Dave Beck Announces Distilled Prototype

KHN Alum and Juror, (2009 / 2012 / 2018) Interdisciplinary Artist Dave Beck, has announced the new version of his game prototype, Distilled, which is up on Steam and BGG (see links). Distilled is a strategy game about crafting alcoholic spirits., 

Per Dave Beck: "Distilled is a push-your-luck, deck-building strategy game about crafting spirits in a distillery. In the game, you are an apprentice hoping to someday achieve the title of master distiller, through purchasing goods, building up your distillery, and creating the world’s most renowned spirits.

Players use cards to purchase new ingredients from the market and invest in upgrades to their distillery, all while eventually distilling the spirit and sending it to the warehouse. Once in the warehouse, players age their spirit(s) to enhance its flavor and bottle it to sell it for big profits and rewards! The goal of the game is to achieve the title of Master Distiller by having the most victory points. Points are counted up at the end of the game by assessing the spirits, distillery upgrades, and obtained Distiller’s Awards." (Dave Beck / distilledgame.com)

Distilled is set to launch on Kickstarter in early 2021.

Dave Beck is a practicing 3D digital and new media artist and designer, living in Wisconsin.  He is the recipient of the 2010 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge Award, given by the National Science Foundation.  Beck's artwork has been featured in publications such as the New York Times, Sculpture Magazine, National Geographic, the journal Science, and the book GameScenes: Art in the Age of Videogames.  

Beck has been a fellow at a number of different artist residencies and organizations, including the National Parks Service, Nebraska’s Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, The Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Lanesboro Art Center. He has had solo exhibitions at Wisconsin’s Overture Center for the Arts, the SUNY-Potsdam’s Gibson Gallery, and the Phipps Center for the Arts (forthcoming, 2018). His work has been reviewed in international publications focusing on contemporary art, including Sculpture Magazine and DailyServing. He regularly participates in group exhibitions and screenings across North America.

Beck currently works at the University of Wisconsin-Stout as the Director and Associate Dean of the School of Art & Design, which is the largest art and design entity in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas, with over 1,000 BFA students and 60 faculty and staff. He is also the founding Director of the Game Design BFA, which is ranked as one of the top game design programs in the country by the Princeton Review. Additionally, student projects from his classes and mentorship have won awards such as 1st Place at the 2013 E3 College Game Competition, participation in the 2017 GDC Intel University Showcase, and the 2013 Juried Student Showcase Award from the International Digital Media and Arts Association (iDMAa).  From 2007-2011, he was employed by Clarkson University, where he directed the Digital Arts & Sciences Program, which received the "2010 Innovative Program Award" iDMAa and was ranked among the “Top 50 Game Design Programs” by the Princeton Review.

For more, check out Dave Beck's award-winning interactive online game, TOMBEAUX. Tombeaux is a short first-person exploration game set in a historically accurate 3D environment. Explore the convergence between cultures and the environment across a few hundred years of American history.

Congratulations, Dave!