Yama - 4-in-a-row with a whole new spin
i friends,
It's been awhile since our last newsletter. I have been busy working on a new game for you all. Two actually but let's save that for later. Right now I have the distinct pleasure to show you all: Yama
Yama (山) is an abstract strategy game inspired one of the classics - Connect Four.
The goal still the same; make a line of four-in-a-row of your color and win. The twist here is that the rotating board of Yama contains triangular slots that stand the cube up on its corner - revealing three sides, each of which can be seen from a different point of view. And it is in one of these three point-of-views in which you must try to form your line of four-in-a-row.
With Yama we strove to design the components such that they convey the rules. The cubes are painted such that no matter how you orient it one side will show a different color to the other two. The way placing three cubes in a cluster forms a valley for placement of the next level which covers up and block your opponent, or cliches your victory. These all contributes to making Yama one of the easiest and most intuitive game to learn.
However the game itself is treacherously easy to lose yet deeply strategic and tactical when played by two equally skilled players. The three dimension aspect of the victory goal and the three dimensional aspect of the cube placement can be very tricky to wrap your head around - leading to surprising twists and turns that belies it simple rules and components.
Here's a gameplay video if you're interested
We shall be launching the Kickstarter campaign in a month or so. You can click through and get an email alert when it launches.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/khanat/yamaThanks as always for your interest and support,
Khanat Sadomwattana