Buds, Blooms, and Thorns Review of Island Hopper by Eagle-Gryphon Games
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Vitals:
Title: Island Hopper
Designed by: Scott Almes
Publisher: Eagle-Gryphon Games
Year Published: 2017
MSRP: $50
2-6p | 30-45 min | 8+

Introduction:

You and your friends all make a living by selling goods amongst a chain of beautiful tropical islands. Sounds great, right? Well, there's a problem. None of you are successful enough to buy your own seaplane, so you all pitched in and bought one together, which means that each day you all have to use the same plane to make all of the day's deliveries – and some of you aren't going to get paid. To make matters worse, the plane is in such disrepair that the instrumentation is broken, the compass demagnetized, and the windshield is covered in cracks, duct tape, and the remains of a few unfortunate seagulls, so the pilot might as well be flying blind...

Each day in Island Hopper, players auction off the Captain's seat; the player who becomes the Captain is in charge of flying the plane for the day, but cannot make any deliveries of their own. To make their deliveries, the other players bribe the Captain to fly to the islands to which they need to go, thereby earning themselves cash. When it's time for the Captain to fly, the Captain must close his eyes, pick up their goods tokens, and attempt to land them in an island's harbor. A successful landing means that players can fulfill their contracts and the captain collects his bribe — but if the goods splash into the sea, you might find yourself under water...

—description from the publisher

Blooms:
Blooms are the game's highlights and features.  Elements that are exceptional.

• A silly combination of dexterity and social interaction with a fun bidding mechanic.
• There are fun, strategic choices to make.
• The artwork by Kwanchai Moriya is whimsical and the components are top notch.
• There are lots of moments for laughs, as long as you don't take the game too seriously.

Buds:
Buds are interesting parts of the game I would like to explore more. 

• This game isn't for everyone, but if you like social interaction and light strategy, give it a shot!
• Having limited chances to say a single word has pros and cons.  On one hand, it prevents people from just shouting things out randomly, on the other hand, with certain players it results in no one saying anything.  It might be fun to try playing without the direction tokens and let the pilot have to figure out directions from a cacophony of different instructions.

Thorns:
Thorns are a game's shortcomings and any issues I feel are noteworthy.

• The game is simple enough, but the rulebook could have used a few more runs by a proofreader.  There are a few typos and phrases that seem to be left over from the prototype (referring to coins as cubes, for example), the terms 'round' and 'phase' are used interchangeably, and there are a few details that seem to be missing (like what triggers the end game).
• We found players hands tend to either rise from the table or drop closer to the table, so some players tend to drop the goods from higher up, resulting in more bounces and less successful landings, while others are almost placing the goods right onto the islands.  2-3 inches is an ideal height, but it's difficult for everyone to be consistent.
• While the art throughout the game is pretty nice, the coins are super generic.  They're functional, but about as plain as could be.
• There is a very high amount of luck in the game, particularly for what contracts and passengers are available to draw.
• Missing from the rules is what the ruling should be (success or not) if a good is on an island and coins.  Not touching the table, but definitely supported by the coins surrounding the island.  We've been playing that the coins become an extension of the island (thus making it even more attractive to try to fly to), but there's no discussion of this in the rules at all.

Final Thoughts:

Island Hopper is the type of game that needs a very specific audience.  It's quite fun if people are willing to be goofy and silly, but it's not going to work well with people that are very analytical or strategic.  There is a bit of strategy, but it's overshadowed by some silly dexterity mechanics that can leave your best laid plans sunk in the water after a bad bounce.  If you go into the game understanding that the joy comes from the experience, regardless of if you win or lose, you'll have a good time.  This isn't a perfect game; there are some fiddly aspects to it, and for as casual as it is, there is a lot going on outside of the primary mechanics.  Whether you feel this enhances the game to move it up a notch from just a casual dexterity game, or just gets in the way of a silly dexterity filler is up to you and the group you play with.

This is a great game to play with the family, particularly the 8-15 age range.  I think the 12+ age limit is quite a bit higher than necessary - there are no complex mechanics or concepts.  Probably the limiting factor is how far across the table the players can reach since the islands can be spread out a bit.  I think if you like games like Colt Express, Junk Art, or similar light, silly games, Island Hopper might be a good choice for you!

Buds, Blooms, and Thorns Rating:

Bud!  This game definitely has some
great moments.  It's good for several plays
and should appeal to most gamers, especially
if you enjoy other games like this.

Pictures:

FG: Eventually this has taken you to present your project at LibrePlanet last March. How did that come to be?

Alex: I've been a member of the LibrePlanet community for years but never gave a talk. Last March the stars aligned. I didn't intend to give the talk originally, but I felt empowered by the people there. Lightning talks seem like a low-pressure way to showcase something you've been working on, and VOADI was received very well! Lightning talks at LibrePlanet are open to anyone on a first-come-first-serve basis after the conference starts. All you have to do is add your name to a list.

FG: Switching to more technical matters: You have been using the Solarus engine as a main development platform. How did you first hear about it and how has it helped making VOADI a reality?

Alex: Solarus has a map editor GUI making it a great tool for beginners. The Solarus community is vibrant and generous, always eager to help. It was developed by Christopho as a reimplementation of the game engine from Zelda: A Link to the Past, a game I was already very familiar with. I highly suggest Solarus to anyone new to the free gaming scene, looking to create their own games!

I used to love Zelda, especially the Game Boy Color titles. Nintendo is notorious for cease-and-desisting fan created works, which I think is unjust and counterproductive to a healthy society. I struggle to enjoy the games from my childhood because I'm too distracted by the fact that society would punish someone for deriving or extending works that they care deeply about. I see Solarus as a stepping stone towards creating a new ecosystem of free games that can hopefully touch people's hearts in a way that they'll want to extend and remix the game, and they'll be allowed to do so.

FG: VOADI notoriously bases most of its graphics style on a Creative Commons tileset (Zoria), but it also features original additions of its own, as well as original music. How did you go about sourcing an adequate free tileset, along with finding artists to fill in for the remaining necessities of the artwork pipeline?

Alex: Zoria tileset was found on OpenGameArt. I had been trying to make my own tileset, but knew I couldn't match that level of quality on my own.

Later I commissioned our tileset artist, Siltocyn, through an ad I posted on the /r/gameDevClassifieds subreddit. CosmicGem, our chiptune musician, was found through Fiverr. This has worked out really well for VOADI. It's amazing how much you can do with a small amount of money.

In both cases we switched to free platforms (email and Matrix) for communication. Reddit was the most effective at garnering attention for our gigs.

Originally I planned to make all contributors sign a waiver similar to the Apache contributor agreement, transferring their copyright to me. But the freelancers wanted to maintain their privacy (they didn't want to sign their name and address). So instead now there's a policy where all contributors must put the license on the deliverable file itself, or distribute it in a ZIP with the license.

For graphics we created these stamps that say stuff like "Siltocyn CC BY-SA 4.0" in a tiny font in the corner of the files

A glimpse into the development process

FG: When are you planning to release the game, and in which formats will it be released?

Alex: I'm planning for a 2020 release for Linux, MacOS, and Windows. We'll consider more platforms depending on the reception (although anyone will be free to port it if they have the skills).

I'm planning to distribute the game on some proprietary platforms like Steam, Humble Bundle, etc. Those versions will have a price associated with it. I think of it as a "proprietary tax." Users in the free world will play the game gratis.

I'm also planning for a limited physical release on CD, which I'll cobble together at home using LightScribe disks, booklets I print myself, and used jewel cases from eBay. I mostly just want something to hold in my hands.

FG: Any tips for other Free Software or independent developers out there?

Alex:

1. Put yourself out there.
2. Good art and music goes a long way.
3. Start it and don't stop.

FG: Alright, thank you very much for your time Alex.

Alex: Thanks so much for the opportunity!

Vegan on a Desert Island is set to be released in 2020. The project's code is licensed under the GPLv3, and al of the art assets are being released under CC-BY-Sa 4.0. If you would like to contribute to the project you can join development talks at VOADI's Riot channel or check their repository at Gitlab. You can also donate via the project's Patreon or Liberapay.

All of the images on this article are courtesy of Vegan on a Desert Island, released under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Got any comments? Post them on our forum thread.

This post was retrieved from freegamer.blogspot.com.

Grav-StuG Kickstarter Temporarily Postponed……

Unfortunately, I need to temporarily postpone the Kickstarter. A price quote for packaging and distribution services from china to the backers did not come back in time. It would be irresponsible with me to proceed without this aspect pinned down.

I will try to get a firm date once the quote comes in, with Chinese New Year, fast approaching I do not see that happening for at least a month. (most contacts will be unavailable for the month of February)

I will update you when I know more, thank you for your understanding.

-Mark