This diverse body of people provides Groningen a uniquely creative and interdisciplinary opportunity, exemplified by the dynamic startup scene.
Looking out of our window, we can see the beating heart of Groningen.
Buses, pedestrians and cyclists flow together, forming the vibrant and diverse lifeblood of our city. Our building couldn’t be better situated on the main market square in the middle of the city center.
From there on out our goal was straightforward: To find out if, and to what degree, our system worked.
Since our start in November 2015, we have been working on developing a set of game mechanics that we felt would get the job done.
But that all changed…
When the playtesters attacked.
Science Fiction has the potential, above all, to bring difficult subjects to the table and make them easily digestible.
I remember being five years old and watching Star Trek on our television, subtitles on. It’s even how I learned English. I remember being fascinated with the spaceships, the aliens, the technology. I remember Geordi LaForge effortlessly explaining the concept of lightspeed, or Data explaining his philosophical concept of self-awareness. But mostly? I remember enjoying every second of it.
We try to create a system where you don’t need social skills to play a character with social skills, while still keeping it fun for players who are more extroverted and eloquent.
‘The Coalition’ is a Sandbox Roleplaying game. The goal of the game is for the players to create memorable and enjoyable characters that fit into the lore and feel of the world, in whatever way you desire. Whether you want to play as space pirates, a political party, a hacker-activist group, military personnel or a small family running a mining corporation, the rules of ‘The Coalition’ aim to create interesting and fun gameplay for all these types of games, and more. We hope that through the rules, we can spark your creativity to make the story you want to experience. read more
“Save the masses, accept the individual.”
Now that we’ve introduced all the members of our team, it’s about time we tell you a little bit about what it is that we are working on. Blue Falcon is a company focused on creating a massive science fiction universe to build all our products off of, and that universe is called ‘The Coalition’.
It is important to us that ‘The Coalition’ explores subjects, such as the balance between being your own unique and authentic self, and participating within a — at times overwhelming — greater whole that is society. We are building these strong norms and values into the foundation of ‘The Coalition’. This is achieved by working with professionals that have a lot of experience and expertise with these kinds of social political issues, in the same way that we check our science with real scientists. This interdisciplinary work is essential to Blue Falcon. Working and creating artistically in a vacuum leads to strange things such as space magic, whereas we are aiming to create something fantastical, but grounded.
‘The Coalition’ is, at its core, a vast universe of potential, the potential to go anywhere, do anything and be anyone. The rules of the upcoming pen and paper game and the scientifically researched lore provide a framework to help you become a part of an uncountable number of stories. But all of them have this universe as its foundation.
“It’s a challenge, but a fun challenge. I like discussing theories and concepts with the others, and building a world in which others can play.”
“I’m Pieter, a BSc student of Theoretical Physics at the Groningen University. I am a member of the Lore Team of Blue Falcon, because of my knowledge of physics and interest in science-fiction.”
“It might be realistic to make a system for tying your shoelaces taking in account the benefits that different knots have, but as a player it wouldn’t add to the fun of the game.”
“I’m a music teacher and a jazz pianist, but also a fanatic Game Master in several different tabletop RPG’s. Music and roleplaying have been my two major hobbies for at least 5 years now, and when Blue Falcon came together I counted myself lucky to be able to make jobs out of both my hobbies. At Blue Falcon I’m game developer, which means that the ideas and concepts everyone (including myself) comes up with, I have to turn into a working system. Everyone provides thousands of puzzle pieces, I pick the best and make them fit together.”
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I’m the type of guy that judges his own work harshly. At Blue Falcon, however, there are enough people I can prod for feedback; level my expectations with theirs in a healthy and professional manner.
“I’m a self-taught artist who’s always aspired to become better at digital art. Despite getting my diploma as Game Artist as of 2015, I’ve struggled settling in the industry due to domestic problems… until I unceremoniously bumped into Logan, that is. Other than that, my passion for role-playing and writing has always been high and prominent in my life, since my teen years, ever since I stumbled upon role-play themed platforms, like forums. Since then I’ve role-played in dynamic environments such as World of Warcraft and Second Life to get my jollies going.”
“That right there makes designing creatures so awesome, sometimes they turn out to have really cool properties we did not decide to give them, but that are a consequence of their biochemistry.”
“I am Ite Teune, chief biological scientist at Blue Falcon. In daily life, I am a science teacher at an innovative high school, where I teach biology, chemistry, and engineering. My role at Blue Falcon is to embed the science in the fiction, particularly when it comes to creature design, internal biochemistry, planet ecology, and a large part of the technology, such as spaceship design, weapon designs, and an aesthetically pleasing skyline of cities.”
“The perks of my position is that I can completely tweak all the numbers in my favor, making me by far the richest badass of the team, without the rest of them noticing (I just got to figure out how to hide the Ferrari on the porch!).”
“My name is Mendel Bouman, and I have been an entrepreneur in the (digital) game industry for more than 6 years. I’ve been working in the same industry for more than 10 years now, and it is my experience and expertise as a business developer in the game industry that will be my main contribution to Blue Falcon.”
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