Jon Perry
@perryjon
Game designer on UFO 50, Hot Streak, Air Land & Sea, Spots, Scape Goat, Time Barons. Comic author on Let Go. Website at jonperry.com
Getting ready to run one of my favorite games at Ragecon, the incredibly unique Chaosmos.
Pretty happy with my third place finish in the Spots Grand Slam World Cup (out of 172 participants). Is it weird to play your own games this much after release? 😅
Took my time reading this, a few pages a day, but just finished. So good. Michael DeForge never disappoints.
A surprise highlight of BGG Con was being a spectator at Monster Dash, a lifesize version of Hot Streak featuring classic movie monsters. The event was very well attended and raised around $2000 for local charity Cafe Momentum -- huge props to the organizers! (cafemomentum.org)
Almost $10000 raised for Partners in Health now! Join the party over at www.twitch.tv/ufo50cherryr... Hyper Contender up next.
Very excited for people to start getting their Hot Streak copies! The preorder period has ended and copies should be going out now, basically. Also, international shipping is now live for a lot of destinations, so if you tried and failed to order previously, maybe give it another shot.
Proud of my town in PA for showing up this Saturday. Being outside in good weather, surrounded by likeminded neighbors = instant mood boost. Every honk you get is a shot of dopamine. Highly recommend.
Using monte carlo simulations again to tune a card game. I'd say most of the time this just confirms what my gut is already telling me, but maybe a quarter of the time, I learn something surprising and new. It's a time intensive tool, so I'm definitely still getting the hang of when it's worth it.
Pretty impressed by the mechanism I was using to seed the board with new energy. You just flip over one of these cards like so. This deck was also the game's clock.
Dug up the actual prototype for the game that became Bug Hunter. Lots about the game changed, but the starting modules remained the same!
Just came across this old picture from 2014. This was the board game that would later turn into Bug Hunter from UFO 50. I got pretty far into development with it, but I never ended up pitching it to publishers for a variety of reasons.
5) LORDS OF DISKONIA is a strategy war game where your soldiers are disks. On the map screen, you'll make tough decisions about acquiring skills and hiring new units. But once in battle, you'll need careful aim to truly excel. Think of it as fantasy billiards / crokinole.
4) DEVILITION is a game of planting and detonating explosive chain reactions. Each piece you place has a distinct explosion pattern. By carefully positioning your pieces you can set up a Rube-Goldberg-sequence of explosions that will clear the board of pesky demons.
3) AVIANOS is a 4X strategy game about warring birds. Each turn you pray to a different dinosaur ancestor, which determines what actions you'll have available. Pray often enough to the same dino & they will bless your actions, upgrading them permanently for future turns.
2) PARTY HOUSE might be the first ever "rolodex-builder." Throw house parties to earn popularity & then spend it to add new & cooler guests to your invite list. You never know what order your guests will show up or what trouble they might cause -- just like a real party!
1) BUG HUNTER is a turnbased tactics game where you hunt mutant bugs. Buy & use "modules" that allow you to move or attack in various ways. Some modules even let you warp the playfield itself! You'll get stronger as you go, but watch out--the bugs you don't kill evolve new powers
Tabletop fans: I want to highlight some of the more board gamey titles in UFO 50! UFO 50 is a collection of 50 video games, & while it contains something for every style of gamer, here are 5 games with a tabletop leaning you might not expect to find in a retro collection:
Posted some variant rules for how to play Air Land & Sea where each player has a different deck. Pulled from this BGG thread: boardgamegeek.com/thread/33503...
If you iterate on a game long enough you will just return to your original idea... @alexhague.bsky.social
I normally hate paper screens but Sky Team has shown me a better way to do them... more stable and more secret!
Testing a new game in the Unpub room at PAX Unplugged Saturday & Sunday! @unpub.bsky.social
Really enjoying A Game About Selecting Seven Cards, Speedily Searching For Synergies by @stuffbybez.bsky.social. The title says a lot, but I'd describe it as a bit like Fantasy Realms with a speed element. I really like how it blurs the distinction between illustration and functional iconography.