Michael Coe Founder of Gamelyn Games - an Interview

We’re very excited today to have a chat with Michael Coe, founder of Gamelyn Games, and designer of Dungeon Heroes, about the newest title scheduled for release from Gamelyn Games, Fantasy Frontier!

Michael, thanks for chatting with us!

So, tell us a little of the Gamelyn Games story; how did you arrive on the gaming scene?

Gamelyn Games is a rapidly growing games and toys company based out of Arizona. My wife Brittany and I started Gamelyn Games shorty after I transitioned out of Crash Games, the publishing company I had previously founded with Patrick Nickell. Brittany and I are both family focused individuals and we actually just started a family of our own! We truly share a passion for providing families and friends with awesome games and toys. We both grew up as gamers and little inventors and I’ve had a burning passion all my life to create games and share my ancient ideas… yes, I’m getting old, so we set out to make our dreams come true!

We’ve started to hear the buzz coming out of Gencon about Fantasy Frontier, but for those who don’t know the game, can you give us a quick overview?

Absolutely! Fantasy Frontier is a 2-4 player euro game that delivers an epic airship experience! Players compete for victory points by creating geographic patterns, building settlements and through aerial combat. The game boasts a synergetic package of tile placement, pattern recognition, worker placement and resource gathering.

What inspired the creation and design of Fantasy Frontier?

It all started when I was about 5 years old with The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin! I say that jokingly but maybe there is some truth to it. I did absolutely love the airship toy and I had the whole crew! I’d be lying if I didn’t say that ever since then I had an affinity for airships. It seems every time one showed up in a new video game that game quickly became my favorite; Mario Bros. 3, Final Fantasy 2, Chrono Trigger, Warcraft 2 and many others.

In addition to my love for airships, I love map making. I began playing D&D at eleven and once I had a turn at being the DM I was hooked. I would create my own worlds vast with adventure. I’d spend hours creating maps of the worlds and their key areas and then bring them to the table for players to explore.

Fantasy Frontier is a product of my dreams to create a game of airships and cartography!

What is the “hook” for Fantasy Frontier? That is to say, what one thing about the game sets it apart from other games?

The emphasis on map making from atop a fantastic airship sets Fantasy Frontier apart! Also, the theme; as much as people have been calling it steampunk (and I take no offense to that) it is actually high-fantasy. Naomi Robinson has done a magnificent job capturing that theme.

Lastly, the integration and execution of a euro game with optional take-that elements.

Like so many indie (and established) game publishers, you’re funding this title through Kickstarter; you’ve also had plenty of success in the past bringing games to market through crowd funding. What bit of advice would you give an up-and-comer looking to kickstart a project?

Create a complete project plan that includes a pre-production schedule, marketing strategies, a production schedule, and a post-production plan. Do your research about Kickstarter, taxes, production and shipping costs, marketing costs etc. Sound overwhelming? It can be, but remember a wall is built one brick at a time.

Your BGG bio says you’re also a professional actor! Whoah! Do you still act, or are you just making games for a living?

I haven’t acted in some time, but I still love it! I plan to return to acting once I am able to make games full time. I work an average of 80-100 hours a week between my day job and Gamelyn Games. Once I can cut out my day job, I’d love to return to acting.

Hypothetically speaking, if you were trying to impress someone at a party or social gathering while talking about your acting career, whose name would you drop when listing off folks you’ve worked with?

Kathy Bates, Kate Mara, Gregory Smith, Chris Pratt… I’ve been very blessed to have worked with some really awesome and really talented people in the acting industry.

What are some of your favorite games to play right now? and why?

Board Games: Chess, Carcassonne, and Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small. I really enjoy many others but these are recent visitors to the game table. Chess for the epitome in strategy and tactics that it is, Carcassonne for capturing medieval landlording in an approachable package, and Agricola All Creatures… for the breeding…lol =D

Video Games: Legend of Zelda (NES), Adventures of Link (NES) and Pilot Wings (SNES)… why? Because it they make me feel like a kid again alright, you want the truth? There it is!

Word on the street has it that Eric Vale, of Dragon Ball Z fame, will be doing (or has done by now) the voice work for the Kickstarter video of Fantasy Frontier. Any other cool surprises you can tell us about coming during the campaign?

The coolness of Eric Vale doing Fantasy Frontier is a hard act to follow. I am working on some fun ideas for the campaign stretch goals but can’t let the cat out of the bag quite yet.

We’ve had some conversations offline about the review we wrote for Dungeon Heroes. We wanted again to thank you for understanding our point of view. We’re also very curious if there are any plans for the future of Dungeon Heroes? Dungeon Heroes has a very bright future! The game has been received tremendously and the stores can’t keep it on the shelf. This is all fuel for the 4 player version I am currently working on. I’m also exploring additional expansions to the current 2 player system. So, lots of good stuff in development. Dungeon Heroes lends itself well to expandability and my well of creativity for it is deep.

So what does “down time” look like for the Coe family? Or do you get much of that? I make time for “down time” because that is the time I get with my wife and daughter, the two most meaningful aspects of my life. We spend time going to the park, the mall, going out for dinner and even sometimes the arcade, Jolene (my daughter, 10 months old) loves going out and meeting other kids and seeing the wonderful world we live in. We also spend good quality time at home just relaxing and playing with Jolene, teaching her new things. She just took her first two steps the other day! Good times!

Okay...5 Questions/5 Words (or very short phrases) to answer them! Aaaand GO!

• Favorite dirigible? Ooo… that’s tough… I’m going to cop out and say that I love them all equally. They are all my babies after all. =)

• Favorite urban legend you wish was actually true? LOL! I don’t wish any were true! That’s just macabre! There are lots of fairy tales I wish were true though.

• Best part of an Oreo—Cookie or Stuffing? The 10 year old me would have said the stuffing, but the current me has grown an appreciation for the synergy that the stuffing and cookie have together.

• Favorite toy when you were a kid? Wow, that’s a hard question. I was big into toys as a kid, but I think I loved my Ninja Turtles and Jurassic Park collections the most.

• Name of your first RPG character? Jolene, a Paladin in D&D advanced 2nd edition. Also, the name of my mother and now my daughter. ROFL… wow I’m a geek, bad!

Michael, thanks so much for taking some time for us, and congratulations on all of your success so far!

For more information on Fantasy Frontier you can follow this link RIGHT HERE to the Kickstarter campaign, or visit www.GamelynGames.com.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to look for us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube AND now on our very own podcast!

Fantasy Flight Announces a Steampunk Reboot of Borderlands!

Late Friday afternoon, Fantasy Flight announced their sequel to the classic game Borderlands is finally ready to go. Apparently the old game combines the heavy negotiation of Diplomacy with a resource market that inspired Settlers Of Catan. The new game is called Gearworld: The Borderlands, and it's got the speampunkiest cover you've ever seen.

From the announcement: "Fantasy Flight Games is excited to announce Gearworld: The Borderlands, a game of negotiation, conquest, and construction for two to four players! Players compete to gain the favor of the Sky People for their tribe of scavengers in a post apocalyptic landscape. Based on the classic board game Borderlands designed by Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge and Peter Olotka, Gearworld: The Borderlands has streamlined the original rules and re-imagined the game’s setting while retaining its predecessor’s spirit and core mechanics.

The scavenging tribes of the Borderlands have mined the land for generations, are adept at extracting scrap from ruins, and have managed to raise horses in the wastes. Each resource is essential to building your tribe’s strength and, eventually, the skyworks. Resource Tokens represent sites where these valuable raw materials can be produced. Controlling as many of these areas as possible is one step to survival in the Borderlands, but it is only the first.

There are many ways to gain the materials you need, and you may have to rely on your competition to get all the resources you require. Trading among the tribes is certainly not unheard of, and players can negotiate for resources to gain an edge. Take care to not be too generous with your exchanges, however, as your opponents will also stand to profit.

If diplomacy isn’t your tribe’s strong suit, then you can always take what you want by brute force. Battling an enemy is a game of numbers, and if you can overwhelm your opponent with weapons, steamboats, horses, or ships, you can take what you need. If you’re too aggressive, you may make some enemies in the Borderlands, and your opponents can team up against your tribe. Combine your strength to take down a tribe that is close to building all of its skyworks, or reinforce a weaker neighbor to cause problems for an aggressive rival. Forge and break alliances to get ahead in both battles and bartering. In the end, all that matters is the survival of your tribe.

While building the skyworks is the end goal, each tribe must use its resources wisely in order to reinforce its strength and enhance its ability to transport goods. Combining resources into weapons, bridges, ships, and riverboats while conserving enough to build skyworks is the delicate balancing act that each tribe must undertake.

In order to build any developments, including the skyworks, all of the materials required for its construction must be in the same space, so the effective transportation of resources is essential to your success. Each tribe must produce, trade, or steal the materials they need to build new developments and protect what is theirs, but all the resources in the Borderlands will do them no good if they’re spread all over the map.

Ships, steamboats, and horses are used to strategically transport goods around the Borderlands, and can also add to your strength in battle. Bridges are a quick and inexpensive way to connect the islands of Claw, Ironside, and Locke to the main landmass of Haestus, potentially opening up new avenues for resources. Invest in developing Weapons to reinforce your military might; they’ll be extremely valuable when your tribe comes under attack. Take care when building, though. Skyworks are expensive to create and you don’t want to spread your already meager resources too thin.

Acquire resources by conquering your fellow scavengers, carefully defending your own lands, and the clever use of trade and diplomacy to gain an edge."

They're saying it'll be out in the 2nd quarter of this year. I (Firestone) never had a chance to play this game, so I'm looking forward to trying it out. Check back for more updates. Thanks so much for reading, and make sure you "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

What You Missed

It's been a pretty eventful week here at TOG! As always, we thank you for reading, and hope that you continue to enjoy the content we work to bring you! Here is your one-stop shop for all things TOG for this week!

Monday's news: The wait is over, Mice & Mystics is here!

Tuesday's review: Jeremiah attempted to solve the Impossible Machine. And we also brought you news about another Ticket to Ride map.

Wednesday's interview: We had a nice chat with Levi Mote and Sarah Sharp, the co-designers of Ruse, the steampunk who-dun-it card game.

And Thursday's Kickstarter Weekly: Featured Levi and Sarah's Ruse!

Be sure to check back in next week as we bring you more exciting news, reviews, and interviews from the gaming world!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ruse -- Kickstarter Weekly

If you read our interview with Ruse's designer's yesterday, you know they had a desire "to design a murder mystery game that went beyond deducing what was in an envelope." Ruse is that game. It plays from 3 to 5 players—ages 12 and up—in 30 to 45 minutes. They designed it using a standard 54-card deck (but with cool steampunky pictures), so they're seeing it as a gateway game, too. Many people don't have a desire or the patience to learn a whole new batch of cards, but since this game uses a "standard" deck, they might be more willing to jump in and try it. In fact, they're even including the rules for the Victorian-era card game Whist.

The Kickstarter page says: Players take turns making Accusations of Method, Motive, or Opportunity against each other or providing Alibis to counter those Accusations. You must remember what has been played and craft your Accusations well to pin the murder on another player.

Sounds like it'll be a fun storytelling, whodunit game. Jeremiah and I should be getting our pre-production, review copies any day now. We're going to give this a whirl once we do, and we'll have our reviews up ASAP. In the meantime, you can go check out the Kickstarter campaign—they're already close to being funded!

We Review Plato 3000

By Firestone I like being surprised by a game—well...pleasantly surprised, anyway. I opened up my recently arrived, Kickstarted copy of Glory To Rome and found a small card game that I’d completely forgotten was a stretch goal. It’s called Plato 3000, and it’s basically rummy with special powers.

The game comes with a 54-card deck of illustrated cards. The artwork is pretty cool; it’s kind of an apocalyptic steampunky series of machines in different kinds and colors. There’s also a rules reminder card—it would have been nice if there’d been more than one, though.

You shuffle the cards, deal 10 to each player, and then place the remaining cards on a Draw deck. There are two discards on either side of the Draw pile—a Scrap discard and a Research discard. A turn consists of drawing a card—either blindly off the top of the Draw deck, or off the top of either discard pile. If you draw off the Draw pile, you draw two and keep one—discarding the other to the top of the Research discard. Then you can play one Theory card (which all have special things they let you do), lay down one meld of three or more Job cards, and/or lay off on melds your opponent has down. Then you discard a card to the Scrap pile.

The various colors have special powers once they’re down in front of you as a meld. The Priest lets you lay down a meld when you have only two of a color. The Farmer lets you keep both cards when you draw off the top at the beginning of the turn. And the Soldier lets you attack your opponent’s melds and remove cards from them.

Just as in Rummy, once someone discards his or her last card, the hand is over. Cards in front are positive points, and cards in your hand are negative points. There are a few other scoring cases, but that’s basically it: rummy with special powers. You continue playing until someone reaches 100 points, which seems to be four or five hands. There are rules for team play, but I haven't tried that yet.

It’s a fun little game! Easy to teach, portable, based on a well-known game, and nongamer-friendly.

I guess the best endorsement I can give is this: I got my copy for free, but even if I hadn’t, I would still buy a copy.

Check back soon for our review of Glory To Rome, and thanks for reading!