Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

share, this, otters, for, to, games, board, game, kickstarter, nagademon, 2013, part, and, how, clay, crucible, on, club, high, school, first, meeting, post, navigation, online, dungeon, master, last, day, run, humble, campaign, from, is, moving, my, blogging, print, blank, cards, prototyping, tips, hiring, graphic, designer, creative, commons, photos, prep, projects, ve, backed, number, 21, 30, chronologically, running, with, technology, designing, card, main, menu, subscribe, the, onlinedm, categories, archives,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (283), and (118), that (105), for (88), game (84), with (70), this (68), you (63), cards (62), games (57), #otters (51), out (45), but (43), board (42), new (41), about (38), card (37), share (31), opens (30), window (30), have (30), was (30), from (29), some (28), 2013 (27), email (27), kids (23), had (22), 2012 (21), facebook (21), are (21), otter (21), posted (20), michael (20), not (20), how (20), like (20), first (19), just (19), them (19), play (18), what (18), when (18), there (18), design (18), alchemy (17), can (17), nagademon (16), going (16), wanted (16), one (16), want (16), now (16), were (15), here (15), all (15), print (15), november (14), kickstarter (14), chaos (14), get (14), onlinedm (14), book (14), would (14), clay (14), crucible (14), graphic (14), work (14), grid (14), online (13), turned (13), any (13), since (13), let (13), will (13), 2011 (12), post (12), friend (12), claycrucible (12), twitter (12), time (12), pledge (12), more (12), own (12), why (12), even (12), photos (12), rules (11), your (11), who (11), part (11), which (11), club (11), need (11), use (11), glue (11), 2010 (10), next (10), link (10), decided (10), backed (10), also (10), pledged (10), version (10), awesome (10), love (10), their (10), help (10), school (10), idea (10), only (10), template (10), gaming (9), put (9), where (9), while (9), actually (9), they (9), way (9), right (9), much (9), size (9), iachini (9), fun (9), interested (9), quick (9), make (9), bit (9), adorable (9), step (9), january (8), february (8), something (8), well (8), plus (8), really (8), could (8), pretty (8), good (8), each (8), tagged (8), meeting (8), high (8), creative (8), blank (8), october (7), month (7), schools (7), through (7), last (7), these (7), few (7), number (7), campaign (7), might (7), too (7), copy (7), using (7), year (7), people (7), went (7), teacher (7), different (7), done (7), designer (7), over (7), trying (7), though (7), printing (7), into (7), site (7), commons (7), approach (7), printer (7), may (6), december (6), posts (6), other (6), process (6), projects (6), point (6), ultimately (6), didn (6), dice (6), see (6), played (6), yet (6), been (6), kid (6), find (6), designers (6), probably (6), dungeon (6), designs (6), along (6), know (6), try (6), called (6), prototype (6), simple (6), image (6), pdf (6), sleeves (6), mechanics (6), don (6), pictures (6), art (6), smash (6), things (6), stock (6), looking (6), than (6), blog (6), september (5), 2014 (5), making (5), background (5), two (5), world (5), nothing (5), run (5), still (5), download (5), several (5), haven (5), great (5), enough (5), months (5), later (5), someone (5), ring (5), myself (5), able (5), little (5), shirts (5), option (5), project (5), has (5), teach (5), think (5), before (5), back (5), tried (5), paper (5), magic (5), end (5), found (5), started (5), prototyping (5), friendly (5), move (5), dane (5), stickers (5), master (5), april (4), july (4), august (4), uncategorized (4), rpg (4), adventures (4), address (4), soon (4), worth (4), eventually (4), tom (4), bunch (4), tower (4), say (4), lot (4), okay (4), guess (4), those (4), support (4), turn (4), table (4), box (4), sure (4), loved (4), adventure (4), price (4), free (4), getting (4), extra (4), realized (4), playing (4), fit (4), left (4), gamers (4), web (4), happy (4), folks (4), talking (4), else (4), especially (4), choices (4), bring (4), his (4), couple (4), fortunately (4), local (4), after (4), plan (4), most (4), come (4), very (4), national (4), base (4), then (4), available (4), such (4), everything (4), inspired (4), instead (4), clear (4), drop (4), page (4), made (4), quality (4), off (4), cut (4), without (4), ready (4), note (4), actual (4), file (4), inches (4), content (4), blogging (4), june (3), march (3), rpgs (3), meta (3), bazaar (3), advice (3), interesting (3), same (3), mentioned (3), give (3), spent (3), total (3), already (3), personal (3), thank (3), above (3), gotten (3), enjoyment (3), should (3), five (3), means (3), recommend (3), physical (3), looked (3), did (3), read (3), fate (3), came (3), story (3), heard (3), enjoy (3), because (3), got (3), wife (3), turns (3), three (3), rings (3), cool (3), shirt (3), side (3), perfectly (3), arrived (3), christmas (3), thought (3), around (3), community (3), doesn (3), order (3), anyone (3), experience (3), luck (3), bad (3), line (3), another (3), taught (3), halloween (3), today (3), behind (3), anything (3), spot (3), volunteer (3), her (3), she (3), check (3), thing (3), cases (3), doing (3), many (3), times (3), apprentices (3), working (3), players (3), player (3), take (3), place (3), full (3), course (3), nice (3), rights (3), alligator (3), lakes (3), tips (3), illustrations (3), bases (3), basic (3), designing (3), stuff (3), better (3), logo (3), specifically (3), lake (3), top (3), tambako (3), jaguar (3), tons (3), search (3), images (3), does (3), cost (3), photographer (3), yes (3), finished (3), ault (3), works (3), sample (3), ink (3), white (3), old (3), printed (3), lines (3), paint (3), net (3), photoshop (3), create (3), cents (3), labels (3), start (3), day (3), maptool (3), running (3), select (2), archives (2), minis (2), maps (2), macros (2), guest (2), gods (2), champions (2), everest (2), tools (2), categories (2), subscribe (2), whenever (2), older (2), navigation (2), update (2), money (2), being (2), guilds (2), cadwallon (2), rebuilding (2), funded (2), paid (2), figured (2), pounds (2), years (2), hilarious (2), rocks (2), buy (2), cover (2), hard (2), ten (2), bucks (2), earlier (2), backing (2), spirit (2), liked (2), core (2), published (2), pre (2), win (2), once (2), used (2), comic (2), slightly (2), larger (2), finger (2), itself (2), small (2), geeky (2), freaking (2), creator (2), guy (2), met (2), d20 (2), monkey (2), geek (2), fine (2), fairly (2), dirty (2), series (2), involved (2), hoping (2), ends (2), wish (2), down (2), afternoon (2), current (2), carcassonne (2), simplified (2), etc (2), minutes (2), main (2), bringing (2), real (2), basically (2), agreed (2), brought (2), wrote (2), nerd (2), fill (2), tricky (2), discovered (2), ended (2), near (2), home (2), helping (2), seems (2), ago (2), clubs (2), seem (2), mind (2), teaching (2), particular (2), early (2), calling (2), writing (2), expansion (2), leave (2), choice (2), environment (2), easy (2), continue (2), six (2), hand (2), sharing (2), future (2), look (2), ponds (2), rivers (2), playtest (2), send (2), personally (2), regular (2), gmail (2), com (2), deck (2), via (2), drivethrucards (2), contains (2), adults (2), far (2), four (2), playtesting (2), show (2), looks (2), prototypes (2), however (2), playgrounds (2), playground (2), themed (2), effort (2), value (2), fiddly (2), abilities (2), creatures (2), currently (2), theme (2), mini (2), wizards (2), shuffle (2), together (2), known (2), river (2), special (2), life (2), cute (2), photo (2), second (2), case (2), novel (2), write (2), word (2), picking (2), goes (2), final (2), lay (2), publication (2), appropriate (2), text (2), finally (2), steven (2), zolneczko (2), paul (2), stevenson (2), licensed (2), various (2), allow (2), istockphoto (2), shutterstock (2), license (2), 200 (2), sent (2), message (2), deviantart (2), system (2), followed (2), completely (2), recap (2), thanks (2), feedback (2), isn (2), almost (2), illustration (2), recommendations (2), bree (2), professional (2), layout (2), again (2), less (2), draft (2), rather (2), borders (2), problem (2), stick (2), peel (2), repeat (2), corners (2), development (2), position (2), corner (2), hold (2), wait (2), cleanly (2), piece (2), adobe (2), directly (2), onto (2), poker (2), bigger (2), save (2), layer (2), elements (2), apiece (2), crafter (2), sheets (2), excel (2), hope (2), readers (2), salute (2), ton (2), dungeons (2), dragons (2), please (2), humbling (2), humble (2), technology (2), skip (2), proudly, powered, wordpress, skills, projector, reviews, culture, puzzles, publishers, podcasts, pathfinder, opend6, news, networking, math, mailbag, interviews, person, house, fiasco, editions, dndnext, lessons, conventions, characters, 130, 209, category, join, subscribers, enter, coming, mine, stop, recaps, catch, 282, feel, retrospect, exceptions, delivered, scorecard, thanked, reason, supported, advertising, planning, toss, buck, virtual, hat, forgotten, either, never, british, zeitgeist, motivated, intrigued, fantastic, days, genius, seriously, highly, choose, books, shakespeare, reading, fact, beat, enjoyed, seen, race, century, addition, indirectly, led, section, funny, knowing, wouldn, bgg, marketplace, sell, unopened, vasel, podcast, brother, law, everyone, loves, guys, denver, con, exchange, prefer, wear, crit, success, although, upped, believe, video, admission, protection, nakedness, boobies, distraction, lost, fits, hers, surprise, gift, offering, armorclass10, devoured, treasure, its, him, gencon, brian, patterson, edition, stories, merits, follow, inexpensive, hey, continuing, chronological, noting, level, covering, chronologically, fulfilling, young, learning, obvious, trim, head, planned, roll, fluxx, eco, bohnanza, ticket, ride, europe, upper, limit, complexity, designed, collection, portable, carry, variety, styles, competitive, thematic, euro, absolute, maximum, preferably, shorter, complicated, wise, job, decide, knew, beyond, certain, features, preparing, date, set, area, classroom, enthusiastic, given, coordinator, emailed, teachers, coordinate, include, gave, application, included, references, intense, nor, parent, sensitive, volunteering, resident, man, era, modern, began, sort, existed, build, generation, noticed, involvement, students, prep, bother, aside, structured, expecting, tables, test, ran, meet, testing, broke, super, solo, promise, others, drifted, fluid, composition, excellent, fewer, introduced, class, sitting, swing, supervising, spotted, underway, war, recognize, stack, containing, settlers, catan, costumes, welcome, minion, despicable, saw, volunteered, watching, movies, nerdy, meetings, progress, throughout, zero, sale, during, rely, acquiring, photography, cutting, dropping, similar, furthermore, components, counters, meeples, spare, coins, reference, thinking, minute, decisions, expand, playtested, tweaks, photographs, suffice, popped, typically, earliest, beginning, thematically, score, points, shared, target, simplify, wants, wacky, factions, lead, analysis, paralysis, quite, keep, track, ongoing, actions, taking, long, amount, opinion, aeg, weeks, pick, faction, decks, ninjas, sounds, drag, both, scavenging, lives, simmer, researching, face, featured, muppets, sang, musical, instruments, visited, aquarium, captivated, emmet, jug, band, dmitry, azovtsev, http, www, daphoto, info, entirely, mechanic, explore, wasn, involve, totally, direction, participated, 000, nanowrimo, laid, files, front, backs, numbers, completed, quinault, harpel, peyto, jane, belinda, smith, canada, eleephotography, needed, beautiful, john, magnus, jay, gooby, peter, trimming, ridiculously, large, searching, google, tool, options, specify, modify, commercially, advanced, flickr, intellectual, property, attorney, licenses, versions, music, commercial, products, frequently, requirement, provide, credit, power, open, source, movement, woo, hoo, yeah, quickly, suggested, consider, unfortunately, merchandise, including, allows, extended, appears, per, artists, finding, response, unsuccessfully, purchasable, commission, inspiration, nutty, generally, needs, initial, tests, darn, satisfied, publish, dive, mechanically, greatly, aiming, strategic, accessible, ages, playable, kinda, crappy, experimental, detailed, certainly, aesthetic, regret, faster, hire, definitely, portfolio, call, asking, coast, unfortunate, worked, heiss, maybe, depending, purchase, incorporating, concept, participating, previous, hiring, eager, star, tries, hear, thickness, weird, cheaper, feels, wasteful, product, sixth, color, inkjet, laser, fifth, fast, aren, standard, muddy, takes, longer, least, fourth, best, careful, pull, shifted, third, nine, slower, heavy, rounding, clarify, nicer, scraps, caveats, pages, row, having, worry, reapplying, imagine, dry, smudge, tah, dah, positioned, properly, charm, straightforward, press, smeared, overkill, trick, barely, spots, circled, blue, moments, beauty, type, forms, temporary, bond, perfect, struggled, afterward, craft, store, pointed, toward, broad, tip, zig, memory, dab, leaves, remember, symmetrical, safe, sorry, selected, tell, acrobat, reader, sized, words, clean, printout, hide, terrible, thus, merged, manually, typing, coloring, backgrounds, adding, picture, overlay, consists, guide, positioning, beneath, 150, ppi, plenty, tall, wide, comes, indesign, program, user, flexible, bought, couldn, anywhere, problems, sticker, based, amazon, 400, sheet, count, gathering, instance, templates, avery, name, badge, expensive, slips, dropped, substances, tend, lets, dozen, index, markers, begin, providing, launch, late, notice, drift, rare, occasion, always, remove, mirror, originate, anymore, none, mid, took, become, picked, backers, sometime, excited, successfully, kickstarted, lots, bunches, yesterday, received, staff, suha, trilogy, loving, specifics, starting, blogs, learned, moving, live, hello, fans, primarily, company, original, topic, justify, speaking, mainly, written, view, publisher, relevant, checked, 500, wonderful, map, library, education, central, abbreviations, objects, monster, downloads, contact, menu, secondary, primary,

Text of the page (random words):
when i ve done this step i ve printed the actual full image with the words and pictures and everything but i ve since realized that i could instead just print the grid as i mentioned i ve sized this file so that it works if i want to print on regular paper cut it up and drop it into sleeves with magic cards but if i m printing directly onto full size poker cards i want the image to be bigger fortunately i ve found that if i just tell my printer to use the fit option when printing from adobe acrobat reader rather than the actual size option things work perfectly note that the fit option is selected not actual size this leaves me with a piece of card stock with a blank grid on it i made a little note to remember which side is the top that s the side that goes through my printer first it s more or less symmetrical but better safe than sorry printed grid ready for glue step 3 put a dab of 2 way glue in the four corners of each spot on the grid this was the piece of the process that i struggled to find glue that would hold the cards in place on the template as they went through the printer but would let them go cleanly afterward i went to a craft store and someone pointed me toward zig memory system 2 way glue i use the broad tip version when you put this glue on your card stock it will be blue at first but if you wait a few moments it will turn clear the beauty of this type of glue is that when it s clear it forms a temporary bond perfect you can barely see the glue spots so i ve circled them i ll note that when i first tried this stuff i smeared it all over the template that turned out to be overkill a bit in each corner of each card does the trick much more cleanly step 4 wait for the glue to turn clear then position your cards on the template pretty straightforward make sure you press on each corner of each card a little bit so that it will hold ready for printing step 5 print the no grid version of your cards use the fit option again if you ve positioned everything properly this should work like a charm tah dah step 6 peel your finished cards off the template make sure you let the ink dry a bit first so that you don t smudge it step 7 position new cards on the template and repeat no need for more glue i ve done five or six pages of cards in a row without having to worry about reapplying glue i imagine you could do a lot more than that if you wanted to caveats first let me clarify that this is only appropriate later in the development process when you want some nicer looking cards than the scraps of paper in sleeves approach second this is not the only approach i know some folks will print cards on heavy card stock and then cut them out even rounding the corners i m sure that s a great approach i haven t done it myself third yes you only get nine cards at a time this way it s still pretty quick to do but the process is stick blank cards on the grid print one page peel the cards off repeat if you re doing 200 cards it will get old 50 isn t bad at all though and it s no slower than stickers fourth this works best if you re okay with a white background on your cards i ve tried it with borders and it can work if you re really careful but that s tricky to pull off with white borders even if your card is shifted a bit on the template it s not a problem fifth i recommend printing on draft or fast quality blank cards aren t the same as photo paper and even on standard rather than high quality things can come out a bit muddy also it takes longer for the ink to try if you go above draft quality at least on my printer sixth i ve only tried this with a color inkjet printer i have no idea if this would work on a laser printer the finished product in the end i m really happy with this approach with stickers the extra thickness made the cards a bit weird to shuffle that doesn t seem to be the case with this approach it s cheaper and it feels less wasteful if anyone else tries this approach to making some nice looking prototype cards i d love to hear about it some sample cards from otters along with the star of this show the glue p s i m still eager for people to try the print and play version of otters download the cards here and download the rules here michael iachini clay crucible games claycrucible on twitter share this email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x posted in advice tools board games tagged blank cards board games card games printing prototype nagademon 2013 part 3 otters hiring a graphic designer posted on november 15 2013 by michael the onlinedm recap i m participating in national game design month nagademon again this year making a kid friendly card game called otters previous posts part 1 the concept part 2 creative commons photos graphic design now that i have the mechanics of the game and the art for the cards i need good graphic design to bring it all together specifically i need card layout a game logo card back illustration incorporating the logo rules layout probably on a card maybe a box design depending on how i make this game available for purchase for chaos alchemy i worked with a friend who is also a professional graphic designer bree heiss you can see my post about her awesome graphic design work on the game here fortunately for her bree now works for wizards of the coast doing awesome graphic design work on their games that s a bit unfortunate for me though since it means i need a new graphic designer making my choice i put out a call on twitter asking if anyone had any recommendations for graphic designers several recommendations came in and i followed up with three different designers ultimately i decided to hire dane ault you should definitely check out some of his earlier work over on his portfolio page by dane ault by dane ault dane has done a lot of work for kids and i love his aesthetic i almost regret that i m using photos instead of illustrations on otters since dane s illustration work rocks but since i want to get this game out before the end of the month the photos are much faster to work with want to play otters while the graphic design isn t finished yet otters is completely playable right now with my own kinda crappy graphic design if you re interested in trying it out you can download a pdf with the cards and my experimental rules on one card right here if you d like some more detailed rules which would probably help you can download the rules here i d certainly love any feedback that you might have especially if you try otters with kids photos by paul stevenson steven zolneczko and tambako the jaguar i m aiming for a game that s interesting for adults to play with some strategic choices but accessible for kids probably ages 6 and up or so try it out and if you have some feedback good or bad drop me a line at claycrucible gmail com thanks michael iachini clay crucible games claycrucible on twitter share this email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x posted in board games nagademon otters uncategorized tagged board games card games nagademon otters nagademon 2013 part 2 otters creative commons photos posted on november 11 2013 by michael the onlinedm in the spirit of completely making a game for nagademon 2013 i ve decided to dive all the way in with otters you can read part 1 about the idea behind the game here as a recap otters is a simple kid friendly card game that s mechanically inspired by smash up but greatly simplified my initial play tests have left me pretty darn satisfied with otters the way it is right now so what s next let s publish to be clear this is a little nutty yes generally a game needs tons and tons of playtesting but this one is very simple and it just does what i want it to do as is now if i m going to get a published purchasable game done by the end of november i m not going to have time to commission a bunch of illustrations for the cards that s okay though since part of the inspiration for otters was how much i love looking at photos of otters online of course if i m going to be able to use photos i ll have to license them this is new to me picking a photographer unsuccessfully i started by going to deviantart an awesome web site when you re looking for artists and finding a photographer with otter photos that i liked i sent a message via deviantart s system and later followed the photographer on facebook and sent another message but no response stock photos no since i m trying to move quickly on this game i had to try something else some other designers had suggested i consider stock photos such as from istockphoto or shutterstock unfortunately shutterstock does not allow their images to be used on merchandise including game cards and istockphoto only allows such use if you buy an extended license which appears to cost about 200 more per image yeah that s not going to work creative commons woo hoo finally i realized that the power of the open source movement could help me here creative commons i m no intellectual property attorney but the basic idea behind the creative commons licenses there are different versions out there is that you can put a creative work in the world and allow people to use it for various things in some cases people will even let you use their creative commons licensed stuff like photos but also music and more in commercial products frequently there s a requirement that you provide the creator with credit for their work and as it turns out there are tons of awesome creative commons licensed otter photos out there many of them can be found on flickr but i did most of my searching using the google image search tool the advanced search options let you specify that you only want to find images that are available to do various things with such as use and modify even commercially cute otters fortunately i don t need a ridiculously large number of different otter pictures for my otters game there are cards with the number 1 2 and 3 so three different otter pictures there otter 1 by paul stevenson otter 2 by steven zolneczko otter 3 by tambako the jaguar there are special cards that let you play an extra card play the top card of the deck or move a card from one spot to another extra card otter by peter g trimming top card otter by tambako the jaguar move an otter by jay gooby there s also an alligator card alligator by john magnus and finally there are otter playgrounds so i needed beautiful lakes lake in canada by eleephotography peyto lake by jane belinda smith lake quinault by tom harpel next step graphic design now that i have the art for the cards completed i need some graphic design help specifically i need someone to lay out the cards with the appropriate numbers and text design a logo for the game to put on the backs of the cards along with anything we need for the background of the card back lay out the rules probably on a card front and back in order to use drivethrucards for publication i m working on picking the graphic designer now if all goes well i ll have final laid out files soon michael iachini clay crucible games claycrucible on twitter share this email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x posted in board games nagademon otters tagged board games card games nagademon otters nagademon 2013 otters part 1 posted on november 4 2013 by michael the onlinedm last year i participated in national game design month better known as nagademon in case you haven t heard of it before nagademon is inspired by nanowrimo national novel writing month instead of trying to write a 50 000 word novel in november i m trying to design a game my effort last year was called gods champions it was the second game i tried designing after chaos alchemy and while i ended up with some fun stuff i ultimately realized that the core mechanic i wanted to explore just wasn t that fun i could have a fun game but it would involve going in a totally different direction so i decided to move on to other games instead this year i ve decided to work on a game entirely inspired by theme otters otter photo by dmitry azovtsev http www daphoto info let s face it otters especially river otters are freaking adorable as a kid i loved the christmas special called emmet otter s jug band christmas it featured adorable otter muppets that sang and played musical instruments later in life i visited an aquarium and was captivated by the cute river otters so for a few months now i ve known i wanted to design a game themed around otters i wanted it to be kid friendly and i wanted it to have adorable otter art what would be the mechanics of this otter game i had no idea i started by researching otters and what they do and while they re adorable creatures nothing about their lives really inspired any game mechanics in my mind i let things just simmer scavenging mechanics from other games then a couple of weeks ago i found myself playing a game that i really want to like but that i actually don t enjoy much smash up the theme of smash up pick two cool faction mini decks like ninjas and wizards and shuffle them together sounds like a lot of fun the art is awesome and yet the game has been a drag both times i ve played it smash up by aeg smash up seems like it wants to be a simple quick wacky game but most of the factions have some fiddly mechanics that can lead to analysis paralysis it s also quite fiddly to keep track of everything on the board with all of the abilities from the base cards plus the ongoing abilities from the creatures and actions that have been played to those bases it can be really hard to even know what the total value of cards at a base currently is the game ends up taking way too long for the amount of fun it contains in my opinion otters the basic idea so my idea for the otter themed game take the basic idea of smash up playing cards from your hand to shared bases on the table in an effort to bring the total value of the otter cards on a base up to a target number and simplify it using cards with pictures of adorable otters thematically the bases will be playgrounds for otters ponds lakes and rivers when you have enough otters in a playground to fill it up with fun you score points for that playground prototyping typically i make quick and dirty prototypes for the earliest designs of my games however since otters is all about adorable pictures of otters i started using cards with art right from the beginning now i don t personally own the rights to any otter photographs or illustrations so i m not going to show you what my prototype looks like here on my web site suffice it to say i found adorable otter pictures online and popped them into a simple template playtesting you can help so far i ve playtested otters four or five times with only small tweaks to the mechanics and rules along the way it s a...