did that in Belle of the Ball's Guest cards, where the three sets of Interest icons are based on three different factors of 60. I also further subdivided the decks into different noble titles and color schemes.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Tsundoku: Buying more books than you can read</h2><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSRc9XLzR3JIWiWG84ThDt4jQAQQB4i2eG-YHBHStQNMmGmCJUkNtw5fHhND8lcZepb_l_PE8I8MnmDzR9ZQ5xZwmavANcxBtlI2reXLh-x45Bvg3EwUqmB9JysX22xO0GpV0ocnONR8l5ahrSxfiyug_MTnu_mBZbpGt9-L-1zO_7bg66zb1s25x8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSRc9XLzR3JIWiWG84ThDt4jQAQQB4i2eG-YHBHStQNMmGmCJUkNtw5fHhND8lcZepb_l_PE8I8MnmDzR9ZQ5xZwmavANcxBtlI2reXLh-x45Bvg3EwUqmB9JysX22xO0GpV0ocnONR8l5ahrSxfiyug_MTnu_mBZbpGt9-L-1zO_7bg66zb1s25x8=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>Let's try this with a whole new deck as an example. Let's say I want to design a game based on the concept of Tsundoku, the Japanese word for buying more books than you can possibly read. In this game, players collect bundles of books and try to read as many as possible. How can we use factors of 60 to divide up the deck and, taking one step further, how can that suggest some game mechanisms?</div><div><br /></div><div>First I'd look at the theme of the game and see how it would suggest we theme each factor. In general, I like the tension this theme adds to a normal set collection game. Under normal circumstances, a set collection game rewards the players for aimlessly gobbling up every resource they can get. With this theme, I'd like players to be rewarded for <i>reading</i> the books they've acquired.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Author (4x 15)</h3><div>Let's say I only have four authors in this deck, each appearing 15 times. That feels frequent enough that players might try to collect big sets of a single author's bibliography. I'll call these authors alliterative A, B, C, and D names so players can recognize them at a glance. </div><div><br /></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="100"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></google-sheets-html-origin></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin>Note that I'm also ending their names with unique phonemes to maximize the ease of recognition. I'm not entirely happy with these names as they stand since Baker and Charity share an R sound. Also Baker and Dayton sound too similar to my ear. But anyway, I don't want to let this slow me down.</google-sheets-html-origin></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><google-sheets-html-origin>Genre (5x 12)</google-sheets-html-origin></h3><div><google-sheets-html-origin>The next highest factor gives us five different options, each appearing 12 times, or vice versa. I feel like Genre is the next logical attribute I could have players consider as they play the game. Granted, Genre is a very loose and oft-debated concept, so I have two choices. I could give this deck 12 different genres each appearing 5 times or 5 genres each appearing 12 times. </google-sheets-html-origin>Here's where my personal laziness steps in: I intend to represent each genre with an icon and I don't want to design 12 different icons. So 5 genres it is!</div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><br /></google-sheets-html-origin></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><google-sheets-html-origin><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="179"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggD1UWPON_Um1GRAvgLarl5rzNYVTAatEpGMEXs0jDWRjJFxomoki-qW7qLAEkdV68A3jVB_tTEwAcrs7ZxvKxztCUKKyYyN_2Ihal2GTuTeCbdy-Tcx5SIXASQzwz8-4n4N3NabXVedeDVvepI84XnUXb3LTgegXVGUjcOHvJJtm_ts4t1WhxFfEV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggD1UWPON_Um1GRAvgLarl5rzNYVTAatEpGMEXs0jDWRjJFxomoki-qW7qLAEkdV68A3jVB_tTEwAcrs7ZxvKxztCUKKyYyN_2Ihal2GTuTeCbdy-Tcx5SIXASQzwz8-4n4N3NabXVedeDVvepI84XnUXb3LTgegXVGUjcOHvJJtm_ts4t1WhxFfEV=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgw6TPjf4BxPEnMfYeCSZw02NEza_89a2j6UUnEL9GbK27cA_mcfsJzd2ll5dHDADWCCAnd4EQklIzjdx0cq2vn87eNKXcykubh9r9l1-4BySXWzKdvLqTw_DUIPL3uIB6vsObel4uNWsexHsyMhEKibAyHsgyWF4ZomP2E3G164YtQNNZki7JB93Mt" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgw6TPjf4BxPEnMfYeCSZw02NEza_89a2j6UUnEL9GbK27cA_mcfsJzd2ll5dHDADWCCAnd4EQklIzjdx0cq2vn87eNKXcykubh9r9l1-4BySXWzKdvLqTw_DUIPL3uIB6vsObel4uNWsexHsyMhEKibAyHsgyWF4ZomP2E3G164YtQNNZki7JB93Mt=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQKriMYh-QPSlsCavGmQrjRyb16QVRkajEyoyOa8XTChuMtwqC-qfsLfQQAkQK2VNQECC8YsSlOCkn2SCCbRiPPMtQmJy0C1bkUqIvLZ2I3R3wDh7pQ5L_41E9uM0MGqRVFTv99_torpZToi_8Iv_yAsLrJLTVYorBxSO6XeoFmOW0Csbyo3oRIuwv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQKriMYh-QPSlsCavGmQrjRyb16QVRkajEyoyOa8XTChuMtwqC-qfsLfQQAkQK2VNQECC8YsSlOCkn2SCCbRiPPMtQmJy0C1bkUqIvLZ2I3R3wDh7pQ5L_41E9uM0MGqRVFTv99_torpZToi_8Iv_yAsLrJLTVYorBxSO6XeoFmOW0Csbyo3oRIuwv=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8YQeNbQ0cyDMOwWnlQ56YCiOCXBDkPI5m9LiNe8RWyWwv_VBL_UJ7Tc4726bNz4WYscJQU5NtqZ__X2QiHDcVX7TDKk3mFFBIJv_rRKzStoiAxfpr2du7m3k9t-gp9xTSZc35RNHA9XkoAh43xLzsRTUGzLqnDBSyjW4LxnxN5wlMBXP0wZv6at8m" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8YQeNbQ0cyDMOwWnlQ56YCiOCXBDkPI5m9LiNe8RWyWwv_VBL_UJ7Tc4726bNz4WYscJQU5NtqZ__X2QiHDcVX7TDKk3mFFBIJv_rRKzStoiAxfpr2du7m3k9t-gp9xTSZc35RNHA9XkoAh43xLzsRTUGzLqnDBSyjW4LxnxN5wlMBXP0wZv6at8m=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /></td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9j52_GhCAhFliq-rLwNWQR0cqexedw78dOd6tJi2Hzs2YdsNrPyzJvFrynDtNnkfARA3nm06eOtMYJzLW4oR7bxhOAfLp5zKwvYi-DVvmF9_cWhEjh1CBEL9_TIrOoL00vepPx1jrE3P-rRYiPOh7KVva2XT-8fmC4pLCLmA-nS9TmmCoI8Fzc0m2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9j52_GhCAhFliq-rLwNWQR0cqexedw78dOd6tJi2Hzs2YdsNrPyzJvFrynDtNnkfARA3nm06eOtMYJzLW4oR7bxhOAfLp5zKwvYi-DVvmF9_cWhEjh1CBEL9_TIrOoL00vepPx1jrE3P-rRYiPOh7KVva2XT-8fmC4pLCLmA-nS9TmmCoI8Fzc0m2=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><google-sheets-html-origin><br /><br /></google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><google-sheets-html-origin>These icons are pulled from <a href="https://thenounproject.com/">The Noun Project</a>. Who knows, maybe I can make an expansion with more genres later, but that's a future problem. For now I can easily see a secondary set collection mechanism designed around collecting the same genre of books into a library, regardless of the author.</google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><google-sheets-html-origin><br /></google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><google-sheets-html-origin><google-sheets-html-origin>Price (6x 10)</google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin></h3><div><google-sheets-html-origin><google-sheets-html-origin>The next highest factor is 6, reduces the number of variables by 10. Again, I can decide to have ten variables repeating six times or vice versa. Since my prior two variables have each been factors 4 and 5, it seems intuitive to use factor 6 next. So far my variables have been verbal (author names) and visual (icons for the genre). I haven't used a numerical variable yet, so let's try that. </google-sheets-html-origin></google-sheets-html-origin>Under normal circumstances, we might use basic ranks like a deck of cards, but I still want this to reflect the game's theme. What about prices? Scrounging around thrift shops for cheap books is half the fun, isn't it? So let's say these numbers are how much each book costs.</div><div><br /></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><google-sheets-html-origin><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="100"></col><col width="85"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Author (4x15)"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Author (4x15)</td><td data-sheets-note="Aura Ashley: $33
Baker Baddox: $42
Charity Cope: $33
Dayten Dott: $42
Fantasy: $33
Horror: $30
Mystery: $30
Romance: $27
Sci-Fi: $30
1 of 3: $46
2 of 3: $50
3 of 3: $54" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Prices (6x10)"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Prices (6x10)</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr></tbody></table></google-sheets-html-origin><br /></google-sheets-html-origin></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin>I'm using 0 through 5 so that doing any basic arithmetic in the game is as simple as possible. Introducing some "free" books at the $0 range makes very tempting acquisitions and competition between players. What game mechanisms does this suggest? Perhaps players are trying to spend the least money on their final collection? Should this be like High Society, where the player who spends the most money is eliminated at the end of the game? It's one idea! Maybe something more gentle, like a bonus for the lowest total price for <i>unread</i> books. That way players can strategize about which books it would be most valuable to read.</google-sheets-html-origin></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><br /></google-sheets-html-origin></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><google-sheets-html-origin>Trilogies (20x 3)</google-sheets-html-origin></h3><div><google-sheets-html-origin>At this point I think I have enough baseline variables for a basic set collection game, but I still need to fill out the rest of the theme! These books need titles, don't they? Here's where factors of 60 can still be useful, even if it's not directly involved with the mechanisms. Even if there is no mechanical effect, I'd like the books to come in neat packages when they are the same genre and author. Since dividing by 20 gives us 3, I can see a bunch of trilogies in this deck. The books within a trilogy would begin with the same word and I can begin them with a different letter of the alphabet.</google-sheets-html-origin></div><div><google-sheets-html-origin><br /></google-sheets-html-origin></div><google-sheets-html-origin><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; table-layout: fixed; width: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><colgroup><col width="100"></col><col width="88"></col><col width="247"></col><col width="65"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Author (4x15)"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Author (4x15)</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Genre (5x12)"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Genre (5x12)</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Title (20x3)"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Title (20x3)</td><td data-sheets-note="Aura Ashley: $33
Baker Baddox: $42
Charity Cope: $33
Dayten Dott: $42
Fantasy: $33
Horror: $30
Mystery: $30
Romance: $27
Sci-Fi: $30
1 of 3: $46
2 of 3: $50
3 of 3: $54" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Prices (6x10)"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Prices (6x10)</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Unicorn Court"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Unicorn Court</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Unicorn Queen"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Unicorn Queen</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Unicorn Tower"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Unicorn Tower</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Vale of the Beast"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Vale of the Beast</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Vale of the East"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Vale of the East</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Vale of the Feast"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Vale of the Feast</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Wizard's Cavern"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Wizard's Cavern</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Wizard's Dreams"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Wizard's Dreams</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Wizard's Exile"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Wizard's Exile</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Xander Bold and the Ancient Sword"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Xander Bold and the Ancient Sword</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Xander Bold and the Cursed Forest"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Xander Bold and the Cursed Forest</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fantasy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fantasy</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Xander Bold and the Iron Temple"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Xander Bold and the Iron Temple</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Eldritch Echo"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Eldritch Echo</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Eldritch Menace"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Eldritch Menace</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Eldritch Phantom"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Eldritch Phantom</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fear of Darkness"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fear of Darkness</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fear of Heights"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fear of Heights</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Fear of Insects"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Fear of Insects</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Ghosts in Arizona"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Ghosts in Arizona</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Ghosts in Baltimore"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Ghosts in Baltimore</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Ghosts in California"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Ghosts in California</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Haunted Families"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Haunted Families</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Haunted Houses"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Haunted Houses</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Horror"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Horror</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Haunted Villages"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Haunted Villages</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Into the Abyss"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Into the Abyss</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Into the Light"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Into the Light</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Into the Shadows"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Into the Shadows</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Jinx and the Defendant"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Jinx and the Defendant</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Jinx and the Jury"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Jinx and the Jury</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Jinx and the Plaintiff"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Jinx and the Plaintiff</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Kent by Gaslight"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Kent by Gaslight</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Kent by Moonlight"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Kent by Moonlight</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Kent by Twilight"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Kent by Twilight</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Lethal Betrayal"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Lethal Betrayal</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Lethal Intent"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Lethal Intent</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Mystery"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Mystery</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Lethal Obsession"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Lethal Obsession</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Married to the Duchy"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Married to the Duchy</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Married to the Kingdom"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Married to the Kingdom</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Married to the Manor"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Married to the Manor</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"New York Heart"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">New York Heart</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"New York Kiss"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">New York Kiss</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"New York Love"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">New York Love</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Only Me"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Only Me</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Only Us"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Only Us</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Only You"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Only You</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Promise of Autumn"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Promise of Autumn</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Promise of Summer"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Promise of Summer</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Romance"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Romance</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Promise of Winter"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Promise of Winter</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Quantum Captain"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Quantum Captain</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Quantum Drive"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Quantum Drive</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Aura Ashley"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Aura Ashley</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Quantum Empire"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Quantum Empire</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Robot Rebellion"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Robot Rebellion</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":1}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$1</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Robot Renegades"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Robot Renegades</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Baker Baddox"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Baker Baddox</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Robot Revolution"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Robot Revolution</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Space at Peace"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Space at Peace</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":0}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$0</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Space at Rest"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Space at Rest</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":5}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$5</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Charity Cope"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Charity Cope</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Space at War"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Space at War</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Tau Ceti Armada"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Tau Ceti Armada</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":4}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$4</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Tau Ceti Colony"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Tau Ceti Colony</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":3}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$3</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Dayten Dott"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Dayten Dott</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Sci-Fi"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sci-Fi</td><td data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Tau Ceti Ruins"}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Tau Ceti Ruins</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="{"1":4,"2":"\"$\"#,##0","3":1}" data-sheets-value="{"1":3,"3":2}" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">$2</td></tr></tbody></table></google-sheets-html-origin><div><google-sheets-html-origin><br /></google-sheets-html-origin></div><div>Since I already used A through D for the author names, I began with E and continued to X. I'm leaning heavily into stereotypical tropes with these titles. The advantage of making a game with this theme is that I don't actually have to write the books, just give them clear, straight-down-the-middle titles.</div><div><br /></div><div>Though I only intended to use factor 20 to ease the process of titling these books, it does still suggest some game mechanisms! Perhaps players are rewarded for making complete trilogies, which causes them to value some books more than others by the same author or in the same genre. I do kind of worry about having two verbal variables to track (Author names and Titles). Hopefully avoiding any overlapping alliteration would be helpful there.</div><div><br /></div><div>I could finally take this process one step further, dividing the deck in half with <b>2x 30</b>. However, 30 variables seems like too much to track. On the other hand, 2 variables each appearing 30 times might be more feasible, but I've run out of natural thematic reasons for that variable. Perhaps First or Second Printing? That seems a little too close to my other numerical variable, price. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Endgame Scoring</h3><div>I'll leave the deck in this state. I've got a nice mix of four different variables, which should be enough to make some interesting set collection goals:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Author</b>: Score 1 point for the first book you've read by an author. Score 2 points for the second book by the same author. 3 points for the third book by that author. And so on, up to 15 points for the 15th book by the same author.</li><li><b>Genre</b>: Score each set of different genres you've read. The bigger the set, the more points it's worth. 1 Genre read: 0 | 2 Genres read: 1 | 3 Genres read: 3 | 4 Genres read: 6 | 5 Genres read: 10</li><li><b>Trilogy</b>: Score 10 points for each complete trilogy you've read. (Each book in a trilogy begins with the same word in its title.)</li><li><b>Price</b>: The player with the lowest total price of <i>unread</i> books earns 20 points.</li></ul><div>The player with the most points earns a pizza party!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks for letting me indulge in this very long post about a very esoteric topic. I hope you find it useful!</div>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1818073417709561773.post-82629383727462451192022-12-09T08:44:00.001-05:002022-12-09T08:44:15.868-05:00Art Tip: Secondary Outlines to Prevent Tangents<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcR0WjvicJrMmTXO_S3lU7O3V2_W1DmuehYBEkiJOt0mFXmlDv63ZuDn1-eznFpGSSn4-QLHCThkgwaFLItH7l2R6-ItwNrM-tBri6GnaolkcD-kL5hAZv3XcDqxqLm3_Yl34GY2ai5i2RlS6JM13XTnj9a1S_xubEsSXkvsz8OqR6JrbS4TqzzEyH/s2004/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%208.20.06%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2004" data-original-width="2004" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcR0WjvicJrMmTXO_S3lU7O3V2_W1DmuehYBEkiJOt0mFXmlDv63ZuDn1-eznFpGSSn4-QLHCThkgwaFLItH7l2R6-ItwNrM-tBri6GnaolkcD-kL5hAZv3XcDqxqLm3_Yl34GY2ai5i2RlS6JM13XTnj9a1S_xubEsSXkvsz8OqR6JrbS4TqzzEyH/w640-h640/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%208.20.06%20AM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Art Director tip: You can prevent tangent lines by adding a lighter secondary stroke around the foreground characters. (Example: Action Comics 1034, Christian Duce.) </p><p>Without this outline, the panels would directly intersect Superman directly, which may muddle the perspective. Most often, I see this technique with a light stroke alone, without an extra black line as Duce has demonstrated here. Either is fine, depending on the job.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNxpeW5DrPTQQBd-0cYZOuijfHIXs_Otbbhw97A0w5m0CkiasQdw314A1Zy_e42YL1RVinJ7b3tM8uVUFqY1md2c7vOY1N5xNoy1_h2xAxkaPlBbTYsE15r9VFtxuMJxo5ezjtE-pz1jyyaDo-FvyG_bjt8aEvC9pTaW3TiPDezz5AC6Y67Dupa5A/s928/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%208.22.56%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="824" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNxpeW5DrPTQQBd-0cYZOuijfHIXs_Otbbhw97A0w5m0CkiasQdw314A1Zy_e42YL1RVinJ7b3tM8uVUFqY1md2c7vOY1N5xNoy1_h2xAxkaPlBbTYsE15r9VFtxuMJxo5ezjtE-pz1jyyaDo-FvyG_bjt8aEvC9pTaW3TiPDezz5AC6Y67Dupa5A/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%208.22.56%20AM.png" width="284" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsW8LHJ2bC29_rMJzFrw08uFvdI1wegK4qtMULfR7n5gO5LmZqTVeJWDHibpmqiFKkpVzFNMtuL-zxDL43Ca2GRNXxe2KOdUQnybX4jGrSWk9pfF1tpZjWRZWHzPpRhhNiHXfT3B8vH3LkZz5Ho7fXI05OnYIa14y3dzgd5tY1_vfAvkYZSMyZxuB/s938/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%208.23.05%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="934" data-original-width="938" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsW8LHJ2bC29_rMJzFrw08uFvdI1wegK4qtMULfR7n5gO5LmZqTVeJWDHibpmqiFKkpVzFNMtuL-zxDL43Ca2GRNXxe2KOdUQnybX4jGrSWk9pfF1tpZjWRZWHzPpRhhNiHXfT3B8vH3LkZz5Ho7fXI05OnYIa14y3dzgd5tY1_vfAvkYZSMyZxuB/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%208.23.05%20AM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBLBDLodRiW1wEGsOaNcelR3sSjFtQgTNfLwYXjQaPvMbvE8LvIKMxeXKlXtgUIQSo08uknTpmJ0AcUuXg0CvqjmZWbHJvhu3sympeLU0e7GIKXnGmeeTMYGWRpMAuv1yNO0FQPRl-NFJPGBa4g11GGZGsrY4RLprbrMBIcBN-DXYNOcpNqqQt4EZ/s916/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%208.23.16%20AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="916" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBLBDLodRiW1wEGsOaNcelR3sSjFtQgTNfLwYXjQaPvMbvE8LvIKMxeXKlXtgUIQSo08uknTpmJ0AcUuXg0CvqjmZWbHJvhu3sympeLU0e7GIKXnGmeeTMYGWRpMAuv1yNO0FQPRl-NFJPGBa4g11GGZGsrY4RLprbrMBIcBN-DXYNOcpNqqQt4EZ/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-09%20at%208.23.16%20AM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><i>Image Description: Close up of Superman. His pose breaks through his panel and overlaps a bunch of other panels. A light outline around his body prevents the lines of those panels from intersecting him directly.</i></p>Daniel Solishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07683491911441126187noreply@blogger.com0