Steady as She Goes~

We managed to get at least 75% of the crew together on Saturday to playtest the newest batch of changes to Spark 500. We are currently trying out some new dice for movement and finding ways to balance the Armor better. So far, the changes seem to have the effect that we were hoping for! 

We are also going to be giving the cards a bit of a face lift with images that are not from Google or Clipart, but that will come in a little farther down the line. The text on the cards is also getting redone, it turns out second person commands are a lot easier to understand than third person suggestions... Any who~ It looks like the gang is meeting back up this weekend to playtest some more! I guess it is a good thing the game is fun to play!

The Fast and the Fantastic

Holy Smokes! Sorry that it has taken me so long to post an update! So many things have happened during the month of August.

As some of you know, we had playtesting at the Arsenal Game Room for the last two weeks of July and the first week of August. It went AMAZING. Sure, there were some bumps and hiccups, but we expected that. Not to mention, that some of the hiccups led to some really awesome changes that we were able to implement before our playtest at Gen Con. So, a huge hurrah for the folks at the Arsenal!

Speaking of Gen Con; we had signed up to participate in the First Exposure Playtest Hall where lots of game designers of all levels were able to show their new game to one of the largest gatherings of gaming aficionados in the world. Just participating in this amazing event was awesome. Oh, and by the way, we had a great turn out! Got some more awesome advice, some of which we are already putting into action.

People said our game was fun, simple to understand, and well put together, all of which just makes us blush. One of the best compliments we heard from all of our playtesting was the resounding "I'd buy this!" which I have to say is one of the best compliments we could receive.

Our next step is to take the game back down to its basics and go through it piece by piece and polish it until it shines. As it stand right now, I have no idea when we will start selling the game or at what price, but hopefully if all goes well, it should be soon.

See you on the next lap,
The Spark Team

If you would like to see pictures from our playtests at Gen Con and the Arsenal, please check out our Facebook: facebook.com/Spark500

Time to Test?

Ready or not, the playtesting begins this Thursday at the Arsenal Game Room and Cafe in Indianapolis.
We are still trying to iron out the play pieces, but everything else is quickly falling into place.  Cards are waiting to be printed, the board is waiting to be glued together, and we are all anxiously waiting to hear from gamers on Thursday.

We also have an AMAZING logo, courtesy of our friend, Kaitlyn Thiede. Bradley drew up some cool designs that Katy took and turned into this beauty:

I couldn't be happier that she agreed to help us out on this task. 

See you on the next lap,

Team Spark

We're on Facebook! Check us out!  SPARK 500 Facebook

From Theory to Reality

     I am getting my first real dose of Project Management. We have covered so much yet,at the same time, realizing how much we have to cover.  As we are now coming closer to wrapping up the design process and moving into the production process our speed is somewhat startling. Plenty things have happened in these past few weeks since my last update; we received the wooden board in the mail and I have finished the designs for the Garage and Speed Bump Cards (shown below). All we have left to figure out are the play pieces (which are wooden pawns at the moment), the rule book ( dubbed the SPARK Owner's Manual), and Car Cards for the game.  We have barely begun to touch on the game's logo or our own logo. 

     What makes this all the more startling is realizing how close our deadline is.  We are going to be presenting our game at Gen Con, in their First Exposure Play Test Hall, during the 15th through the 18th of August in Indianapolis, Indiana. In truth, the game we have now will probably pass muster, but we want to present the best game possible to the people who, like us, love playing games.  We do not want to leave out the tiniest detail that might dull the game for a single player.  So checking and re-checking what decisions we are making and why has put us behind on time, but ahead in the quality of the game. 

     I hope that you, our intrepid reader, will continue to read and wait for more information on the game. And, that in the days to come you will participate in helping shape our game by playing in our Alpha tests throughout the remainder of July and the start of August, and also by joining us for our first Beta test at Gen Con. 

Board and Player Pieces

Speed Bump Cards   

Garage Cards (Weapon, Parts, and Crew)

     In a side note, we have added two more cars  to the base set and renamed one. The two new ones are the Deadly Drifter, which has the special ability to move diagonally, and the Mad Monster, which can go over and share the same space as other cars. The one we renamed was the Mad Motor, which is now called the Sonic Cycle, and stands as the only car to break the double alliteration theme we had been going for. 

As always,

See you on the next lap,

The Spark Team

Holy Harpoon Gun!

Last night concluded the very first play through with Garage Cards. I have to say it is a bit surprising when the game that has only existed in our minds works and turns out to be loads of fun.

That also means that the Garage Cards are petty much in their final phase. We have Weapon Cards, Part Cards, and Crew Cards; all of which add modifiers to your Vehicle Card allowing for all kinds of great combos. (Like the ones Jeff used to win the game!)
The game is set up so that the person who reaches a certain point value is the winner, which means the Tank and the Station Wagon (slow, high armor) can win just as often as the Formula and Motorcycle (fast, low armor). You earn points by blowing up your opponents or by completing a lap on the track.
Last night we played to five points, Jeff won, but he got 2 points for laps and 3 for blowing up other vehicles. I had 4 points at the end of the game, but only 1 of those was for completing a lap, where as Jordan, our third player, got 3 of his total points, 4, by completing laps.
It all just depends on how you want to play.

I also have a bit of exciting news. Our board is on its way! The board we are playing on above (^) is the one I made out of card stock, foam, and my soul. The one we are getting on Wednesday (hopefully) is made out of wood and is a bit newer version. We are all VERY excited over here.

Starting to "Figure" it Out

We might have found a way to make our board possible, still hashing out the details with the manufacturing company but it is looking good. Huge sigh of relief from over here, let me tell you!
We have also started moving forwards with the figurines for the player pieces, a couple theories are out in the air, but the cars the figurines will be based off of are pretty solid.
In the base game we have the Titanium Tank, the Suburbia Station, the Fast Formula, the Redneck Racer, the Mighty Motor, and the Rod Rocket.

 (REALLY, REALLY ROUGH SKETCHES - courtesy of Hanna and Jeff)

The other cars on there are some currently unnamed ones, that might be in one of the future expansion packs! If you come up with any totally sweet cars, let us know, we might just use them.

See you on the next lap,

The Spark Team

Custom Dice and Custom Dies

As our game progresses into actually being playable, we are faced with unique conundrums.
One of the best features of our game is its ability to be customized. You can change how you play the game every time you play because the board itself acts more like a puzzle than a normal game board. We love this feature, everyone we talk to loves this feature. But, no one can print this feature...
Don't be mistaken!  We are not giving up!!
There are still a ton of options to explore, and we have only just begun our hunt for the right printing company. Luckily, all of the other pieces are more manageable!  Yay!

Some other things we were able to polish lately were the "Garage Cards." Now acting as equipable cards, they are really taking the game to a whole new level of fun!
Also, after talking with Bradley, it sounds like the graphics are coming along as well! Hopefully, I will be able to put up some test images in the coming weeks!

See you on the next lap!
The Spark Team

Of Parts and Pieces

 Everything is coming together, slowly, but it is getting there.  So far we have the board and movement finalized, with "Car Cards" just about there as well.  Realizing you have no idea what we are talking about, let me clue you in.

The board is a racetrack similar to those of Nascar and Indy car races, minus the pit lane. Instead there are 4 "Pit Stops" that act as healing points for your normal hazards of car races and the ones inflicted by you opponents weapons. ( yes, weapons ) You have three types of cards in your "Garage;" Crew cards, Part cards, and Vehicle cards, all assigned by the luck of the draw.
Your Crew cards display crew members and their abilities, like a Mechanic allows you to heal anywhere on the track, or a Professional Driver allows you to move diagonally on the track.
The Part cards contain your weapons, like machine guns, as well as specialty parts, like High Traction wheels. These cards can also give you additional speed and armor bonus as well as nulling some of the nastier Chance cards. Not all of these cards are good though, there is always the Faulty Engine to watch out for!
Vehicle cards are, well, your base vehicle. Some have speed and armor modifiers based on what type of car it is, like the Titanium Tank will come with a +2 armor without any parts added to it.
The last type of card is not kept in your Garage, and it is the Chance card. We really haven't gotten anywhere near to finalizing these cards, or even figuring how you activate them. We have plenty of ideas that could work, just nothing final yet. I can tell you that they can be both positive and negative, giving you a re-roll one turn and sending you flying back 6 spaces the next.

Still have plenty more to do, but it never ceases to be fun.
See you on the next lap,
The Spark team

And There Was a Board!

We apologize for the tardiness of this update, but we have made giant inroads on Spark 500 and I think that deserves a few days!

The Spark team met this past weekend (some in person, some on skype) to take our board design out of our minds and onto the table. And after three long hours we have a functional board and lots and lots of empty glue sticks. Unfortunately, there is still a ton of work to be done for the other parts of the game.

(this isn't even the final form!)

My hope is that we will begin play testing with a complete game in a couple weeks and start drawing up the rules and help guides. We have even started drawing some base designs for expansion packs that will make Spark 500 even more fun!

See you on the next lap!

The Spark Team

The Beginning of the Road

Today, a group of 20-somethings sat down and decided enough was enough, a game needed to be made.  A game that had a little bit of everything they loved about board games with the usual Hoosier twist. The result of one very long Facebook chat was this: The Races of Spark. An adaptable, customizable board game based around a regular car race where none of the usual laws of physics work. Sound fun? We think so. Stay tuned for our next update on 4/21/13.

See you on the next lap.
-The Spark Team