There are many ways to
game as there are gamers to
play them. There are focused gamers who pick a
theme and
stick with it most of their lives. There are
die hard role players, hard
dice roll players and anti dice hard tech players. There are
board game aficionados and
card game fanatics. There are folks who like to move around the
hexes and those who wont
map the territory of their playing.
Then there are those who like to mix it all up.
Precious few resources exist for this type of gamer, one such resource though is
Warp Spawn Games (http://www.angelfire.com/games2/warpspawn/index.html)
Warp Spawn Games is home to a motley crew of
game developers and players who revel in creating
games as much as they do in
playing them. The lead
mad scientist in this laboratory of gamming is
Lloyd Krassner who has been running this site since 1997.
The site itself is
spartan but what it lacks in graphics it makes up for in game
rules. Lloyd and the Warp Spawn regulars have been churning out game
rules at a break neck speed for the last few years, the count for 2001 is now over 70 and climbing.
Game types range from your pure
card game to your roll and move
board games to
hex game to
role-playing to combinations of all of the above. There are lots of different types of game mechanics to choose from as well. The
rule sets are broken into thematic sections; there are sections for
SF,
Fantasy,
Historical and the infamous
Other as well as a place of
Universal Game Systems. Each of these sections is further broken down by time period of subtype.
Many of the
rule sets you will find are mostly straight
text files. Very few have any sort of
graphics,
maps or
unit counters. These are left for others to work on. In some cases there are graphics available either as image files or as
Thoth game sets. The big advantage to a Thoth game set in this case is that the individual graphical items are not hidden in the gamebox, they are available to be manipulated and
customized in directories.
The good news is that over time and with more people using
Warp Spawn Games the more ready-made graphics there are to play with. If you cant find these ready made gems for the rules set you are wanting to play then its up to you to create them and hopefully offer them up to the site so that others can use them as well. A lot of what goes on at Warp Spawn is centered on this act of causal
collaboration and
sharing.
Sharing the
games or
variants you have created with the rest of the Warp Spawn crew gets the game played more and thus it becomes a better game for the playing.
Play testing games is a powerful tool in the developmental cycle of a game.
The act of making a game has become a game for the Warp Spawn game makers. Trying out combinations of types, tweaking
rules sets, merging different
mechanics and methods all are evident in the rules sets found here. You can get a glimpse of what goes on in one game developers mind on Llyod’s
Brainstroming page. There is also an open channel of discussion between the users and developers. This comes in the form of a message board. It’s a simple text only web message board but it works to get the
conversation and critiques flowing.
A
Review and
Essays page gives players and developers alike a place to work out the workings of the games; the good, the bad and the ugly. Often what doesn’t work can be as helpful to making a better
game as what does work. Hearing from the
developer and the
players is a great way to get a look into some of the games.
The biggest strengths Warp Spawn has going for it is not its
flashy graphics (there are none) or its professional publication ready games (these games are as raw as they come, rivaling even
CheapAss Games) or even its detailed rule sets (some of these games are as abstracted from their source material as a
Pollack canvas). What Warp Spawn has is a down in the muck attitude where the game comes before the
detail and the developing is as much fun as the playing. It’s a schloberknocker no holds barred game development site that offers as wide a range of game styles as I have seen represented in any one place.
It has a core group of members who are quick to help and very into the idea that everyone is a game developer just looking for a chance to come out and
play.