7 Grand Steps Takes One Giant Leap Toward Release
Since its earliest inception, 7 Grand Steps has been an intrigue among intrigues. For one, it comes from Dangerous High School Girls In Trouble maestro Mousechief, which already pretty much guarantees that the end result won't step outside the box so much as it will scream forth from it, Hulk-like, in a confetti shower of splinters. 7 Grand Steps adopts a boardgame-style rule set to weave a highly reactive, multi-generational tale - letting you lift a family line from squalor to, well, pretty much whatever you see fit. I'm quite excited to find out what'll come of my first run, though my real life habits suggest it'll probably be widespread infamy or being held responsible for one of history's most destructive fires. Soon, however, I'll be able to find out for sure, because 7 Grand Steps is coming out next month.
7,000 years. What a positively mad stage for a player-driven story. Sure, it might not look like much, but imagination is one of board gaming's greatest assets. Hopefully, 7 Grand Steps' prompts and mechanics will guide it to some fascinating places. Here's how it all comes together:
"Inspired by the coin-operated amusements of San Francisco's Musee Mechanique, 7 Grand Steps combines the historical sweep of Civilization and the family nurturing of The Sims into an emergent narrative of epic scale. With each turn, you optimize the use of resources to achieve powerful legends, using a tactical board-game mechanic that empowers overarching family strategies across the generations. Along the way, children are conceived and romances forged, discoveries are made and tragedies suffered. Will your lineage survive through the ages, or be crushed under the weight of progress?"
7 Grand Steps will be out June 7th on both Steam and Mousechief's own site. It'll run you $15, which seems like a more than reasonable price for, again, 7,000 years of crazy emergent narrative. In the meantime, there's also a free demo, which Adam wrote some characteristically attractive words about a few months ago. So then, go absorb his knowledge and try the demo. History is waiting.