Shenandoah Studio Jeff Dougherty

From our Kickstarter page, a demo of an early Bulge build:

We’re slowly moving towards a working game!

Bulge UI Demo

Shenandoah Studio Pat Ward

Well, after a short break for lots of back-end changes to the website and a whole scale ramping up of development and, as I’m sure you noticed, a few announcements, I’m back. Don’t be expecting the long posts of days of yore but I will be getting you back in the loop, posts about game art and general game chit chat. Occasionally.

So I realised there was one prominent area I hadn’t mentioned at all and that was the splash screen. A much maligned topic due to its intrusive abuse – like everyone else we want to get on and play the game. No ones interested in who the game developers/publishers are, what engine or tools it was built with etc.. Just show me the game!!!! But like it or lump it we need something as the game first loads. We ...

Art Diary #16 – the Splash Screen

Shenandoah Studio Pat Ward

I am very happy to be building this new game for Shenandoah Studio on John Butterfield’s most excellent Battle of the Bulge design. It will be great working from another of John’s thoughtful and exciting designs as the launching point for my treatment of El Alamein. For those who are not familiar with the turning point in the North Africa campaign here are a few highlights.

in a desperate fight the British halted the German offensive

An Introduction

Shenandoah Studio Pat Ward

Our very own CFO, Nick Karp, has given a lovely and informative interview on Guns, Dice, Butter about his years at SPI and Victory games, the epic games he’s designed and about his time here at Shenandoah.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Nick’s been interviewed at Guns and Dice

Shenandoah Studio Pat Ward

Well it’s all happening around here. Jeff’s being asked to lecture to college students about game design, Nick’s being interviewed for a podcast, I, erm, nearly finished Stalker: Call of Pripyat and now Eric, our CEO has been nominated Game Designer of the Month over at the Board Game Geek. This is a real honour and over the month he’ll be answering as many questions as possible so feel free to join him.

Game Designer of the Month!

Shenandoah Studio Jeff Dougherty

Folks,

This is all somewhat belated, but I wanted to put something up on our website about two very exciting events. First, we’ve made our goal on Kickstarter, with only about a third of the campaign done! Donations are currently up to nearly $25,000, and the response from the board and wargaming community has been nothing short of spectacular. What’s particularly encouraging is that a lot of the money has come from many small donations, each one a gamer who wants to see our particular kind of games on the iPad. We always knew you were out there. Now we can prove it, which will make for easier going in the future.

Secondly, legendary game designer Mark Herman, another SPI veteran, has signed on to do the first sequel to Battle of the Bulge on the Battle of El Alamein. This underappreciated ...

Kickstarter Update and a Message from Mark Herman

Shenandoah Studio Pat Ward

So form follows function .. does it? Really?

Well .. yes .. and no.  Partly.

Anyone who’s read my earlier art diary posts will have noticed me mention functionality and its importance in wargame map design, often with a nod towards Redmond Simonsen. Being a regular lurker and one time fist waving contributor to the BGG’s board game art forums I’ve noticed a number of people bandying about the phrase “form follows function” like it was some kind of mantra. A golden rule. A statement of fact. And right now I’m going to terrify the rest of the team by telling you that most of the people throwing that around don’t have the first clue of what they’re talking about.

Let’s be perfectly clear from the start. It’s true. And it’s not true. It’s a partial truth.

Look, in simple terms we’re talking about ...

Form Follows Function – Oh really?

Shenandoah Studio Joe Miranda

Solitaire games can be played by more than one person, as a team.

For example, one player can be the supreme commander, and the others command subordinate formations. Or players can act as a “staff”, discussing possible moves and them developing a plan of action. This has the added advantage as everyone can win, or at least lose together. It also encourages social interaction which is always fun.

Solitaire Team Play

Shenandoah Studio Eric Lee Smith

We are happy to announce that our first game, John Butterfield’s “Battle of the Bulge,” is now a Kickstarter project. The campaign launches on Thursday, April 26th around 5:00 o’clock Eastern time. We are excited to have the opportunity to tell the world about our game and to give so many people the opportunity to be a part of it.

Our goal is to raise $20,000 which we use to improve the quality of the game: more and better sound effects and music, enhanced game play, and more play modes. We are confident we will reach this goal – with your help! We have provided a wide variety of rewards and we hope you find a reward that excites you.

We have exciting surprise announcements to make too! We have two major surprise announcements that we’ll make during the campaign ...

Shenandoah Studio is On Kickstarter!

Shenandoah Studio Pat Ward

We’d decided we wanted at least 3 buttons on screen all the time, commit, undo and menu, so the interface wasn’t planned to be fully dynamic ..  invisible until required. But how should the buttons look? Obviously they need to look functional, either following iOS/web standards or looking like physical buttons. You need to know they’re pressable.

The iOS look wouldn’t fit the feel of the game so that was dismissed. I wanted something to match the semi realistic look of the map. To not stand out like the units and icons but to blend in so you’re not fully aware of it as you’re playing. I looked at integrating it into a kind of WW2 German map case, all leather, metal studs and plastic but buttons, switches and panels didn’t work in that context. Buttons felt awkward and the kind ...

Art Diary #15 – Interface – Part 2