Download zip file:  Qyshinsu: Zillions version

For those unfamiliar with the Zillions of Games software, you may see more information here – http://www.zillions-of-games.com

Rodney– 

  Thought you’d like to hear this: I was playing Zhadu with a friend at a local diner, and the couple next to us asked what it was we were playing. We described the game and told them a little about you, and left them with one of your business cards. I honestly don’t expect that it’ll lead to a sale or anything, but, it does speak to how elegant and beautiful the game both looks and feels. Congrats — Zhadu’s a very good game that I expect to enjoy for many years to come.

–Jason

It was nice to show folks of what my work actually involves – I create the game, the graphic design, and writing also. It was also an opportunity to thank my woodworker Tim who has been with me on this strange journery of mine since day one. I enjoyed providing folks with a sense of what actually goes into my “work”. Although the pieces are manufactured, all the boards are handcrafted by Tim himself. The quality of craftmanship he brings is invaluable.

The road has been a long as look back over the last 15 years of quietly mastering my “craft”. I proud to release this latest collection as the depth alone is worthy of exploration. I am currently working on my 6th game while the 3rd, 4th, and 5th are eagerly awaiting to be released as well. As a friend of mine once said, “In all things there own time.”

To those who have and continue to support me and my work throughout the years, I simply bow and say “Thank you”!

He told me not to worry about about for when I did “step back into” it, Zhadu will be better than it was before. Puzzled by this, I asked him how so. He simply said,”Because you will be better.”

The epiphany of that moment dawned on me for sometime. I realized upon further reflection that there was a “rhythm” to my ‘craft’ or process. A rhythm that I could trust. I had become so attached the idea that the “discipline” of my craft required that I engage the game every single day – i.e. journaling, sketching, etc. There is something to be said for this because the game does need an investment of oneself. But there is another side to flow as well – repose. I looked at this as the silence in-between the notes of a musical piece.

Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the fact that each one of my games had a particular rhythm to it while I was creating it. Some required a non-stop, up till 3am kinda energy, while others simply continued in more slow and deliberate fashion. One must also cultivate an awareness of the factors in ones life that influence or impact ones ability to ’surf’ the process. I realized that creating spaces of quiet, inside and out, became part of the work itself.

The challenge at times is knowing when and how to “break” a particular rhythm and change it accordingly. But that is for another discussion

Similarly, I began to wonder about the way I’ve always treated my games. Once it was considered finished, it was done. Everything else was an afterthought. For years I never questioned this. Upon crafting my 5th game and noticing some potential similarities of previous games of mine, I began to wonder whether I should in fact look back at the previous ones. I realized that I was in a rather precarious position.

One the one hand, the process for creating each game is unique. Each one has a particular “voice”. As long as I am being true in my craft for that particular game, any so-called similarities to anything else are merely incidental and irrelevant. But also, “originality” is my golden rule. There can be no overlaps in terms of the play. My dilemma was apparent – change the new game or change the previous ones?

The resistance was immense. There was no need to uncover anything for these games that were completed years ago. I recognized then the rigidity I had placed on myself and left everything open for a closer look. As I looked through old journals, I noticed reoccurring themes and ideas that seemed to surface every so often. For some reason or another at that time, I had dismissed them. I then decided to explore them once again out of curiosity.

To my surprise, I thought I had inadvertently re-opened the process for those games. But then I had an epiphany in which I realized that perhaps the process for those games never actually finished. While I’ve grown to appreciate the ebb and flow of the process with a particular game, I never considered this to continue after the play was considered complete. The “dreaming” metaphor was my guiding light.

Suffice to say, I was able to refine the play for each of my previous games in a way that enriched the experience for them even more than before. But what about the 5th game? Was it still similar even though the previous games had been adjusted? I reflected on this further and realized that the games were not similar at all. What I was doing was articulating the comparison of the 5th to the others in ways that made them appear to be similar. It was the way I was seeing the 5th that limited my perspective on them all.