Tag Archives: Gaming

Under The Microscope – Drop Site by Bellwether Game

January 26, 2012 – 12:44 am

Welcome to Go Forth And Game. Under The Microscope today – Drop Site from Bellwether Games.
This review is long overdue.  I received a review copy of Drop Site from Bellwether Games some time back and just have not gotten around to posting it.  I apologize because this is a pretty good little card game.

Abstract:  Drop Site is a quick, fun card game for two to four players.  It’s theme of disaster aid workers dropping aid packages into stricken areas is unique.

Materials and Methods:

Materials – Components

This is a card game that comes with 52 cards and a rules sheet.  The card art is simple and clear depicting crates parachuting to or already on the ground.  Most have a card value on the upper left side as well as in the border at the top right.  The main body of the card holds the art and a number for scoring.  Card values range from 12 to 0.  Zero cards represent on the ground aid.  When a zero is played on a Drop Site, that Drop Site is turned on its side and a new Drop Site may be started on top of it.  The rules sheet explains the game well.  It is clear and concise.  The cards come in an industry standard card box with nice art.

One of Drop Site's cards

Methods – Game Play

Game play is fairly straight forward.  The cards are shuffled and five cards are dealt to each player.  The deck is placed in the center of the play area and the top card flipped to form the first Drop Site.  The players then take turns playing a card to either face up to the Drop Site(s) or face down to their Debt Bank.  They then draw a new card from the deck.  If a player chooses to play to a Drop Site the played card must have a lower card value than the face up card on the Drop Site.  Players may choose to start a new Drop Site with their play by playing any card next to a current Drop Site. The face down pile in front of each player is the Debt Bank.  Cards are played here and remain until the end of the game.  Then they are used for scoring.  Play continue until the appropriate number of Drop Sites is reached.  This number varies with the number of players.  The round then ends.  Exhausting the draw deck also ends a round.

At round end scoring begins.  Points are scored for each card in your Debt Bank.  Players receive points equal to the big blue plus number on the cards if the card’s value matches a Drop Site’s value.  Players lose two points for each unmatched card in the Debt Bank.  Drop Sites with zeros can be matched for both the zero and the current top card.  Debt Bank cards can match more than one Drop Site and a single card can match more than one Drop Site.  Game play continues until one player scores 100 points.

Discussion

Drop Site was designed by Dennis Hoyle and won the Carda Mundi award of the Premio Archimede in 2010 for best card game.  I can see why.   I like Drop Site.  Bellwether Games has produced a quality game with its first effort.  It is a fun, quick filler game with a unique theme and clever scoring mechanism.  It is easy to learn but takes a bit of skill to win.  The scoring mechanism is the heart of the game.  Being able to remember what you placed in your Debt Bank and being able to match it to the Drop Sites is not as easy as it might seem.  Scores escalate quickly making the game quick fun.  Drop Site is not a deep game nor does it pretend to be.  It is exactly what it wants to be – a small, fun game with enough thinky-ness to satisfy.  This game is a hidden gem filler game that needs more notice.

The Verdict:

Three Microscopes

You can get your own copy of Drop Site here at the Bellwether Games website.  Drop Site is normally $10 + shipping. That is a deal for real!  Rush on over there and get your own copy.  Thank you to Bellwether Games for providing a review copy.
Thank you visiting Go Forth And Game. Please come back soon for more interviews and reviews from the world of gaming.

By tomgurg | Posted in Game Design, Gaming | Also tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Under The Microscope – Eruption by Stratus Games

December 6, 2011 – 4:11 am

Under The Microscope – Eruption by Stratus Games

I’m examining Stratus Games latest release Eruption this time.

Abstract

The volcano explodes in fire and pyroclastic flows. Lava inches closer and closer to your village! What will you do? Fortunately you can direct the flows away from your village. Using ingenuity, walls, and good luck, you can choose to shunt the lava safely away or toward your rivals’ villages.

Stratus Games’ Eruption is a fun tile laying game of ‘take that’ that will please gamers as well as families.

Materials & Methods

Game Bits

The production of Eruption is fantastic. The game board is divided in a hex grid and depicts an island with the volcano in the center, lava flowing out from it, and jungle all around it. There are six villages evenly spaced around the edge of the island, on the beaches. Each village has a different colored border and icon as well as several huts, trees, and canoes. Scattered around the

The beautiful game board

island are icons for the various wall types. The ‘score track’ encircles the island and divided into ‘degrees spaces’. The track is a thermometer to marks the increasing temperature of each village. And it has zones that give the player in that zone special actions. There are about 40 lava tiles that depict lava flowing to several of the tile edges. Walls are small wooden sticks in yellow (straw), brown (wood), and grey (stone). There are 36 action cards that give the player either a special action, such as ‘Volcanic Bomb – discard any wall on the board’. Or the card can be turned in for a wall section. There are two dice – an orange lava die and a white wall die and 6 player tokens. The graphics are beautiful and clear. The rules pamphlet is colorful and attractive. Overall the graphic design is exemplary.

Game Play

Players are villagers trying to save their village from the lava flowing from the exploding volcano. At the beginning of his turn, a player evaluates the condition of his village. If there are any lava flows touching the village, that player’s token is moved forward on the temperature track. If the lava is not blocked or removed the temperature of the village will rise each turn and eventually burn up. Players direct lava by placing tiles that have flows in different directions on the board. Flows must connect to an existing flow.

Some Action cards

Action cards are another way to direct flows. The cards enable players to rotate tiles, replace tiles, and/or remove tiles completely.

Players can build walls to block a lava flow. Walls can be made of straw, wood, or stone. Walls are obtained either by exchanging a card for one or by placing a tile on one of the wall icons on the board.  When lava reaches a wall, players roll the two dice. The orange die is the lava die and the white die represents the wall. If the orange die is higher, the wall is removed. If the white is higher, the flow does not enter remove it. If the wall in question is wood or stone, a bonus is added to the white die – +1 for wood, +2 for stone.

Game play continues until either a village burns up or when all the tiles have been placed. The player whose village has the lowest temperature is the winner.

 Discussion

I like Eruption a lot. It is a fine blend of a family game and a strategy game. It is seeped in its theme and the game play reinforces that volcano/village in danger theme. There is real tension as your village’s temperature rises. And relief when you are able to play that card that removes that flow that is burning up your village. We have not had a game where there was not at least one ‘HA! Got ya!’ moment when someone placed a tile that caused a flow to enter a village.

I really am impressed with the graphics of this game. Even the print and play version I received is beautiful. The final game is a gorgeous produced game. Kudos to the graphics team.

Chris James has done a fine job on the design. The game is balanced and play is fluid. It has depth, particularly as the game board fills up with tiles. The choices of where to place your tile each turn gets more and more difficult as the game progresses. I like that.

The game is easy to learn, making it open to younger players. It is fast to play. I’d call it a super filler in this respect. And as I mentioned, it has a strategic and tactical aspect that will please gamers. This is a fun game and I highly recommend it.

Microscope Scale: 4.5 of 5 Microscopes

You can get more information about Eruption at http://www.stratusgames.com/games/eruption or BGG.

I would like to thank Stratus Games for providing a print and play copy of Eruption for this review.

Join me again soon for more reviews and interviews at Go Forth And Game.

By tomgurg | Posted in Gaming, Under The Microscope - Reviews | Also tagged , , | Comments Off

A Conversation With … Bellwether Games’ Dennis Hoyle and James Tanner

August 9, 2011 – 2:55 am

This time on Go Forth And Game I’m talking to Dennis Hoyle and James Tanner of Bellwether Games.  Bellwether is an up and coming company that publishes the award-winning Drop Site.


Tom: Welcome to Go Forth And Game guys tell us about yourselves.

Dennis: I am 25, just recently graduated with my MBA from Mississippi State University, married to the lovely person and brilliant strategy gamer, Sara, and I am passionate about using games to bring people (physically) to the same table to enjoy each other’s company. As a “day” job I work as a Residence Hall (college dorm) Director at a public university in Illinois.

James: Dennis and I started playing boardgames with a few others back about 10 years ago. It started with lengthy war games like Risk and the classic Shogun. Eventually I wanted something more and ran into Twilight Imperium. Instead of buying this expensive game, I decided to do some research. I found that some of it’s basic mechanics were founded in some game I had never heard of called Settlers of Catan, which eventually lead to Puerto Rico, and now my shelf is full of Euro-games. I worked at Motorola in Libertyville, Illinois designing mobile phones for about 12 years and have recently taken a job with Google in Mountain View, California.

Tom:  So you’ve been gaming together for quite a while.  Very cool.  Tell us about how Bellwether got started.

Dennis: Bellwether Games has been in our minds to do ever since 2008 when we started talking more seriously about game design as a profession. After getting my MBA, I wrote a business plan and continued to design games on the side. Through a competition at the university, our Bellwether Games business plan won $5,000 in start-up funds, which we are just starting to put to work for us. We decided on the name “Bellwether Games,” because the term “bellwether” is synonymous with being a leader in an industry, and it is our aim to develop games that are leaders in innovative and elegant mechanics and that are extremely fun. We also felt that the image of a sheep with a bell around its neck was a strong, unique, fun and positive image, and you can see from our logo how we have integrated the bellwether into our branding efforts.

Tom: That is an interesting story.  I like your ‘philosophy’ of the company and how it is displayed by the logo.  Neat.  Ok, so now for your first game – Drop Site. How did it come about? What is it about?

Drop Site


Dennis: Drop Site is a pretty simple strategy card game about delivering humanitarian aid. It was influenced by Lost Cities The Card Game, but plays even faster and has some extra layers. In the game, players “drop” crates of aid toward the ground, represented by piles in the middle of the table. At the same time, players hide cards face-down that represent people in need. The round can end very quickly, and at the end, the cards that were played face-down are compared with the cards that are still face-up in the middle of the table. You score points for all the matches you make, but if you don’t play carefully you will lose points for non-matches. It’s really fun, plays quick, no two rounds are the same, and you will discover more layers to the strategy the longer you play.

The game really started as something completely different, but as many game designs go, it transformed into something new and better. I distinctly remember working on Drop Site one Saturday morning and just praying to God that I could get the mechanics to work right. My wife was helping me play test various tweaks in the rules, and then suddenly it came together. The game played exactly as I wanted, so I posted the rules to my blog.  About a week later I heard about the 2010 Premio Archimede game design contest in Venice, Italy, and shortly thereafter decided to submit Drop Site.

It took about three weeks to develop the theme and prototype artwork, and I submitted it to the contest. About 4 months later I learned that Drop Site won the Carta Mudni special prize for best card game, for which we earned 1,000 copies manufactured

The Carta Mundi Award

for free. 6 months later we are now marketing those copies to the public and planning the release of our next two games, Over a Barrel and Aristocracy.

Tom: Wow! So you’ve already won a gaming award. That’s awesome. The video does a great job of explaining how to play and increasing excitement for the game.  You mentioned that this game changed from initial concept to final product. Could you elaborate?

Dennis: I think I may have touched on this already, but I would say, almost everything. My initial idea had to do with counting red cards as negatives and black cards as positives and trying to get a score close to zero, but as the game evolved nearly every aspect of its original form were eventually abandoned. What’s left is a seriously fun and addictive light strategy game that I like to call a great board game “chaser.”

Tom: Art. Who does the art on Drop Site and how did you find your artist(s)?

Dennis: As part of the Carta Mundi prize, the artist was found for us and did the artwork for free as part of their contract with Studio Giochi. The artist’s name is Paolo Vallerga, from the company ScriBabs, which is located in Italy. He did an excellent job with the game, and we would definitely work with him again on future projects.

Tom: A strategy chaser or filler is a good niche to fill. How do you go about designing or developing a game? What comes first, mechanic(s) or theme?

Dennis: Sometimes theme comes first and sometimes mechanics come first. When I get an image or idea for a world that I want to experience or that I want other players to experience, I design the game around capturing that experience and look for a mechanic to match. At other times there is a mechanic that I feel like would make a great game and then the trick is finding a theme that mirrors the mechanics, and also generates interest.

One of the Over A Barrel boards

James: I’ve spent some time trying to understand from where the origin of board game design comes and am not quite sure except for the general understanding that necessity is the mother of invention, as well as T.S. Eliot’s quote, “anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.” I always enjoy lying awake all night worrying about how I’m going to make something work. I’ll even think intensely on the issue before I fall asleep in hopes that I’ll wake up at 2:00 AM worrying. Our forthcoming game Aristocracy came out of a desire to play Risk with cards, which truly is unlike Risk. Over a Barrel came out of the desire to have a travel game where the buying and selling price was the same price for each stop. In Over a Barrel we developed a physical boat mechanic, which came out of the need to organize data into information.

Tom: I can empathize with you James.  I’ve had game ideas that just would not let go.  I used to play Risk a lot as a kid so Aristocracy sounds neat.  While we are on game design, what is the hardest part of designing a game?

Dennis: Following-through. Ideas are easy to come up with, it’s taking that idea and working on it and tweaking it continually until it takes shape into something truly special that is the hard part. Second to that is divorcing yourself from an idea or mechanic that you’ve been using in order to make a better one. It’s hard to “give up” on a mechanic or idea that you’ve put a lot of work into, but you need to realize that every mechanic is just a bridge to another better mechanic.

James: I believe the original spark is the most difficult. That starting spark must contain a single unique concept. The rest of the design follows that spark. I also think finding a responsible and free artist to be a difficult task.

Tom: Oh man, do I agree with both those points. I’m terrible with follow-through. I’ve a couple of games in various stages of progress that I need to get finished. Deadlines work pretty good though. And I’ve heard the ‘throw out your baby’ idea from several designers as one of the keys to changing a good game to a better game. Finding the unique among many ideas is a fantastic point. You want something that stands out and offers gamers something new. Great responses. Now, play testing seems to be a mixed bag. While absolutely necessary, it can be slow and difficult. What is the hardest part of play testing a game?

Dennis:I hate forcing myself and my games on people. Playing a game should be fun, but in its early stages of development a new game can be abysmal. It’s difficult for me to ask someone to “play” a game, when I know that the game has a high likelihood of not being fun. This is why I think it is very important that people know what they are getting into before you spring a new design on them. I avoid using regular game nights as play test sessions, but instead try to keep play testing separate so that I know every participant is there to “work.”

James:Play testing is the perspiration of design. It’s not fun playing a broken game 100 times. It’s also difficult to understand when it’s fixed because after playing the game 100 times it still hurts to play the game.

+3 Drop Site card

Tom: What a great way to put it James.  Yeah, sometimes play testing is not fun. And I have the same issue with asking friends to play test for me. It seems imposing upon their game time. Why did you choose to become a game publisher?

Dennis: I feel like modern board games are a very refined form of art, and they fascinate me. James introduced me to them about 8 years ago and I have not looked back. I knew I wanted to work in the board game industry, but I wasn’t sure to what degree or in what role. In 2008 I visited Hans Im Gluck in Munich and took part in one of their game nights. It was an awesome experience. A lot of famous people in the board gaming world were there including Andreas and Karen Seyfarth (designers of Puerto Rico and Thurn and Taxis) and Bernd Brunhoffer (designer of St. Petersburg and Stone Age and owner of Hans Im Gluck). Brunhoffer very graciously took some time to talk to me about game design and publishing, and it wasn’t long after that that I decided to start a company of my own. Then, after Drop Site won best card game at the Premio Archimede, we felt like the time was right.

Tom: What a cool experience. Awesome story. Next is a question I ask everyone – What are some aspects of a good player?

Dennis: I believe that the optimal strategy for each game lies along a continuum. On the one end is planning and calculation and at the other end is intuition and making decisions without all the information. Some players are excellent at calculation and planning, but don’t succeed as well when they have to make intuitive decisions. The best player is able to do both and most importantly is able to adapt to each game’s optimal strategy.

James: I’ve learned that from play testing all types of players are necessary. The extremely intelligent Euro-game players will find the holes in the mechanics, but the non Euro-game players will find problems with the artwork, rules, and more-obvious mechanics issues. I’ve learned, apart from play testing, a good player is gracious, competitive, quirky, and creative.

Tom: The continuum idea is a neat one that illustrates your idea well. And play testing again shows just how important it is. Who’s work in the industry do you admire the most?

Dennis: No surprise here. Probably Bernd Brunhoffer, both for the reasons already mentioned and because I often cite St. Petersburg as being my favorite game.

James: I’d have to say Andreas Seyfarth is straight genius. His games bring such good feelings. You know it’s a good game when you take last, yet still enjoyed and admired the mechanics of the game. I think his Puerto Rico is the greatest game ever, but I also enjoy Thurn and Taxis, and Manhattan. I also admire Reiner Knizia for all of his brain teasing games, but I think his games can be a bit abstract which sometimes mitigates fun and causes analysis paralysis.

Tom: I enjoy both those designer’s games. I played both Puerto Rico and Stone Age for the first time recently and agree that they are fantastic. Now to your games. Of them, which is your favorite?

Dennis: Hard to say because they are each very different. Right now I feel a very strong desire to play Over a Barrel again, so maybe that is my favorite.

James: I still most enjoy playing Aristocracy. It’s just a fun game to play in a social environment, especially playing in teams.

Tom: What are you currently playing?

Dennis: Drop Site, Over a Barrel, Pillars of the Earth, Ticket to Ride, Bang!

James: I just played 7 Wonders twice last night; I took 1st and 4th (last).

Tom: What’s the coolest part of being a game designer/company owner?

Dennis: Seeing the amazed looks on people’s’ faces when you talk about what you’ve been working on.

Tom: What problems, if any, have you had with production?

Dennis: No significant problems yet. Shipping Drop Site from Belgium to the States came with a host of challenges, but nothing too bad.

Tom: What is next for you? Tell us about your current projects.

Dennis: Designing, e-marketing, learning and building community. As far as designs go, we plan to have Over a Barrel out by January 1 (fingers crossed), and Aristocracy out shortly thereafter. Over a Barrel will introduce some completely unique game pieces and mechanics, which we will begin to reveal at our website, bellwethergames.com. Aristocracy is a fast paced deck-destructing game. Both are a 10 on the fun factor!Another Over A Barrel board

Tom: I’m very intrigued about both of these games. I want to see these unique mechanics and bits. And a deck de-construction game sounds very cool. Can you give us any more info on these two?

Dennis: We are very eager to get both of these games out, and have been hesitant to reveal too much until our play testing is done. Blind playtesting for Over a Barrel is set to begin at the end of July (and yes, Tom, you are being highly considered for this, so you might get to play the game for yourself), and we hope to have it published by the end of this year. Still, we can say that Over a Barrel has a unique physical component, “the ship,” which is an actual wooden boat, and barrels that you load onto the boat. The supply and demand of each good changes at every port, so as you play you are trying to maximize your “profit,” but the trick is that there is a limited capacity on the ship, so your well-laid-out plans for scoring big can fall apart when your barrels start getting pushed off! As you could imagine, this game has been very difficult to develop (we started in 2008), but the hard work has paid off and we believe it is going to be really special.

Tom: I so want to play that. It sounds really cool.   Where can people fin out more about Bellwether Games?  Are there any links or sites you want to direct us to?

Dennis: www.bellwethergames.com is the hub for everything Bellwether. If you want a copy of Drop Site you can only get it at bellwethergames.com. Sign up for our newsletter at: http://bellwethergames.com/my-bellwether/subscribenewsletter.html or contact us at info@bellwethergames.com. You can also follow us on twitter (bellwethergames) or Facebook (Bellwether Games).

Dennis and James, thank you very much for being my guests on Go Forth And Game.  It has been a lot of fun learning about Bellwether and your games.  Drop Site sounds really fun and I’m hoping to see a copy of Over A Barrel or any other of your games (hint, hint) soon.  I think Bellwether has a bright future ahead.


Now for a BIG surprise. Bellwether Games is giving away a copy of the award winner Drop Site to one lucky reader of Go Forth And Game. All you have to do is visit the Bellwether Games website. Find the answers to the questions below.  Then email those answers to goforthandgame@gmail.com.

You will receive one point for each correct answer plus an additional point for signing up for the Bellwether newsletter.  We will tally your scores.  The person with the most correct answers wins.  If there is a tie, we will randomly choose a winner from those with the most correct answers.  Here are the questions.

What is a bellwether?

What are the recommended number of players for Drop Site?

What organization does Bellwether Games support?

In what century will the theme of Over a Barrel be?

What is one website that has reviewed Drop Site?

What is Bellwether Game’s slogan?

What award did Drop Site receive?

How many different voices are featured in the Drop Site tutorial?

The contest will run until the end of August 2011.  So get on over Bellwether Games, find the answers, then shoot Go Forth And Game an email with your answers.

And why not leave a comment while you are here.

By tomgurg | Posted in Game Design, Gaming, Interviews | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

A Conversation With…Chad Ellis of Your Move Games, Part 2

June 4, 2011 – 3:21 pm

Thank you for joining me again for Part 2 of my interview with Chad Ellis of Your Move Games.

Tom: What is the hardest part of designing a game?

Chad: Objectivity. It’s human nature to love your game and at least to like the games your friends create. Small publishers have to be very cautious about this. We overestimated Succession even though we thought we had a pretty impressive amount of playtesting. Based on our various groups we thought we were launching with a huge hit and I think we just didn’t take player bias into account. We had self-selection bias (the people who volunteered liked us and liked the concept of the game and then sought out their friends who they thought would like it) and we had friends and family bias. Looking back, there was only one group of playtesters that had a “meh” reaction. At the time we discounted them as the clear minority but we should have given much more attention to the fact that they were the one group that was completely independent.

You can only afford to publish really good games – there are too many good games out there for an OK game to do well. Thus, you need to make sure that you have a really good game…and there’s a very good chance your game isn’t as good as you currently think it is.

Tom: That is an interesting and honest answer. Having a critical eye on your own products is a brave but necessary thing I would think. Maintaining and correctly interpreting feedback is a challenge. What is the hardest part of playtesting a game?

Chad: That depends a lot on the game. I think the biggest challenge is being strategic about what you’re trying to accomplish. Early playtest sessions are often about taking a game concept and identifying the huge gaping holes that need to be fixed. Don’t be surprised if after one or two plays you have to stop because you know that a major rewrite is needed. The more you understand about where your game is in development the better able you’ll be to playtest.

A couple of years ago at BGG I participated in a prototype playtest group with a board game design I was working on. I also playtested it with regular gamers throughout the weekend. The regular gamers were much, much more useful than the dedicated prototype playtesters because they played the game. The “serious” playtesters wanted to stop every minute or two to fix some small rule or suggest a better tiebreak or, amazingly, to make sweeping judgments about a set of mechanics they had barely begun to play with.

So were the serious playtesters a bad group to work with? Absolutely not…but we should either have agreed up front what the goals of the playtest session were or I should only have come to them when the game was at a very different stage in development.

Tom: That is a really good answer. I can see how ‘serious gamers’ might be more nitpicky and try to fix the game themselves. Or assume they know how a mechanic works without really giving the rules a proper read. Goal setting is important and I’m glad you brought that up. I agree that playtesting with different types of players is valuable. What are some aspects of a good player?

Chad: First tell me what game we’re talking about and define “good”! What I want from a player who comes to a casual game night is very different from what I want in a tournament opponent. However, if by good you mean “able to win lots of games” then I think it’s a mix of aptitude and approach. The most successful players at any game are those that continue to learn. They try new things and see what works and they learn from other players all the time. I know a lot of people who say I’m just better at games than they are but what I notice is that they play the same each time. Of course they’re not getting better – they’re the same player they were a year ago.

Tom: Successful gamer vs. good casual gamer – that’s a good difference to make. I like that you mention that gamers should be learning constantly. What makes a good game? As a developer, what do you look for in a game?

Chad: Games provide so many things, so two good games can have very little in common. I don’t think it’s even accurate to say that a good game is “fun” because the fun of a party game is so different from the fun of Battleground that they deserve different words.

Tom: You are not only a game designer but publisher as well. That’s a very tough row to hoe. Why did you choose the self publishing route?

Chad: I could afford to. It’s really that simple – I was lucky enough to be able to invest money and not draw salary for a few years. The old joke is true – it’s easy to make a small fortune publishing games, provided you start with a larger fortune. Rob and I also wanted to do things our own way and not have to convince someone else to publish our games and then hope they came out the way we envisioned.

Tom: Who’s work in the industry do you admire the most?

Chad: Reiner Knizia is my favorite designer and he takes a very professional approach to everything. He’s also a really nice guy, and I’m not just saying that because he gave Battleground an official endorsement. 

Tom: Of your games, which is your favorite?

Chad: It depends on my mood. Succession always has that “first creation” love, and I don’t think I ever turn down a game of Hill 218. Overall, though, Battleground has to be my favorite. I’m really proud of what it’s grown into and I love all the players I’ve met through it and how much they’ve contributed to its growth.

Tom: What are you currently playing?

Chad: I play a wide range of games online at www.yucata.de a lot because with two kids it’s hard to get out more than once or twice a month to play new games. When I do get to a local game night I tend to play whatever new game they want to try. It’s a pretty serious group that usually has the hot new game so I’m happy to go with the flow.

Tom: I play at Yucata.de too. We should play a game sometime. I have a similar group that I game with regularly so I get that benefit also. What’s the coolest part of being a game designer?

Chad: Watching other people enjoy your games.

Tom: Yeah, I imagine that is pretty neat. Tell us about your current projects. Anything in the pipeline?

Chad: I’ve already talked a bit about Battleground. I have a few other games in early design stage; most probably won’t be published, but it’s fun working on them. Andrew Gross (the fine gentleman who did the online versions of Hill 218 and MKoT) and I are working on some iPad concepts. Just as Battleground added a lot to miniature gameplay by taking advantage of what cards made possible, I’m fascinated by the idea of designing games that play like board or card games but take advantage of the computer to do things no board or card game could do.

Tom: That sounds pretty cool. I really need to get an iPad. So many good games there. Are there any links or sites you want to direct us to?

Chad: Any Battleground players who want to get more involved in the community should join our forums (www.yourmovegames.com/forum) and anyone who likes quick two-player games should go download Hill 218 and My Kind of Town.

Tom:  Thank you for joining me this time Chad.  I enjoyed finding out about you and Your Move Games.

Thank you for visiting Go Forth And Game.  I appreciate your comments on this and any other post.  Join me again for more game reviews and great interviews with leaders in the game industry.

By tomgurg | Posted in Gaming, Interviews | Also tagged , , | Comments Off

A Conversation with…Chad Ellis of Your Move Games, Part 1

May 29, 2011 – 4:25 pm

Today’s Conversation is with Chad Ellis of Your Move Games.  Your Move Games publishes the hit Battleground series, Battleground: Fantasy Warfare and Battleground: Historical Warfare.  They publish a couple of other games as well including their newest, My Kind of Town.  Welcome to Go Forth And Game Chad.  Tell us something about yourself.

Chad: I’m a father of two girls (seven and not-quite-five). That restricts my gaming a lot, but gaming has always been my main hobby. My wife would probably say it’s almost my only hobby! I used to be a serious Magic player and before that I was a serious Chess player. I’ve also played RPGs (mainly D&D in high school and then GURPS in college). Now I mostly play Euros and kid’s games.

Work-wise, I’ve done a pretty wide range of things. It helps that I was lucky enough to go to Harvard Business School for my MBA – that opens a lot of doors. I’ve run a marketing department in Munich, been the CFO of a mid-sized non-profit, been a Wall St. securities analyst and run my own game company. It’s been a pretty fortunate life.

Tom: Wow. That’s a really diverse history. Harvard Business School, CFO, Wall St., you’ve done a lot. And now successful game company owner. Battlground: Fantasy Warfare was a huge hit out of the gate. It continues to roll along and always gets good press. Tell us about it. What is it about? Where did the idea come from? Where is it going?

Chad: The core idea for Battleground was Rob Dougherty’s. Rob used to own a game store and ran Warhammer tournaments. He loved miniature games but was frustrated by how hard it could be to get new people into tabletop wargaming because the entry barriers were so high. Then, as he tells it, he saw some people playing Warhammer and using potatoes to represent some units they didn’t have figures for and realized that we could extract the gameplay from the buying and painting of figures. Using cards instead of movement trays was an obvious solution once you thought about the problem.

The reason Battleground has done so well is that it’s much more than a change in form factor from figures on movement trays to cards. The command and control system (using standing orders that stick with units and a limited number of command actions to represent your ability to influence the battle) makes you feel like a general in charge of a low-tech army. Miniature enthusiasts rave about that at every convention I go to.

The other thing I think Battleground does really well is use the fact that it’s on cards to improve other aspects of gameplay. Too often when people apply a new form factor to an existing genre they miss out on opportunities to improve gameplay by taking advantage of everything that is now possible. Cards let us track all sorts of information, both by printing on the cards and by writing on them during play with a dry-erase marker. The obvious use is to include unit stats but color-coding hit points lets us track when units need to take rout checks and how much combat effectiveness they’ve lost as a result of damage. And, of course, being able to write on the cards makes the whole command and control system work.

In terms of where Battleground is going, it’s actually as a pretty exciting point now – where experienced players are getting to design factions. Our most recent fantasy faction, the Dark Elves, was designed by Niko White who is not a Your Move Games employee. He’s a player. The next historical set, Alexander’s invasion of Persia, is being designed by another player and Niko is the lead designer for yet another historical release (Aztecs vs. Conquistadores). On the YMG forums we’re working on the next faction as a collaborative effort with the whole community invited to join.

Tom: The idea of Battleground is great – a minis game you can carry in your pocket.  I can’t wait to see these expansions.  The company seems to be doing well.  Tell us about Your Move’s other games.

Chad: We have four other games. Two of them are just OK, one is fantastic and the fourth is just out so it’s too early to tell but I like it.

The first two games we published were Succession: Intrigue in the Royal Court and Space Station Assault. Succession looks at the battle for the thrown from the perspective of the palace flunkies. There are five candidates vying to be the next king or queen but the players aren’t them – instead they have to try to position themselves as the favorite lackey of whichever candidate is chosen. The candidates are NPCs.

Succession is a game of negotiation and resource management. It’s the first game I ever designed and looking back on it years later I can see a number of things that should have been done better. Perhaps the biggest issue is that it’s hugely group-dependent. With some groups it just clicks and I get an email saying they each consider it one of their favorite games. But if one person doesn’t like it the whole game is likely to bomb for everyone. The good news is that since we made the classic “new game company” mistake of printing way too many copies it now has a reduced MSRP of $15 so if you want to try it out it won’t cost much to do so.

Space Station Assault is a quick, two-player card game of fighting spaceships. It’s the first design of Darwin Kastle and it’s main problem is that it’s nowhere near as good as Darwin’s second game, The Battle for Hill 218.

If you ever thought it was impossible to have a deep tactical game take ten minutes then go play Hill 218. You can download a free online version from our website and play against the AI. Then go buy a copy for $10. It’s just insanely good. We’re also close to selling out our second print run (and as a small publisher you’re ecstatic if you sell out the first print run) so it’s not just me who thinks so.

Our latest game is My Kind of Town. I was inspired to make another two-player card game that could be played in under ten minutes. MKoT is a quick area control game but with an interesting twist. The cards combine influence “points” with icons that determine which type of influence will matter. You might be ahead in guns and money but if I make it so it’s all about the dames that doesn’t matter. Like Hill 218 you can download a free version at http://www.honte.org/MyKindOfTown/MyKindOfTown.html

Tom: I own Hill 218 and play it with my son. It’s pretty fun. And I’ve heard good things about Succession.  Let’s talk about expansions. You’ve been very consistent with the release of expansions. How vital are expansions to Battleground or to an expandable game?

Chad: Part of the enjoyment of a game is the exploration of new strategic or tactical “territory”. Even incredibly deep games like Magic: the Gathering get stale after a while for many players. The nice thing for Battleground is that each new faction creates a lot of new territory to explore since it creates new challenges for each existing faction rather than just being something new to play on its own.

The key question for a designer and for a publisher to ask about an expansion is, “What does this add to the game?” An expansion that’s done primarily because the core game is a big seller (i.e. to make money) is likely to do poorly and can undermine enthusiasm for the game itself. Even from a business perspective your goal should be to make the core game better as a result of the expansion.

Tom: How important has BGG been to Your Move Games?  What about Origins and GenCon?

Chad: Since you don’t get to live life twice (or in alternate universes) it’s always hard to know how important any one decision or convention or website is, but I’d say BGG has been huge for us. It might be more accurate to say that the online community of hard-core gamers has been really important, but BGG is a huge part of that community so let’s just go with that. BGG provides a platform for games to succeed or fail on their own merits, rather than based on advertising budgets or name recognition.

Conventions are also critical. That’s where you can get people playing and talking about your games in the first place. Most conventions, especially the large ones, are money losers. You sell product but not enough to cover your costs. Success is measured by how many new people you have telling other people about your games.

BGG and conventions are also a great place to learn. That’s where you get a ton of information from players, both good and bad. It’s extremely valuable.

Tom: I listen to a lot of gaming podcasts. I know I learned about you through The Dice Tower. How important have podcasts been to you?

Chad: I love podcasts. The people doing them genuinely love the hobby and put a lot of time into learning about the games they share with their viewers. They are also an area where a small publisher can compete with the big companies since they tend to identify with us a bit more and will give a newcomer a chance.

Tom: How did your company come about?

Chad: I co-founded YMG with Rob Dougherty, a very good friend who owned the retail store I used to play Magic at. We had complementary backgrounds and similar visions for how the company would work and we really enjoy each other’s company so it was a natural fit. Many years later Rob has moved on to other projects (in particular he’s a big tournament event organizer) and I bought him out of the company.

Tom: What problems, if any, have you had with production?

Chad: We’ve had some specific challenges that I’ve heard echoed by many small company peers. Controlling costs is the biggest one, especially when it comes to publishing a full board game with all the component choices. The dynamics of printing are pretty straightforward – high setup costs mean that in order to get acceptable unit costs you often have to do a print run that is larger than you can realistically hope to sell.

It’s easier for us now that we’re publishing almost exclusively card games and we have an installed player base that gives us some confidence that we can sell a good-sized print run over time. Another challenge we have is finding and correcting all the errors that creep up in cards and rule books. We had two errors on our most recent set, which is unacceptable.

That ends Part 1 of my conversation with Chad.  Please join me next week for Part 2 to learn about how YMG designs their games, playtesting, and more about Your Move Games.

By tomgurg | Posted in Gaming, Interviews | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Under The Microscope – Hey, That’s My Fish

May 8, 2011 – 5:03 am

This time on Under The Microscope I examine Hey, That’s My Fish.

Designed by Alvydas Jakeliunas & Gunter Cornett
Published by Phalanx/Mayfair Games, FFG

Abstract: Hey That’s My Fish is a fast, fun, and surprisingly strategic family game. It is quick to learn but takes some time to master.

Materials – What You Get:
3 page rules booklet
60 hex tiles showing ice blocks floating in water. A block depicts either 1, 2, or 3 fish on one side and blue water on the other.
16 wooden or plastic penguins in 4 colors

Methods – How You Play:
Shuffle all the tiles fish side down. You start by laying out all the tiles fish side up in an eight by eight fitted grid. Now choose one player to place their first penguin on any tile he wishes. Continue around until all penguins are placed. You are ready to start playing.
A turn looks like this:
• Move one of your penguins
• Pick up the tile that penguin left from
That’s it, almost. Penguins can only move in straight lines but as many tiles as you like. If you run into another penguin you have to stop. You can not jump other penguins or empty spaces and two penguins cannot occupy the same tile. You cannot turn either. Once you move, pick up the tile that moved penguin started the turn on. Place it in front of you. This tile will be scored at the end of the game. When you cannot move any of your penguins, you are finished for this game. You pick up all your penguins and tiles they are on. These tiles go into your score pile. Everyone else continues until no one can move and everyone has removed all their penguins. Now everyone counts the fish on their tiles. The one with the most fish wins.

Discussion – What I Think:
This is a fun game. It is very quick to learn but there is hidden strategy here. It also has a ‘take that’ aspect. You can isolate other players’ penguins so that they can’t move and are thus out of play. There in lies the strategy. How to take others out while keeping that from happening to you. My kids took to this game quickly. They enjoy it very much and are learning to think ahead and consider what others may do on their turn. It’s thinky but not too much.

Variants:
There are numerous variants of this game. They can be found on the Geekdo listing for this game. Our favorites are:
• Floating – instead of moving a penguin, you may float an isolated penguin back to the main flow
• Holes in the ice –
o use the blue water side of several tile to create holes in the flow. Penguins may not travel over holes.
o Alternatively your penguin may jump into a hole and pop up in another. Used to travel in non-straight lines.
• Bumps – you may move your penguin to bump another penguin into a hole or off the flow. The bumped penguin is either out of the game or is placed back on the ‘board’ by the bumper.
• Polar Bears and Orcas – there is a print and play variant where you print several polar bears and orcas. These are attached to the blue water side of a tile. When the tiles are flipped to build the flow, mix the tiles first so that the bears’ and orcas’ locations are lost. Game plays normally. After determining your score, flip your tiles. If you have a bear or an orca subtract one point from your score.

Hey That’s My Fish is a fast, fun, at times vicious, surprisingly strategic game with a theme that families will enjoy. It is quick to learn but takes some time to master. The variants add a lot of replayability.  The game also comes in a deluxe version that has plastic penguins.
Hey, That’s My Fish has its home site here.  And the BGG site here.

Microscope Rating:

 tip
 Thumb up
(all pictures sourced from BGG)
By tomgurg | Posted in Gaming, Under The Microscope - Reviews | Also tagged | Comments Off

A Conversation with…Seth Jaffee of Tasty Minstrel Games

April 2, 2011 – 10:45 pm

I’m very pleased to talk to Seth Jaffee, head of game development at Tasty Minstrel Games and designer of Terra Prime and the upcoming Eminent Domain.

Welcome Seth.  Tell us a bit about yourself.

What do you want to know? My name is Seth Jaffee – I am a Structural Engineer, Game Designer, and Game Developer. In my spare time I go to Game conventions, play games, and also play Ultimate Frisbee. Games and Frisbee have been my biggest hobbies for a decade and a half, and about 8 years ago I started getting into game design. I spend a lot of time on the Board Game Designers Forum (www.BGDF.com) and BoardGameGeek (www.BoardGameGeek.com) – where I was “Geek of the Week” a few years ago (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/151433). That thread might make a good answer to this question!
Tell us about Tasty Minstrel. How did you and Michael Mindes get together?

I actually met Michael when he was 5 years old. In 6th grade I was in school with his older brother Jacob. I would go to their house to play Nintendo and eat pizza all the time. Jacob and I were friends for years, and when Mike grew up it turned out that he and I had more common interests, and we started to do stuff together – specifically we played Magic: the Gathering. So we’ve been friends for almost 25 years.When Mike decided he wanted to start a game publishing company, I was skeptical at first. I’m kind of a pessimist, and I didn’t think it would go over very well – it was a big risk after all. Of course when he moved forward with it I wanted him to succeed so I was willing to help any way I could. I had some game designs that I’d done, and I knew of some other good games other people had designed as well. It would be my job to find games that are worth publishing, and developing them. The good news is that that pretty well summed up my dream job! 

That is a great story.  Wow.  And that is a dream job.  Tell us about Terra Prime and Eminent Domain.

Terra Prime was not my first game design by any means, but it was one of the first ones I’d ever ‘finished’ and of course the first one I got published. I had actually set aside another design (about breaking traffic laws to deliver pizza) when I began working on Terra Prime, and for some reason, despite some setbacks, I kept working on Terra Prime until it got to the point I was happy with it. I always considered Terra Prime to be my “flagship game” because it was the best of my prototypes and the first game I designed all by myself that I though was worth being published. 

I think Eminent Domain has surpassed that now, I think it’s an even better game than Terra Prime. There are many ways to define “better” in a phrase like “this is a better game than that one,” it’s very subjective. I don’t know if Eminent Domain is really a higher quality game, or if it’s more interesting, or if it’s more accessible… but I’m very pleased with how it turned out, I am excited for its release, and I think it will be more generally liked than Terra Prime was. There’s already more buzz about EmDo than about TP, so I guess by default Eminent Domain has become my new Flagship title! :)

I like both games though I think EmDo is my favorite.  I can’t wait for it to come out.  TP is fun.  I need to play it more. Tell us about your current projects.
As I’m sure every designer does, I have a list of games and ideas in various stages of the design process. The ones that are most likely to be published anytime soon are…* A simultaneous action dice game called Dice Werx, where players grab dice (parts) needed to build whatzits, doodads, and thingamajigs (played the first draft a bit, making changes for second draft)
* Another deck building game called Alter Ego, where you are a Batman style crime fighter, but in order to fight crime you must neglect some aspect of your alter ego life – either your family, your job, or your community – and doing so makes you weaker in some aspect of the game (just beginning early playtests)
* An expansion for Eminent Domain (currently playtesting)
Each of those sounds neat.  Dice games seem to be surging right now.  There is an idea out there called ‘rich dice’ – where there are different colors or types of dice in a roll and you work off of combos and single die to get different results.  An example would be you have two red and a blue d6.   You roll a red 5, red 3, and a blue 2.  You can choose to use the two reds to get one action.  Or a red and a blue to get another actions.  The numbers may indicate the strength of the roll which would play into your action in some way.  It is a different way to use dice that I’m incorporating into a design or two of my own.  You’re lead game developer for TMG.  Tell us about that.

As Head of Development for Tasty Minstrel Games I’ve also been working on development for upcoming TMG releases. 2 games that are done already which I worked on are Belfort (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/50750/belfort), by Jay Cormier and Sen-Foong Lim, which just went to print and should arrive alongside Eminent Domain for summer 2011 release, and Ground Floor (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38765/ground-floor), by David Short, which should be ready for Essen or BGG.con later this year. The next big game I’m working on is currently referred to as Kings of Air and Steam, by Scott Almes, which we plan to release next year. It’s kind of like a cross between Railroad Tycoon and Roborally, and I’m enjoying it a lot.
I’m excited about Belfort.  I have an interview in the hopper with Jay and Sen-Foong that should drop soon.  What a great time for Tasty Minstrel to get two more really good games out this year!  Kings of Air and Steam sounds right up my alley. From what you’ve posted so far, it’s a steampunk theme.   I’ve been a fan of steampunk in rpgs for a while and it seems to be the next ‘zombies’ in terms of popular themes.  I look forward to more news about it.

That’s about it – never mind the back list of game ideas that has been building up since 2003! Sometimes I write about The List in my game design blog (sedjtroll.blogspot.com).
What is the hardest part of designing a game?

The hardest part for me is two-fold… creating the prototype is often problematic, from how it should look to physically creating the game, and getting it tested. It’s very difficult to get people to play prototypes, especially ones that are new and untested and might well suck! Those are the worst kind, because the few people you CAN cajole into playing a prototype could easily stop volunteering if you make them dredge through something that doesn’t work!  Oh, I guess I just answered that… finding people willing to test the game is very difficult. I envy people like Reiner Knizia, who have multiple teams of people who meet every week for the sole purpose of testing his designs!

Prototyping.  I have seen that with a game I’m working on.  What goes on the cards and where.  How many cards do you go with.  What does the board look like.  Throwing things away is really hard.  I’ve heard it called subtractive design.  Whittling down the design to only what is needed.  That’s hard. I can understand that.  Playtesting isn’t easy and often is not ‘fun’.  But it is neat to see games in their fledgling state and helping them grow.  Dr. Knizia certainly has a unique situation.  But is it actually helping him?  Have we seen anything unique from him in the last few years?  Back to playtesting.

I sometimes attend designer meetups, but those aren’t a whole lot better – it’s great to have people play and discuss a game, but the problem there is that they each have games of their own, and everybody wants to test their own games. I’m actually headed to Albany, NY, for one of those meetups next month.
This idea in rpg design is called gamestorming.  I haven’t experienced it yet but could probably use the feedback I’d get. What are some aspects of a good player?

I guess there’s some question of what one considers “good” in a player (and maybe that’s what you’re actually asking me here). When playtesting a game, a “good player” is simply a player who will play the game like it were any other game. They’ll learn the rules and make moves they think might lead to winning. It doesn’t matter if they make good plays or bad ones, so long as they are playing the game. I think that’s often more useful than a player who will purposely do something that won’t make them win, just to see if it will crash the entire game. That’s my job, not the players’. I also don’t think it’s helpful during a playtest to stop the game every 5 minutes to discuss what rules SHOULD be rather than play the game how it was explained or written. Commentary on changing rules is best made after the fact most of the time.
I totally agree with this.

As for playing games (not playtesting designs), “good player” has a different meaning altogether. I would say a “good player” is the type who is often successful at identifying strategies that are likely to work, and moves that will create an advantage and lead to a game win. This can mean quickly or properly evaluating the value of one choice over another, or more accurately predicting the consequences of choices made by themselves or other players. Another possible definition of “good player” is “good sport” – a player who plays to win, offers a good challenge, but is respectful and polite as well. I think “good sport” and “Good player” aren’t exactly the same thing, but there’s probably a lot of overlap.
This is an interesting answer.  I think you have hit on something with it.  Most people have gone with the ‘good sport’ definition when asked.  It is valid.  I agree with you that there is overlap with what you have stated as a good player and the good sport player.  But I’m pleased that you have identified aspects of good players from a strategy view.  I like this. What makes a good game? As a developer, what do you look for in a game?

I’m finding that the answer to this question depends a lot on the target audience, and it’s not as simple as I used to think! I think a “good game” offers interesting choices and is engaging for the duration of the game. I used to refer to something I called a “Work-per-unit-fun” ratio. If a games work/fun ratio was too high, then even though it might have fun aspects, I don’t feel like playing it because it’s just too much work. Twilight Imperium is like that for me – I like the idea of the game, and there are fun parts, but the physical work and time involved in playing more than counterbalances the things I like. So I guess I would say that a good game has an appropriate or favorable work/fun ratio.

What I’m learning from the publisher’s point of view is that not everyone is as tolerant or accepting of complicated rules or learning curves as I am. A game that *I* think is good will likely have a learning curve such that you cannot fully experience the game in a single play. Nowadays it seems that a lot of people won’t give a game more than a single play though. There are so many games out there that they’d rather just get a taste for a game and then move on to the next one. I fear that because of this, many games are coming out that, well, CAN be fully explored in the span of a single play or two, and since this is not the type of game I generally enjoy, I think that’s kind of a shame. I hope that Tasty Minstrel can provide games that are both enjoyable enough on first play that players will feel compelled to play again, and also interesting enough that they can stand the test of time and hold up to repeat plays. That’s the kind of thing I look for in a game.

I’ve heard the work-to-fun ratio before.  I think that is used a lot.  I agree that a game can be fun but the work of the game, either in set up or length of play, can be a barrier.  Descent is one of these games.  It take forever to set up and then is at least 3 hours commitment.  I like the game a lot but it doesn’t see the table much because of these things.
You’re correct that ‘good’ is relative.  I agree that those of us who are ‘gamers’ probably have different criteria from a casual gamer.
Your point about people just ‘tasting’ games in so very true.  I really do not like this.  Most games need to played multiple times to get them.  Personally I think I need at least three plays before I understand most Euro type games.  I agree with you that there are probably many good, underplayed or unappreciated games.  And that there are games coming out that, as you say, can be explored fully in a single play or two. I think too that this number is rising because there are more games being published and those games that require more plays are diluted out or not as available.  GamerChris had a big discussion about this and reviews on his blog recently (gamerchris.com).  You should check it out. Who’s work in the industry do you admire the most?

That’s a really good question, and I’m not sure I have an answer for it. I suspect you’re referring to published designers here, but I may give an unconventional answer here. Jay Tummelson comes to mind – not only did he help bring a lot of euro style games to the US, I like some of the things he’s said about the Spiel Des Jahres award, and how the tangible benefit of many, many sales helped increase the overall quality of games in general, and how he followed that up by sponsoring game design contests here in the states, committing to publishing the winner of the contest. I also admire some of the unpublished, amateur designers I’ve met on the Board Game Designers Forum – even without having been published (and in some ways maybe BECAUSE they haven’t been published) I really respect the effort and thought they put into their designs and commentary.
Jay is a fantastic, unexpected answer.  Very appropriate.  And thank you for reminding us about all he has done and is doing for our hobby.  He’s not only bringing us great games from Europe but ensuring that we see some excellent domestically designed games.
BGDF is a fantstic idea.  Having a community of like minded people to talk to and challenge you is necessary I believe.  Good games aren’t designed in a vacuum. Of your games, which is your favorite?
Right now, Eminent Domain is definitely my favorite of my own designs.
What are you currently playing?

Lately I’ve been playing prototypes of all the games I mentioned above. In addition, I’ve been playing London, by Martin Wallace, which I picked up recently knowing nothing about it. Thanks to a particular friend who’s game night I go to every week, I’ve also been playing The Resistance lately, but I’m not enjoying it (nor Werewolf) as much as I once did. I keep looking at my shelf and wondering why it’s been so long since I’ve played some of my favorite games, like Puerto Rico, Railroad Tycoon, Goa, and stuff like that!

I’ve recently played Puerto Rico for the first time and really like the game.  I can see why it is rated so very high.  It is elegant.  I played Goa a few months back.  It too is a fantastic game.  I can’t wait for the reprint. What’s the coolest part of being a game designer?

It’s obviously the fame, fortune, and women… You wouldn’t believe how “I design games” will make a person swoon!

Seriously, I think the coolest part is really that I just enjoy doing it! I like the sense of accomplishment when an idea I had comes to fruition. When I sit down with an untested prototype and get someone to play it, and it works the way I wanted it to – that’s a pretty fun feeling. The absolute BEST part though is when other people, completely unsolicited, talk about how much they enjoyed playing a game that I created. When I went to BGG.con last November to find that before I even got there, people were already teaching and playing print and play copies of Eminent Domain (and liking it), that was really cool.

What an awesome answer. I’ve had a bit of that with some rpg work that I’ve done.  (http://www.bullypulpitgames.com/downloads/). I can’t wait until I get to experience that with one of my board game designs.  Let’s backtrack a bit. Tell us about the Board Game Designers Forum.  How valuable has BGDF been for you?
The Board Game Designers Forum is a website for aspiring designers to talk about their designs, ideas, game design in general, and to comment on each others games. I stumbled into it around 2003, soon after it was founded by Michael Dougherty. I really enjoyed the threads, and in particular something called the Game Design Workshop which was a chance for a designer to put one of their unfinished games in the spotlight for a week, and get a bunch of feedback from other members of the community. I spent a lot of time commenting on other people’s games in the workshop, participating in the forum threads, and chatting with other community members in the chat room. Over time I posted less, but always returned to BGDF chat, I met a number of people I consider good friends in there. A little while ago, Michael decided he wouldn’t be able to continue to run the site, and he asked me if I’d take it over – of course I said yes. Without BGDF I don’t think I’d be the designer I am today! I posted there recently saying that I have some plans to fix up the site and that I’d like it to be “the premier forum for amateur game designers” – one of the members replied that it already is. Still, I’d like to improve it some, and I still plan on doing so eventually (hopefully soon).

As you can probably tell, BGDF has been very valuable to me. My first published game, Terra Prime, was developed largely in the forums and chat rooms of that site. I found Josh Cappel, Ariel Seoane, and Gavan Brown – artists we’ve used for Terra Prime, Homesteaders, Belfort, Train of Thought, and Eminent Domain (and more to come) – right there at BGDF. As a small ‘thank you’ to the BGDF community I included a BGDF logo on the back of the Terra Prime and Eminent Domain boxes.

I would agree that BGDF is the premier site for amateur board/card game designers.  I am glad it is there and that people find it useful.  I really need to be more active.  In fact I have a question/request for help that I should post. Have any BGDF members games been published? How ‘successful’ has BGDF been?

Yes, several have. I believe there’s an old (out of date) thread in the BGDF archives about that (http://archive.bgdf.com/tiki-index.php?page=BGDF+Success+Stories&highlight=success%20stories). Since then there have been more, Terra Prime for instance. Nobelmen, by Dwight Sullivan, won the Hippodice contest in 2009 – a game I had the pleasure of playing (and contributing comments on) before he submitted it. Last I heard it had been picked up by a publisher as well.

I like to think BGDF has been VERY successful in that it offers designers the chance to talk about their games. I’m not sure “number of published members” is really a good metric by which to measure BGDF’s success. I do think for designers looking to be published, BGDF can’t hurt, and in fact is a very useful resource. Obviously simply joining the forum won’t magically get your game published, but I think there’s a lot of useful information and willing designers ready to help people interested in getting their game published.

I think BGDF’s strength is the community that it builds and as an extension, the resources it offers. I’m a member of BGDF, though not too active. There is a lot of excellent advice and links there. What is the most common question asked? What advice has been the most useful to the members?

I think the “most useful advice” will be different from member to member. Some people are looking for advice on self publishing, others on submitting to publishers, and others still on various aspects of design, or prototyping. There’s a variety of types of information available, and which is the best advice for you is going to depend on what stage you’re in in development and what your goals for the design are.

I’m not sure what the most common question asked is – again, there are many questions about many different things on there. People often ask about NDAs and patents/copyrights, and while everybody’s careful to preface their response with “I’m not a lawyer, but…” the consensus (and my personal opinion) is basically that stealing a game design in the hobby industry is just as much work as NOT stealing one. Ideas are a dime a dozen, it’s the development work that’s important. So I am not afraid to post about my designs on BGDF or my blog. In fact I see public posts like that as something I could point to if at some point there were some kind of dispute over whether Someone stole an idea from me or whether I stole an idea from someone. I believe that ideas and creativity foster in community and stagnate in isolation. If one of my ideas inspires another designer and they build a different game based on something I was considering for one of my games, more power to them!

“the consensus (and my personal opinion) is basically that stealing a game design in the hobby industry is just as much work as NOT stealing one. Ideas are a dime a dozen, it’s the development work that’s important.”  This is so true.  I agree with all you say here.  And need to act on it.   Are there any links or sites you want to direct us to?

Here are some designers’ blogs that I think are interesting:
Jay Cormier’s From Inspiration to Publication (http://inspirationtopublication.wordpress.com/)
Gil Hova’s Fail Better (http://ingredientx.wordpress.com/)
Michael Keller’s Game Designer Wannabe (http://www.gamedesignerwannabe.com/)
Scott Slomiany’s Meeplespeak (http://meeplespeak.blogspot.com/)
Matt Worden Games (http://www.mwgames.com/)
Brettspiel (http://www.brettspiel.co.uk/)
And for those with predilection toward 18XX games and how they work, JC Lawrence’s Other Wise (http://kanga.nu/~claw/blog/)
Thanks Seth.  This is one of the best interviews I’ve had on Go Forth And Game.  It has caused me to think about what do I mean when I say ‘a good player’ or ‘a good game.’  And I was inspired to post on BGDF.  I really appreciate your time with this.  I look forward to Eminent Domain, Belfort, and many more great games from you and from Tasty Minstrel Games.
By tomgurg | Posted in Game Design, Gaming, Interviews | Also tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Design Update: Need End Game Conditions

March 11, 2011 – 2:49 pm

I’m updating/rebuilding The Interman Game as I reported earlier.
I am changing it from what was a roll and move with bells
whistles to a Euro – Ameritrash hybrid.
So I need end game conditions. Give me some games and their
end game conditions. And I already have ‘reach X # Victory
Points”.   I have several in mind but many of you have played
a lot more games than I have.
So leave a comment with your suggestions of games and their
end game conditions.

By tomgurg | Posted in Game Design, Gaming | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

A Conversation with… Chris Cieslik of Asmadi Games

March 5, 2011 – 2:59 pm

This time I’m joined by Chris Cieslik of Asmadi Games.   Asmadi has been around a while with We Didn’t Play Test This At All and Win, Lose, Or Banana but really came to the attention of the gaming world with Innovation, a civilization building card game designed by Carl Chudyk .  It was released last year and made a big splash.

Tom: Tell us a bit about yourself and how Asmadi Games came about.

Chris: I’ve actually wanted to be a game designer since I was very young. In

elementary school myself and friends would draw up simple roll and

move board games. Thankfully, I evolved past that! The original

concept for Asmadi Games back in 1999 was actually to be a video game

development company. My main tabletop background at that point was in

CCGs, I hadn’t encountered the world of Eurogames at all — the most

complicated board game I’d come across was Axis + Allies. I was at

Origins for a SW:CCG tournament when I came across the room for Looney

Labs. The people I met there and specifically seeing the Icehouse

system really spurred my interest again in board games. A few years

later, and a lot of board games played, Asmadi Games was officially

born as a company. Our early focus was on silly, light games, but

we’re starting to evolve into more deep fare, such as Innovation.

Tom: You discovered Euro’s about the same time I did. And was blown away by them. While not necessarily a euro, Innovation is getting a lot of press and a second printing. I haven’t had the chance to play it yet but it sounds fun. Tell us about it and your other projects.

Chris: Innovation is a card-based civilization building game. It builds off

of simple mechanics which allow you to play, draw, and use cards to

build up technology, and draws its complexity from the cards’ unique

powers and combinations you accumulate. The cards range in time

period from the stone age up through modern times, and each represents

a different idea or technology — an innovation. The design is by

Carl Chudyk, known best so far for Glory to Rome, and I worked with

him to develop it into the buzz-worthy game it is today!

We have a number of other games in playtesting and development. One

of our biggest focuses right now is on a group of games in what we’re

calling the 36 Dice system. The 36 Dice system is a set of games that

each use a subset of six colors of six d6′s each. So six red, blue,

green, purple, white, and black dice. The goal with 36 Dice is to use

dice in new and inventive ways. Macao and Claustrophobia are a couple

examples of recent games that’ve used dice in a very interesting way.

This is the sort of thing we want to do. The first two titles of the

36 Dice line will be Sixis, which has been in semi-release for two

years now, and Circle of Mana, a cooperative game in which you summon

creatures to help defend against an oncoming horde of monsters.

Tom: The 36 Dice system sounds very interesting. That is a lot of dice. Macao is one of my favorites and I think you are onto something with the dice mechanics. Thinking outside of the box. The first two games sound like fun. I’ll be interested in playing them (or playtesting them) and seeing what all the dice are about.

What is the hardest part of designing a game?

Chris: The hardest part of designing a game is knowing that some of the neat

things you design will eventually not belong. Being able to prune a

really cool idea that doesn’t fit is probably the most important and

difficult thing a game designer has to do.

Tom: Boy are you right. I’m working on a couple of rpg’s right now and have had to ‘kill my baby’ and ditch a couple of mechanics that I really liked. But you can always save them for another game perhaps. What is the hardest part of playtesting a game?

Chris: Listening. Realizing that a playtester isn’t wrong for not having

fun, not understanding, or not playing correctly is a difficult thing.

After all, you know exactly why you designed it that way, why can’t

they understand..! It’s a lesson every designer has to learn, and

learn early. Listen to every thing your playtesters say. They are

all important, and while you don’t have to hack your game to pieces

because one guy doesn’t like it, you should figure out why he doesn’t.

Tom: Are you a member of GAMA? If so how valuable has it been to you?

I was a member of GAMA for a year. It provided me with exactly zero

value, and so I am no longer a GAMA member. I’ve also been a member

of the GPA (Game Publisher’s Association) for a few years, and it’s

helped me tremendously. I definitely recommend it to new and starting

companies and designers. The mailing list is a great place to discuss

ideas and have feedback from some very experienced people!

Tom: How active are you in dealing with retailers?

Chris: Since I’m the entire company, I do a lot of dealing with retailers!

We do sell through ACD, and perhaps soon Alliance, but we sell direct

to many stores. I try and support the FLGS concept as best I can,

because it’s the best way to support and grow our industry.

Thanks for the interview Chris.   It was fun to talk to you.  Your path to Asmadi is interesting.

Asmadi has announced an expansion for Innovation for 2011.  You can find Innovation and the rest of Asmadi’s games at http://asmadigames.com/.
By tomgurg | Posted in Gaming, Interviews | Also tagged , , , | Comments Off

Looking Forward To 2011

February 19, 2011 – 2:47 am

2010 was a great year for gaming.  Will 2011 be as good?  I think so but in a slightly different way.  There are a bunch of games that didn’t get played and a bunch that are coming out that look really good.

Here are some of the games I want to play this year.

Scopa, Summoners Wars, Fresco, Haggis, Innovation, Settlers of America, 7 Wonders, London, Lords of Vegas, The Speicherstadt, Mosaics, Crows, Mansions of Madness, Arkham Horror, Saffronito, Belfort, Roma, Tinner’s Trail,               Carson City, Command & Colors, Longshot, Sneaks & Snitches, Alien Frontiers, Tales of The Arabian Nights, Nanuk, Arctic Scavengers, Train of Thought, Piquet, Anomia,  Armorica, El Grande, Incan Gold, Citadels, Pitch Car, Carrom, Crokinole, Pompeii, Die Burgen von Burgund, Merchants & Marauders, Wok Star, BSG

That’s just a few that I want to play this year.  I’m sure there will be more. What about you?

By tomgurg | Posted in Gaming | Comments Off
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