14 Days Kickstarter is Up!

In case you haven’t already heard, the Kickstarter for 14 Days, a game created by local game developers Hannah Shaffer, Evan Rowland, and Joshua Yearsley, is a go! 14 Days is a game about chronic pain, and migraines in particular. It’s also a game about empathy and understanding. It’s a serious game, but it’s a serious […]

June 29th – July 5th

The Valley Nerd Watch! We really like computer games! The bad part about computer games is that you generally get them via a giant online storefront. Purchasing things on a giant online storefront does nothing to make the Valley a better place. This fills us with guilt, and we regularly tear our shirts from our backs […]

June 22nd – June 28th

The Valley Nerd Watch! Alright so we forgot about Mutton and Mead. Look, we’re not omniscient! Sometimes we miss the most widely advertised and obvious local attraction that literally a half dozen people we personally know either work at or attend! That’s an understandable mistake, right? Really, it’s almost like it’s YOUR fault for not […]

Speaking With Hannah Shaffer of Owl and Raven

Hannah Shaffer is a local creator who’s been living and working in the Valley for several years. She’s one of the minds behind the lovely community space The Owl and Raven, as well as half of the team that created the innovative fantasy-quest game Questlandia. She’s currently hard at work producing a game about migraines […]

June 15th – June 21st

The Valley Nerd Watch! Great big news! Play Anything – Board Games & Beer at the Deuce is back next week, Sunday the 28th! It spun out of the International Table Top Day event, because the organizers realized that it’s a very fun time for everyone involved and they should do it more often! So […]

Science! The Brain Cognition Development Lab at UMass Needs Participants!

You there! Yes YOU! You look like the sort of enterprising person who possesses a brain of unimaginable cognitive potential! Why not donate some of your time to the study of the mind? And by “donate” we mean you’ll get between $10 and $15 per hour. We just wanted to make it sound less mercenary. […]

June 8th – June 14th

The Valley Nerd Watch! Goodness! Hack for Western Mass was a really fun time! Not only fun, but extremely useful! We plan on doing a more complete breakdown, and speaking with some of the challengers and developers about their experiences, but for now we can give you a general idea of the weekend! We began Saturday […]

Speaking With Evan Rowland of Small Fly Games

Today, we’re speaking with local game designer Evan Rowland, both about his life as a designer and about his newest work: Goblin Diplomat. Goblin Diplomat is a unique conversation-based roguelike about trying not to be murdered by xenophobic humans. James Olchowski: Did you grow up in the Valley? Evan Rowland: I grew up on the northern […]