We have a new website!

So...  We're not great at keeping this thing updated.  You all know that.  But we always want our fans to have the access to information about what we're producing and how our games can be played.  So, without further ado, we finally have a new website!

We'll still use this blog to announce events and things, but the site will have all of the information you need to play our games and download our 3D designs.  Oh, and we have the ability to take orders for our products, like Wayfarer: Things Beyond Wonder and Pocket-Tactics.

As always, happy gaming!

Pocket-Tactics LIVE in Bellingham Saturday at The Foundry

So, Pocket-Tactics has been on the front page of the most popular games on Tabletop Simulator since we started loading sets up there, so people really seem to love this game.  Meanwhile, we've been creating new factions for everyone to try.

Do you love the game?  Have you been meaning to try it?  Do you live in NW Washington state?? Come see us this Saturday afternoon at The Foundry in Bellingham.

What should you expect?  Well, first of all, you get to check out our local makerspace and it is awesome.  Second, you'll get to see the Ill Gotten Games team demo-ing PT and see ALL the factions.  Faction action!  Right here at home!  We'll see you there - 3:00 to 6:00 on Saturday, February 21.

Tabletop Simulator + Pocket-Tactics = WAHOO!

So we started our Pocket-Tactics campaign last Monday.  It was AWESOME.  We're playing again right now, in fact, and are having a blast.  And we have pictures and updates and ideas to share with you, our fellow gamers.  But we're putting that off for a week because we have this awesome other announcement that has to take priority....

Thanks to a fan (insert modest smile here), we were introduced this weekend to Tabletop Simulator by Berserk Games.  It's exactly what the name implies, but so, so much more.  We are able to import our 3D models, our tiles, our rules, our character sheets and play Pocket-Tactics on our PC, at home, in our pajamas, against our friends who are at home, in their pajamas, in ANOTHER STATE. 

Truly, we're blown away by the ease of this program. And seeing as how we're already users of Steam, this was a natural progression.  Sure, we love the feel of our 3D printed pieces and will never shy away from rolling some real dice, but we're so happy that Pocket-Tactics will finally be accessible. 

We've got two factions up currently and more to come.  Let us know what you think - we've only been playing around with the program for a couple of days, so suggestions are more than welcome. 

Oh, and if you also prefer the feel of real dice and models, be sure to visit us on Etsy and support us by buying a set or two.  Happy gaming!

Massive Pocket-Tactics Updates + Instructional Video

How massive can the update be for a game that fits into your pocket?  Well, pretty damn big if we do say so ourselves.  First of all, we've revamped the Pocket-Tactics page here on our site, so now it's easy to find the core rules and all the factions in one easy to navigate location.  Cool, right?

Wait...  All the factions?  Yes, there are TONS of them now.  The team has been designing and printing and we'll be posting the new ones as they're introduced.  Remember that new factions likely haven't been played much when they're posted, so if you play 'em, send us an email to let us know how it went.  Then you can consider yourself an official Ill Gotten Game playtester.  Sorry - no tee shirts... yet.



Been playing Pocket-Tactics and still have questions?  Or are you new to 3D printing and the very first thing you downloaded and printed was a set of PT (as it should be) and you have no idea how to play the game?  Well, per fan request, we've created our first in what we hope will be a series of instructional videos to help with some of the questions that have come up.  Board set up, dice mechanic, stat sheets - it's all explained right here.

We're working on a big Pocket-Tactics campaign, one that our team will be playing over the course of the next few weeks.  We'd love to hear how all of you players are tackling unusual PT play - four player games?  Campaigns?  Tournaments?  (Congrats to Ben Toomey for winning our 2014 tournament last month.)

We'd also love to hear what you think our next video should include.  Drop us an email or post a comment.  Happy gaming!

Big Apple and BIGGER NEWS!

 

Last year, Arian was able to visit MakerBot headquarters, meet the amazing staff, and participate in their first annual Make-a-Thon.  He wasn't sure what to expect - he's an artist, not a programmer - but damn if he didn't fit right in and have a blast. 

 

So this weekend Arian and Jeremy are both attending the second Make-a-Thon, ready to learn some new tricks from other makers and certainly spend some time gawking at the beauty that is banks and banks of 3D printers. 

 

 

As if that wasn't excitement enough for this week, we're also insanely excited (as evidenced by the video) to announce our newest Kickstarter - Drakendar!

Drakendar, much like Wayfarer before it, is an RPG setting codex, but this is a classic sword and sorcery adventure game with a unique dice mechanic.  Random character creation keeps us close to our Continuum roots, while the story brings us back to our early days of gaming. 

We can't thank everyone enough for supporting our last venture.  If you liked what you received, be sure to pledge to this one too.   Please. 

PAX Reminder + Awesome Dragon Thing

Just a reminder to all you locals that Arian will be an panelist at PAX tomorrow evening, August 29th at 6:00 in the Wombat Room.  He'd love to see some friendly faces, but you'll also get to see the awesomeness that is the Pit Beast:

He's HUGE, one of the biggest pieces Fred the Makerbot has ever produced.  And you can bet he'll be featured in an upcoming episode of the Lost Agency Archives...

If this guy doesn't scare you away, we hope to see y'all there!

Summertime and the Livin' is BUSY!

It's nearly Labor Day weekend and here we are after another long posting delay.  Here's a rundown of what's been going on in our world:

• Wayfarer has been published, sent, and well received thus far.  Look for an Errata page here on our site soon (yes, even IGG makes mistakes sometimes...) 
• Did you miss the Kickstarter and still want to play the most comprehensive Multiverse RPG ever?  We'll have hard copies and PDF copies posted to our Etsy site shortly.
• We're revamping Pocket-Tactics. 
• The whole concept of PT has been to have a user-friendly, printer-friendly, pocket-friendly game.  We've simplified the pieces a bit and altered some of the game play, without losing any of the charm.  All the new versions will be posted here soon.
• Arian is speaking at PAX! 
• Such an honor - he'll be talking about his 3D printing adventures and showing off some of his newest creations, including a "weird dragon thing" that he's been printing in parts for the last week or two.  (It's at 6:00 on Friday, so the perfect excuse to start your holiday weekend early.)
• We're joining this decade!
• We've enlisted the help of a friend of IGG to get this blog updated more regularly and also keep up with Facebook.
• We tweet now!  Follow Ill Gotten Games on Twitter please!

Another thing to note - we here at IGG love to hear from you.  Post comments, send us emails, give us a shout through social media.  We want our games to form community, virtual and otherwise. 

Our supporters kick ass by supporting us on Kickstarter

Well, we did it, and we couldn't have done it without all of you! A gigantic thank you to everyone who pledged to our Wayfarer Kickstarter campaign. This game has been in the oven for ten years, and we couldn't be happier that it's finally going to be played by gaming groups other than our own (not that we haven't had a blast keeping it all to ourselves).

Work continues and, as of now, we're ahead of schedule, so it won't be long before the books and PDFs are in the (e)mail. Also, we have for your listening enjoyment (if you're the kind of person who enjoys listening to a bunch of nerds do nerd things) a new episode of the Lost Agency Archives. Episode Two: Return to Nexus City.  Better still, the podcast is now available on iTunes, so accessible AND awesome. 

Meanwhile, more art is being created (we'll be contacting anyone who pledged for custom character art shortly). Speaking of art, check out these awesome 3D models by fellow 3D printer and friend of IGG, Andy de Bruin. They're renditions of art by the amazing Austen Zaleski which will be featured in the book.

On the home front, Dutchmogul been cooking up some models of his own. These 3D printable characters are found throughout the Wayfarer codex and are designed at a small scale (close to standard 15mm) so you can use miniatures without taking up too much table space. If you have a 3D printer (or just want to check them out) all of the models in the range can be viewed and downloaded here in this Thingiverse collection.  (If you don't have a 3D printer, email us about custom prints available through our Etsy store.)

Thanks again to all who pledged and/or supported us.  We'll be posting updates here and on Kickstarter every step of the way, including when we decide what our next Kickstarter might be...  Hmm...  Real life is almost as suspenseful as the Wayfarer setting!

We've passed the goal! We have a podcast! We like exclamation points!

Well, as of today, we've officially reached our Kickstarter goal.  Wanna know what kind of overachievers we are?  We reached it twice!  Okay, that wasn't our doing - someone cancelled their pledge and knocked us back, but someone else pushed us back over the line - but we still are over our goal and therefore preparing the first volume of our Wayfarer codex to send to the printer.  Yay!

But wait, is that it?  Hell no.  We've got news coming out our ears.  We've been working on a bundle of new designs for printing.  We've got a new Twitter handle.  Our artists are continuing to work on new pieces that we'll be able to add to the book when we get some additional bids.

And, perhaps most exciting, we've posted our own gaming sessions as our very own podcast.  The Lost Agency Archives is available here on our site.

Updates - Maker Faire and Kickstarter

Thanks to all for making our first Seattle Mini Maker Faire a resounding success. Although we know why it's defined as "mini," it sure seemed huge and exciting to our little team. We had a blast meeting y'all and talking about Ill Gotten Games' projects.

We've drawn names for the two copies of Pocket-Tactics we were raffling off at the event. If you didn't get an email asking for your address, we're sorry. However, we still have copies for sale on our Etsy site, so certainly check that out or print your own. We'd love to hear your input as you play the game with everyone you know!

Our Kickstarter is kicking along at a decent clip. As of today, we're 79% funded, with 16 days to go. Not too shabby, right? We'd love to exceed the goal so we can get extra books printed, add more art, etc., so please consider pledging if you haven't already. There are some awesome rewards still available, including some of Arian's 3D printed miniatures that you got to see at the event.

If you hear of other events locally that you think would be a good match for what we do, or if you know of a shop in your community who would be interested in a presentation of one of our games, let us know.  We'd love to hear from you!

What an honor!

So, it's hard to have a blog where we talk about our adventures where we don't feel like we're just tooting our own horns.  I mean, we're not walking around with huge egos or anything, but sometimes accolades just fall in our laps and this is our place to talk about them.  So let's just say this...

It's an HONOR for Arian to have been invited to be a guest speaker today at the Microsoft Store at University Village in Seattle.  Makerbot sought him out to be a presenter and he's bringing some of his amazing 3D printed designs.  We hope to see you there, 5 to 7pm!

Oh, and he will have his newest printed marvel there, Baby's First Mace.  It's just too damn cute.

We Went to Hackathon!

It's been a while since we've posted, but it's certainly not because we haven't had anything going on.  We've been BUSY.  There are now 16 factions of Pocket-Tactics, not including a few redesigns lately.  Context is another new game Arian created, a word game this time.  Jeremy and I had a beautiful baby girl, who keeps our hands full and us entertained.  And that's not to mention the hours and hours of development that's been going into three different versions of Continuum - the Continuum Adventure Engine, Continuum Mini, and Continuum Narrative Engine.  More on all of those soon.

But the big news is that Arian traveled across the country and got to participate in Hackathon at MakerBot Headquarters in Brooklyn, NY.  Holy hell. He got to see rooms filled with MakerBot printers while meeting 3D printing enthusiasts across the country who have actually played Pocket-Tactics.  So cool.

Arian's team came in second for the competition at the Hackathon.

He came home inspired and has been pounding out the codex work ever since.  We're still exploring options for printing Pocket-Tactics in a more cost-effective way, but in the meantime there are so many other projects nearing completion.

For more timely updates, be sure you friend Ill Gotten Games on Facebook!

Another new game...

Yep, Arian and his creativity have been at it again.  We're excited to announce another new table top game, completely unique and printed on the faithful MakerBot Replicator.  Once play-tested and perfected, we'll have copies available through the Etsy shop, but for now...

Coming soon from Ill Gotten Games: Hover Derby, a fast-paced, hyper-competitive game in which two to four players race hover cars through the futuristic city of Cosmopolis!

The splash page, as well as all the components for the game, were created in TinkerCad.  Check back soon for some pics!

And the winner is....

Well, it's been a few weeks since the contest to create the perfect Pocket-Tactics logo ended.  There's no excuse for the delay in announcing the winner, aside from being really busy being featured on the radio and making crazy progress revising .  Without further adieu...

The winner of the Pocket-Tactics logo design contest is TinkerCad user Michael Wortman!!

We love the streamlined look, the pocket-y design, and we fully intend to make the piece into a belt buckle to wear proudly to our next gaming convention.  The designer will receive a hand printed and painted copy of the game, as well as design credit when we get the Kickstarter campaign going.

Honorable mentions, too, for some of our other favorites:

Tinkercad user Badger

Tinkercad user Mr TinCans

Michael Wortman again

We really had some amazing entries into the contest and we really appreciate the time and effort that everyone put into creating art for our game.  We're already brainstorming ideas for more contests in the future.

Speaking of logos, our amazing artist friend Austen Zaleski took a jumble of ideas that we emailed him and designed our new Ill Gotten Games logo.  It's exactly as we'd envisioned, but somehow even cooler and better.  HUGE thank you to Austen for his creativity and attention to detail (sounds like a report card, and we think he gets an A).

Wired Magazine Features Pocket-Tactics. YAY!

It happens really, really rarely.  All three of us tend to be pretty verbose.  But we're humbled and speechless to be featured on Wired Magazine's website today.  Wow.

Huge thank you to Joseph Flaherty for writing such an awesome article and promoting Ill Gotten Games, Pocket-Tactics, and 3D printing.

Wow.