Daniel Solis

Push by Dan Hope Dan Hope submits the first video entry with an elegant little push-and-corner abstract. You can plainly hear how well-practiced and well-rehearsed he is during the demo. If you're pitching a game, it's crucial that you are confident, calm and comfortable. Take a lesson from Dan, folks. WarMaze by Mackenzie Cameron Mackenzie's entry bears some similarities to Oshii, in that play is about pushing other piece around. But that's where the similarity ends. In fact, this is closer to a Zelda puzzle, where you and your opponent's are trying to hit certain targets while keeping your princess safe from the other monsters. Push by David Gordon Buresh You're not mistaken! This is another game called Push. (I had to double-check that myself.) This game is much more similar to Tsuro, though. Play focuses on shifting rows and columns of pawns around a grid and getting individual pieces isolated for capture. Beloved by Ben Lehman Longtime indie

I'm prepping notes for my seminars at GenCon . I'm speaking about cover design in RPGs on Saturday and about the Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge on Sunday. If you have any questions on either subject, I'd love to work them into my presentations.

Dan Cetorelli sent me his special handbound editions of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple and Do: The Book of Letters . These were the top-tier prize for the $1000 backer in Do's Kickstarter, along with an extra copy of each book, stones, bag, and some other goodies. Hope you dig the whole package, Mr. Backer! » More of Dan Cetorelli's Custom RPG Bookbinding

Sean O'Connor built this prototype web app for his friends to play Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple online. Pretty cool, eh? If you combined this with some of the persistent elements of Graham Walmsley's dice roller , you'd have a great mobile app. If you want to take a stab at it, I'm happy to help however I can!

I'm starting a "people who have played my games" circle. If you've played any of my games, comment on this G+ post !

Busy busy busy! Got a big stack of books to sign and doodle for the $100+ backers. Thanks for letting me deface your property! I hope to finish those up this weekend and start mailing them out next week. Reports of backers $40 and under have been trickling in all week. Those books will continue shipping over the next several business days. When you get yours, be sure to tweet, post, or blog about it! » Pre-order the Book at Evil Hat » Buy the PDF at Evil Hat | RPGNow

Mark B. of the Diehard Gamer recently reviewed both Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple and Do: The Book of Letters . Spoiler alert! He quite likes them both. On Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple : "If you’re looking for a simple RPG to have fun with, or a game to introduce someone to the idea of RPG’s without scaring them off, Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple is a fun, low-maintenance RPG ... it’s a lot of fun to play whether you’re a multi-year veteran or you’ve never played an RPG in your life, regardless of how old you are. " On Do: The Book of Letters : "As an addition to Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple, it’s a fine one, both due to its inexpensive price and the volume of content included in the book for running and creating new letters for your pilgrims." Thanks, Mark!

We're happy to announce that the first expansion for Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple is now available for backers to download. Do: The Book of Letters adds a whole slew of new troubles for your pilgrimage. A whole slew, I say. Not just half a slew. The R&D guys recommended just a fourth of a slew, but no, I demanded you get the whole thing. Thanks so much for your support. Enjoy! Oh, if you're not a backer and you'd like to get your mitts on the PDF, it's available for purchase from Evil Hat's webstore here . It's 56 pages of new letters, new info about the Temple-verse, and all for five smackeroos! » Buy Do: The Book of Letters

Vote for Happy Birthday, Robot! at the Ennies! There is some stiff competition from major games with a lot more market presence than our little Robot, but there's always hope. Hope and your vote! So go to the Ennies voting page and vote for Happy Birthday, Robot! in these categories: Best Game, Best New Game, Best Production Values, Product of the Year. Let's make this a very happy birthday for Robot. » Vote for Happy Birthday, Robot!

The FAQ section of the main challenge page was getting a little long, so I'm splitting it off to its own post. If you have any questions about the challenge, I'm happy to answer in the comments. :) What inspired the challenge? This challenge is inspired by The Long Now Foundation, whose support of long-term thinking influenced the scope of this challenge and its duration. It is also inspired by The X Prize Foundation, using contests to encourage private citizens to do public good. And the biggest inspiration is the DivNull Lark, in which one generous guy helps get unreleased games published. What's your goal for the challenge? Greg Stolze once said that Chess wouldn't be sold today because there isn't enough commercial potential. That lingered in my mind for years. I want to offer some incentive to would-be game designers who like making those games. Perhaps one of them will make the next classic that will stand the test of centuries. Why such a generous ti

Reviews are already coming in for Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple ! "5/5 Stars. A beautifully illustrated, amazingly structured and wonderfully imaginative universe." — Ben Gerber "5/5 Stars. One of the highest quality products I've seen in a long time." — Erathoniel Woodenbow "This sort of collaborative story-telling game is great to get kids using and stretching their imaginations. And it’s a great way for families to spend some fun game time together!" — Game Knight Reviews Awesome. :D

Joshua Newman wore the My Favorite Game Console is a Table and Chairs shirt at Connecticon and shares this great story: "Someone came up and told me that was exactly how they felt. They had this whole story about how they're not very good at video games. They were so happy they could actually tell someone sympathetic. I didn't tell her that I love video games but love my friends more. She just needed a shoulder to cry on." D'aww. Yay! » Photo by Robert Bohl

It was another fruitful month for the challenge, with a very special guest now in the running. But first, some news: The deadline for entry is extended to August 31st. Hope to see you at GenCon and I look forward to showing off some of the entries so far. Take-Back-Toe by James Ernest Veteran game designer James Ernest submits this entry that actually doesn't have much in common with tic tac toe. It's more like a dice-driven mancala, with an elegant tension of constrained choices. The game suggests using poker chips on a mouse board, but you can play this with rocks or via forum post . Antipode by Shane Hendrickson Much like the classic game Hex , your goal is to connect two sides of the board. The twist is that the tiles are double-sided, as in Reversi/Othello. If your pawn passes over an opponent's tile, it flips to your color. Interesting mix of two well-loved abstract games. Usually those mashups don't fare well, but I think this one has strong potential.

Holy crap! The Ennie 2011 nominees were just announced and Happy Birthday, Robot! is nominated in four categories! Best Game * Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions) * Icons Superpowered Roleplaying (Adamant Entertainment/Cubicle 7) * Legends of Anglerre (Cubicle 7) * Mutants & Masterminds Hero’s Handbook (Green Ronin Publishing) * The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions ) * Honorable Mention: The Laundry (Cubicle 7) Best New Game * A Taste for Murder (Graham Walmsley) * Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions) * Icons Superpowered Roleplaying (Adamant Entertainment/Cubicle 7) * The Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat Productions ) * The Laundry (Cubicle 7) * Honorable Mention: Stars Without Number (Sine Nominee Publishing) Best Production Values * Gatecrashing (Posthuman Studios) * Happy Birthday, Robot! (Evil Hat Productions) * Legend of the Five Rings, Fourth Edition (Alderac Entertainment

The new trailer for Studio Ghibli's Arrietty has me thinking about the potential for a game inspired by that general premise: Hidden elflike people hide in our walls. Here are a couple quick ideas: Your story is set inside the home in which you play the game. Any pets in the home are hazards for your characters. Character art is drawn at actual size. (About an inch or so.) So what's the compelling situation? What is the common thread each time you play the game? What is different each time you play? Hm!

Here are some product shots of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple . An advance copy arrived on my doorstep. It looks gorgeous. (The game, not the doorstep.) Click any of the images to embiggen. We're on schedule to debut at GenCon!