Supporter newsletter 19

Issue
This is a copy of Eternal and Diamond Supporter Newsletter #19, published by Grinding Gear Games.

Hey Diamond, Eternal and Unique Item Creator Supporters, Rory here!

As mentioned last week, Carl is away for a few days on a Board Game related holiday, so I’ll be writing the newsletter today.

On Friday a large portion of GGG attended the NZ GDC; Of particular note, Erik Olofsson, our Art/Creative Director gave a speech about designing unique items around player psychology. If you’re a well versed magic player (Or you’ve heard Erik or Chris talk about this before) you’re probably aware of the Timmy, Spike, and Johnny, Melvin and Vorthos player types that we try to keep in mind when creating items. Those videos will be up to view in a few weeks, so I suggest you keep an eye out for them and check Erik’s talk out if you’re interested in the reasoning behind some of our design choices and why we push the design of an item in one direction or another.

Now that 0.11.1 is out of the way, we’ll probably be releasing a few smaller patches with unique items in them before 0.11.2. I’ll be in touch with a few of you who are close to finishing their item over the coming weeks. I’ve found that whenever we are planning to release a major patch, it really delays my responses to emails! Please keep mailing me your ideas and plans for the unique items, or if you’d like a status update, and I’ll be in touch.

Insider Info

As he is away today, it seems like an ideal time to turn the developer spotlight on Carl de Visser, our Senior Designer and Producer. Carl was brought into the team because of his extensive game design experience, and was talking with Chris about the game long before he moved to Auckland and joined the team! Recently Carl has started taking on a production role, overseeing patch preparation and deployment.

Carl has a BA in History, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Defence and Strategic Studies (with Distinction). He has designed board games like Endeavor from Z-Man games. http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33160/endeavor

He now oversees most major game design decisions made, including passive tree changes, monster and player value changes, and has a hand in design and discussions of most new gameplay content. He is also an excellent mentor as a designer, and we often discuss tricky design questions and crazy mechanic ideas.

You’ve probably seen pictures of him in previous newsletters, but here is him in his natural environment: http://i.imgur.com/SJBKD3y.jpg

Carl has caused many of the developers, myself included, to have a much greater interest in Board Games!