Next steps : Chalon, Lille and Brussels

(Français ci-dessous)

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Before continuing the report of the latest workshops in Besançon (and translating the first part...), I’d like to share with you my schedule for the 2 incoming weeks. If some of you know people potentially interested by board games, could it be playing or creating, around the places I’m reaching, feel free to share this article with them.

And if you, dear reader, would like to attend an extra workshop, play with me or simply share a coffee with me, just contact me 😉

15th – Stopping near Chalon sur Saône

Near my dear village of Saint-remy les chevreuse passes a small river named the Yvette. Passing through various cities and landscapes, this river is full of hidden meanings and local historical events. So an association named Animakt decided to create a game about the river, and this game is going to be designed by Francine and Nicolas, living near Chalon sur Saône.

That’s why, despite the fact that Chalon isn’t exactly on my way to Brussels, I’m going to stop there for one or two days : to meet fellow designers and exchange thoughts about life, games and rivers. I’m planning to leave on tuesday but I’m quite flexible, so get in touch with me if you are in the surroundings !

17th – 21st : Boulogne sur mer, Amiens, Lille

One of the best part about travelling in one’s home country is that you have high chances to travel near the new living place of old friends. This is the case with Amiens, Boulogne sur mer and Lille where I wanna meet various friends. Those 3 cities are not far away, so I don’t have any particular order in mind – I just want to be in Lille the 21st to be ready to reach Brussels.

Tho I’m not sure about Amiens and Boulogne, Lille happens to be a great place when it comes to board games. The festival Ludi nord takes place there every year, and various board games authors and editors live or work around here. I hope to meet some people, and maybe set up an improvized workshop at some point.

22nd – 28th : Brussels

Serious business starts again. Brussels is my second major stop for workshops and several will take place in the city during the week. I’m not sure yet where and when, but be sure you guys will be informed as soon as I have more information.

The workshops will be in association with Let’s play together, a group animating various activities connected to games in various places in Belgium. They do a lot of amazing stuff so feel free to spread the word about those 🙂

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Avant de continuer la description des ateliers sur Besancon, je voudrais partager avec mon emploi du temps des deux semaines à venir. Si certains d’entre vous connaissent des gens intéressés pour créer ou jouer à des jeux de société, n’hésitez pas à faire passer le message.

Quant à vous chers lecteurs, si vous souhaitez jouer avec moi, participer à un atelier en petit comité ou bien simplement partager un café n’hésitez pas à me contacter 😉

15th – Stopping near Chalon sur Saône

Près du village de Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse où j’habite passe une petite rivière nommée l’Yvette. Serpentant au travers de plusieurs villes et de paysages variés, cette rivière est pleine de significations et connectée à différents événements historiques locaux. Par conséquent, une association nommé Animakt a décidé de créer un jeu autour de la rivière, et ce jeu on va être conçu par Francine Nicolas, habitant près de Chalon-sur-Saône.

C’est pourquoi, bien que Chalon-sur-Saône ne soit pas exactement sur la route pour Bruxelles, je vais m’arrêter là bas pour un ou deux jours. L’objectif est de rencontrer Francine et Nicolas et de discuter avec eux de jeux, de rivières et de la vie en général. Je prévois de quitter Chalon le mardi mais je suis très flexible, donc n’hésitez pas à me contacter si vous êtes dans les environs !

17th – 21st : Boulogne sur mer, Amiens, Lille

Une des plus grands avantages du voyage dans son pays natal est de pouvoir passer chez de vieux amis ayant déménagé et se trouvant comme par enchantement sur notre route. C’est le cas pour les villes d’Amiens, Boulogne-sur-Mer et Lille où je vais rencontrer divers amis. Comme ces trois ville s ne sont pas très éloignées, je n’ai pas encore d’itinéraire précis – je souhaite juste être à Lille le 21 pour être prêt à atteindre Bruxelles.

Je ne sais pas pour Amiens et Boulogne, mais Lille se trouve être une place intéressante en ce qui concerne les jeux de société. Le festival Ludinord se tient ici tous les ans et de nombreux éditeurs et auteurs de jeux de société sont basées ou bien travaillent dans les environs. J’espère rencontrer diverses personnes et peut-être créer un atelier improvisé durant mon séjour à Lille.

22nd – 28th : Brussels

Et c’est reparti pour un tour ! Bruxelles est mon deuxième arrêt majeur dans le voyage et une série d’ateliers aura lieu dans la ville pendant la semaine. Je ne sais pas encore avec précision où et quand, mais soyez sûr que je vous tiendrai au courant dès que je possède plus d’informations.

Les ateliers seront proposés en partenariat avec avec Let’s play together, une association animant différentes activités autour des jeux dans différents lieux autour de la Belgique, particulièrement Bruxelles. Ils font une tonne de choses très intéressantes, alors n’hésitez pas à jeter un coup d’oeil à leur site internet 🙂

First steps in Auxerre

(français dans les jours à venir)
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First of all, allow me to tell you that I’m alive, safe and sound ! The beginning of my trip went pretty well. Hitchhiking from Paris to Auxerre was fairly easy, thanks to the great spot suggested in the very handy hitchwiki : the gas station of Lisses, in the southern surburb. Directly asking people if they were going to Auxerre was something new for me, as I’m mostly used to the basic thumbing technique – put yourself on the side of the road, raise your thumb and wait for somebody to stop. I discovered that asking people is more effective, often safer and actually more fun as you are proactive.

Reaching the station was almost more difficult...

The city of Auxerre is also nice. The center is full of big churches, including the gorgeous Saint Étienne cathedral and the Saint Germain abbaye, and is on the left side of the Yonne river, which is always a good thing for a city. Also, you can see a lot of planks on the front side of the house, giving the city a taste of good old fashion.

The fine Saint Nicolas plaza

But hey, I’m not travelling for tourism purposes, right ? The first workshop took place in the local board games shop, Cartes sur table. Apart from Nicolas, and Elise, the very friendly shopkeepers (and fellow players), 3 people were there, which was a good number as a group of 3 is better than 2 groups of 2 in my opinion.

The stage is ready

The workshop lasted 2h30. The mechanicards picked by the attendees were “Dice”, “Material positioning” and “Narration”. My epic hand crafted theme was “Potato”. In the end, the game prototype involved potato plantations with crops buying, potatoes selling and market flux (at least the idea of stocks was there !).

The plantation of a player

Potatoes factory and random events list

What now ?

I’m currently in Besançon to present the trip to local people before the incoming workshops ! I shall write something after those workshops, in something like 1 week. Meanwhile, if you want me to write about something specific about the trip, feel free to send me an email !

Spotlight : Essen, the city of Spiel

Some of you may remember the concept of Spotlight : shedding a light on a city I’m planning to set workshops in. So far, I’ve been quite lazy and did only one of them : Innsbruck, the Bridge city !

This may be explained by one simple fact : I wasn’t absolutely sure to go through each city, as long as I didn’t have every structure to host the workshops. Everything could change because in a blink if I had a different opportunity.

And this is exactly what happened.

I was planning to go around Stuttgart, in Germany, right before Munich. But things have changed, and I’m now actually going to Munich first, then to another city in Germany, named Essen. Let’s have a look at this city !

 

 

 

Essen, which may not be one of the best known cities of Germany outside the country, is nonetheless the central part of the Ruhr, which is basically a huge urban area bordered by the Ruhr river (hence the name) and Rhine. 5.3 million people are living in the area, so Essen may play a very central role for quite a lot of people.

 

 

Couchsurfing-wise, 4,183 people currently have a profile marked as living around Essen. Way to go ! I’m going to Munich to Essen, then I’ll go to Innsbruck afterwards.

…Wait. Isn’t that a very ankward trip ? First I’m going from France to the south-east of Germany, then I’m coming back to the north-west, then I’m heading straight to the south ? Does it makes much sense ?

Well…

That’s right, something very special takes place in Essen : the Spiel festival. Spiel means “Game” (and “Play”) in German, a very fit name for what’s simply the largest board games festival in the world.

It takes place from the 16th-19th of October and I will go there to set up some workshops, so I thought it was worth a little change of plans !

Mechanicards – almost ready to print !

Some of you may have heard of the Mechanicards I’m currently making for Ludi Vojago. To keep it short, it consists in cards describing board games I’ll use during the workshops.

Still in French for now, translation coming soon !

I started those cards a bit more than 1 month ago for the first workshops, and they ended up being quite well received by various people, which made me very happy. Also, some people gave me very useful advice to improve them, both formally and graphically.

Here’s one of the first versions !

Now, I’m on the way of printing some sets of cards, as you wonderful people helped me to reach more than 2000€ on Ulule ! I will also leave some sets of cards in the structures I’ll work with during my trip.

But reworking them wasn’t actually that easy due to some technical inability ! I used a vector drawing software to design the cards, which at the time sounded like a good idea.

However, what if I wanted to change something on ALL the cards ?

Yeah – I had to change them one by one.

So I obviously had to switch to a publishing software, which I didn’t use that well at the beginning. But it gave me the opportunity to practice a bit. 🙂

You can find the new format on the Mechanicards page. If you have any remark, suggestion, anything… Please feel free to tell me !

Cheers !

Welcome !

Hello everybody !

Opening this blog means that the project Ludi Vojago is actually becoming more than a mere project, but is becoming something real ! However, countless things still need to be done, and I will put as much energy as I can to make the dream come true.

This blog is here to keep you informed of what I’m currently doing, as well as a place where everyone of you can give me various feedbacks about pretty much everything.

But first, you may ask yourselves, “what is Ludi Vojago anyway ?”. Fear not, as this very answer is linked on the top bar !

Enjoy your stay, and expect more information coming in very soon !

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Bonjour aux francophones !

Comme vous pouvez le voir, le blog est majoritairement en anglais. J’essaierais autant que faire se peut de proposer du contenu dans les deux langues, alors guettez les fins d’articles pour voir les traductions !

En résumé, ce blog résumera l’avancement du projet Ludi Vojago. Je m’efforcerais de récapituler ce qui va bien et ce qui va moins bien, tout en décrivant au fur et à mesure les éléments encore un peu obscurs du projet.

N’hésitez pas à consulter les espaces en haut de page pour une description plus précise du projet !

A très bientôt !

Aurélien