Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

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Minimalist Yet Playful

Douglas Friedman

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A Table For Two

A pair of 19th-century English chairs and a Kartell table fit perfectly into the corner of this tiny Brazilian kitchen in a So Paulo building.

Richard Powers

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Traditional Kitchen With Extra Shelves

In Marisa Tomei's home, the small kitchen is marked by a Saarinen table paired with 1940s French garden chairs. The range is by Viking, the dishwasher is by Asko and the flooring is cork.

Douglas Friedman

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Farmhouse Kitchen With Rustic Style

In a Woodstock, New York retreat, a pony peeks into the kitchen, which showcases custom-made beadboard cabinetry, a Rohl sink and a vintage Moroccan rug.

William Waldron

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Classic Black And White Flair

In a Southampton home designed by Steven Gambrel, the small kitchen is distinguished by glazed, black subway tile on the walls. The tiling on the floor is classic French and the white hood is custom made.

Eric Piasecki

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Modern And Understated

Sergey Ananiev

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Cozy Cooking Space

In the Connecticut kitchen of accessories designers Richard Lambertson and John Truex's Connecticut kitchen, a factory stool from London adds industrial style to an otherwise quaint, country chic space.

Pieter Estersohn

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Seaside Charm

A breezy, beachy Southampton home belonging to fashion executive Scott Currie has a kitchen that despite its seaside locale exhibits a modest country aesthetic. The farmhouse-style ceramic sink is from Rohl and the fittings are by Samuel Heath & Sons.

Roger Davies

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Elegantly Scandinavian Kitchen

In architect and antiques dealer Carlos Aparicio's French-Scandinavian kitchen in Miami, an elegant marble island is paired with Swedish stools by Jonas Lindvall.

Richard Powers

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In this Cape Cod cottage, the small kitchen's custom-made cabinetry is painted in Tanner's Brown, and the walls are in Cream, both by Farrow & Ball. The countertops are butcher block, the sink fittings are by Waterworks and the Wedgewood stove is antique.

Douglas Friedman

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Wrap-Around Shelving

Designed by Gert Wingardh, this Swedish kitchen's custom countertops and shelving are birch, the oven and cooktop are by Gaggenau and the antique stove in the foreground is original to the house.

Jean-Francois Jaussaud/Luxproductions

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Perfectly Monochromatic

Magdalena Bjrnsdotter and Erik Bjrklund covered their century-old farmhouse in rural Sweden in bright white paint. The black and white kitchen includes a flea-market table, industrial-style chairs and a metal-and-driftwood pendant light by Olsson & Jensen.

Magdalena Bjrnsdotter

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Steel and Shelves

The kitchen of a Manhattan townhouse designed by Temple St. Clair features Carrara-marble counters and a custom-made stainless-steel hood and storage unit; the stove is by Wolf.

Eric Piasecki

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Smart Use Of Space

William Abranowicz

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Open Up With White

Joshua McHugh

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Stash Books Up Above

Inside the home of Mark Badgley and James Mischka, bookshelves are placed up to the ceiling to make room for their many cookbooks.

Roger Davies

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Black and White Checkerboard

Jeweler Alexis Bittar's kitchen in her Brooklyn Heights home gives off retro vibes thanks to its checkerboard tile work. The various patterns used add depth to the space.

Kelly Stuart for Hearst Digital

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Counter-Side Dining

In Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland's home, the kitchen cabinets and hood are custom designs, the barstools by Lawson-Fenning are covered in a leather by Edelman, and the penny tiles are by Ann Sacks.

Mikkel Vang

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Rustic Storage

Model Anne Bannert made the mahogany top for this kitchen's 1950 wood-fired barbecue grill. The copper hood is from the same decade, and the steel chair was found at the local dump.

William Abranowicz

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Subway Tile & Open Shelving

Bjrn Wallander

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Cheerful Organization

In his kitchen in New York's East Village, interior designer Rayman Boozer created a sunny, inviting space by saturating nearly every available surface in lemon-yellow paint. A happy, low-cost renovation, it gives this small space an inviting country feel, even in the center of the city.

Timothy Kolk

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Impactful Color

The kitchen countertops are poured concrete, and the doors, window frames and custom cabinetry are all painted in a custom color that helps the single row of countertops make a bit impact in this Greek home.

Bjrn Wallander

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Add an Accent Color

In the kitchen of a Manhattan home designed by Jonathan Adler, the cabinets are painted a fiery Tulip Red from Fine Paints of Europe. The bright hue distracts the eye from the room's tight corners.

Sang An

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40 Small Kitchen Design Ideas - Decorating Tiny Kitchens

Kitchen remodeling is one of greatest ways of spicing up and bringing life into the most used space in the house. The kitchen is undoubtedly the busiest room of your home and giving it a revamped look is one of the greatest favors you can do to your home. Kitchen remodeling isnt all about glamour. It also improves the value of ones home. One can revamp the look of his kitchen in multiple ways. To make it stand out from the rest of the kitchens in the neighborhood however, sailing beyond the norm is necessary.

Preparing for Kitchen Renovation

Find the perfect team

In order to turn your little ordinary kitchen into a masterpiece of interior design, you need the services of an experienced home renovation expert. If you have done it before, you understand that kitchen remodeling is more involving than simply thinking of a design and giving it out for implementation. It requires more and that is why the service of a contractor or design expert is necessary. It becomes particularly important when the process will involve electrical work and plumbing.

To be certain of great kitchen remodeling Virginia services, you need someone you can trust. You need an expert you can confide in to make the most out of your kitchen space.

Plan your budget

How much are you willing to spend on this project? The amount of money you set aside for renovation will significantly determine how much you will be able to accomplish. To ease the budgeting process, one needs to decide whether he is out for a small, medium-range or major kitchen redesign. This can be $15,000, $30,000, and $50,000 respectively depending on the scaling range.

Most importantly, you need to ensure the budget is flexible. EA Home Design experts recommend that about 20% of the total renovation cost should be set aside for surprises. Maybe you underestimated labor costs or prices of some materials. Setting aside an extra budget cushions you against unnecessary stress, just in case things do not work out according to plans. If everything falls in place, you will have some bonus cash to spend on what you love most or donate to your favorite charity!

Seek early consultations

Get ready to dive in

Although most of the kitchen remodeling projects require complex knowledge of experts, your help is necessary in ensuing perfection is achieved. People have varied tastes and what the designer thinks is great for you might not necessarily be your cup of tea. Where possible, you can jump in and do smaller projects on your own. If you need customization of the cabinets or any other component of the kitchen, you can give an elaborate or have a clear sketch. Your home can only be as great as you want it to be.

Kitchen Renovation Inspirations

What is the driving force behind your plan to revamp the look of your kitchen? Are you simply doing it to improve the value of your home? Do you want to commemorate something special through it? Is it a special gift to the mother of your kids or mom? The main reason behind the renovation will give you a clear guide on how to proceed. You need to align everything in place such that at the end of the project, there is nothing but bouts of smile on your face and those of your loved ones. The good news is; you do not need to figure it all out on your own. With the services of EA Home Design experts, you can walk through it the easier way.

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Kitchen Remodeling, Renovation & Designers in Virginia

One thing I have learned throughout my life is sometimes speaking your mind only gets a piece of somebody elses mind and not the good piece.

An incident happened recently bringing to light how valuable this old trick really is. I may not be good in the new tricks, but I think I have mastered a few of the old tricks.

I really do not know when this incident started, but somewhere along the line I said something resembling a guttural uh huh, and forgot about it. What you say in these odd moments may determine your quality of life for many years to come. This points out the difference between husbands and wives.

About a month ago, the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage got it into her mind to remodel the kitchen. During this time, I did a pretty good job of staying out of her way. When the rare opportunity came soliciting my personal advice on a matter associated with this remodeling project, I quickly and enthusiastically supported her decisions.

Following the kitchen remodeling my wife proceeded to remodel her bathroom. At this point I should have had some suspicions, but I didnt. As a husband, I am not equipped with a suspicion detector. Experience should have taught me that if one project is done successfully it only inspires another project.

When a wife gets it in her mind to remodel part of the house that thought gets stuck and there is no stopping her. After each remodeling project is completed, my wife always asks my opinion of the job she has just done.

I have learned that if I do not want to do the job myself, I enthusiastically praise the job my wife has done. Any critique that leads toward the negative has a reciprocal effect.

Then I come home from the office one day. Not that it is unusual for me to come home, but this time when I came home, I was greeted at the door by my wife, with a smile that indicated to me that either something was wrong or I was in trouble.

I have something I want to show you, she giggled as she took my arm and led me back through the hallway. Ive been working on this all day and Im anxious to show you what I did.

She then proceeded to escort me to one of the most sacred areas of our blessed domicile. My bathroom. Nothing is more personal and sacred as a mans bathroom.

Just as she was about to open the door a horrendous thought exploded in my cranium. She has remodeled my bathroom. This comes as close to crossing the line as anything done inside the house. A sense of panic paraded around my heart.

Opening the door, she said those words that will frighten any man in his right mind. What do you think of your new bathroom?

I can either express whats on my mind, or, live happily ever after. I just cant do both.

A verse from the Bible brought a sense of comfort to my heart. A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence (Proverbs 13: 2).

Im on a fruit diet.

Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 34472. He lives with his wife in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 352-687-4240 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is http://www.whatafellowship.com.

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The high cost Of speaking your mind - Greensburg Daily News

More people want open concept in their homes, so maybe it's time to ditch the dining room.

MINNETONKA, Minn. Whats standing between you and your dream kitchen? Often, its a wall a relic from the days when a separate dining room was a must-have in every home.

Today, formal meals have gone the way of the rotary phone in most households, and a room just for dining seems like a waste of precious space.

The formal dining room was popular for a while, said Cassie Frick, an Edina Realty agent. But most of her clients view them as so last-century. Everybody wants the open concept. The vast majority dont want a formal dining room anymore.

Frick included. She and her husband recently remodeled their 1970s home in Minnetonka, extending the kitchen by eliminating an adjacent dining room.

For us, with two kids, a formal dining room does not make sense, she said. It was a big room but we never went there, and it was totally cut off.

More than one-third of kitchen renovation projects now involve increasing the rooms size, according to the 2017 Houzz Kitchen Trends Study. Open floor plans continue to rise, with 51 percent of new kitchens more open to other rooms of the house than they were before the remodeling.

Half the kitchens we do, we end up taking out a wall or partial wall, said Craig Weber, architect and owner of Bridgewater Construction. It makes for a much more dramatic kitchen. Most people entertain in the kitchen whether they want to or not.

Often the unwanted wall is load-bearing, so its important to consult with a professional, noted Max Windmiller, an architectural designer with Windmiller Design Studio. He advised Frick during her project and also brought in a structural engineer.

She knew what she wanted, but she wanted to make sure it would be possible, said Windmiller. You have to figure out how to transfer that load. Its a structural challenge.

Ramblers from the 1950s and 60s are good candidates for wall removal, said Weber. The floor plans are pretty flexible.

Wall removal can be more complicated in a split-level or older two-story home, but just about anything is possible. Weve taken walls out of [homes from] pretty much any era, Weber said.

The results are worth it, said Steve Ribnick, who recently hired Weber to remodel his familys 1978 two-story in Bloomington.

Ribnick and his wife considered a cosmetic face-lift for their kitchen, but ultimately chose to remove the wall between the living room and family room to create an open floor plan with a casual dining area. Their formal dining room is now a music room/playroom.

Best decision we made, Ribnick said of losing the wall. We use all of our house now.

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Lose a wall, gain a dream kitchen - GoErie.com

This is a Grandview Sunroom four season sunroom. Have this room added to your home with a heating/cooling system and you will be able to enjoys the outdoors year round.

Modern Farmhouse - Home Decor and Design - Susquehanna Style

4 Season Sunrooms Cost | Four Seasons Sunroom (13)

ideas for sunroom additions | This Piedmont Triad sunroom provides year-round beauty and comfort.

This layout is very much like the vision I have in my head for our backyard if we ever get around to fixing up the sunroom.

This is how I want the addition to be! Left will be extended last bedroom with closet(cough cough) straight out overlooking dining room and kitchen gets flipped around and to the right a great big living room, with lots of windows and French doors, to the covered patio

sun rooms | Peak Builders, Inc. - Additions & Sunrooms

Sunroom Addition (Shed Roof) Plans

Sunroom Addition Design Ideas, Pictures, Remodel, and Decor - page 5

Hagen Glass can keep the sun shining in all year round with our custom sunroom designs. http://www.hagenfirst.com/residential/sunrooms

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17 best ideas about Sunroom Addition on Pinterest | Home ...

By Mark J. Donovan

Glass Sunroom addition and solariums also provide an excellent return on investment. Todays prospective homebuyers look for homes that are bright and cheery, and have that outdoors feeling without the side effects of insects and extreme temperatures.

When planning a glass sunroom addition or solarium make sure you carefully consider the location and position of it. In many cases people prefer to add a sunroom addition or solarium off of a kitchen or family room area for maximum utilization.

In many cases, homeowners actually use sunroom additions or solariums as their kitchen dining area, family room, and home gym space.

Ideally a sunroom addition should be facing a south / southwest exposure to maximize sunlight exposure in the afternoon and evenings, particularly if it is to be located off of a family room. If your sunroom addition is to be located off of your kitchen then you may want to have it facing south / southeast to take advantage of the morning light.

Sunroom Addition Construction

When building a sunroom addition or solarium it is important that its design blend well into the existing home. The addition should meld into the existing homes structure as if it was designed and built during the homes original construction. You may want to enlist the services of a home addition architect to help with this process.

Besides the use of glass doors and windows, as well as skylights, sunroom additions and solariums frequently include ceramic tile floors to help absorb the suns rays.

The roof pitch and its position towards the suns track are also important considerations. For example, if you live in a northern climate the roof pitch needs to be steep enough so that snow can quickly melt off of it. Likewise, there is no point of having a sunroom addition or solarium if the roof surface is facing the north.

Once you have a set of sunroom addition plans, you can then begin the process of finding a contractor to build it. Selecting a qualified and professional sunroom addition contractor can be challenging. It is important to find the right one for your sunroom addition project to ensure that it is built correctly and to your budget and timeline.

One great way to locate a qualified sunroom addition contractor is to use a national home building contractor referral company. They have pre-screened and qualified home addition contractors all around the country and maintain their names and contact information in a database.

In addition, their services are free to the homeowner. The homeowner simply fills out a free online form for their specific home addition requirements and they will forward the information on to 3 or 4 sunroom addition contractors in your area. The contractors will then contact you to set up a time to meet with you and review your sunroom addition or solarium plans.

Obtaining Solarium or Sunroom Addition Contractor Price Quotes

When obtaining sunroom addition price quotes from contractors it is important to make sure that they provide you with a complete sunroom addition cost breakdown list of every phase of the project. The more detail in the sunroom addition cost breakdown list, or bid sheet, the more likely of an accurate sunroom addition cost proposal.

When interviewing potential sunroom addition contractors make sure you check their references. Usually a good litmus test for evaluating a home building contractor is to see how long the reference list is.

The longer this list is, the higher the likelihood that he has a solid reputation. A long reference list also helps to get a feel for how long the contractor has been in business and his level of pride in his work. Regardless of the length of the reference list, it is still important to contact at least 3 or 4 of the references.

Contact a couple of more recent projects completed by the contractor and a couple 2-5 years out in the past. This way you can see how he has been trending with his work, as well as to see how his work holds the test of time.

Finally, it is also important to note that glass sunroom addition construction costs are typically higher than building a new home. The reason for this is that a room addition requires additional effort to tie it into the home. In addition, a new home construction project offers economies of scale. With a sunroom addition, you may be adding only a few hundred square feet of area, whereas with a new home construction project you may be building 2,000 to 4,000 square feet of living area. In addition, windows are expensive and will represent a significant cost in the construction of your sunroom addition.

A glass sunroom addition or solarium is a great addition to any home and is well worth the investment. Just make sure you plan accordingly before breaking ground. By doing so you will increase your chances of a successful sunroom addition. Good luck with your sunroom addition project!

For more help on building a sunroom addition, see HomeAdditionPlus.coms Home Addition Bid Sheets. OurHome Addition Bid Sheets provide you with the knowledge and information on how to plan a home building project, and what to look for when hiring contractors. They also include detailed cost breakdown tables and spreadsheets for estimating your own new home construction building costs.

Fill out our 3-5 minute quick and easy form, and receive a free price quote on a house addition from one of our prescreened and licensed home addition contractors. This process is free and there is no obligation to continue once you receive your home addition price estimate.

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Sunroom Additions | Solariums - Home Addition Planning

By Pam George, contributing writer Published 1:21 p.m. ET April 14, 2017 | Updated 1:22 p.m. ET April 14, 2017

An exemplarily contemporary(Photo: Victoria Dickinson & Associates, Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate)

It was love at first sight. As soon as the current owners saw the wooded 5-acre lot on Twaddell Mill Road, just off Route 52 in Centreville, they had to have it. Initially, they planned to take their time before building. But they were so enchanted that the custom contemporary took shape nearly right away. Their labor of love is a remarkable 5,000-square-foot that offers stunning views of protected land in every direction.

An exemplarily contemporary(Photo: Victoria Dickinson & Associates, Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate)

Nestled in a valley, this impressive residence has the open, innovative floor plan that has long characterized a contemporary. Its only recently that architects have borrowed this element for Colonial designs.

The foyer includes a floating staircase that gives guests a full view of the living room beyond. Because the living room has a bank of picture windows and a vaulted ceiling, you can also glimpse the stunning scenery outdoors. This room also boasts a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace that soars to the apex. The beamed ceiling and wood-trimmed balcony above lend a chic, rustic element that suits the landscape.

Both the entrance hall and the living room flow into the dining room, which seamlessly adjoins the sunroom and renovated kitchen for a continuous light-filled space. Owners cleverly put a formal two-door closet with shelves in the dining room for serving dishes, good china and other items needed for entertaining.

Storage is also a hallmark of the updated kitchen, which has granite countertops, a five-burner cooktop and wraparound counters that provide double duty. For instance, one holds a wet bar with sink and icemaker, which is accessible from the family room. This warm space, which has sliders to the wraparound deck, features the second stone fireplace.

The kitchen adjoins a laundry room that is so large it can easily hold a home office in addition to a built-in desk in the kitchen. Because the laundry room has a door to the two-car garage, it can serve as a mudroom.

An exemplarily contemporary(Photo: Victoria Dickinson & Associates, Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate)

All these features are impressive, but it is the step-down sunroom addition that will give most visitors pause. This welcoming space is easily visible from the kitchen, thanks to a breakfast bar (which has shelves on the sunroom side) and the open dining room.

The sunroom holds a spacious seating area and a dining area, both of which have stellar views two ponds stocked with trout, bass and koi and the private slope of protected land.

In another nod toward the future, this contemporary has a first-floor owners suite with a dressing area complete with his-and-her closets and a makeup table a sleeping area and an en suite bathroom with a soaking tub, linen closet and shower. It even has its own balcony.

Upstairs, there are three secondary bedrooms with a full hall bathroom and access to two attics for a generous amount of storage space.

The finished area of the lower level has a fireplace, space for billiards and additional space for a playroom or recreation room. Theres even a full-size stove, sink and fridge. Double doors in the unfinished section open wide, so a canoe, an inflatable dingy or a riding mower can come through. This section also has a workroom, which is perfect for woodworking, gardening or another hobby.

An exemplarily contemporary(Photo: Victoria Dickinson & Associates, Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate)

The covered lower deck on this level will entice visitors to pull up an Adirondack chair for a meditative moment. The well-landscaped beds, glistening ponds and gently swaying trees are instantly calming. Stress will melt off your shoulders.

To be sure, the phrase idyllic retreat will come to mind when you tour this home. But keep in mind that it is five minutes from the heart of Centreville. Greenville and Chadds Ford are a quick drive from home.

Located in one of Delawares most desirable zip codes, this property is a rare find for the nature-lover who prizes convenience and the modern lifestyle.

An exemplarily contemporary(Photo: Victoria Dickinson & Associates, Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate)

The Home

LOCATION: 66 Twaddell Mill Road, Centreville STYLE: Contemporary, 4 BR, 2.2b; car garage PRICE: $1,185,000 SCHOOL DISTRICT: Red Clay Consolidated NEARBY SHOPPING LOCATIONS: Centreville, Greenville, Chadds Ford, Route 202 DIRECTIONS: Kennett Pike (Route 52) to Twaddell Mill Road.

For more information, call Victoria Dickinson at (302) 463-4720, Victoria Dickinson & Associates, Patterson-Schwartz Real Estate. Or, visit dickinsonassociates.com.

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Centreville Home space & style in tranquil setting - The News Journal

The Love Shack, a sister restaurant to Black Sheep, will be a Polynesian-themed bar and restaurant. It's due to open in late May at 106 W. Seeboth St.(Photo: The Love Shack)

The Polynesian bar and restaurant planned for Walker's Point will have a menu designed by sister restaurant Black Sheep's chef and serve rum flights at the mezzanine Rhum Bar, the owners say.

Michael Sorge and Wesley Shaver, who own Black Sheep wine bar and restaurant in Walker's Point, released details Monday about the Love Shack, 106 W. Seeboth St. That's in the Point on the River building, in space previously occupied by Wine Maniacs on the River. Sorge and Shaver's partner in the project is Gary LaCourt, CEO of jewelry company Forever Companies.

The Journal Sentinel first reported the plans last week.

Shaver, the managing partner, said in the written statement that the setting'sviews of the water were well-suited to the Polynesian theme. The building is at the confluence of the Milwaukee and Menomonee rivers.

The restaurant will serve dishes by chef Adam Pawlak such asbraised pork in a steamed bun; seared scallop and crisped Spam with mango and radish salad; vegetable and tuna poke bowls; and melon salad with roasted red pepper andcitrus vinaigrette. Prices for the plates are expected to be $15 or less, Shaver said.

Drinks will be rum-based and made with fresh fruit juices, and the upstairs Rhum Bar will stock rare rums.

The Love Shack will have a second-floor deck off the Rhum Bar in addition to patio seating off the first floor. The patio will have lounge furniturein additions to tables, and will have fire tables and palm trees.

Itwill be open daily; the opening is expected in late May. Find the Love Shack online on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Details on food, drink at new Polynesian spot the Love Shack - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (blog)

Last week, Ship of Heroes was brought to KickStarter and closed all in the space of a few days. Though that may be the case for now, the team has taken the lessons learned to heart to form a solid plan for the future. Check out our exclusive interview to see where Ship of Heroes is headed next.

MMORPG: Why cancel the Ship of Heroes Kickstarter?

A: There are a well-established set of criteria for successful MMORPG Kickstarters. For example, if a new MMORPG has enthusiastic supporters, it will draw about $100 per donor, compared to $35-50 for videogames in general. SoH was drawing about $115 for several days and ended at $108, showing that we have solid enthusiasm for the game. But Kickstarters in this genre also need to achieve about 25% of the goal in the first three days to succeed. We achieved about a third of that amount, which reinforced the messages we received from possible donors, who were hearing about the game for the first time during the Kickstarter, and weren't ready to back it yet. Pulling the program was simply smart, decisive business sense. Were building a game, and after three days we knew that we needed to go down another route.

MMORPG: What have you learned from your Kickstarter?

A: First, we've learned is that there is a very enthusiastic crowd of SoH supporters out there willing to support funding of the games development. Second, there's a much larger group of possible supporters who had not heard of Ship of Heroes before the Kickstarter. They need time to learn and become excited about the game. Third, we've learned that we should make a more focused game and launch sooner. Before the Kickstarter we were considering building a larger game before launch, taking more time and money to polish and expand. That decision is made for us now. In a way, its quite helpful; our percent complete just went up.

MMORPG: What is the path forward for Ship of Heroes now?

A: The Kickstarter allowed us to understand what our community wants, with more clarity. They want to be certain that we actually have a game that they will be able to play. Some are ready to fund us now, and more will be ready as the game advances. Given the high level of support weve received from our community since we canceled the Kickstarter, well develop a smaller game at the beginning and then expand it using subscription revenues to become the game we originally planned. This allows our supporters to experience the game during development, and to have more input into the direction that we take. The biggest change we are making is to limit the environments we will develop before launch. We have an incredible setting, Apotheosis City, right now. Were going to improve it and use it for the launch. Weve also decided to limit to 20 levels of character advancement initially. Of course, this could change if we decide to go back to crowdfunding in the future.

MMORPG: Do you think Ship of Heroes will have another crowdfunding event?

A: Its quite possible, but not for a while. Theres a trade-off in indie game development. A small team can promote their game continuously and let building it take second place, or the reverse. We put game development first; coding, story, and art implementation are the top priorities of the team. But we also know that we have to continue to reveal a steady stream of real, integrated advancements to our supporters, not just a stream of words punctuated with a few pieces of concept art. Our fans want much, much more than that.

MMORPG: What will supporters of Ship of Heroes see next?

A: Were going to be showing some very significant additions between now and the end of 2017. First up will be a look at the Sci-fi interiors of Apotheosis City, something we have not shown before in any setting. Its a major change for us to show interior scenes because of the additional art assets, lighting techniques, story elements, etc. In addition, the areas that well be showing will be used for our first instanced missions. Instanced missions are incredibly important to our community, because many have had bad experiences with MMOs that over-emphasize street-sweeping, which can lead to waiting for enemies to respawn after someone else kills them. Were eliminating that problem right at the outset. Well also be expanding our list of factions and showing more details about them, and well be showing off a lot more details about the powersets and powers that can be used to customize your characters. Were still on track to take some friends of the game through escorted Alpha testing at the end of 2017.

MMORPG: Do you think there's a stigma attached to the game now, with the failed Kickstarter? How do you combat that public perception?

A: No there is no stigma. In fact theres a bit of the reverse. Our community has rallied around us, viewers per day on YouTube actually increased after we canceled, we have more subscribers to our newsletter than ever, and the number of people asking us to set up donations on our website is quite large. Since we showed a very advanced state of pre-Kickstarter game development, and a setting that allows new content and new experiences for our players, our community has actually been extremely supportive. We also get a lot of kudos for canceling quickly and moving forward with a good Plan B. Our forums are full of ideas for pushing Ship of Heroes to a launch. No superhero KS has succeeded in several years, and it has even been difficult for non-superhero MMORPGs. These days people understand that there is almost no connection between succeeding on Kickstarter and actually building a game. As long as we keep producing and showing real progress in development we think public support will continue to grow.

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Ship of Heroes - Lessons Learned Lead to a Plan for the Future - MMORPG.com

Longtime and long-suffering Boston Breakers fans will know this story: the one about the No. 1 draft pick and the season that wasnt. The struggle, and the trade, and the what could have been.

If you know the story to which Im referring, congratulations youre probably old and reading this in between fits of all-caps tweeting at the Tumblring teens about how back in your day the only way to watch a professional womens soccer game was via days-later grainy YouTube clips shot from space on the used camcorder your grandparents gifted your parents with the express purpose of recording your sisters dance recitals in the 1980s.

If you have no idea what Im talking about, first, please stop trying to teach me Snapchat. Second, lets take a walk down memory lane and make a pit stop in a place called Cautionary Tale. It is 2009, the first year of Womens Professional Soccer. The Boston Breakers, with the first pick in the first-ever WPS draft, select a promising young striker out of USC.

With an Olympics already under her belt, Amy Rodriguez was well on her way to becoming a fixture on the USWNT by the time the Breakers picked her up for the inaugural WPS season. Rodriguez was supposed to be the next big thing or one of the big things in this brand new league; one of the next generation of the U.S.s seemingly endless supply of star strikers. Rodriguez was fast, could get into good positions, and had a nose for goal.

Once she pulled on that Breakers blue though, all that promise disappeared, washed out to sea on the wave thats adorned the Bostons crest for so many years. Whatever success A-Rod was having on the international level never quite translated to the week-in-week-out grind of the professional game, and by the end of her rookie season, Rodriguezs contributions included a just a single goal and a lot of frustration.

By the following season, A-Rod had been traded to Philadelphia, where she quickly became an essential part of an Independence team that made it all the way to the WPS championship game.

Now, eight years and one league later, the Breakers are again the owners of the No. 1 draft pick, though this time it came from last years last place finish, Bostons second time at the bottom of the table in as many seasons. With that top pick at the 2017 college draft, Boston again went for a promising young talent with some time with the USWNT under her belt. On a January day in Los Angeles, Rose Lavelle became a Boston Breaker.

In the context of Rodriguez like if youre reading this while still in Cautionary Tale circa 2009 Boston picking up Lavelle is a terrifying prospect. Its almost enough to make you wish someone else got her. Also, if you are still in 2009, dont get attached to WPS; it gets super sad toward the end.

While Bostons track record with the top pick and just in general may not be that great, its also maybe not quite fair to compare Lavelle to what happened to A-Rod nearly a decade ago. Though the two share the distinction of going first and getting a boost from the USWNT hype train, thats about where the similarities end.

The most obvious difference is that were in a whole other league now, and one that despite the fact we just found out, a whole two days before the start of the season, where and how to watch the games doesnt feel like its flying quite as much by the seat of its pants.

Were in year five, smashing through the previously impenetrable three-year barrier that felled the previous two leagues. The relative infrastructure, history, and stability that the NWSL brings as compared to WPS, especially when Rodriguez was a rookie, means that at the very least, there are four other people who once stood where Lavelle is now, and based on where at least three of them are now, things will probably turn out OK.

Perhaps the tale we should be looking at for comparisons sake isnt A-Rods at all. Perhaps we should instead head west, to Chicago in 2015. The Red Stars, for all their struggles in the WPS era and in the early days of NWSL, made the playoffs for the first time in 2015, and they did it largely on the strength of a team devoid of the kind of names youd think theyd need to get there.

Unlike some of the leagues other teams, Chicagos never been particularly flashy. The Red Stars have made few trades over the years, and beyond retirements, no ones really fled. In 2015, with many of the NWSLs top players revolving in and out of the picture due to the World Cup, the Red Stars quietly became one of the leagues best teams, and they did it largely on the strength of a handful of rookies and players whod come up in Chicago.

Sure, sometimes they had Julie Johnston and Christen Press, but mostly it was players like Danielle Colaprico, Arin Gilliland, Sofia Huerta and Vanessa DiBernardo who saw the Red Stars through.

Boston, without many big names to lose (Lavelle is the Breakers only USWNT allocation), has a chance to start to duplicate what the Red Stars have done. In addition to Lavelle, Boston picked up Morgan Andrews, Ifeoma Onumonu, Midge Purce and goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme in the 2017 draft. Its a rookie class that could bring some success to Boston, and more importantly, one the Breakers could start to build off of.

Speaking of building, Boston has started to establish its own solid core of players returning year after year. Julie King has been a Breaker since the inaugural NWSL season, and Libby Stout, Abby Smith, Christen Westphal, Kylie Strom, Natasha Dowie, Angela Salem and Brooke Elby are all in their second season in Breakers blue and white.

In addition to the rookies and that core of returning Breakers, Bostons added a handful of NWSL veterans in places it really needed them. None are particularly flashy signings, but all are big improvements.

Adriana Leon was a Breaker in 2013 and returns to Boston after stints in Chicago, Western NY, and Switzerland. Tiffany Weimer was briefly a Breaker in the WPS days and returns after playing just about everywhere else in both the NWSL and Europe. Amanda Frisbie, despite someones best efforts to make her disappear, joins Boston after stints in Western NY, Kansas City, and Iceland. Amanda DaCosta has played for both Chicago and Washington. Megan Oyster spent two seasons in Washington before being traded to Boston in November. Allysha Chapman spent last season in Houston.

Chapman (Bostons sole Canadian allocation) and Oyster are good additions to a defense that was at least partially responsible for a league-worst minus-33 goal differential in 2016. That Smith is back on the field after a suffering a season-ending knee injury less than halfway through her second appearance for Boston last year is more good news for a team thats been hemorrhaging goals.

Lavelle and Andrews are two of 2017s most promising rookies. And that Dowie will be around for more than the last month-and-a-half of the season is one of the best things that could happen to an offense that looked like it had all but forgotten the meaning of the word. Forgotten-like Dowie somehow led the Breakers in scoring in 2016 and she only scored three goals, including the game-winner in her debut, the whole thing leaving Boston fans to wonder what life wouldve been like had she been around for a whole season.

This year, well get the answer to the Dowie question, to the one about what happens when you keep your high draft picks rather than trade them away for players who turn out to be busts, and to the one about whether what happened way back when with A-Rod was a fluke or the start of a pattern thats taken eight years to develop.

Part of the answer to all those questions, probably, is that things wont change completely overnight. Boston likely wont make the playoffs this season, but the Breakers probably wont finish dead last for a third consecutive season, either. This whole building a soccer team thing is something of a puzzle after all, and for the first time, Matt Beard and Co. at least have the pieces that are the same colors as the picture on the box. Whether the cat comes in at night while they sleep and knocks the whole thing onto the floor and, like Amanda Frisbie, disappears under the couch again? October is a long way away.

Houston Dash vs. Chicago Red Stars, 2:00 PM ET, BBVA Compass Stadium (go90)

Portland Thorns FC vs. Orlando Pride, 3:00 PM ET, Providence Park (Lifetime)

Washington Spirit vs. North Carolina Courage, 3:00 PM ET, Maryland SoccerPlex (go90)

Seattle Reign FC vs. Sky Blue FC, 10:00 PM ET, Memorial Stadium (go90)

FC Kansas City vs. Boston Breakers, 6:00 PM ET, Childrens Mercy Victory Field (go90)

Originally posted here:
NWSL Week 1 preview and fixtures: The Boston Breakers have hope again - SB Nation