Shifting Skies Games wishes everyone a prosperous New Year!!!

It is traditional for businesses in China to offer prayers on the second day of Chinese New Year for a year of good fortune for their company and employees. I could not think of a better time to kick off my sophomore year as a game industry insider than Chinese New Year. And looking at the production schedule for 2008, I can tell you that it is going to be an outstanding year!

I have been granted the licensing rights to a very  important major motion picture, whose licensing department asked me to develop a full line of games to compliment their property. The official press release has not been announced yet, so all I can do is offer a very tempting teaser. But people who have seen me playtesting one of my strongest prototypes should know what movie license I’m referring to. So, I expect a very big year for Shifting Skies for this Year of the Rat!

But before start moving forwards, I would like to apologize for all the major technical difficulties I’ve been going through over the last month. I know it must be very frustrating for all you devoted fans out there to be cut off from the source without any word or seamingly without any means to contact me. I am sorry for all the technological heartache you’re feeling, trust me when I say I sympathize. For people who prefer the Mayan calendar to the Chinese, you know that the days between the close of one year and the beginning of the new one are seen as being very unlucky. And with 1) my server going down; 2) all my email to start bouncing; 3) my computer breaking down, being rebuilt, only to have a fatal memory error and go into perma-blue screen of death; 4) my cell phone dying on me TWICE and then 5) having my car run into while it was safely parked –  I have to agree that for the first few weeks of January, I have had a technological nightmare.

But like I always say: “Bad luck at the beginning signifies good luck for the remainder.”

… and with the sort of calamitous bad luck I’ve had over the last quarter, this is going to be an AMAZING NEW YEAR!!

To everyone that received an error while trying to send me an email recently, please accept my sincere apology for any inconvenience. There was a small glitch that we missed after the server temporarily went down the other day. Everything should be 5×5 now.

I appreciate your patience.

If you have recently tried emailing me, and you think that your message was bounced during the last few days, please feel free to send me another copy. Again, I’m very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Are you ready for the Button Men smack down?

I’m very excited to report that the HSD Button Men game is officially in and Kubla Con will be your first chance to get your greedy hobbit hands on them. The full set includes 8 of your favorite HSD characters and there are no special rules to learn. So, if you know the regular Button Men game, you’ll be able to just pick up the new set and play. If you haven’t had the pleasure of playing Button Men before, please come by the Shifting Skies booth and learn how to play. It takes less than a minute to learn and less than five minutes to play a full 3-round match. Button Men is the perfect filler game for conventions and/or as a little sidebar game around the gaming table while people are waiting. (more…)

By the title, I’m sure some people are thinking I’m referring to the terrible weather we’ve been having this winter. And for all the people working hard in Colorado and other snowed-in states, I sympathize with you. I used to live in Denver for a little while and I learned two things while I was there about snow — 1) snow is not as romantic when you have to shovel your car out every morning and 2) the Bronco fans are probably the most obsessed football fans I’ve met, because one time they actually plowed snow from the Bronco’s stadium all the way to the airport just so the team could make their game. Now that’s dedication! All you fair weather Charger fans out there can consider that while your licking your wounds from Sunday’s loss.

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http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/26522

Board Game Geek (BGG) is a fantastic website for the gaming community specializing in analog games (non-computer) like HSD! Once you get your copy of the game, please visit the website and post any reviews, images or write-ups of your gaming sessions.

If you’re already a member, you know what a good source of information it is. If you’re not yet a member, signing up is easy to do. Especially going into the holiday season, this will be a good place find tips on exciting new releases … like HSD!

The online store is now officially up and running!

And what a surprise it was to find an order already waiting for me when I put the store up. Thank you everyone for all the support you’re giving me in this project, I really appreciate all the energy people have for the game. And afterall, that’s what this is all about — making games that will be exciting for the players and to help enrich our little gaming community.

So buy now, buy often and spread the word!

Alrighty!

The website is back up and it’s original look and feel have been preserved. I have to thank my web designer, CK for doing such a great job salvaging the mess I made when I uploaded the shopping cart application to the server last weekend. If anyone is looking for a great designer, I can’t recommend anyone higher than Chris Kennedy. With that said,

Go forth and explore the new website!

A few of the features on the website may be down during the next few days as the online store is uploaded to the website. Frequent visitors of the site will remark on how the beautiful look of the original site has been dashed for this more bland appearance. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and we’re working to bring the Shifting Skies Games website back to it’s former glory.

The official Shifting Skies Games online store is now open on Cafe Press:

http://www.cafepress.com/shifting_skies

Get your mits on as many cool buttons, magnets and sweatshirts as you can muster the cash for. CafePress is a fantastic Print-on-Demand (POD) facility that offers a lot of great options for a company like ours. Please use the link above to browse our online store. High School Drama! is not yet available for purchase, as it is still in transit from our printers. As soon as we get the online store humming for Shifting Skies products, please be sure to buy both the game here and the corresponding products at CafePress.

If your favorite character isn’t on one of the shirts or buttons, then please email with any requests and/or suggestions you might have for any specific items available at CafePress.

Many of you have been wondering what’s been going on with High School Drama! Well, it gives me great joy to announce that HSD! has made it through the final production stage of the printing process and will be shipping shortly. The game looks great and I can’t wait for you all to get your own copies to add to your board game collections. (more…)

If you’d like to learn more about how to play High School Drama!, you can download the High School Drama! “How To” tutorial, a 2.2 MB .pdf file.