Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Heroclix


So I was going to write up something about the Fifth of May and how much most people don't know about Mexican History, under the title "Cinqo, hold the Mayo". Instead, Brainstormfront sent me this link, which sends my thoughts in a different direction.

Marv Wolfman is a great comics creators, and from my time at WizKids, I know he's also a fan of the Heroclix game. Which makes me very, very happy to see that he likes what we did with both Cyborg and Raven, part of the Unleashed set for DC Heroclix. The Unleashed set is probably the best thing I did in my near-year at the 'Kids, and I am particularly happy with the fact that its gotten a very positive fan response (why yes, I DO lurk on the boards over at HCRealms.com).

I did a lot of things, great and small, at the 'Kids, and had a great time working with the people there. I am particularly happy with Unleashed, and with the non-player Galactus rules (the player-Galactus was added after my departure), as they both represented a great deal of personal sweat and toil. But glory is fleeting and time marches on. Now the next set in the offing is for Marvel, called Ultimates, and while I had a lot to do with the figure choice, beyond that, my main contribution was on the first drafts on the more common figures (the layoffs occured when when I was half-way through the unique figures). A lot of development, revision, and playtesting occurs over the course of the design project, and I have faith that the gang has taken the ball and put together a really good product. I'm looking forward to seeing what they did with it, and I don't doubt I'll be pleased with it, but Unleashed was the personal high-water mark for my tenure there.

I was thinking about the 'Kids for another reason, since I just hit the six-month mark at the Wizards of the Coast offices, first as a temp, then as an employee/consultant with True North Media and Arts, our kinda-freelance web design team. I know its the six-month mark because Outlook refused my password, and I had to get a new one. For security reasons, everyone gets new passwords every three months, but because I use a Macintosh at work, I have to drop in on Technical Services down the hall and feed a new one in as opposed to making it up at my desk. Its no real trouble (though I was on a tight deadline when it conked out on me, the process is relatively painless and the TS folk are cool), but since this reminder hits every three months, its an interesting clock to keep track of my time and accomplishments there as well.

But more about those accomplishments later,