Gaming & Simulation
Escape Velocity will feature a new Gaming & Simulation track, with panels and events covering both video games and boardgames, and will include a peek into the world of professional wargaming and simulation as practiced in the defense and intelligence community.
Meet game designers, learn about game history, and dive into some of the best panels at Escape Velocity, including:
- ‘Simulating Near-Future Conflicts’
- ‘What the U.S. Navy Taught Me About Starfleet’
- ‘Starship Troopers: What’s All the Fuss?’
The Cosmic Encounter Experience
Peter Olotka, (follow on Twitter @pgocosmic) one of the designers of the iconic board game Cosmic Encounter, will be at Escape Velocity for all three days where he will present panels on game design and sit down with fans to demonstrate and play his game!
Cosmic Encounter is a legendary science fiction board game in which three to eight players struggle to achieve cosmic supremacy by colonizing planets using unique alien special powers, negotiations, and fleets of ships. Since it was first published in 1977, it has won numerous game design awards and has six expansion sets which brings the total aliens in the game to 196. Cosmic Encounter is currently published by Fantasy Flight Games.
The Cosmic Encounter Experience at Escape Velocity will offer show attendees and fans of the game a chance to join Peter at the table and see if they can beat him at his own game. In addition to playing with attendees, Peter looks forward to showing off rare Cosmic artifacts and presenting panel discussions on the history of Cosmic Encounter and game design more broadly. Learn more about the game here and Like them on Facebook.
Starship Horizons Bridge Simulator
Mythric Studios will be presenting the Starship Horizons Bridge Experience!
Starship Horizons is a multi-player bridge simulation experience allowing 2-6 players to work together as the ship’s bridge officers. The core gameplay experience is designed around players commanding their own starship as the bridge officers in the roles of Captain, Flight, Tactical, Science, Engineering and Operations.
Missions will run throughout the convention. To reserve a time slot with your click here. Learn more about the game check out http://www.starshiphorizons.com and http://www.facebook.com/starshiphorizons.
Open Gaming Zone
The Open Gaming Zone has a huge library of hobby games – science fiction, fantasy, and historical – for all ages and at all levels of complexity. With your Escape Velocity pass, you can check out anything that sparks your interest (free of charge).
Play modern favorites along with some rare and unusual games dating back to the 1970s.
Try new games and meet fellow gamers – whether you plan spend a few hours in a battle of brainpower, or just relax for few minutes before your next event, the Open Gaming Zone is the place to hang out!
Ogre Battles in Washington DC!
Back for its second year! Play Steve Jackson’s classic game of science fiction warfare on a scale map of Washington DC.
In the 22nd century, the world is at war.
Jet-pack-equipped, battlesuit-armored infantry launch shoulder-fired nukes, combat hovercraft skim the ground at 150kph, while semi-autonomous tanks loose tac-nuke smartshells from electromagnetic cannons.
And the most powerful weapon of all has no human crew – the battlefield is ruled by gigantic sentient cybertanks called ‘Ogres’.
The year is now 2115. The world’s great empires are destroyed. After a twenty-year war with the Paneuropean Federation, the North American Combine has shattered into a thousand competing factions – The Factory States, ruled not by humans, but by Artificial Intelligences, some benevolent, some not.
Now, the last of the emergency power reactors has failed, and the automated defenses surrounding the former Combine Eastern Regional Capitol are clear. The long-abandoned city lies ripe for plunder. Six competing Factory States now send their forces to loot and burn Washington, D.C.
Order your tanks to roll up Route 66! Nuke the Wilson Bridge! Reduce your office building to radioactive rubble!
No rules familiarity required; all materials provided.
The National Security Decision Making Game
(Science Fiction Edition)
Explore the boundaries between science–fact and science-fiction. Experience new technologies, world crises and experience mysterious events our near future 2035 scenario. Help deal with world challenges as leaders. Expect anything from crazed dictators, revolutions, pandemics, global warming, uncontrolled artificial intelligence, universal state surveillance, new technologies, new genetic breakthroughs, artificial intelligences, or other surprises in our world that is not quite “as-you-know-it”.
NSDMG is an intense face-to-face immersive multiplayer seminar role-playing game. Players represent large social, industrial, political and military groups in real-world nations experiencing major domestic and international challenges where their interaction/negotiations with others drive world changing events.
Our staff’s in-depth knowledge of the military, political, economic and social aspects of world events allow for engaging believable and exciting play. In our games, player decisions make a difference—there are no inevitable outcomes.
NSDMG provides a synthetic learning experience where participants can gain insights into the basics of international relations AND experience some aspects of the governance, culture, and circumstances impacting how other nations work.
Well-loved Sci-fi prizes (used sci-fi books and DVDs) for all participants in the game. Tickets: $5 for Escape Velocity pass holders, $20 for the general public.
