The Oatmeal recently released a comic about creativity. In a nutshell, it points out that creativity is like breathing. You have to breathe in before you can breathe out. In this analogy, you can’t produce creative content if you don’t also consume creative content. Creativity is an energy, like electricity or heat; in order to use that energy, you have to get it from somewhere. This can come in the form of reading, watching TV or movies, listening to music, looking at visual arts, and many other forms besides. But in consuming the creativity of others, one becomes more able to create works of one’s own.
Author Archives: PinkFae Archives
Golden Age of Board Games
I was talking to an acquaintance of mine the other day. In the course of our discussion, I mentioned that I write blogs about tabletop games. She asked me what I meant by ‘tabletop games.’ When I said, ‘as opposed to video games,’ she responded, ‘So you mean like Monopoly and Sorry?’ I had to explain to her that there was a lot more to modern board games than the ‘classics’ that she was probably used to from her childhood. I got to explain to her that we are currently in the golden age of board games. But it seems to me that her experience is typical; not many people seem to realise just how amazing board games have become in the last two decades. So today, I want to talk about the golden age that we are currently experiencing.
Video Game Review: Transistor
Oh I really enjoyed Transistor. I finished the regular and NG+ play-throughs of the game across a span of about 3-4 days. One could probably rush through the story in as little as 3 hours, or take time unlocking all the lore, doing the side challenges for extra xp and game knowledge, listening to the catchy music, and stopping to smell all the roses along the way and end up taking easily triple or quadruple that.
The game and combat mechanics are pretty fun, with a number of subroutines that you unlock or add to your Transistor weapon as you level up. You form actual skills with those subroutines, using a combination of active slots, support slots (that you slot subroutines into to improve active slots), and four passive slots (buffs to improve your character as a whole). Each subroutine does a different, but thematically similar, thing depending on whether it’s currently in an active, passive, or support slot.
Board Game Review: Area 1851
The time has come once again for a board game review. This week, I shall look at a new game that was only just recently published, with the help of Kickstarter, and was introduced to me by my good friend John Trobare. The game in question is: Area 1851. It is a game of ‘UFOs meet cowboys.’ Aliens and old west characters are competing to gain the greatest amount of reputation by constructing and delivering strange devices.
Interview: Board game designer John Trobare
The interviewee, John Trobare, with his wife and son at Halloween.
My good friend John Trobare is an accomplished individual. He created the game Asphodel, which he self-published last year through Kickstarter. In addition, he opened his own pizza delivery business two years ago. All this in addition to being a devoted father and husband, and playing games several times a week, including annual trips to the Geekway to the West convention in St. Louis.
I decided to interview Mr Trobare for this week’s entry. So one Sunday evening, we sat down with some family and friends to talk over dinner.