Tag Archives: #GameDesign

#8: Manipulative Maniac

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Today, I will be sharing a lesson learned in the form of a design journal entry. Yay!

This goes way back to June of last year. I had hit a lull in Top Deck development (meaning I thought I was done). So, I started mocking up a playing a new project I intended to be a space exploration and conquest board game but with simple enough mechanics and rules that my wife could play (she is smart enough – she just has no interest in the 3 hour mind breaking challenges that I find fun).

Easy enough, right? Make a space game with rules that can fit on a single sheet of paper and be played in no more than an hour. Well, a modular board would be a great way of improving replayability and give the sense of exploration. Cool! Eh, different paths to victory is an important game aspect to me. And the most clear way to offer that choice at any point in the game is by giving players the ability to upgrade different aspects of their ship depending on the strategy they want to pursue. Sure, I can probably include that. But, there has to be a point to all of this exploration and conflict. . . Resources! Ok, if upgrades require resources, where do they come from? The same reason for exploring – planets! Great, but how do I give resources to the players?

Well, now we begin the big problem and the lesson. Resources. I wanted players to explore the board, discover planets, conquer, and interact. I did not want players to sit, mine, turtle, and drill for victory in their own little world. Therefore, resources needed to be scarce enough that players HAD to move around and find multiple sources. Well, that means a resource deck (like a lot of space card games use) would make no sense without a REALLY complex system of multiple decks and / or multiple resource types. Complexity is my enemy, though, and players need a reason to look for planets. So, let’s tie production to planets. Up to this point, it has all been a mental exercise. Now, I have to build a prototype to test whether the ideas I have so far (modular board, upgradable ships, planetary conquest for money, etc.) would even work.

I built the mock-up at work and tested it right away. The first iteration began by starting players on individual home planets (a physical starting point AND free resources). Then, as planets were discovered through exploring new map tiles, players could stop and colonize them. Afterwards, the planet would crank out 1 resource every turn. Easy enough, right? I didn’t have many parts or much room, so I used dice – easy to add to, count, and move in large quantities. Speaking of large quantities. . . I was playing the test with Michael (you can find him in a few of my “Thank you” credits”) and 6 – 8 planets. The game only lasted 15 or so minutes because we just could not keep up with the dice manipulation. It is a LIGHT game! Our turns consisted of 1 action. We very quickly reached the point of spending much more time just turning all of the dice than playing the game. NO FUN. This is more than a problem with the physical aspect of my game. I had a broken mechanic.

Every turn, flipping 10 to 12 dice just so we then move 1 space STUNK! Setting the production of a specific player’s planets to their turn did not help. We experienced a secondary problem of too many resources. Within just a few turns, Michael was able to settle a second planet very near his first, and mine. Then research. Then mine. Repeat until he wins because he could afford ANYTHING. NO fun. I ultimately settled on a dice rolling mechanic similar to Settlers of Catan which broke the monotony and added a fun randomness.

BUT, the lesson is here is: watch your item manipulation! The example given is for a lot of dice in a game, but imagine playing Risk! with the maximum number of players, none of whom are aggressive (meaning nobody fights until they have no more room). Pushing all of those little figurines around the map when fights finally break out is no fun. All that time and care, all the effort it takes to keep them grouped together and counted. . .  ugh! This is not dependent completely on the size and heft of your game. Everybody understands that light games should be fast and easy. Even with a heavy game we need to be careful about too many moving parts. Time spent operating a game is time not spent playing the game. Personally, I don’t want to pay real money for a game, spend the time gathering my friends together, and then not play the game we just set up because we are too busy manipulating a few dozen moving parts.

I know that items to touch, hold, and move make a lot of games great (*cough*Euphoria!*cough*), but I hate having too many things to manage. What about you? What are some games you think involved too much manipulation (besides Civilization)? What games do you think nailed the balance perfectly?

#7: Stop and, Wait-for-it…

Changing things up a tiny bit, today, I am going to offer a lesson learned AND a little bit of a musings column.

At the time of this writing, Lagniappe Games is a one-man operation. Yes, I have amazing friends and an incredible wife supporting and encouraging me, but the actual work still falls on my shoulders. So, when I offer advice for others regarding almost any aspect of their little project – it’s not that I think I know everything, I just happen to be stumbling my way through a lot of the same stuff.

Anyway, the point is that I have already been working at this dream for just over a year. I still spend every day reading the blog at Stonemaier Games, The League of Gamemakers, The Cardboard Republic, Today in Board Games, and even Hyperbole Games. I listen to Richard Bliss and Miles Ratcliffe talk about Kickstarter successes and failures. I buy books about small, home-based businesses and marketing that small business. In addition to filling my head with all of this research, I’m still developing, mocking up, and testing my games, finding artists, and doing the graphic design work. AND I’m trying to lay the ground work for properly handling my company’s expenses / income, potential tax issues, and looking out for possible legal issues (Mr. Bliss had a great podcast about one company’s struggle over their game’s name). On top of learning / doing something I have never deliberately (or adequately) accomplished before: networking – which is tough when you can’t go to conventions and board games are nearly dead in your town.

The guys out there who have already been doing this successfully for a while are probably thinking, “Welcome to the club, kid.” Now, I’m not saying that I expected this to be easy – just look at my “Money Motives” post. I do, however tend to look at my performance and knowledge critically. Like, “If I know what to do, why am I not yet doing and succeeding at it?” Plus, with such a huge learning curve and producing games on a fairly limited budget, the extreme amount of time and effort can be frustrating at times.

*Now to the lesson learned* 😉

Just a couple of days ago, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Not enough to get a stupid idea like quitting, but enough that I wanted to vent. So, my wonderful wife sat there and listened to me vent about how I REALLY wish I had a business partner to handle some of this load. She loving looked at me. . . and called me stupid. Not really. She did lovingly point out that I had lost perspective. Instead of focusing so hard on the long road still ahead of me, I needed to look back and remind myself of just how far I’ve come. A year ago, I had NO business experience (a little knowledge), no website, I wasn’t contributing to any community, really. I didn’t even have an active role in my career – just coasting along, going to my job, and paying bills. Today, I may not have a Jamey Stegmaier following (4,300 backers for Tuscany) but I have started participating in the community. I have sort-of met a few other designers (online), communicated with and bolstered multiple artists (artists need a little encouraging at times), have 3 games vying for a spot on Kickstarter (still waiting for that art), 8 more waiting in the development process, this blog and website, and I have even *gasp* been able to offer help to a few people on their games and KS campaigns. Considering how much I love helping people and sharing knowledge, that last part was the best. I got to participate! I got to help!

I was being so silly. As she was talking all I could think about was my post about using design journals. At the end, I stated the best benefit was being able to look back on where your game started. Ugh.

There! My advice for this week: stop and reflect. Don’t just compare how little you know and can do know with how far you still need to go. Look back to where you started. You’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come 🙂

#6: Setting Goals

For just a little while, let’s talk about goals.
I never did like them. In high school and college there was always at least one teacher each year who wanted to cover the subject. I’d do the classwork but never implement the information. Until board games came along and taught me the value of planning ahead.

A project fell into my lap a few weeks ago. Like usual, I mentally ran through the different pieces which needed to fall into place for completion. At the end of the day, I was surprised by my excitement for the coming week. It turns out I had accidentally set course, medium, and fine goals for myself, and was genuinely enthusiastic about plodding through it. The tiered goals were encouraging because they involved different amounts of time, different levels of “busy” work, and varying degrees of detail. Thus, I could pick which goals to address based on how much time and interest I had.

By now you are probably wondering what I meant by course, medium, and fine goals. Course items may require significant blocks of time (because they often include building blocks for the rest of the project) but little detail. Fine, on the other hand, requires significant attention to detail and, often, a lot of time because this is where you are fine tuning and putting the finishing touches on your project. Medium items are usually more fun for me, and typically involve the least time but are great in quantity since they allow you to transition from Course to Fine.

    If you were painting: sketching the general composition and blocking in the colors would be working in the course realm. Refining colors, shapes, and values would be medium work. Adding details and adjusting color highlights would be the fine work.
For graphic design: course goals would involve determining how much information needs to be presented and the dimensions of the end result (poker card, jumbo card, game board, etc.). Medium would entail finding the optimal arrangement so it is easy to read or ensuring the image is clearly the focal point. Fine work is adding textures and shading to pretty it up.
When writing a quick project, like a timed essay: course would be the brainstorm. Medium would be laying out the outline. Fine corresponds to writing out the complete essay. Or, for those of you used to long term projects, like research papers, the course work would be brainstorming and researching your topic. Then, of course you write the outline. Then, the medium work would involve writing the rough draft and having it edited and reviewed. Finally, crafting and writing that perfect final draft is your fine work.
For game development, course would be building the general concept – what the game is about and/or primary mechanics. Medium is where you build prototypes, write basic rules, and play test. Then, you blind play test. Then you play test some more. At last, you’ll reach the fine work of final game balance adjustments and cleaning up the rules to improve clarity.

 

Now, why on Earth does all of that matter?
Setting goals obviously makes your process more efficient by designating a road map to the finished product. Setting tiered goals keeps you interested in the process and allows you to make better use of your limited time.

 

I completely understand the desire to jump on top of your project and just work through it as fast as you can. It feels great cranking through that raw excitement, but it WILL eventually wane. Working on pure excitement is tiring (as you probably have found). People who jump from project to project, idea to idea, without ever finishing them typically do so because they have no plan. They work until they run out of energy and then move on to the next thing that excites them.

 

With set goals guiding you to the end, you can stay on track and rate your progress. Having that road map on hand allows you to see exactly what’s left – instead of running along loving how much fun this one painting is, skidding to the finish line exhausted but satisfied, and then being discouraged because you just did the math and found you have to do it 5 more times. If your steps are written down, you can also easily see how far you’ve come. As I mentioned in this post, reminding yourself of just how much you have already accomplished is vital in maintaining excitement and interest in your project.

 

After the beginning stages of your project, you’ll develop a good feel for how long certain steps are taking you. So, you’ll begin to be able to somewhat accurately look at your goals and gauge how long different sections will take. When working, you usually know how much time you have for that day (like a 30 minute lunch break or 4 hours after church). Therefore, you can pick and work on pieces of your project based on how long you expect it to take, how much uninterrupted work you expect to have to put in to finish that piece, how much interest you have in that section, or even how many other goals require this one to be finished first. Finally, that road map will keep you from missing or forgetting steps along the way. Remember that painting from earlier? Imagine if you sweated your way through 3 days of perfection. Along the way, you got lost in the process, went with what “felt right” and “looked good” and now your finished painting’s composition does not meet your project’s requirements. For graphic designers, it can be quite easy to put in hours of work building a gorgeous layout. What if it’s extreme detail, texturing, and vivid colors render text unreadable, or draws attention away from the art you spent all that time trying to frame?

 

Hopefully, by now, I’ve made a better case for goals than, “You should, because it is best.” I wrote this specifically for others trying to, like me, do the ridiculous task of designing games from concept, to art, to design, and off to publishing. Therefore, this was written with the idea of a long-term, multistage project. I pray that even if you aren’t running game company all by your lonesome these ideas and explanations will help you.

 

How has goal planning helped you through big projects? What’s your take on tiered goals?

 

#5: Better = Less Bad

In the spirit of doing and failing more, I’d like to discuss something I’ve seen far too many people lose perspective on:

“Better” is not the same thing as “Good” or “Right”. Better means “Less Bad”. And only less bad.

As we’ve discussed before, you must DO in order to have something to improve. Then, you must FAIL in order to make it better. As you go through the process of failing, improving, and failing some more, you will eventually reach a point of recognizing that your game is significantly better. It is very easy and quite tempting to finally rest on your haunches and revel in how much more fun / easier to learn / more beautiful your game is (especially after the 3rd or 4th time this happens). Don’t fall for the siren song of “Better”!

Your game CAN be great! Your customers / fans deserve the best product that you can possibly deliver. The BEST – not the better. This will likely require you to be willing to make scary cuts and big changes. The key is that you won’t know until you try it. So, PLEASE, keep working, keep trying, keep making the game better but don’t stop until it is the BEST.

With any luck this post will be a helpful reminder for all of you, just as it has helped me. *Warning: next week’s post is LONG. Good stuff about something I recently learned, but long. Maybe the shortness of this week’s post will give you a little extra energy reserve for next time 😉

#4: Make a Design Journal

Notebook BannerMake a design journal! Do it! It will help you no matter what stage of development you are in. Let me explain what I do, how it helps me, and how it can help you:

I have 1 book of general ideas (because I have to keep them somewhere) but I work individual journals for each game I am developing (Top Deck now fills 3 books). I recommend individual design journals because it focuses the mind (you know what game you are working on because you are in that journal), it centralizes information (all notes for Ender Dungeon’s Last Crawl are in one place), and you feel like a bad son-of-a-gun carrying a notebook filled with a year’s worth of blood, sweat, and tears. *If you struggle with information to write you should probably review this post.

I use actual paper notebooks. Writing by hand is usually faster, definitely more accurate, and is a bit more free flowing than typing on my phone. My notebooks are quiet, low light, and can go ANYWHERE with me. When its 0830 and I’m supposed to be in bed so I can wake up for work, I’m not going to whip out my laptop and work on a Google doc. That idea is going to trouble me all day if I don’t record it, though. So, out comes my notebook, I throw down some furious scribbles, and my wife gets to keep sleeping.

Next,  I write as if I am talking to a friend about my game. Ever have those days at work or school where you HAVE to find some help for a confounding problem or assignment? When you chat with the help, you do most of the talking and solve your own problem? Yeah, that’ll happen in your journal because sometimes you just need to talk through an idea. As you write, fill in all that you are feeling and thinking – just like you would when updating that friend. This casual conversation with yourself makes reviewing information a lot easier, too. You can see clearly on those pages what you were experiencing when you came to those conclusions.

Write down everything pertaining to development. In the beginning, write about what you hope the game will look like, how it will feel, how it will look, etc. Dream big! As development progresses, include brainstorms, criticisms, play test results, etc. Now, you don’t have to include specific statistical data, but you should include summaries and lessons learned. That way, when you go in to fix and fine-tune your game, you need only flip back a few pages to see why certain changes were made last time, why you thought that clunky mechanic should be added, and why that thing you love was removed. *If you are struggling with adding information about what works, what doesn’t, and what can be generally better you should probably review this post.

Finally, my favorite part about having one notebook per game with every thought, lesson, and idea written down, is what happens when I open it to the front. There, I see where this beast started, understand just how far it has come, and refresh the values and principles which gave birth to this dream.

#3: Money Motives

I wasn’t going to spend time talking about this but it is weighing heavy on my heart. I’ve seen too many people throw bad projects on Kickstarter and publish poorly thought out games on The Game Crafter because their motives are mixed up. So, let’s talk about motives. It never hurts to stop once-in-a-while and evaluate why you are in a relationship / at a certain job / starting a company. Why do you want to self-publish your game?

Honestly, are you here for the money or here for the games?

If money is your motive, I am certain this is the wrong business for you, and here’s why:

Unless you are heretofore part of the table top game industry and are just tired of making money for others, you probably don’t already know how to make an awesome game from concept to shipping. Therefore, like the rest of us, you have a huge learning curve ahead of you. An indie game publisher must be willing to work for a minimum of 3 – 5 years before ever seeing a profit. Imagine you’ve already spent 2 years on a game. You fail at every turn. You can’t even launch a successful Kickstarter campaign. Do you keep going? If so, what fuels that fire in your gut? The hope for a payday no longer makes any business sense. Refusal to be labeled a failure will only get you to a measurable success like a funded campaign. After that, there is no reason to continue suffering.

Potential customers will see your motive. Some people may be industrious enough to just get it done, but the quality of the product always suffers as a result. Try to picture in your mind the difference between a class project you were interested in (maybe even your favorite assignment ever) and another project – one that you completed but had no interest whatsoever in doing. Now, which did you work harder / longer on? Which had a more refined end result? Which earned a better grade? Now, let’s say that you are out to publish this one idea you had because you think you can make some money. If you are not passionate about your project, your company, and your customers, it shows. Passion is revealed in a game’s appearance / function and the company’s customer support. Worse yet, if this first project funds and gets published, then what? With money as the goal, you would now be stuck struggling through another assignment you may not be in love with, just to get that next paycheck. And guess what – you’ll hate it.

Which do you think will come out better: the game you are actually excited to play, or the game you put out there because you had to publish something?

Finally, the real kick in the teeth: money can be made, but it can’t be counted on. Right now, you are probably just looking for a funded Kickstarter campaign. Bad news: we won’t make money (money in pocket) from that campaign. That campaign, no matter how successful, pays for product. Most of that product goes out to backers. The leftovers can go out to the retail market, where we can finally generate profit. Of course, profit is only the leftovers after covering shipping and handling fees, distribution fees, etc. So, it’ll be a while before the company is viable (paying its own bills), let alone able to pay us for the effort. And that’s assuming everything works out perfectly. Look at Evil Intent from Christian Strain and Kraken Games. Their first Kickstarter campaign failed. They revamped, tried again, and reached their funding goal. Then, a series of unfortunate events left them scammed out of thousands of dollars and with boxes full of broken pieces of a particular reward item.

This is where a lot of indie developers would tuck tail, try to refund pledges, and walk away. Or say, “Sorry. Bye.” and drop the whole thing. What would you do? Because Christian is committed to his customers and has a passion for games he paid out of his own pocket to finish printing the game. He spent his own time and money repairing the broken products and shipped them out to backers. One indicator I’ve seen of people who aren’t truly committed is when their project page appeals for money so they can justify spending more time making games. Justify. The work itself and the joy of sharing your fun game with the world should be all the justification an independent game developer needs. A love for gaming is the only thing which will pull you through failures and catastrophes, like what Christian endured, and that passion will keep you fighting for years down the road.

So, how do your motives stack up? Where do you stand?

There was a great graphic designer over at The Game Crafter who REALLY wanted to make a name for himself in this industry. He made instructional videos to help less tech savvy developers. He self-published a couple of very basic games (great for children and non-gamers) which really showcased his graphic design skills. Beautiful graphics, but no art. They didn’t sell very well. He spent a couple of years really extending himself into the industry and fighting the good fight. His blog posts began to reflect a man burdened with frustrations and disappointments. Eventually, he figured out that he had more fun with graphics than trying to build a game company. He does great graphic work, so I’m sure he has a bright future ahead of him. If you thought making games would be easy money, or if you think you can simply work and plan hard enough that your lack of interest / passion won’t be an issue, then please walk away. Hopefully, a little soul searching now can save the rest of you from the heartaches he endured.

Think you might be in the middle? If you are excited about the journey but there is a part of this whole battle that you don’t think you can handle, maybe all you need is some help. There are many blogs out there, like this one, offering advice on everything from improving your game design process to increasing your chances of successfully funding a Kickstarter campaign. Also, consider a business partner who can pick up your shortcomings. Jamey Stegmaier has a helpful post on that, here.

Let’s finish up with an illustration of someone with the right motives. Some time ago I met a fantastic artist who runs a blog, posting images and poetry multiple times a week. This person is very pleasant to deal with, flexible with the product, communicates often and well, and works fast. The ideal artist. BUT this is all side work – NOT a day job. Sometimes work is completed without any expectation of pay. When an artist is willing to work in their free time and do it for free, you can be certain they simply love their work. Would you continue making games if you knew you’d never make money? Would you keep putting in the hours and mental equity with no hope of fame? If none of these troubles scare you, if you are still stoked for every step along the way, then you are in the right place. Welcome to the brotherhood! Good luck with your games, your company, and your amazing journey.

Where did you line up? Let me know how this helps you 🙂