Boston FIG 2024 was pretty good! It’s the first time the event has been held in person for quite a while, and it was held at the Boston Cyclorama.
Fun Fact: The Cyclorama was used to hold a giant 3D painting of the Battle of Gettysburg. There’s a incredible history to this building, but this is a gaming blog. So instead of talking about the history of the Boston Flower Exchange, let’s talk about games.
As with previous write-ups, I’ll mostly be talking about the games I saw and liked.
Being entirely indie games, there were a lot of games I didn’t find fun, or didn’t particularly speak to me this year. I won’t be talking about them. There’s no value in ripping into a small project that’s just not for me. There were also a pretty decent number of games I didn’t get a chance to play, including a bunch of the award winners, so those also aren’t on this list.
In no particular order, here are some things I saw and liked!
Abracabattle
Abracabattle is a clever tableau builder where you build a set of spells to attack your opponent. Those spells trigger off dice rolls, and the last wizard standing wins.
I didn’t play Abracabttle at Boston FIG, mostly because I got a chance to sit down and play it last weekend at PAX Unplugged. My opinion hasn’t changed since then. I did, however, spend a fair amount of the show sending folks to Abracabattle booth to give it a shot.
Here’s my take from PAX Unplugged:
“Last year Abracabattle was a game with strong core elements, that didn’t quite have the right cards for its gameplay. Now, it feels like a full game, with a few reworked systems, new items, and a MUCH stronger set of cards. I’m really excited to see where it goes.”
TLDR: If you can play Abracabattle, you should.
Also, Abracabattle won the Best Game in Development award!
Cappy & Tappy
My notes for Cappy & Tappy read “Place Tetrominos to build routes for your friend, 2D platformer” and honestly, I think that’s all you really need to know for this one.
It’s clever, it’s interesting, and I’d have stronger feelings on it if I’d played more. As is though, I’d suggest just going and playing the version on itch.io if you want to give it a shot.
Oasis Blitz
Oasis Blitz is a 3d platformer with the gimmick is the ability to do a sort of “dolphin dive” through dirt. It feels incredibly smooth, and if my description of the movement doesn’t quite make sense, their itch.io page does a much better job of getting the idea across with a few choice GIFS.
It gave me sort of Sonic the Hedgehog/Neon White vibes. If this sounds neat, I’d just go play the demo.
Mushroom Kid’s Big Grass Sword
Mushroom Kid’s Big Grass Sword is what you’d get if you combined Getting Over It and Deepest Sword. It’s an interesting, if somewhat frustrating mechanic. Unlike Getting Over It, though, Mushroom Kid’s Big Grass Sword seems more focused on sets of puzzle rooms, and less focused on being a rage game.
Rage Games aren’t quite my favorite, so I liked this change of pace. Controls felt a little wonky, but that’s probably to be expected with this genre.
Breaking News
The best way I can think to describe Breaking News is as sort of weird WarioWare style style game where you primarily interact by smacking a TV with your arrow keys. Frankly, it feels rude to try to simplify the mechanic to that extent. But the short version is that you are watching television, and by smacking the television different directions, you change reality.
See, that sounds more confusing then the WarioWare thing.
Regardless, it’s interesting, and quite weird.
Murder is Game Over
I have a sort of perverse fascination with RPG Maker from a technical perspective. The trade off of being able to make something very quickly, while being unable to get the engine to do exactly what you want is interesting. The result is that when I see full, completed projects made in RPG Maker, like Murder Is Game Over from HitherYon games, I’m always curious ask how they did it.
There’s actually a whole series of Murder is Game Over games. The game they had at the show was the demo for their most recent release, the Blackinton Curse. From what I understand, they’re a series of murder mystery adventure games.
Someone’s Y
I love social deduction games. I loathe word games.
Someone’s Y, a social deduction game about determining who at the table has the hidden role of being the dangerous not-quite-vowel Y, puts me in a bit of a bind.
The result is a game whose structure I enjoy, but whose mechanics I can’t really interact with effectively. I don’t do a good job when it comes to keeping track of letters in words.
It has a print and play version, and is part of a set of 6 other games from MILLRAT Studios. Even if this wasn’t for me, it makes me excited to see the other 5.
Between Realms
I’ve talked about games that demo well at conventions before. Between Realms is not one of those. In fact, it might be the sort of game that demos really badly. Its creator describes it as “Magic: The Gathering meets Everdell“.
It’s strangely themed, complex to play, and uses cards for everything, and I would have never heard about it if I hadn’t gone to Boston FIG.
I’m going to keep an eye on this one, because I think I’d like it better if I had more time to sit down and really play a full game of it. That said, trying to play it after a few hours of other demos, it kind of just fried my brain.
Starline Hill
Starline Hill is interesting. It’s a semi-abstract piece placement game about trying to create patterns by placing stars. Its selling factor is its unique manner of repopulating space on the board once you’ve removed your own pieces to score patterns.
I’m ambivalent on Starline Hill. I think it’s a very solid game, but it’s not a game for me. I would both play more it, but I’m not rushing to back the Kickstarter.
For folks who really enjoy abstract strategy games like Othello, Go, and Connect 4, I would recommend taking a look. There’s something very clever here. It’s just not quite my cup of tea.
Rock Paper Smash
Rock Paper Smash was actually the first game I demoed at the show, and it’s probably the one I’ve thought about the most since then.
The short version is that it’s Super Smash Brothers, but all attacks are coded to either Rock, Paper or Scissors, and when attacks clash, the winning item attack resolves.
I want to make two quick notes here. First, the game has been updated significantly from the version up on the Steam marketing page, and two, it’s much more interesting than its premise might imply. Many of the characters have unique movement abilities completely unrelated to the RPS mechanics.
It’s just a very fun, very clever little game, and I’m really excited to see the full release.
Co-Operatives Puzzle Room
Co-Operatives is a bit of an odd one. It was in the tabletop section, but it isn’t really a traditional board game. Instead, it’s a Boston based set of escape rooms. The catch is that the team is split and placed on either side of a wall, and each side has information the other side needs.
I had a great time playing through one with a set of very kind strangers, and would absolutely do another one. If you’re in Boston, and looking for something to do, here’s their website. This is the sort of thing I recommend if you like tactile puzzles and fiddling about.
Tumblesteeds
Quick disclosure on this one: I was helping demo at the booth, so I’m not exactly a neutral third party here. I’m not involved in development or anything, but I have playtested this a few times at the Upper Valley Game Designers meetups.
Tumblesteeds is a roll-and-write about filling up your pastures of horses before your opponents do. It’s an in-development title from Resonym, and while it’s not finalized, I think it’s neat.
Wrap-Up
This was only a small subsection of the games at Boston FIG. I didn’t get a chance to play a bunch of the final award winners, including Sent By The Gods, Sincerely, Robin, or Thar It Rolls. There were also some award winners like Skydiver that I actively did not enjoy. And that’s fine! Not every game has to be for me.
I’m hopeful that Boston FIG can continue to run events. It’s a good space for smaller projects, and to see things I’d otherwise never quite get a chance to look at.