and the winner of the Spiel des Jahres 2014 is…

…drum roll please…

The other day on the geek, Mark K. and David S. and I were talking about the next great gateway game and whether theme or mechanic were important.  Two things I suggested that ‘non-serious’ gamers or family gamers like are dice and connection games.  This led me to a quick concept of a game called Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  In this game players have six custom dice that have icons of trains, plains and automobiles on them.  By careful use of the dice, the dice are rolled and placed on the board to make connections between locations.  Does a player take the easier but longer route or the shorter but more difficult route?  Roll the dice or select a card and work your way from point A to B to C to D…

G+ hangout

Today I hosted a G+ GameLab hangout.  It was just Joel Eddy and me.  Joel does a wonderful series of board game reviews.  These can be found either on boardgamegeek.com and youtube.com.  Or you could go to http://drivethrureview.blog.com/

Joel and I chatted about my new venture, the Global Board Game Design Jam.  He thought it was a very cool idea and an exciting possibility.  I am hoping he will organize a group in his area.  Then we chatted about Joel’s designs.  He is currently working on a game about prohibition in Atlantic City.  I don’t want to give any details away but it has aspects of area control and ‘worker’ placement.  The game seems right up my alley.  A Euro style game that lasts between 45 minutes and an hour.  I look forward to playing it one day.

All Access Tour – getting good feedback

I have been talking with friends and fellow designers about the All Access Tour game idea and been getting great feedback for the initial idea and how the game will play.  My next goal is to get a prototype knocked out in a week or so and then play test with my game group.

Hopefully, I will have the Tower of Doom ready to play at the same time.

I played two new games on Friday night – Aton and Dungeon Twister.  Aton is a great two player game – lots to think about.  Dungeon Twister – mmmmm – have to play it a few more times to formulate my opinion.   So far, not my type of game.

Game Night – no designing but learning from playing

Got to game with two friends tonight.  We played Eminent Domain which is a very tight game (tight is a good thing).  The game – after a few re-reading of the rules – plays very smoothly.  This simplicity of play however does not mean that the game is simple.  We could tell that with more plays different strategies would reveal themselves.  Derek and Trevor went warfare and I piled up on colony cards.  I was out muscled by technology.

As a game designer I appreciate EmDo.  I appreciate its conciseness of play and how well conceived the game play flows.  There are a few of things that I hope to see in expansions: (1) More player interaction  – but not enough that it changes the balance of the game, (2) Some mechanic that recognizes the size of the different ships – maybe through denomination or maybe through technology and (3) have the type of resources have more effect on future strategies.  Derek won, Trevor second, me last.

Though I cannot see it becoming an all time favourite, I cannot see it leaving my collection.  It will fill that need that games like 7 Wonders fill…a very good game that plays in 45 minutes or under.  EmDo has more depth than 7 Wonders!

The second game played was one that has been sitting on my shelf for a while, Domaine.  Basically a themed abstract area control game that has direct player interaction/conflict.  I have a problem with this type of game.  With three players it is too easy for two players to get involved in conflict allowing the third to win.  Probably much better with four.  Trevor won while Derek and I battled for second spot.  Derek came in second.

The final game was Pantheon.  I won comfortably.  I like this game a lot because there is not too much thinking involved but it makes you think there you have a choice.  Basically you take what the cards give you while having to know when to end rounds to stop others benefiting.  I won, Trevor second, Derek last.

Three different games.  Three different results!

Global Board Game Design Jam

Today I held a G+ GameLab hangout.  Only one person showed, Steven Metzger, a fellow game designer who I often chat with on boardgamegeek.com.

Steven and I chatted about the idea of a Global Board Game Design Jam…I have started a page about this and will be posting on boardgamegeek in the near future.

Here is the link to the Jam site:

http://boardgamedesignjam.wordpress.com/

Latest WIP – All Access Tour

Welcome to my new game idea.  I hope to have pictures up soon of the board and some more details of the cards.  This is just a rough draft….a very rough draft…

I welcome feedback.

ALL ACCESS TOUR

Background:

You are in control of a band who is embarking on a tour.  You already have a following but as you tour this following grows and your fame grows.  As you increase your fame you are able to play larger and larger venues.  Do you have what it takes to take your band to the top?  Will you gain the most fame?  Will your band become musical legends?  No talent required.  Just head out on your own ALL ACCESS TOUR!

Game Bits:

• 1 map board
• 5 player boards
• Money in various denominations
• 15 wooden discs (3 x 5 colours)
• 20 major venue point tokens
• 50 secondary venue tokens
• 100 gig tokens (5 x 20 of each player colour)
• 20 Entourage Cards
• 20 Media Release Cards
• 5 Talent Agency Cards
• 10 large Lighting Rig tokens
• 10 small Lighting Rig tokens
• 10 Speaker stack tokens
• 10 Sound desk tokens
• 6 PR tokens
• 7 Tour buses
• 6 Studio time tokens
• 6 Rehearsal tokens
• 6 Groupies

Game Set Up:

1. Place the map board in the middle of the table
2. Each player chooses a colour and takes their 3 round markers and 20 gig tokens
3. Each player receives X number of dollars
4. Each player places one marker on the score track, one marker on the chart track and one marker on any small venue site – all on the map board
5. The lighting tokens, speaker tokens, sound desk tokens, tour bus tokens, and PR tokens are stacked face up to the right of the board along with the award cards which are shuffled and placed face down.
6. The entourage cards and media release cards are shuffled and placed face down to the left of the board
7. The last person to attend a live music event starts

Game Play:

The game is played over X number of rounds.  Each round is made up of two phases:  The Hiring/Buying Phase and the Action Phase.

Hiring/Building Phase:

Players get to bid on items that will assist them in their tour and increase their Fame Value.  Each player may buy one item.  The start player chooses an item to bid on and starts with a minimum bid of 500 dollars.  Players bid in one hundred dollar increments.  Hiring proceeds in a clockwise direction.  Once a player passes they are out of the bidding round.  If the starting bidder does not win the bid then they choose another item to hire.

Items for hire include:

• Lighting tokens – first is worth 2 Fame Value, every subsequent lighting token is worth 3 points.  A player may have two large lighting rigs and two small lighting rigs
• Speaker stacks – first worth 2 points, second worth 3 points.
• Sound desk – first worth 2 points, second worth 3 points.
• Tour bus token – worth 2 points.  One maybe traded in for an extra movement.  Two maybe traded in to fly to a major city.
• PR Tokens – worth 3 points each.  The first token lowers the cost of rehearsal time by 200 dollars.  The second token lowers the cost by 400 dollars.  The third token allows the free purchase of rehearsal time.  If PR tokens are used for gigs then they are discarded.
•  Award cards – give end of game points

Action Phase:

Starting with the start player for the round, each player takes 3 actions.  One of which must be a movement action.

The available actions are:

• Purchase an Entourage Card $500 – these cards are worth one point toward Fame Value but also have redeemable traits depending on the character and potential end game points.
• Release CD $1000 – CD enters outside the chart track – worth Fame Value on track and end game points on track
• Purchase rehearsal time $500.  Worth 2 Fame Value and 1 end game point and maybe used to push CD up chart
• Buy Media Release card $500 – these give bonus points when putting on a show
• Put on a show – player may only put on a show in a location that they have not yet gigged – when a player puts on a gig they get X number of points depending on the location of the gig.  They also receive money which = 1000 multiplied by the Fame Value.  Players may invest this money in social media to get more points.  $500 gives one fame point.
• Move – one free movement.  All other movement costs $500 or one tour bus
• Purchase studio time $500 – worth 2 points but can be redeemed to push CD up the charts

Players can move and put on a show twice.  All other actions are one time per round.

Game End:

When all rounds are completed the player whose band has obtained the most points wins.  In case of a tie, the most money remaining wins.

All Access Tour – another design idea

I have decided that my priorities should be to continue to play test Tower of Doom now that the latest cards have been produced and to concentrate on Renaissance Man (an idea that has been ruminating for close to a year) and to work on my latest idea, All Access Tour.

All Access Tour is a game based in the world of music.  As far as I am aware the world of music has seen very little interest in the world of Euro Games.  In All Access Tour, players take the roll of a band making their way in the music industry by touring across the United States.

Players build/hire attributes that increase the Fame Value of their band.  They then take actions that allow them to tour across North America and play gigs acquiring more Fame and money that can be used to build/hire more and more attributes.

More details and pictures of the prototype to follow.

Google+ GameLabs – and NOW regular hangouts

This post will explain why game designers might want to use G+ and how I am using it to help aid mine and other’s game designs.

For those who don’t know about Google+, it is Google’s version of Facebook.  It has similarities to Facebook but for game design it adds so much more.

Google+ (G+) features the following which may of be interest to game designers:

1. A forum to share ideas, links, pictures and creativity.  Whereas Facebook is a social outlet to share these things, Facebook is more a vehicle for sharing what you are doing, when you are doing it and where you are doing.  People post the most mundane information on Facebook.  Whereas G+ is a forum where professionals, artists, photographers, geeks, scientists, and regular people share IDEAS and their CREATIONS and worry less about the mundane.
2. Circles.  Circles are groups.  As a user of G+ you can assign the people you connect with to a specific circle.  As a user, you may name the circles however you wish. Then when you post to G+ you may select a circle.  Members of this circle are the only ones that will see that post.  You are able to post publicly in which case all users that have added you to their circle of choice will see the post.
3. Hangouts.  Think group Skype where you can share your desktop and show people your art, your documents, your designs…

How I use G+ to help in game design:

1. Created a G+ GameLab Circle.  This circle has over 35 members.  These members see posts that are directed only to them.
2. Use the hangout function to share game designs with G+ Game Labbers.  So far, David Short, Seth Jaffee, David Gregg, John Burns, Shaun Grey-Wilson and I have shared designs using this format.

These hangouts have provided useful feedback to game designers.  In order to make these hangouts even more productive I will be hosting hangouts at the following times:

• Tuesdays 6pm PST
• Wednesdays 6pm PST
• Sundays 10pm PST

I will start these hangouts and hopefully stay for the duration.  If I cannot make a hangout then I will post it to the G+ GameLab circle.  I started this last week:

Tueday 13th March – no one could make the hangout

Wednesday 14th March – in attendance CW Karstens (designer of Dragon Forge) and me.  We discussed my ideas – Renaissance Man and All Access Tour

Sunday 18th March – in attendance John Burns and me.  We discussed  John’s game Teen Drama and my All Access Tour

A post a day keeps the creativity flowing

I have decided to post every day no matter how dreary the post may be.  I am hoping that this will kick start the design juices…so there will be two posts today (not including this one) and one a day for the foreseeable future.

 

Long time…no post…part 2…game design…game playing…board game dad…podcast

Part 2 of Long time…no post.

This is an update of where I go from here.

• G+ GameLabs Hangouts – a group of designers try to meet online from time to time to share ideas and give each other feedback on designs.  I am hoping to kick start this in the coming months. Recently, I had a hangout with John Burns and Seth Jaffee.  During this hangout I presented a game that has been in the works for over a year.  Both John and Seth seemed to like the idea.  The cool thing is that my co-designer, David Short, has the first prototype and he lives close to Seth.  I am hoping they will get to play test the game.  I am hoping to have a hangout this evening and talk about two party games I have in the works.
• I will be revisiting all my game designs in the next while via blog posts while working on a couple of specific designs.
• Tower of Doom will be ready to play test in the next week or so…this after a lengthy delay in printing the new cards.
• Risk: Legacy will see the table whenever we have our full quota of five.  Otherwise I will be introducing many new games to the group.
• I am pondering a series of reviews and audio podcasts about being a board game dad.  This will concentrate on games I play with my 7 year old daughter and games I modify to make more complex games easier for her to play.
• I have, through the Facebook board game group, connected with a fellow gamer who is starting an audio podcast about board games.  I have been invited to submit a 5 minute section.  My initial idea is to do a section on Hidden Gems…games outside the BGG top 1000.  Describing a board game without visuals will be interesting.

That’s it for now…