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Bryan Tillman Interview

featured designer

 

In this edition of Featued Designer we speak artist and game designer Bryan Tillman, creator of the game Dark Legacy: The Rising.

 

bryan tillman card

Creator of Dark Legacy, Creature: The Kaiser (Bryan Tillman)

Bellwether Games: So we’ve taken a look at your website. It looks like you have a great game in Dark Legacy. Could you tell us a little more about this game, how it came about, and what your goals are for it?

Bryan Tillman: First I would like to say thank you for this opportunity to talk to you guys and tell you a little bit about my game.

Dark Legacy: The Rising is something a little different in the realm of card games. It has been deemed a Role Playing Card Game (RPCG). Dark Legacy is a unique character creation strategy game that mixes the best elements of current collectible card games, role playing and strategic games and wraps them all up into an in-depth sci-fi/fantasy story. In Dark Legacy, players are no longer bystanders of the battle; they get to be part of it as a war general within one of six different factions. With the unique and various weapons, armor and relics that a player can equip themselves with, players can become whoever they imagine themselves to be.

six unique factions

6 Unique Factions

In Dark Legacy, it is the players’ objective to destroy their opponents and their armies, by building a deck of magic spells that no one can withstand, rolling the d20 in their favor and strategically summoning their army to be the strongest. Just like in real battle you will have to anticipate the probability of the unexpected. Don’t make choices too hastily for they may be the demise of your army and yourself.

Dark Legacy is a game that can be played one-on-one or in team battle, ages 10 and up, with an average play time of about 45-60 minutes.
As far as why or how Dark Legacy came about, well… it came about for many selfish reasons that I then later found out many other people wanted as well. I wanted to have more time to play with the cards that I just bought without the fear of them becoming obsolete within three to four months. I wanted to have more of a role in the overall story that the game took place in. I wanted to have a game where anyone could win at any time. I wanted to have something, and this is and was a big one for me, that my kids could take to show and tell and say that my Dad was the one that made this game. I also wanted to prove to all those people who doubted that one person could be the driving force behind a game like this wrong. So in short I made Dark Legacy for me, it just so happened that the game is pretty addictive and other people want to play it as well.

What are the goals for Dark Legacy? I would have to say to create an experience for Role Players and Card Games that they haven’t really had yet. By combining these two gaming elements it brings something new to both sides of gaming. I am hoping by doing this there will be a very active community that is involved in telling the story of Dark Legacy with their characters. I am hoping that this game will have one of the largest fan interaction sites on the web. I know that is a big goal, but I believe that with the idea of being able to create your own characters and as they level up and you equip yourself with better weapons and better spells and you will want to brag about it, share your back story of that character and maybe even let others see the deck your created for that character.

dark legacy ninja

Dark Legacy Ninja

BG: What could you tell us about some of your most significant challenges creating Dark Legacy?

BT: That is a tough one, but if I had to nail it down to one thing it would have to be balancing the cards. Dark Legacy cards aren’t just based on rarity and casting points, but also a leveling system. So it was really hard to figure out how to balance out what a level three spell would do and how much it would cost in comparison to a level fifteen card. Since that is one of the most important parts of the game it took a very long time to get it to what I think is a good balance.

Besides that I would have to say actually getting the product in hand and ready to go. Dealing with prints and production companies is always hard because well they are not you, so it takes a while to get them to see your vision. Also as I mentioned before I am a one man show, with some last minute help from some friends for sleep reasons, so I am the one putting all the packaging together. Sorting, randomizing, box building, etc. and let me tell you, that isn’t an easy task. I now know why other people pay for people to have that done for them.

BG: That sounds like it would consume a lot of time! Are you currently seeking to outsource any of these tasks?

BT: It does take a lot of time, and I have to say that I completely understand why people pay for it. I don’t think that I will be outsourcing these tasks to anyone else for two reasons. One, it is very costly to have other people do this type of work for you and I just don’t have the means for that, and two, by doing this type of work I am very connected with this project and it keeps me grounded. Having to do all the hard work makes me appreciate all the fun work I get to do and a project like this, like doing the art and designing games.

BG: How do you go about prototyping, playtesting and promoting your games and design studio?

BT: The prototyping phase was done by me. I had many games against myself. Once I felt like I had something decent I then went to a couple of conventions with a small fraction of cards in two pre-made decks and let people play it and give me feedback.

I was also as able to get the feedback of college students who play a lot of D&D and Magic the Gathering. That source for feedback was really easy for me to obtain since they were all my students that I teach at the Art Institute of Washington.

Everyone’s reaction and feedback was invaluable. The game has changed so much with the feedback of everyone who played the game before the official release.

When it comes to promoting my studio and my game I am online on all the major social media sites. I have a separate website for the studio and the game. But for the most part I go to a lot of conventions throughout the year. I am a firm believer that it is better to talk to someone face-to-face then over the computer. It is just more personable and to be honest people get to see just how enthusiastic I am about Dark Legacy and that normally gets them pretty excited about the product.

BG: That is a really great point about promoting your games in person. Good luck on your continued efforts! Do you also complete all of the artwork for Dark Legacy yourself? What are the inspirations for your designs?

BT: I did 80% of all the art on the cards and then any other work for promotion of character designs I did myself. Some of my friends In the end stated that I was looking a bit tired and could use some help so they did a couple of cards for me.

I am a big fan of ninjas and robots. Most of my art has something with that in it. I love being able to combine fantasy with Sci-Fi and it seems like the game of Dark Legacy is going to give me every opportunity to continue to do that for a long time.

dark legacy artwork

Dark Legacy Artwork

BG: It’s clear you are a very talented artist. Are you interested in being contacted by publishers to do artwork for other games?

BT: Sure. That would be fantastic. Would love to work with other companies and publishers.

BG: Are there any other card/board-game related projects you are working on right now?

BT: Yes. I am currently working on the next set for Dark Legacy since the hardcore players of the game are telling me that they need more variety in cards. So I am working on giving them just that.

Also I have a party game in the work called The Way of the Ninja. See I told you that I like ninjas. The idea behind this game is to have become the master ninja by completing all the tasks that are required to become a ninja master, such as wisdom, strength, speed, durability, etc. I think this will be a pretty fun game and very interactive because the game will force you to get out of your seat.

ninja samurai dark legacy

Ninja-Samurai

BG: Do you have a guiding game design principle? What is it?

BT: I do. The game has to be fun. If you game isn’t fun then it doesn’t have re-playability and as a game designer you want people to play your game again and again. A question that I always ask myself is: would I play this game and have fun with it? I do that because if I like the game, first, I am going to be more enthusiastic about the game, and, well, that just comes out in the game design and the game play. Two, It is safe to say that if I would like to play it there are a plethora of other people across the planet that share the same likes as I do, so they are going to like the game as well.

BG: In your opinion what are the three most important elements of a great game?

BT: Re-Playability
Re-Playability
Re-Playability
If your game is played over and over and over it doesn’t matter what the art looks like. It doesn’t matter how deep your story is. It doesn’t matter if you have made millions of dollars. If the people who have bought you game love it so much to keep playing it, then you have created a great game.

BG: In your opinion, what is the most important skill for a game designer to have?

BT: A great skill for a game designer to have is the ability to listen. There are people who you show your game to and they see something that you have missed and if you choose not to listen to it then you game just won’t be as good as it could be.

I know that that might not sound like a bit of advice that is powerful, but I say that because, I would like to believe that I have this skill. At a convention I was promoting my game as a CCG and Ken Pilcher from Spoils came by my booth and listened to my pitch for the game and said “you have something good here, but you are promoting it wrong. You are not a CCG, you are a Role Playing Card Game (an RPCG if you will), and that is the way you should be promoting your game.” From that moment on that is what I have been doing. Had I not listened to what he said I would have still been trying to promote my CCG and being crushed by the big guys. Now I have a niche in the industry that I get to mold into something special.

BG: Is there anyone who has been a big inspiration or help to you in your game design endeavors? If not, why do you like to design games?

BT: There have been two groups of people that give me all the inspiration that I need to make games.

My family who are the best support group of people anyone can have. Without them I don’t know if I would keep going through all the work to make the huge games. They are very important to the artistic creation of everything I do with games.

The second group are all the haters. I strive for a good challenge and there is nothing better than a person who says that what you have envisioned for a project just can’t be done. I love proving them wrong. It is another driving force for me.

BG: If you could redesign any game, either graphically or from a game design standpoint, which game would you redesign and what would it be like?

BT: Wow that is tough. Hmmm…. let me think. If I could redesign any game… you know what I never thought of that. I will have to get back to you on that. Maybe this will be a lead in to another interview, nudge nudge wink wink.

BG: What do you think is the future of board game/tabletop game design?

BT: I think that game designers are going to keep pushing for imaginative game play elements; such as things that combine elements from other forms of entertainment. I think that there are going to be more and more elements from games that are going to combined with other elements from other games, thus making a whole new way to play a certain type of strategy game. In my humble opinion that is what is going to keep the industry fresh.

BG: Anything else you would like to highlight about your projects? Any links/pictures you would like to share?

BT:
Dark Legacy: http://www.dark-legacy.net/
Twitter @ksp_darklegacy
Facebook: Dark Legacy
Blog: http://kaiserstudio.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.kaiserstudio.net/

Dark Legacy Preview on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MguCjkA4yxs

 

BG: Thank you to Bryan Tillman for taking the time to talk with us about his perspective on game design and his games! Good luck on all your design efforts!

Interested in other game designer interviews? Check out our Fellow Travelers page or click on one of the interviews below:
Ed Marriott
Christopher Chung
Damon Tabb
Chris Fanchi

Are you a game designer or game artist? We’d like to talk to you! Send us an email: info@bellwethergames.com to start a conversation!

Ed Marriott Interview

featured designer

This month’s featured designer is Ed Marriott, an unpublished (yet perhaps not for long!) game designer and blogger with some excellent thoughts about plugging-in to the un-plugged game design community.

Ed Marriott

Ed Marriott

Bellwether Games: So we’ve taken a look at your website. It looks like you have had some made some excellent attempts at publication with Dam It and Scoville. Could you tell us a little more about each of these games and what your next steps are to get a game published?

Ed Marriott: First of all, thank you for the opportunity to be interviewed for your website. You have a great website for aspiring designers like myself. I particularly enjoy the designer interviews, like this one, that you have posted in the past. Now, let’s get to the good stuff!

The interesting thing about both Dam It and Scoville is that they are so different than what my original concepts called for.
Dam It is a light “family style” card game where players attempt to dam their section of the river before anyone else. In the game you use building material cards like Big Logs and Twig Filler to build up your dam. You can also use beaver cards, like Eager Beavers and Busy Beavers to help build your dam faster. Originally this was designed to utilize transparent cards so that the dam could appear like it was being built. But transparent cards made everything else not work. After GenCon 2012 I sent Dam It to a publisher for reviewing. In hindsight I can admit that the game perhaps wasn’t quite ready. But I was riding the high of GenCon and had met the publisher that I sent it to. I was pretty eager to burst into the board game world and sought out publication. They rejected the game and Dam It is currently shelved.

Scoville Logo

Scoville Logo

Scoville is a medium weight “Euro style” game where players represent pepper farmers in the town of Scoville. Throughout the game you plant peppers, harvest peppers, and then use peppers to fulfill the town’s orders and create new recipes for hotter peppers. The mechanics in the game are very simple, but the strategy gets pretty deep. Each turn has players trying to figure out the best way to harvest what they need to fulfill the best recipes and orders. This game has a pretty unique harvesting system, which holds most of the strategy in the game. But Scoville was designed as a completely different game. I came up with the idea last summer of having a set-collection card game where you had to create a set of bad resources and trade them in for a better resource. Then you had to create a set of those better resources to trade in for the best resource. This element is still in the game, but there are no cards. Now you collect the better resources by planting peppers in the fields that cross-breed to result in better peppers. My goal was to extensively playtest this game in preparation for pitching it at GenCon. But I was fortunate that after Protospiel-Milwaukee a publisher requested a copy and is currently considering the game!

Scoville game in progress

Scoville In Progress

BG: Good luck to Scoville! It sounds like a really interesting game and clearly there are publishers that think so too. Are there any other designs up your sleeve at the moment? How do you decide which project to work on?

EM: There’s really only one other game up my sleeve right now. What I should really say is that there is only one other game I am actively working on. I call it Trading Post and it is sort of a land exploration & development game set in a western trading post setting. I’ve been working on it since 2010 and am completely redesigning it. I’ve included a prototype image of the land tiles with alpha artwork. I think it could be a lot of fun, but that’s up to everyone else to decide. I have several other game designs that I think have potential. Those include an “area control/influence” game about electing a pope, a worker placement game about brewing beer (though this is likely to be shelved eternally due to Ben Rosset’s upcoming Brew Crafters by Dice Hate Me Games), a Mayan pyramid building game, a set collection game about nuclear fusion, and a couple joint design ventures with some close friends of mine including a very heavy and thematic land exploration game. But to the question about deciding which project to work on… I suppose I like to balance it between two things: 1) How much potential does a game have? and 2) Which game will be the most fun to design. Remember that we’re not inventing lawn mower accessories here. What we do is all about fun! So l like to work on the projects that are going to be the most fun to me.

trading post tiles

Tiles from Ed Marriott’s Trading Post

BG: What could you tell us about your challenges prototyping, playtesting and promoting your games?

EM: These are three huge things for designers to consider so I’ll attack each separately.

Regarding prototyping: I was originally humbled by the amount of work it took to create prototypes. It’s one thing to design a game like Dam It where it’s just a deck of cards. But for a game like Scoville where there are so many bits it can seem daunting. I had seen videos by Matt Tolman, designer of Undermining, on BoardGameGeek.com where he discussed his prototyping experiences. He had a fancy printer and other awesome tools that I couldn’t justify buying. So I decided to just make prototypes with what I had around the house. Currently my main method of prototyping involves creating components using spreadsheets or open source software like Inkscape. Then I print them on glossy photo paper to make them look nice. I do this to help draw in potential playtesters. The better things look, the more likely someone might be to try it out! And then I glue the photo paper to matte board or chipboard. That makes things nice and thick and easy to grab. You can learn more about my prototyping process in my article: “Prototyping Scoville“.

Regarding playtesting: I am very blessed to have some close friends who are willing to play my games. I try not to be pushy with my designs. You don’t want to burn out your playtesters. It helps that several of them are also working on game designs. When playtesting with others I like to make sure that the game already works. I’m a big fan of solo playtesting to “rough cut” the game. Once you know things work then you can introduce it to your friends. Once you’ve got the game to a point where things aren’t changing too much then I recommend seeking blind playtests from people who don’t know you. Perhaps my favorite outside source for blind playtests is Grant Rodiek’s Prototype Penpal Program. It is a program where designer’s send their game to another designer and receive awesome feedback. Since it is a designer thing you can expect feedback from a designer’s perspective.

Regarding Promoting: This is likely my weakest area. It can be a tricky balance of trying to get your information out there while not being too spammy. My personal advice to aspiring designers is to get on Twitter and start following board game people. There’s tons of great people on Twitter who share loads of awesome board game stuff. I would also recommend starting a blog and getting info out there about who you are and about your games. I use WordPress.com, which is a free service. John Moller of Cartrunk Entertainment also offers a great tool for designers: Unpub.net. I used Unpub.net to help promote Scoville and build some buzz prior to Protospiel-Milwaukee in March. One of the best ways to promote your game is to take it to a designer convention like Protospiel or Unpub! You’ll quickly learn if your game is any good, you’ll receive great feedback, and as a bonus you’ll get to hang out with awesome designers!

BG: Thanks for sharing these great resources for designers! Do you have a guiding game design principle? What is it?

EM: Simplify! In the game design process it is so easy to add more and more little rules to cover the “what-if” scenarios in your game design. I always recommend starting simple and adding detail only when necessary. An example of this is a game I am re-designing called Trading Post. I started working on Trading Post back in 2010 and it quickly became this behemoth of a game with 10 different resources, event cards that made each round of the game different, a market that never seemed to work quite right, and other details that were thrown into the design because I thought they’d be awesome. As I am getting more knowledgeable about game design I have learned to just start simple. The redesign for Trading Post has dropped the number of resources, simplified how they are obtained, and dropped the event cards. Plus, the simpler things are, the easier it will be for playtesters to pick up the game.

BG: In your opinion what are the three most important elements of a great game?

EM: Fun, Interaction, Replayability. Obviously if something isn’t fun you won’t have people wanting to play it again. Interaction is a huge thing for me. If you’re sitting around a table playing a game it should be interactive and engaging. Otherwise you might as well play video games by yourself. Board games are social by design. Third, I see replayability as an important element so that a game doesn’t start to feel old. This is one reason I still enjoy The Settlers of Catan. Each game is different. Replayability is strong with that one! Honorable Mention: Uniqueness. If a game has something truly unique, like the gears in Tzolk’in, then it already has a hook that can draw people in!

BG: Do you have a “go-to” game mechanic? What is it? Or what are some of your favorite mechanics?

EM: I do not have a “go-to” mechanic. I usually start a game design with a theme and then choose mechanics that I believe fit that theme. I would say some of my favorite mechanics are Worker Placement (Agricola, The Manhattan Project, and plenty more), Pick Up and Deliver (Empire Builder, The Great Heartland Hauling Company), and Map Building/Tile Placement (Carcassonne is the obvious example).

BG: In your opinion, what is the most important skill for a game designer to have?

EM: I like Paul Owen’s, Chevee Dodd’s, and Jason Tagmire’s answers to this question. Paul said “humility,” Chevee said “objectivity,” and Jason mentioned being “Jacks of all Trades.” I think those are all very appropriate. If I didn’t go with a cop-out copycat answer then I’d say something cheesy like Imagination. Designers have to be imaginative to create their game designs. What we are really doing is trying to tell a story in board game form. Players are always taking on some sort of “role” in the game. Games are meant to get players immersed in a different world for an hour or so. And imagination plays a big role in that. If a designer can’t have imagination, how can they get the players to imagine being in the game?

BG: Interesting response! Are there any “stories” that you are trying to tell with your current designs? Are there any stories that you would like to tell? Or, what relation does designing a game have to writing a story?

EM: As I noted earlier I like to design a game by starting with a theme and then adding mechanics that fit that theme. That plays well into the idea of a game telling a story. Games without stories often end up feeling abstract. One example I can think of is the game Ilium by Reiner Knizia. The theme of archaeology is pretty pasted on. The result is that I don’t really feel like I’m an archaeologist when playing the game. So I try to use my imagination during the design process to relate the story to the game. I ask questions like, “What would an archaeologist really be doing on a dig site?” Or in the case of Scoville, “What would the town want with the peppers I’m harvesting?” So I’m continually trying to integrate a thematic story/plot within my designs so that they can allow players to really feel like they’re in the game. Some of my favorite games that immerse me are Merchants & Marauders and Last Will. As for relating game design to story writing I’d say they have similarities in that you as the author or the game designer have full control over how the story is told. Writing a story allows an author to create an entire world if they so choose. Game design is the same. It’s carte blanche for both authors and game designers and the stories are just waiting to be told!

BG: Is there anyone who has been a big inspiration or help to you in your game design endeavors? If not, why do you like to design games?

EM: Originally there wasn’t any inspiration for my designing endeavors. I was sort of diving in the deep end without knowing how to swim. But attending GenCon last year really opened my eyes to the game design world. Now, however, I would say I’m inspired by the game design community on Twitter, and specifically by Chevee Dodd. He is the designer of Scallywags by Gamewright and he blogs about his game designs on cheveedodd.com. I had the privilege of meeting him at Protospiel-Milwaukee, played two of his games, and thoroughly enjoyed each. He is open about his game design and humble about it as well. Another awesome inspiration/resource for game designers is the Board Game Designer’s Forum. You can learn a ton by just reading about the things designers are posting on there!

Why do I design games? I really like the challenge of trying to create things. Board game design is almost like a game in and of itself. There is an inherent challenge in trying to create something that is fun, interactive, and draws people in for more. That has been my challenge since I started designing games and that is why I keep doing it.

BG: Sounds like you have really started to get connected with the greater game design community! Do you have any other advice for aspiring game designers?

EM: I’ve had a great time getting to know the awesome people in the game design community. Everyday I learn something new from the awesome people I follow on Twitter. My best advice for aspiring designers is to just have fun with it all. As long as you’re having fun, who cares what else happens! My second best advice is to just get connected. Get on Twitter, join the Card & Board Game Designers Guild on Facebook, be on Board Game Geek, and attend conventions. If you are serious about becoming a published game designer, then you’re going to have to have people know who you are! But seriously, if it ever stops being fun, then find a new hobby!

BG: What do you think is the future of board game/tabletop game design?

EM: It seems to me like the future of board games involves more and more small/Indie publishers putting out games. Kickstarter has allowed small publishers to get the up front money they need to be able to do the projects they desire. Without crowd-funding I think we’d see fewer games. It’s also apparent that board gaming is growing. Attendance records have been set at GenCon the past few years. And my own board game group has been growing as we connect to more gamers in the area. Board gaming has a bright future!

BG: Anything else you would like to highlight about your projects? Any links/pictures you would like to share?

EM: Again I’d like to thank you for this opportunity. It has been a privilege.

I would like to point people to my website: Boards & Barley. I post board game reviews every Friday. I post about my designer perspective on the Game Design Process. And hopefully some day I’ll be able to post about being published, though for now I’m just having fun designing games!
You can also follow me on Twitter (@EdPMarriott). I tweet about game design, games I’m playing, and occasionally about beer.
For those interested in Scoville, here is a direct link to my Print & Play article.

board and barley logo

Boards and Barley

And here are the links to some of the things I’ve mentioned in this interview:
Grant Rodiek’s Prototype Penpal Program
Unpub.net
Chevee Dodd’s Game Design Site
Board Game Designer’s Forum

Thank you very much for your time! I’d love to answer any questions anyone has of me, my games, or my game design process!

BG: Thanks to Ed Marriott for speaking with us! We’ve really enjoyed getting to know you better and we’re thankful to all of the valuable game design lessons you’ve shared with our readers!

Are you interested in other interviews with game designers? Check out some of our previous Featured Designers below:

Chevee Dodd

Grant Rodiek

Randall Newnham

Michael Iachini

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Christopher Chung Interview

featured designer

This month’s featured designer is Christopher Chung of Flash Forward Games and aspiring designer of some very unique titles!

 

designer Christopher Chung

Featured Designer: Christopher Chung

Bellwether Games: So we’ve taken a look at your facebook page. It looks like you have a pretty solid upcoming design in Jeu de Lune Could you tell us more about this game and where you are at in the design process?

Christopher Chung: Jeu de Lune is a game for two to four players, and it’s a game involving tile placement, tile shifting, point-to-point movement, and most importantly, area control. The story line of the game is quite fairytale-like; you are a lonely Water Spirit, drifting in and out of waters searching for true love, when you happened to meet the most beautiful woman you have ever seen: The Moon Princess. The Princess tells you that she has been banished to this deserted Island on Earth, and she can only fly back to the Moon when she has found a suitable life partner. Your goal is to communicate to her that you want to be with her, but the only way you know how to communicate is through dance. She is also entertaining all offers from other Water Spirits too, so you’ll be in tough competition to win her love.

I’m at the final stages of deciding on mechanics for this game. I’ve playtested this game the most out of all of my designs, and generally people have liked it. Two prominent mechanics proved to be confusing at first play for people, however, if I simplify one of the mechanics in question, it could make the game very dull in gameplay, so it will take more playtesting to figure out what the best way of overcoming this challenge. It could also take just a rewording of instructions, which is often the case, too!

BG: This sounds incredibly unique! How did you come up with this idea? Is there a specific experience you are hoping your players will have?

CC: I was in a board game jam with two friends and we collectively made this game called “Currents”, which was tile-based and point-to-point movement, sort of like Tsuro. I was thinking a lot about tile games from that point on, so I decided to play on the idea of incorporating water into a main theme, as water is universal. The love story angle came about when I was thinking about love and why it’s not a prominent theme in board games, so I decided to put those two together and see what chemistry will come about! The experience that I want to convey is the struggle of trying to find the path of best fit, and during the game, you will need to use your opponents’ tides to dance with her, so there will be feelings of exasperation when you don’t strategize off the start of the game. I tried to reduce luck as much as possible with this game by giving you a selection of 3 tides as your hand size, so that your ability to deduce patterns will win you the game. 

Jeu de Lune

Jeu De Lune by Christopher Chung

BG: Very interesting! Good luck finishing up this game! What could you tell us about your challenges prototyping, playtesting and promoting your games?

CC: In regards to prototyping, my greatest challenge is conveying my ideas through the rules and instructions. I believe developing instructions is an art form. For video games, games such as Super Meat Boy make the instructions as easy as completing a level, and you get accustomed to the game as you go along. Video games can get away with not giving you perfect information, such as one of my favorite games so far, Starseed Pilgrim (Shout out to @Droqen and team!), where there are hardly any instructions and you must explore the game itself if you have any more questions.

In board games, rules and instructions can make or break the game. I don’t mind when people introduce home rules (aside from that wretched Monopoly “Free Parking” Rule!), but they were not of intent by the designer, so as a designer, it’s tough to describe how I intend the game to be played with very concise wording. I intend to make as many “Print and Play” copies of my games with full instructions, so that the rules can be playtested with and critiqued.

To bridge over to playtesting, it is quite challenging to accomplish this task frequently. I often visit Snakes and Lattes and their game designer’s night, where people can bring any of their prototypes, pay a cover, and play until 2 am! I also playtest at Bento Miso, a game, food, and web co-working space, at their “Games with Friends” nights. I’ve had successful and unsuccessful games played at both places, and I love that I can reciprocate the playtesting. I often hear about Grant Rodiek’s “Prototype Pen Pal” program, and the success of it, yet I cannot guarantee the reciprocation of playtesting, so I have not yet entered a design there.

In terms of promotion, it’s been very limited. I’m followed by quite a number of awesome people on Twitter, and that’s where I promote my games, along with my seldom used Facebook page, but none of them have reached the limelight. I hope to create a functioning website soon, and once I hit the publishing pavement with any of my games, hopefully then I can grab more attention. I’m not a Board Game Geek frequenter at all, and I must make a habit of visiting more often, along with Board Game Designer’s Forum. There’s only so much the web can do for you, so being at a convention, whether it be Unpub, Protospiel, Gen Con, Origins, or PAX, is the grand plan, and I hope to do so very soon to spread the word of Flash Forward Games!

BG: Do you have a guiding game design principle? What is it?

CC: I’m constantly thinking about new themes, and from those themes I design the mechanics to reflect the themes. An example of this would be my upcoming game called Ultimate Mecha Melee Madness, or U.M.M.M. for short. It will involve fast paced card drawing, token placement, and dice rolling with both hands. In this game I want to reflect what it would be like to go head to head in an actual Mecha fight. I’m not afraid to go “out of the box” on themes, even if they tend to be a little alienating or controversial. Bucket List is a game where you must complete as many tasks as you can before your time is up, and at a point, I was considering that death would be the finish line for the game, but I may pivot to a different ending, depending on the feedback I receive.

BG: In your opinion what are the three most important elements of a great game?

CC: The first element is a good theme. I’ll play any game but I’ll be more inclined to be interested in themes that I find really interesting.
The second element is a series of easy-to-understand mechanics. I applaud Euro games for being really mechanically-driven, but I don’t find myself wanting to play them as much as I find many of these mechanics are very unforgiving and hard to understand.
The third element is art that is excellently done and functional.

BG: Do you have a “go-to” game mechanic? What is it?

CC: My go-to mechanic is anything with cards, whether it be deckbuilding, hand management, drafting, etc. Cards are really versatile, although it’s ironic that the game most ready for publication has zero cards!

BG: Any other favorite mechanics?

CC: I love the concept of action points, and recently playing Macao, I’m influenced to have dual-purpose “action cubes” in a game. Too bad that I was smoked by my opponent and that it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth about the overall game.

BG: In your opinion, what is the most important skill for a game designer to have?

CC: I think the most important skill, or rather, trait, would be humility. A good designer must not be strong-headed and be willing to change their game if they receive negative feedback, or at least entertain the offer of changing. I consider all suggestions after feedback, some have been great, some have been bad, but when you listen to others, they’re more inclined to help you with other games because they feel they can contribute to your success and vice versa if they were designers. I also feel that many suggestions have changed not only my games for the better, but the way I think about designing has also altered from these conversations.

BG: How do you discriminate between good and bad feedback while maintaining humility? Do you have an example of suggestions you’ve received that you knew were wrong and how you knew they were wrong? Some that were right?

CC: I know that at the end of the day, I have creative control of my games until they hit the publisher network, so feedback is good when I can see the particular suggestion fitting into the current design. When I am suggested a new feature of a game or change to a particular mechanic that I see doesn’t fit with the direction of where I want to take the game, I write it down, think about it extensively, and see where it can be implemented, if at all.

One suggestion that was excellent for the direction of Jeu De Lune was the culmination of individual player grids into one big grid. Originally each player had their own 3×3 grid, and after one playtest, my playtesters said it would work better on one communal space and it did vastly improve the game. One suggestion that was not the best was taking out the Moon Princess altogether and just moving tide to tide. That was definitely out of the question as moving from tide to tide aimlessly would not only not work thematically, but it would make the game unchallenging.

BG: Is there anyone who has been a big inspiration or help to you in your game design endeavors? If not, why do you like to design games?

CC: Although I’ve been guilty of not viewing as many blogs or listening to as many podcasts as I can, people like Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis), Grant Rodiek (@HerrohGrant), James Mathe (@MinionGames), Kim Vanderbroucke (@TheGameAisle), Mary Couzin (@board_games), and Jay Cormier & Sen Foong-Lim (@JayAndSen), and The Author M (@TheAuthorM) have been big inspirations.

My Tweeps: Chevee Dodd (@CheveeDodd), TC Petty III (@PuppyShogun), Agust Blondal (@MarketDayArcher), Nathanuil DeMille (@BlankWallGames), Jeremiah Lee (@jeremiah042), Corey Young (@C_M_Young), John Moller (@CartrunkEnt), Benny Sperling (@benny275), Tim Duong (@TimSophos), Jason Anarchy (@DrinkingQuest), Danny Devine (@d3devine), Jesse Catron (@ktronod), Ed Marriott (@EdPMarriott), Jason Tagmire (@Jtagmire), Officer Blair (@Bahflug), The Cardboard Edison folks (@CardboardEdison), and Van Ryder Games (@VanRyderGames) among so many others have been quite amazing to me and very inspirational and I can’t thank them enough for being a big part of who I am as a designer.

Thanks as well to my friends at Snakes and Lattes – Stephen Sauer (@MonsterMakeThis), Daryl Andrews (@DarylMAndrews), Bento Miso – Henry Faber (@HenryFaber), David Gallant (@DavidSGallant), Jonathan Levstein (@JLevstein), Damian Sommer (@DamianSommer), and at Ryerson University!

BG: What do you think is the future of board game/tabletop game design?

CC: I think there’s going to be a comeback of board games. Snakes and Lattes among other board game cafes help with this immensely, and the multitude of game designers really push out some amazing games that contribute to the success and re-establishment of board games in popular culture. I applaud all the reviewers who dedicate their time to review all these great games, and they are a great source of information for people just getting into the board game fold. I also love the fact that Tabletop is doing an amazing job bringing many new players in and entertaining them while doing so, and I just love Beer and Board Games for its sheer hilariousness, though I don’t recommend it to those of younger ages!

I do realize that video games are still king, and I am a huge supporter of independent video games, but what video games often lack are the social benefits that sitting down at a table with your family and friends playing some games provide. There’s nothing like rolling real dice and playing with real cards. The experience is just so immersive.

BG: With so many great games coming out, do you think there is a danger of all the good ideas drying up? How do you plan to make games that will stand out?

CC: I think that good ideas will always be generated every day, so no they won’t dry up, although I will say that many themes have run their course in being used, especially seaport trading, zombies, and farming. Mechanics are often repeated and expanded upon so I don’t think they can be exhausted. I plan to make games that are thematically different and with easy-to-understand mechanics so that no one is alienated from playing my games. Often my games reflect a certain part of my personality or my life; for example, Bucket List is all about my goal of accomplishing tasks later in life even though I should consider doing them now, and my newest design, Commedia D’amore, is all about my experience in drama class in high school, learning about Commedia Dell’arte.

I will continue to have an inquisitive mind and explore every opportunity to make games that speak volumes about who I am as a game designer. I will not make a game if I will not enjoy playing it, even if many people do. I am proud of what I’ve accomplished so far, and will keep at it for as long as I can put my mind to it.

BG: Anything else you would like to highlight about your projects? Any links/pictures you would like to share?

CC: I love to design games because it gives me an avenue to be creative and to share my creations with many people is just an amazing feeling. One day I hope that at least one of my games reaches publication such that I can share my games with the world.

I want to be able to help out other aspiring designers bring their games to market, and after doing this for more than half a year now, I realized that it’s absolutely hard to take a game from idea to publication. What I’m planning is to build a platform that allows people to create board games from scratch for very little money and expose it to as many artists, publishers, reviewers, and playtesters as possible. I can’t say much more than that, but I want to provide a way for everyone to enjoy board game creation, especially families who want to spend more time together.

BG: Thanks again for speaking with us and telling us about your games! Good luck to you as you search for a publisher for Jeu De Lune!

 

Interested in learning more about board game design? Listen to what these designers have to say:

Damon Tabb, designer of KerFlip

Chris Fanchi, designer of Basketball G.M.

Michael Iachini, designer of Chaos & Alchemy

Jason Tagmire, designer of Pixel Lincoln

 

Try our Carta Mundi award-winning card game, Drop Site!

Promoting #5: Picmonkey

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Three P’s of Board Game Design

Promoting #5: Picmonkey.com

A big part of promoting your game involves showing-off high-quality photos to your potential market. Although the best photo editor out there is Adobe Photoshop, the fastest and easiest way to get a photo ready for the web is often the better choice. For this, we use Picmonkey.com.
Picmonkey.com is the fastest and easiest way we’ve found to edit photos. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles that a Photoshop has, but it loads a lot faster and has all the major adjustment categories readily available.

picmonkey.com

Picmonkey.com

To begin, simply drag a photo from a folder to the designated location on the Picmonkey homepage.

picmonkey.com

Photo editing using Picmonkey

This will automatically bring you to the editing page. All the major adjustments are located to the left. 

exposure edited

Here the exposure has been auto adjusted.

Auto-adjustment, for example, quickly resolves some of the lighting issues in this picture of Drop Site cards.

adding text

Adding text to photos is easy.

After you’ve applied any basic edits, there are additional options available in the sidebar to the left. Some of these options require a paid membership, but there are still a lot of simple ways to transform your game photo into a promotion. Finally, make sure to resize your high quality image so it fits the web. We like to use 400 as a standard width.

Chaser Game

Drop Site: The Perfect Chaser Game

And… you’re done! Photo editing should only take minutes. The important thing is that your game is getting promoted quickly.

Interested in our award-winning game, Drop Site? 

Did you miss last week’s interview with KerFlip designer Damon Tabb? You could win a free game!

Our last Three P’s Blog Post: Facebook Promotions

Interview with Damon Tabb

featured designer

This month’s Bellwether Games featured designer is Damon Tabb, designer of the award-winning word game KerFlip. Damon is giving away a FREE copy of KerFlip to one lucky reader. See bottom of the page for details…

 

Damon Tabb

KerFlip designer, Damon Tabb

Bellwether Games:  Hi Damon, thanks for speaking with us! We’ve taken a look at the KerFlip demo and can honestly say that it looks like a lot of fun! Could you give us a brief summary of how this game came about?

Damon Tabb: First off, thank you! It’s an honor to be featured here on Bellwether Games! The idea for KerFlip came a few years ago back in the heyday of Scrabulous, which was basically online Scrabble at the time. My wife and I would typically play a couple of games after dinner. Anyway, there was a stretch of about a week where I couldn’t catch a break, and I was stuck playing words like AIOLI and AUDIO while she kept getting all the good letters! Suffice it to say, it’s a testament to her good spirit that she’ll play games with me at all anymore, let alone word games. However, the basic idea for KerFlip was born from the depths of my frustration during that losing streak: essentially, an anagramming game that doesn’t leave victory to the random chance of the draw, that you don’t have to be a walking dictionary to win, and that isn’t a crossword, Scrabble, or Boggle clone.

BG: Who wins KerFlip most between you and your wife?

DT: That would most likely depend on who you ask…

BG: Could you describe the path you have taken from the inception of the idea to publication?

DT: That’s a pretty long path with a lot of stops and starts along the way! But I’ll do my best…
The earliest prototypes didn’t even play very much like the game as released. It all took a while to coalesce, and I went through about three prototypes before hitting on the elements of the game that were most fun or that worked best together. At that point, I knew that I wanted tiles to be worth more to the first player that used them, but I hadn’t yet contrived the flip-scoring mechanism, so I had this neat little board that segregated used from unused tiles, which worked really well but, ultimately, wasn’t as elegant as flip-scoring. I also knew that I wanted to have premium tiles, but I wanted to steer clear of the traditional model of just printing extra points on them, so that’s when the bonus cards came into existence.

It wasn’t until much later in development, when I was pretty much happy with major game-play that I was thinking about the packaging. I’d initially planned to package the game in a box with a traditional plastic tray that holds the components, and I thought: it’s just a waste to have all that empty space in the box. Can’t it be put to better use? I realized that if you played the game in the box, on a board with a custom-designed tray under it, you could funnel the used tiles into a collection area. After about an hour, I had a rough sketch of the chutes and funnel system. At that point, I knew this could be a really cool feature, since it addressed one of my pet peeves about tile games in general, namely cleanup. After consulting with a Solidworks (3D prototyping) designer, I had confirmation that the tray could absolutely be manufactured, and I was pumped.

KerFlip Box

Inside the KerFlip Box

However, the initial prototype that I shopped around only had the tile chutes, where you could sweep used tiles off of the board into a walled-off area. It didn’t have a working funnel and cup system, like the ones in the images. When I pitched the game, I showed publishers the prototype and some high-quality rendered printouts of what the tile collection functionality would look like. In hindsight, I would have absolutely built the fully functioning prototype for pitching the game, because you can’t really experience how neat that is without actually doing it.

kerflip game prototype

KerFlip prototype by Damon Tabb

In any case, the first publisher I showed the game to was interested. However, the direction they wanted to take the game turned out to be considerably different from mine. For example, they wanted to essentially create a travel version of the game first which didn’t have the tile collection system, and, if it sold well, create a deluxe version with all the bells and whistles. They also nixed the cards and went about bonus points the more traditional way. Ultimately, their game was very different from the one I pitched to them. Again, I think if I had shown them a fully-functioning prototype, they might not have wanted to go the route they did. Then again, a lot of it came down to production margins, so it might not have made any difference.

Still, I was thrilled to be working with them, since they were a well-respected publisher, and it would have been my first title, so I was okay with the direction they took. However, late (about a year) in the process, the factory that would be producing the games for them closed, and the publisher was essentially back at square one with sourcing and planning. It would have been at least another year before the game was released. I was a bit impatient (and naïve), and asked if I could have the rights back. They were understanding, both of the fact that the process was taking a long time, and that we had different creative visions for the game. So they said okay.

Of course, it still took a year from that point forward to release the game, but as a self-published title. Although it was a crazy amount of work, it was also an incredible learning experience, so I have no regrets about that (now that I’ve been through it, anyway). I released KerFlip in May 2012 and, shortly after, the game won its first award. I was psyched, and continued submitting to competitions.

KerFlip Box

KerFlip Prototype Box

After almost a year of self-publishing, I found that I was spending all my spare time doing all the things you have to do when you self-publish, and spending zero time on developing new games. Considering I had a full time job and a family I still wanted to be a member of, the lack of time in general was becoming very frustrating. So finding a publisher to work with was definitely a priority for me. A few weeks after I reached out to you here at Bellwether Games, I started reaching out to publishers again. One of the companies that was interested was Game Salute, which, I’m happy to say, recently added KerFlip to their list of Powered by Game Salute titles.

BG: That’s quite a story! We hope your work with Game Salute goes well! Do you have a guiding game design principle? What is it?

DT: In general, I think it’s fun to mix up genres and game mechanics, perhaps because the creative process itself is like a “cognitive blender” of sorts; the more innovative and adventurous you are when adding ingredients, usually the more interesting the result. For example, one of my upcoming concoctions could be considered a real-time adventure-themed strategy-driven memory game. I know, it sounds a bit crazy, but it actually tastes really good!

I also think it’s helpful to keep specific goals in mind while conceptualizing and play testing. First and foremost, is the game or concept fun? Because, if it’s not, unless it’s a “serious game,” then what’s the point? Second, is it elegant? I scrutinize every facet and component of the game to see how it can be simplified. All else being equal, the simpler, more elegant, version of a game is usually better. When possible, I also try to identify usability deficiencies, or ask how I can improve upon what’s been done before. I think this kind of exploratory thinking helps me derive innovative solutions to the questions that come up throughout development and play testing.

BG: In your opinion what are the three most important elements of a great game?

DT: This is a surprisingly tough question! In order to be successful, a game must inspire people to (1) learn how to play it, (2) play it again, and (3) invite others to play it. But I think these qualities might be the marks of a great game rather than elements of one. Digging a little deeper, I think a really great game:

• Answers the question “wouldn’t it be cool if…?”
• Allows players to prevail based mainly on skill rather than luck
• Is relatively easy for newcomers to learn, while allowing power players the flexibility to devise their own strategies

BG: You emphasized in both instances the ability to get people to learn and play. How have you gone about evaluating how well your designs have been able to draw people in? Any tips for the rest of us about how to get playtesters?

DT: Admittedly, I could have done a lot more to draw people in than I did. Of course, I started with roping in family and friends. That was about 10 people, about half of whom lived in another state. So, I started attending game nights at a local game store and got to know some of the employees, who were happy to help me test the game from time to time.

I ended up having a playtest every two weeks or so. After each playtest, I would typically crawl into my hole for most of the night and emerge the next day with revisions, ready to test them out. It was painful to have to wait a week or two until I could get a couple of people over for another playtest, even when I lured them with free pizza and beer (after all, they had jobs and families too!) This is where I could have done a better job, joining (or starting) online and local game design groups, not just to find people who were willing to help test my games, but to also help them test theirs, which is something I really enjoy doing.

I’ve since created a Word Games group on meetup.com, which meets every two weeks, but this is to meet new people and learn about existing word games on the market (there are so many!), not to test my new designs. However, I know there are game design meetups as well, where members can bring prototypes for testing. I also recently learned of protospiel, which really sounds amazing, and I hope they expand their range soon to include New York.

Another avenue to explore, particularly if your game skews a bit younger, is to approach local schools and children’s organizations. This is also the most effective way of “aging” your game. I initially thought KerFlip would be for ages 10 and up, but revised that to 8 and up based on results received from testing at an elementary school. An added perk is that the kids absolutely love being part of the process, and they tell their parents and friends all about the cool new game they helped design, not to mention the satisfaction you derive from seeing the kids having fun playing something you created.

Regarding making the game accessible, I think this is critical if the game is to be successful. There are different levels of accessibility, though, depending on the game’s target audience. While KerFlip is for ages 8 and up and, I wouldn’t expect an 8-year old to read the rules themselves, but they totally get the game once it’s explained to them. I must have revised the rules for KerFlip over 100 times. At one point relatively early on, I was stuck with a version of the rules that I knew could be better. So I hired a writer (a recent college grad who didn’t charge an arm and a leg) to do a quick treatment and see if she could approach it with a bit less technicality. While the vast majority of what she wrote has since been revised or edited out, it helped spur me to see that there were other, more player-friendly ways to explain the game that were more appropriate to the target audience.

BG: Great thoughts about playtesting! Do you have a “go-to” game mechanic? What is it? Or what are some of your favorite mechanics?

DT: Not really. Although, to date, the majority of games I’ve designed have either been real-time or have incorporated some sort of real-time component. I think adding the element of urgency into the equation is a mechanism that brings players’ abilities to the forefront and allows them to compete based primarily on skill. Even in chess, given two equally skilled players, the player who moves first has the advantage and will win the majority of the time. I guess, to sum this question up, I value quick-thinking in games, although you’d never be able tell by how I play Scrabble or Chess. (I’m allergic to timers.)

BG: In your opinion, what is the most important skill for a game designer to have?

DT: Probably perseverance. After the initial surge of creativity that propels me through a game’s first prototype, the creative sparks begin to require increasingly longer periods of play testing and revision. I’ve found that it’s usually those ensuing “aha!” moments that refine and simplify an otherwise decent game to the point where it’s good, or even great. For example, with KerFlip, while I’d already come up with the basic mechanism for scoring–that tiles which have already been used are worth half their initial value–the idea for flip-scoring didn’t come until rather late in development, after literally weeks of pondering how I could simplify the scoring process even further. There were definitely times when I wanted to say it’s good enough, but I knew that there was a more elegant solution than what I currently had. I just had to take the time to find it.

BG: Is there a word we could create to define that nagging feeling you have when you know there is a more elegant solution?

DT: Heheh, maybe “perfuzzled/perfuzzlement”?

BG: Good word! Let’s see if it catches on! How many prototypes did you make for Kerflip? Any thoughts about making good prototypes?

DT: In all, I made three early prototypes and two final prototypes, one of which I later modified to include a fully-functioning tile collection system. When designing, I try to think about the entire user experience of playing the game, from setting up to cleaning up. Granted, a marketing guru might say that people are going to play the game in their minds the first time they see it on the shelf, so package design and shelf presence are also very important. But, that doesn’t really apply to prototypes.

In the early stages, to just get a quick sense of what the game will play like, the prototype doesn’t have to be very pretty. So I tend to start out fairly simply. Once I’m pretty sure the bulk of gameplay is hammered out, I’ll spend some time making another prototype that looks good. This has benefits and drawbacks. Probably every time I’ve gone ahead and spent time on a “nice” prototype, I’ve jumped the gun, and ended up having to make another one because of further revisions. On the other hand, the more time you put in on these mid-stage prototypes, the more your play testers can get a feel of what the final product will play like.

If you have a strong vision of what the game will play like, do your best to make it happen in your later prototypes, especially if you plan to pitch the game to publishers. I think not doing that was definitely an early mistake on my part. Also, take as much time as you need to do it right. If it’s tedious (and it will be a lot of the time), do the grunt work while watching TV or listening to music. Another route you can take is to find a game design intern. I did that a while back and, while I wasn’t able to pay hourly, I did pay to take him to conventions with me. So he got some paid working vacations out of it. And, while he’s long since moved on and gotten a real job, we’re still good friends to boot.

Something else, and this wasn’t around even a couple of years ago, are 3D printers. I read that in a year or so, you might be able to buy one of these for less than the cost of an iPad! Wow, imagine the fun you can have prototyping your components with that! I could have run off a few of the custom trays for KerFlip if I owned, or had access, to one of those.

BG: Is there anyone who has been a big inspiration or help to you in your game design endeavors? If not, why do you like to design games?

DT: I have a couple of friends who love games and puzzles who have been very helpful through the years. They’ve offered encouragement and above all else, have been honest with me. They let me know in no uncertain terms when they think something isn’t working. As a designer, I think you need that kind of feedback. You may not always agree with it and, ultimately, you have to go with your instincts, but you at least need to be receptive to that kind of constructive criticism, because you rarely get it. In addition to being an inspiration, another friend of mine, who self-published a successful card game, has been extremely supportive and is always willing to help out with sage advice. It goes without saying that having a support network of honest, experienced people has been invaluable, especially as a neophyte designer trying to learn the secrets of the trade.

BG: Any online game design communities you utilize?

DT: This is definitely an area that, until a few months ago, I didn’t know very much about, and I’m still learning. There are so many game design groups and communities, were I to start all over again knowing what I know now, I might have done things completely differently.

BG: How important to you is collaboration in the game design process?

DT: To date, I haven’t collaborated with anyone (other than playtesters) when designing a board game. I’m curious to see how that might work out, though, because I enjoy the collaborative process and the ideas it can generate. It would also be interesting to see what happens when there are disagreements about what directions to take. I can’t speak for everyone, but the process of designing a game is very personal, and it’s very easy to get attached to ideas. Unless the members of the group were really able to mesh, put their egos away (my own included), and work together as a well-oiled machine, I could see the final product being sort of a Frankenspiele, or the process itself just stalling.

BG: Anything else you would like to highlight about your projects? Any links/pictures you would like to share?

DT: I just want to mention how excited I am to have recently partnered with Game Salute to publish and distribute KerFlip. I’d heard some really wonderful things about the team at GS, some of them right here from your other designer interviews, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with them!

Your readers can tune in to all the exciting developments about KerFlip as well as our upcoming ground-breaking new games by following us at www.facebook.com/kerflip and on Twitter @Kerflip. To date, KerFlip has won seven awards, including GAMES Magazine’s Best New Word Game for 2013. For more information, visit www.kerflip.com.

Thanks again for having me here on Bellwether Games!

BG: Damon has offered a FREE copy of KerFlip to one lucky reader who checks out his video tutorial of KerFlip, which you can see here! To win, send an email to info@bellwethergames.com with the answer to the following question: What is the third word created in the video? 

We will select one email respondent at random to receive a copy of KerFlip. Only email responses received by info@bellwethergames.com between 9:00am CST on April 9, 2013 and 11:59pm on April 30, 2013 will be eligible to win. We will notify you on May 1, 2013 if you have won!

 

No Blog Post Today: Back-End Work

Due to some much needed work on our back end, there will be no “Three P’s” blog post today!

What are we doing? We’re updating our content management system and improving our order processing. Now it will be even easier to get your copy of our international award-winning game, Drop Site!

Later this week we will have an interview with Kerflip designer, Damon Tabb!

Antidote Sneak Peek

No Three P’s Blog Post today. Instead we’ve decided to give you a sneak peek at our upcoming game Antidote.

#antidote

(#AntidoteGame: Good luck choosing the right formula!)

From a draft describing Antidote:

“One day, while working on some VIP research in the lab with a team of scientists, you suddenly hear a sound you were all dreading, the loud CRACK of a massive glass container breaking under the pressure of its own contents in the middle of the room. Never mind the loss of research! You all know what that container held…a deadly airborne toxin expected to bring painful death to everyone in lab in approximately 15 minutes.

Make that 14 minutes and 50 seconds! There are a number of ingestible anti-toxins you’ve been working on, but true to the nature of the double-blind study none of the researchers have complete knowledge of the merits of all of the anti-toxins as reliable antidotes.

Now, in a race against time and a battle of wits you must work with the other researchers to deduce the correct anti-toxin before the deadly gas takes its lethal effect, but as you begin to solve this heart-pounding puzzle a sinister question takes root in your mind. Are the other scientists giving you accurate information or are they just looking out for themselves? After all, there may not be enough of the antidote to go around. You don”t want to be left without the proper dose…perhaps you should keep some information to yourself as well…”

Hope this wets your appetite for Antidote! Share your interest on twitter using #AntidoteGame and @BellwetherGames or comment on our Facebook page.

Next week we’ll be back with another Three P’s blog post!

Interested in our award-winning game?

Promoting #4: Facebook Promotions

three p''s of game design

Promotion #4: Facebook Promotions

A while back Facebook began limiting the number of fans who would receive content updates at fan pages. This means if you have a fan page for a game you’ve created, only a percentage your fans will actually see a page update in their feeds.

The reason Facebook did this was to create a marketable product, Facebook promotions. If you’d like your updates to reach 100% of your fans you can pay $5 (yes, only $5) to have your post “promoted” until either the time for the promotion ends or the full number of impressions are recorded. Alternatively, fans can add your fan page to their interest list to receive updates about every post.

It seemed a bit disagreeable for Facebook to limit the reach of our posts, but taking it for what it was, we tested the waters of Facebook promotions earlier this year to see how useful an advertising tool it could be.

add fan page to your interests

(To ensure your fans get all of your posts, have them add your fan page as an “Interest” when they visit the fan page. The “Interests” option is located under the gear button on the main page.)

One of the impressive things about Facebook promotions is the level of analysis provided. Facebook provides up to the minute updates about the number of impressions, users who have liked or shared the post, and a number of other statistics available for download as well. The analysis Facebook provides enables you to see how well your posts or ads are performing so you can make better decisions about whether or not to continue throwing money at it.

how facebook promotions work

(Note the highlighted values. These represent the “reach” of the posts that we promoted (for $5 each).)

As you can see, the $5 we paid increased our average reach by about 1500%, but the number of engaged users (those who click on the link to come return to bellwethergames.com) or those creating their own topics about our posts (talking about this) did not increase so significantly. In other words, even if our posts ended up on more users” news-feeds, more traffic would not end up at our site. An actionable change to improve this would be to improve the ability of our posts to generate clicks.

what does facebook reach mean

(In other words, “reach” is Facebook lingo for “impressions,” the number of users who have visited the page while the ad was displayed.)

Since the price of promoting a post is incredibly accessible (compare to the minimum $500 required for a Board Game Geek banner ad), Facebook promotions are an easy way to start testing the waters of paid advertising and making better decisions about the type of communication that engages your audience.

Did you miss last week”s post, Playtesting #3: Importance of Feedback? Click here!

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Playtesting #3: Importance of Feedback

three p''s of game design

Playtesting #3: Importance of Feedback

Our featured designers have provided tons of insight regarding the intricacies of the design process. In particular, they have highlighted the irreplaceable need to collect and listen to feedback from playtesters. This week we’ve pulled together some of the best quotes for you so you can share in their collective wisdom.

survey for playtesters

(It can be difficult to listen to the “bad” things your playtesters sometimes have to say, but this feedback is important for making the perfect game!)

Listening to your playtesters:

“Don”t ever dismiss a playtester”s feedback. You may know your game better than the player, but the player knows what it feels like to play your game better than you do. Listen to your playtesters and stay humble. Assume they are right and you are wrong. It’s tough, because by the time a playtester sees the game you will already be emotionally invested in it and want to defend it. Suppress that urge.” – Michael Keller

“You must, must, must be willing to listen to your play testers and accept criticism. They”re offering you the one thing you absolutely need someone else for: perspective.” –Sam Liberty & Kevin Spak

Interpreting feedback:

“At GenCon, I was showing a prototype to a well-known publisher. […] We were playing the game and I could tell it wasn”t going well. The game was dragging on and I was working to end it as quickly as possible.  After it was over, one of the players suggested adding a bunch more of one card, Molotov Cocktail.  This card is a game changer.  It can get rid of a bunch of zombies for you, or it MAY just burn your house down and kill you.  He wanted more of them.  This change would completely unbalance things and normally I would have scoffed at it. […] What he wanted was not more Molotov Cocktails, he wanted the excitement and tension that the card brought.  I needed to figure out how to get more of those moments in the game.”  - Chevee Dodd

“If people understand the game, but think it”s missing something, that”s a good reason to add another layer (carefully!). Your players will show you the way if you listen.” – Grant Rodiek

When you know its good:

“When I see them forgetting that I”m there, becoming immersed in the game, laughing and gloating over one another, sometimes even finding strategies I”ve never seen… then I get really excited.” – Michael Iachini

Thanks to our featured designers for their perceptive thoughts about the often frustrating playtesting process!

Interested in reading more game designer thoughts? Check out our featured designer section!

Did you miss last week’s post: Salvaging Board Game Pieces? Check here.

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