Yomi: Game of the Year
Friday, January 21, 2011 at 8:01PM 
Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower did his top 10 games of 2010. Puzzle Strike made #8 and Yomi took the #1 spot! Game of the Year, wow!
Here's the list in html form and
Here's the audio for the podcast. (Puzzle Strike mentioned at 29:30; Yomi at 53:00)
Thanks to all the players at sirlin.net for getting the balance in such good shape, to the artists for kicking ass, and to Thelo for making the online client. Note to Tom Vasel though: Yomi actually didn't ship until January so I guess it will have to be the best game on your 2011 list, too. ;) haha
My inventory is running out a lot faster than I expected, but it's still available here. Sorry to sound like an ad all the time these days, but I just haven't had the time write more design articles, and there keeps being more awesome Yomi / Puzzle Strike news, I can barely keep up!
Reader Comments (14)
Man, who even cares if you sound like an ad? I finally got some friends to sit down to a few games of Yomi tonight and it is sort of an instant favourite.
The more people who buy it get to enjoy it.
Very, very proud of you and the whole team. I haven't really played any other new games (besides PS and Yomi) to really judge on GotY, but it certainly feels like it!
I had played Yomi 7.1 or something with Ken and Chun, and the game showed potential, but still felt a bit clunky and formulaic. The release version is fantastic, and truly is best described as a fighting game without the split-second timing and difficult execution, which is an amazing feat in terms of designing to a clearly defined goal.
The most surprising part, to me, is that I'm actually happy it turned into Fantasy Strike. Street Fighter was the draw for me at first, and when it became clear that it wasn't happening, I started tracking which characters were Ryu, Ken, Chun and Guile as the game translated into FS - I was planning to remake them into SF characters using the latest rules, and convert Sets into Ibuki and so on. By now, I'd still love to pit the FS crew against the Capcom guys and gals, but the characters have gained enough of their own personalities that I care about them individually. And the real upside is, the Street Fighter license wouyldn't have let you go wild with mechanics such as Arg, Midori and Lum, the last of which my GF just fell in love with last night. You'll know just how much pretty soon, too.
I guess it's also nice to know what little I did play this year really was the cream of the crop.
When can we pre-order the expansions? lol
Pre-order the expansion? Oh man, that's going to be a while...
Glad you like the Fantasy Strike guys now. :)
I played with 2 of my friends already and they both really like it. One of them thinks that playing Yomi well might be harder than Guilty Gear, but I'm guessing he's speaking strictly in terms of strategy and actual Yomi/Valuation.
Although playing a character like Faust or Ky or Jam or even Potemkin wont give you much in the way of a skill tax, at least compared to playing someone like I-No.
We love hard games, so this is a compliment. : )
Can't wait to get a group together to try out Puzzle Strike. I got all of the chips punched out the other night and the game is ready to go.
Congrats on the great rankings :)
I'm curious which Street Fighter characters the Fantasy Strike characters are based upon - some of them are easy to guess, but some are less obvious. Does each character have a Street Fighter equivilent?
Excellent work, I need to work on getting the money up for this now don't i? Any game of the year edition, with all the DLC a brief insert detailing the making of, or some extra art work?
Can't wait till Yomi becomes the tournament game it deserves to be.
What about Flash Duel? Is it the red-headed step child of your games or something? Flash Duel was your first game published if I remember correctly but it has yet to be mentioned or reviewed by Tom Vasel. I would love to see one from him because I am a big fan of Flash Duel. Any ways, congratulations to the much deserved #1 spot Sirlin. Yomi is a great game.
Thanks guys.
Leander: some of them have a Street Fighter equivalent, though there's a bit from Guilty Gear and a bit that isn't from anything as well.
crow: I hope so, I would love to see more tournaments happen.
slugger: I haven't talked much about Flash Duel kind of on purpose. The Deluxe version is now sold out in the US (still plenty in Canada / UK though) and I'm not planning to make any more. I've been working on a second edition and it's QUITE a revamp / upgrade. Won't be ready for kind of a long time but you can follow the development in my forums.
I have been following the development and I am very excited! You most definitely have my $ when it's finished.
What great news!! It's always satisfying to see new and interesting games rise to the top (so to speak)!
Will you be at New York Toy Fair? Would love to buy a few decks, but the shipping to UK is pretty steep. If possible, I would like to pick it up while I am in New York, if you are there?
@Leander
Grave is basically Ryu. Jaina is basically Ken. Midori is original, but he has a lot of similarities with Zangief and Honda; story-wise he's basically Gouken. Setsuki is a lot like Ibuki but I think she's an original design of Sirlin's that shares some traits. Rook is basically Honda/Zangief but is pretty original. DeGrey is original, but he's quite obviously inspired by Slayer. Valerie is Chun. Geiger is Guile. Lum is original, as is Arg.
I miss Akuma/Menelker though :/
@Sirlin
Just got my Puzzle Strike box. The quality of the chips seems really good; they feel great in the hands. I can't wait to get my friends together and play.
Just ordered a complete first set for ConsoleCombat.net yesterday. If we dig it I'm planning on throwing a camera on the table and tossing it on the stream inbetween Street Fighter matches.
I'll be sure to give a shoutout to the forums if we start recording matches! Was hoping to get it before tonight but I'll have to wait a bit longer :(
Can't wait!
List needs more Dominion. Simple to learn but an infinite variety of gameplay.