Busy month. It feels like I just returned from France, and in two days I’m moving to San Francisco (that’s right, potential employers, moving to San Francisco). In between those major transitions, I completed two non-digital games and a pretty nifty Off the Grid. It’s probably why I haven’t started packing yet.

First up is Gygaxian, developed in response to Brenda Brathwaite’s challenge to design a game in memory of the late Gary Gygax. It’s an inverted game of Dungeons & Dragons, with multiple Dungeon Masters (here called GGs) battling for narratorial control.

May’s Escapist game (which actually went up a week early) is myNo, a fun, fast-paced dice game I promised myself I’d work on as a break from headier designs like Gygaxian and Petrol Panic. I’ve been using a lot of dice in my designs lately. Maybe next month I’ll do something a bit different.

Over at Joystiq, my latest Off the Grid column deals with Hasbro’s limited-edition Risk: Black Ops, which is ten times hotter than the commercial re-release of the title coming this Fall. As I write this, only five copies of the game are up for auction on eBay, and each is going for over $400. That has to send a pretty strong message to Hasbro re: the demand for the game.

I’m a bit behind on blogging these days, for a variety of good reasons. Most of them excuses.

Last month over at the Escapist I published Petrol Panic, a board game that I consider one of my best works to date. It took two full months of testing, balancing, and hair-pulling to get right. I’m still not convinced it’s perfect, but I’m utterly satisfied with the end product as is.

Interestingly, Petrol Panic taught me the importance of economic theory in game design, particularly in game balancing. A few design problems I encountered were solved with the help of a friendly economics major, who was able to approach certain number issues methodically, rather than chaotically. I tip my hat to him.

I return to the United States two weeks from tomorrow. I’ve been living in France for the past six months, so I expect some degree of reverse culture-shock, as well as a bit of sadness. In April I’ll be moving out to San Francisco. More on that when I know more about that.

Just as a heads-up for anyone trying to get in contact with me: I’ll be away this week from the 18th of February to the 22nd. Oddly enough, I won’t be at the Game Developers Conference, despite it being the exact same days.

For those curious, I’ll be in Vienna Austria, pretty much out of reach. I’ll be back in contact on Saturday, the 23rd. Looking forward to hearing about all the GDC wackiness that will ensue in my absence.

I’m surprised and delighted by the number of comments to my latest Off the Grid post, which talks about the difficulties of continuing a video game obsession hobby while living abroad. The column is part one of a two-part series, in which I explain how I managed to get our American-born Wii and PS2 working perfectly in France. It’s no Not Without my Daughter, but it still makes for a good story, I feel.

I was concerned that the content of the piece would be lost on a lot of non-traveling gamers, but it seems a surprising number of people have been in my exact same situation. The comments I’ve received on the piece are extremely helpful, and I’ll definitely be taking their input into consideration while I write next week’s thrilling conclusion. I look forward to sharing my crazy, ass-backward solution with the world.

In travel news, we’re headed to Italy tomorrow. By train. We can take a train to Italy. How cool is that?

My Off the Grid column at Joystiq is back from its unofficial, unannounced hiatus. This week, it’s about good games to play on international flights. Not to spoil it or anything, but the answer is “None. I don’t want to play any games. Why am I not there already? More wine, s’il vous plaît.”

I passed my flight to France watching Dexter with Bonnie, replaying Metroid: Zero Mission, replaying Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, and playing the same three or four Neutral Milk Hotel songs on Jam Sessions over and over again. I was going to do some design work, but… yeah right.

Next week is a very special Off the Grid. It’s special because it’s about video games.

I’ve been super-negligent with this blog, but I’m hoping that’ll change starting now. I just made the difficult move to our lovely French apartment, and I’m currently trying to get back on a normal schedule of blogging, working, designing, etcetera.

I’ve very nearly caught up with everything, so hopefully things will get back to normal soon (well, normal in the sense that I’m living in France, but posting here regularly like a good little blogger).

In Scott news, both Officeball and Arrowgamé have been published at the Escapist. Check them out. What’s coming out at the end of this month? I’m not telling (because I’m not sure yet, but I’m also not telling).