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Play Our Games Online!

03 déc 20 Christian Lemay

For the last few months, I've been impressed by the resourcefulness that so many people have shown in adapting video-conferencing platforms to play board games online. I'm not talking about the digital adaptations of board games on places like Board Game Arena, or Tabletopia, but the actual, 'physical' games, made out of cardboard, that are being played over Zoom, Skype, Teams, and others. In fact, many of our games at Scorpion Masqué lend themselves very nicely to this sort of thing.Let's have a look at how to play our games online! Master Word

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Creation 'On The Clock'

20 nov 20 Christian Lemay

Should creation, whatever the type, be paid for by the hour? 

An article was published recently on French gaming website LudoVox by game designer Mathieu Baiget, in which he looked at what game designers actually receive from the sale of their games. One of the main points he brought up in the article was just how far away game designers were from being able to live off of their creations, even with sales of 5,000 copies of a game. The original article (in French) is here.

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Master Word Graphic Design Diary: Simple is Complicated!

23 sep 20 Manuel Sanchez

Simple is Complicated!(or, The Puzzle of Determining an Artistic Direction for a Game Without a Theme.)The process behind creating the visual assets for Master Word was much more of a collaborative effort than a complete ‘work’ conceived and carried out by one person.. which is often the way of things at Scorpion Masqué.

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Are You Playing By the Rules? ...I Think Not!

31 aoû 20 Christian Lemay

Most people will read the rules once before the first game, and then never again.

During our development of Zombie Teenz Evolution, we ran 2 successive playtesting sessions: the first with 5 families, and the second with 4 families. Here is what we learned.Most people will invent a rule rather than look it up.It turns out that the majority of people will not refer to the rulebook when they're not sure about a game's rules, and would rather make a guess, or invent a rule instead of looking it up.

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Tutorials Part 2: Christian Un-Flips the Table

22 juil 20 Christian Lemay

Last time around, I shared a few of the reservations I have about tutorials - those favoured means of explaining rules in video games - and how many people are interested in transposing them into the wold of board games. I would like to continue my analysis here, and see if there might actually be some lessons to be learned from tutorials, an if we can possibly import some of their elements to board games. Tutorials can be integrated in different ways and to different degrees in board games.  

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Flash 8: Visual Design Diary

22 juin 20 Manuel Sanchez

Although it’s much more common to see Illustrators’ Diaries, this project went through so many changes, and required so much research, that I think a general overview of its visual development would be much more fun and informative. First Age: Primordial Soup (early 2017)

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Board Game Tutorials: Always a Good Idea...?

05 juin 20 Christian Lemay

All board game publishers have a certain envy for video game tutorials. No need to read a weighty manual or suffer through explanations by 'the person who knows the rules'...but who clearly has no idea how to explain them. No sir! Simply fire up the game and the interface guides us as we learn how to perform all the necessary actions to lead us to glorious victory!This kind of system could help bypass the biggest barrier in our beloved hobby: Learning The Rules. You can imagine my excitement, therefore, when I came across a number of board games that offered in-game tutorials! What a concept! I threw myself into them with great enthusiasm, and discovered... that I wasn't at all convinced that they were a good idea after all. 

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About Scorpion Masqué

Scorpion Masqué is a leading Montreal-based tabletop game publisher part of the Hachette Group. Since 2006, our passion has been making quality games for children, adults, and the whole family, with the goal of creating memorable moments for everyone. With more than 40 published games, Scorpion Masqué is a recognizable and renowned brand on the international scene. We have a presence in more than 45 countries and have sold over 2.5 million games since the studio founding. Some of our successes include multi award-winning titles such as Zombie Kidz Evolution, Decrypto, and Turing Machine.