Eye 4 Games

A game company dedicated to making interesting ideas into great games.

[eye4games]

Happy Anniversary, to Us.

If you can believe it, 10 years ago today we debuted at the Boston Festival of Indie games with our first game as a company, Clairvoyance. We've done a lot since then and are celebrating with a few things:

A sale

Our latest release

Something exciting

1. The Sale

We're looking to lighten up our warehousing situation and as part of that we're offering 50% off all our physical games (including the bundle of all three games if you want to add that discount as well) which you can get in our store right now by entering the code EYE4-INV-SALE at checkout.

2. The Release

Our most recent gift to you, Pizza City, a game for (ideally) 4 players where teams compete to be the pizza (delivery) champions in an ever-changing city. You can download it for free now on Itch.

Check it out »

3. The Something

We're not just having sales and releasing games, we're also undertaking a project. We've been putting together a book chronicling our games and other output for the past decade, and you can look forward to helping us fund the production of this book (as well as a bunch of goodies we're planning) after 2023 is fully finished and we've got the full decade to look back on.

Keep up with it via our newsletter »

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As Always, consider the passage of time, even as you live in it, enjoy some pizza, and take advantage of a good sale. —Eye4Team

[eye4games]

As we get into 2022 properly, a look back at the year that was with Eye4Games in 2021 and at the year ahead.

Read the Newsletter

[eye4games]

More Streams, More Robots: It’s an Eye4Games update!

Check out the latest on livestreams and robotic revolutions in the newsletter.

[eye4games]

Don't forget to catch an Eye4Games livestream this Saturday, May 22 at 7:00pm EST, featuring "Rise of the Robotariat" on twitch.tv/eye4don. See you then!

[eye4games]

Livestreams and Labs, it’s an Eye4Games update!

Livestreams, you say?

Yes indeed, rhetorical question-asker, Eye4Games is going to be doing livestreams every once and a while now. Our next stream is scheduled for May 22, 7:00pm EST, so catch us at Don's Twitch channel twitch.tv/eye4don for some more board games live with the Eye4Team (and guests).

Previously Streamed…

We'll also be archiving our streams on our YouTube channel so that you can catch up if you can't see them live. Our previous stream was playing AlakSLAM via tabletop simulator, which you can now watch at your leisure with our (lightly edited) recording.

Enjoy the color commentary and respectful applause befitting a tennis match between the pinnacle of magickal athletes.

Labs too, you say?

That too, rhetorical question-asker. Our Eye4Labs initiative has had a fair number of releases at this point and we want to expand our focus on testing.

Our game Defense Force ULTRA, a cooperative drafting game where you band together to punch extraterrestrial threats, has some new villains and refinements that we've been working on, so we wanted to put it to the test— your test!

Therefore: ULTRA Testing!

Send us an email about your play group and preferred format (print-and-play, tabletop simulator mod, etc.) and we'll send along a testing packet along with a feedback form so that we can make Defense Force ULTRA the co-op super sentai-inspired game we all deserve.

—Eye4Team

[eye4games]

​A reminder: we'll be streaming AlakaSLAM tomorrow on twitch.tv/eye4don around 1:00pm EST. Come watch us be tennis wizards!

[eye4games]

Thanks for FIG Fest.

If you were one of the folks who came by to visit our virtual booth during BostonFIG Fest 2021 last Saturday, thanks for stopping by and letting us talk about Muses with you.

Speaking of Muses

We released a new game last newsletter. It's called Muses, and is about being the best at art by praying to the nine Muses of Greek mythology and earning their favor from your devotion. If you'd like to be divinely inspired you can download a print and play or subscribe to our Tabletop Simulator mod to play it yourself in print or digital form.

Also, streams?

We're going to be trying to do more stuff this year, and so, streaming! Join us on January 31 on Twitch as we play AlakaSLAM (and maybe some other stuff). You can check in with us on Twitter for the exact time.

[eye4games]

Happy New Year.

With the New Year just beginning, let's pause for a moment and look back at the extremely narrow subject of stuff Eye4Games was doing in the year that was.

Virtual Conventions Although we really couldn't attend any in-person conventions this year past a certain point, that didn't truly stop us from gathering. You might have seen us at AwSHUX, lurking at Double Exposure, and soon to be available at BostonFIG Fest 2021 which you can register for now.

Register to Attend

We Made an RPG Inspired by such one-page RPGs as Honey Heist and Lasers & Feelings, Eye4Games debuted Concrete Jungle this year. It's a game about business, animals, and business animals in a very amusing package.

Download for Free

In addition to the game itself we released two videos along with Concrete Jungle. The first of them is your new employee introduction to The Company and what the premise of the game is:

We also recorded a game ourselves if you'd like to listen to our team playing through an entire session of Concrete Jungle, so you can get a feel for the rhythm of the play.

Our First Labs Beta After several releases though our Eye4Labs initiative, we've reworked our approach and will be releasing beta versions of games we intend to work on through the initiative as well.

Our first official beta of this effort is Muses, a game of 3–5 artists praying to the nine Muses for divine inspiration.

Download Beta for Free

You can also play the game online if you have Tabletop Simulator on Steam by subscribing to the mod. that we've made public of the latest version.

As always, Stay safe, be cool, and play games. — Eye4Team

[eye4games]

See us online at AwSHUX

The folks at Shut Up & Sit Down are having a free online convention this year to make up for the lack of an in-person event, and we're going to be part of it!

The website for the convention will be made public the first day of the show, and you can catch us there from the 16th–18th.

Play our game, virtually!

As part of our particpation in AwSHUX, we put together our demo version of Defense Force Ultra in Tabletopia, a free online board game interface. From Oct 16–18 during AwSHUX, members of the Eye4Team will be on-hand to lead live demos, so hop on and say hello.

If you want to play Defense Force Ultra with us, check out a live demo during these times (the calendar, and everything else, will also be available on the website).

[eye4games]

America is hurting and many are looking for ways to help.

The murder of George Floyd is the latest in a long line of killings and brutalities that underscore the police violence so often directed at nonwhite Americans.

Protestors are calling for justice and police accountability, and officers in many areas have proven the urgent need for such reforms by assaulting demonstrators.

There are many great ways to take action now and help support long-lasting change. For those who have the means and are looking for ways to donate, below is (a far from exhaustive) list of recommendations:

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Advocacy Organizations

Black Lives Matter

“A global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.”

You can donate here.

Black Visions Collective

A Minnesota-based, “Black-led, Queer and Trans centering organization whose mission is to organize powerful, connected Black communities and dismantle systems of violence… through building strategic campaigns, investing in Black leadership, and engaging in cultural and narrative organizing.”

You can donate here.

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Criminal Justice Reform

Innocence Project

An organization that “advocates for reforms that help prevent and address wrongful conviction”

You can donate here.

National Police Accountability Project

A project of the National Lawyer's Guild whose central mission is “to promote the accountability of law enforcement officers and their employers for violations of the Constitution and the laws of the United States.”

You can donate here.

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Bailout Funds

Protestors and journalists are being attacked and arrested. Posting money to help pay helps them go back to their families while awaiting trial, and avoid unsafe exposure to COVID-19 while held in jail.

Donating also helps support these funds’ year-round efforts to bail out arrestees. These are people who have not been convicted of any charges but are still forced to remain locked up before trial — leaving them unable to take care of their families and missing work and school — simply because they do not have enough money to pay.

National Bail Out

“[A] Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a community-based movement to support our folks and end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration.”

You can donate here.

The Bail Project

“[A] non-profit organization designed to combat mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system ‒ one person at a time.”

You can donate here.

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All of the above

If you'd like to make a split donation to 70+ different funds including bail out funds, mutual aid organizations, and racial justice organizations you can do so at this donation link.

We'd like to use our social media to help highlight more groups that are making a difference. Please email us or contact our social media if you are familiar with an organization that you'd like us to mention on our Facebook and Twitter.

—Eye4Team

[eye4games]

As the weather heats up,

We have some hot deals for you. Eh, eh? That's right, we're having a sale on all of our physical inventory. If you've ever missed one of our releases, now you can catch up on all of them.

From the cooperative subterfuge of Rise of the Robotariat, to the athletical magickal competition of AlakaSLAM, to the occult last-man-standing of Clairvoyance we're sure you'll find something to add to your collection (maybe even all of them). Use the coupon code eye4sale-2020 for 25% off, for the next month.

Also, all the labs games

All of our Eye4Labs games are pay what you want, so check out these print and play titles:

What If, But Also

A lighthearted party game in which 4 or more players compete to spin stories out of chaos and pull creative pitches out of wacky prompts—all to win the judge’s favor.

Bluff the Bullet

A competitive, Western-themed game with elements of poker, bluffing, and special card abilities.

The Once and Future Cuisine

A fast-paced scramble for 2–4 players, hunting for ingredients across time to create the most impressive spread.

[eye4games]

Eye4Labs Presents: Concrete Jungle

Have you wanted a one page RPG about the wild world of business, animals, and business animals? Then enjoy our latest release from Eye4Labs, Concrete Jungle, available now (along with all our releases) as a free print and play from https://eye4games.com/labs/.

You can download Concrete Jungle on Gumroad at https://gumroad.com/l/concrete-labs for free (or whatever you want to pay).

[eye4games]

It’s an Eye4Labs Release: Concrete Jungle

Spring has come, according to the calendar, and so we've come to the latest release from our Eye4Labs initiative: Concrete Jungle! It's an RPG for 2–5 players and one GM that's perfect for one-shots and short adventures. Join the world of business, animals, and business animals by helping The Company take down The Competition at the annual trade show.

You can download it now, for free on our Gumroad store.

We made a video to announce the release that you can watch, and it features the vocal talents of our entire team. Concrete Jungle is our first RPG that we've created, but the playtests that we've done (that you can be a part of) have made us confident that it's just as thematically silly and mechanically silly as we look for (pictured left a character sheet).

For further vocal stylings, you can also watch/listen to our team doing a playthrough via Google Hangouts of Concrete Jungle so that you can get a sense for how a session plays out.

[eye4games]

Some Games to Play While Social Distancing

Since we're spending time indoors…

While those of us who can have found ourselves spending a lot more time at home for a while, the team here at Eye4Games wanted to share some ideas for games to play (and things to do).

Other people's games, but online.

Can't get your group together for games like Sushi Go!,  7 Wonders, or Tokaido? Well, there's a free service called Board Game Arena that will let you play all those and more online, right in your browser. Scratch that game night itch with its surprisingly deep library of titles.

Our games, still free.

Even when you’re stuck at home, print-and-play let you bring new, free titles to the physical table. Through our Eye4Labs initiative, we've released three games in an (ever-growing) series of print-and-play games, offered for pay what you want. They're on the lighter and shorter side, and you'll also get a craft project out of 'em.

What If, But Also

A lighthearted party game in which 4 or more players compete to spin stories out of chaos and pull creative pitches out of wacky prompts—all to win the judge’s favor.

Bluff the Bullet

A competitive, Western-themed game with elements of poker, bluffing, and special card abilities.

The Once and Future Cuisine

A fast-paced scramble for 2–4 players, hunting for ingredients across time to create the most impressive spread.

Lots of games, but physics.

While it's not a free option, we absolutely recommend Tabletop Simulator as one of the most customizable board game experiences for the virtual board gamer. We use it for playtesting all the time thanks to its in-depth game building tools. But you can use it to play all sorts of games that you can find distributed both officially and unofficially (though the latter takes some hiking through GitHub).

As always, Stay safe, and don't forget to take a little time to play games.

[eye4games]

Are you going to be at PAX East this (extended) weekend? Well, so are we, and Don will be running sessions of "Concrete Jungle", our one-shot RPG about the exciting worlds of business, animals, and business animals. Come join us at the Indie RPG Booth run by Indie Games on Demand on Thurs 12–2pm, Fri 1–3pm, Sat 5–7pm.

[eye4games]

A Look Back…

2019 was a year with a lot in it, and as we're in the start of 2020 we'd like to take a moment to look back at some of our favorite moments, and things you might have missed, from the previous year of Eye4Games.

New Eye4Labs Releases

We've been continuing our Eye4Labs initiative with new, free, print-and-play releases all year, and in 2019 we debuted two more for the line:

Bluff the Bullet

A game of deceit and hand manipulation for 2–5 cardsharks, set in the weird west. You can download it on Gumroad here.

The Once and Future Cuisine

A worker placement game across time for 2–4 chefs vying to please the Time Tyrant. You can download it on Gumroad here.

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More Conventions

We keep attending conventions, and are always thrilled when we get a chance to meet people in-person with our games. This year we were at PAX East and BostonFIG with or games Aloft, Defense Force ULTRA, and Bluff the Bullet.

For 2020 and beyond, we're looking forward to meeting more of you at even more conventions and appearances, and sharing our games with you.

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Some Eye4Team Updates

From Rob:

For me, 2019 was a pretty slow year for gaming. Instead, I spent my time writing my thesis. Then, in November, I defended that thesis and rose to the rank of doctor of physics. Moving forward, I predict having a bit more free time for playing and making games.Here's hoping that's true!

From Don:

Over last year, I really relished diving into more tabletop RPGs. Most of the Eye4Games team plays in a homebrew D&D 5e campaign I run, but I've also got to experience playing a few other systems (Honey Heist, Apocalypse World, a few homemade systems). Hopefully you'll see some of the inspirations I gathered from those RPGs in some of our upcoming releases.

A sneak preview…

Something we're working on for the new year. Look forward to it~

[eye4games]

A Holiday Reminder

If you missed the announcement before, we’ve got another free Eye4Labs release for you. You can now play The Once and Future Cuisine, a fast-paced card game for 2–4 players, hunting for ingredients across time to create the most impressive spread from eras as far back as the cretaceous and as far flung as the post-human. With the free print-and-play you’ll get a deck of cards, boards, and markers for your pawns.

Download it now for free (or pay what you want) on Gumroad.