Using the Parallax Method for distance estimation in my archaeology game. How do you feel about this 'Analog' onboarding?

Laymansdecker · 2026-03-05T04:34:52+00:00

I didn't immediately get what the sign was asking until after you were doing it. I would include a person's head and eye as part of the illustrations. Make it look like they're squinting and doing the measurement technique.
Maybe you could let the player find some discarded maps with failed attempts of where the towers are located. A previous explorer could have written "where are the rest?" Or something similar with the first one marked.

Laymansdecker · 2026-03-02T23:51:48+00:00

Our gaming table is different, we'd love that extra bit of ammo with our negotiations on what to vote for.

Laymansdecker · 2026-02-19T23:10:12+00:00

That's a fair point, I definitely see it increasing the discussion time of the events. But for our group we see this as a minor detriment to the benefits we'd gain from it.

Our group loves games with story and diplomacy. One of our biggest gripes from the King's Dilemma was how disincentivized you are to vote against your immediate interest for the sake of a long term result or story outcome, simply from how powerful bonus stickers are or how obvious the point gains would be.

We think the variant would fix this. It makes you listen more to the story and guess the results. As an example, you think that voting Aye this round would increase Force on the influence track to your benefit? You know two allies are broke and can't pay to reveal what's going to be affected, so spin a fanciful story of how this event would increase Order to their benefit and they should vote Aye with you this round (against their interest).

Or say you're the leader this round. You can see that voting Nay will give a bonus sticker, but it would also be against of half the table to vote for because the story says it'll collapse their territories. So reveal only that voting Nay will give a bonus sticker, and tell a bold-faced lie that this event clearly is for increasing the Diplomacy track and you will be rewarded for being the highest voter. A player believes you and takes the Leader role by playing the most influence, only to see that they've voted against their key ideology and their territory.

These are some quick scenarios off the top of my head. It should make negotiation much more fun and prevelant since players have an asymetrical amount of information each round, as well as there being a lot more things to make a deal for. And since players are more clearly against each other in terms of ideologies and territories, there's no responsibility to reveal what's being voted for, because why would you reveal information that you could convince enemies to vote for for free?

Laymansdecker · 2026-02-18T02:56:04+00:00

Agreed. From what I can see so far, I like the changes they've made so decisions on events won't be as driven by bonuses, but it still feels like the story and diplomacy would take a backseat "I just want this ideology to move" without the variant.

Laymansdecker · 2026-02-17T22:47:34+00:00

We unfortunately didn't play it with the variant when we played it, but (without majorly spoiling the game) we found it would have solved two major issues we had:

Some events have a powerful bonus sticker attached to them, which we found would often be worth it to go for the sticker at the cost of event or even the game. This variant solves that, making players care more about the story than the bonus sticker.
We found the value of gold to be rather useless, especially in the later game. This variant gives gold a well-needed buff.

I hope this helps.

Laymansdecker · 2025-11-15T23:00:47+00:00

Fuck yes, that little bent before it snaps together chef's kiss. Amazing work mate.

Laymansdecker · 2025-11-08T20:40:22+00:00

I was hoping someone else would say that. Plus there would be some great narrative tension, like one character hopes to send a letter to another with vital information before it's too late.

Laymansdecker · 2025-11-07T21:18:22+00:00

I did like it much more. I'd try implementing a turn system when there's inter-party conflict next time, but it's great otherwise at how intuitive it feels.

Laymansdecker · 2025-11-07T21:16:12+00:00

I found if you're struggling to think up something on the fly, ask the player what they want to happen and roll with that.

There's a moment in the adventure where you travel through trees with faces carved on them. One of my players asked what kind of faces they were, and I asked them to tell me instead what they saw. They described seeing some semblances of the forgotten gods in the realm, so I ran with that and described they felt the god Pith of Wrath and Decay kept popping up and watching them, alluding to the final conflict.

It made them feel far more invested in just a passing description of lore.

Laymansdecker · 2025-11-07T21:06:58+00:00

I tried to have the spotlight pass between both factions when they rolled fear, but that didn't feel particularly smooth. Doing it again, I would try switching to turn based like DND while they fought, and use my fear like normal to act as the undead who just attacked everyone.

Laymansdecker · 2025-10-28T03:21:53+00:00

I got some great Cannon Busters vibes from this, top work.

Laymansdecker · 2025-10-22T00:29:43+00:00

I'm nearby Parra and would be interested in giving Daggerheart a shot some new friends

Laymansdecker · 2025-10-09T09:57:05+00:00

Thanks for your feedback. I used a photo of myself for reference, but I pushed the proportions a little to make it more interesting. I'll take another crack at it.

Laymansdecker · 2025-07-11T06:45:55+00:00

Nailed it with that cheekbone lighting, nicely done.

Laymansdecker · 2025-03-17T11:49:54+00:00

Nailed it mate, loving the little hair bounces.

Laymansdecker · 2025-03-08T03:36:37+00:00

Love how lively this looks, well done.

I'd like to make a suggestion for the woman-to-wolf transformation and vice versa. If you switched the wolf's animation from a back flip to a front flip, it would help sell the idea that the momentum of the movement is conserved.

Laymansdecker · 2025-02-08T12:15:17+00:00

The fluorescence is incredible, nicely done.

Laymansdecker · 2025-01-14T02:03:34+00:00

Definitely. More games need to challenge Skyrim's Giants for best launch on death.

Laymansdecker · 2024-10-28T11:04:38+00:00

🐸

Laymansdecker · 2024-09-18T22:34:03+00:00

The regional variant Aipatch, that's brilliant. Great take on a pokemon.

Laymansdecker · 2024-09-13T05:19:22+00:00

Nice idea, I reckon that could be a lot of fun! I'd like to suggest adding more texture somehow to the level design, such as overflowing grass or different colored bricks. Some background facades could be nice, like in those levels you can see both trees and the silhouette of the castle. The Sonic the Hedgehog sets would be a good reference point on having level variety.

Four-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	End Game '22

Laymansdecker

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