For a number of years now I have been interested in game design. One of the things that helped foster that interest was Looney Pyramids.
I stumbled upon and backed the Pyramid Arcade Kickstarter campaign. At that time, I had never actually played any of the Looney labs Pyramid games (only Fluxx) but it seemed too good to pass up. I now enjoy playing them and appreciate the way Andy Looney plays with standard game tenets. In the pyramid arcade you, the player, are encouraged to create your own pyramid game. This is a great idea for a number of reasons but ultimately it spurred me to design games.
In the past year or so my interest in game design has waxed more serious. I have been recording and developing ideas. I have been doing more research into game design and development. I am now on BGDF.
Some of my current favorite games include: The Quest for ElDorado, 7 Wonders, Fluxx, Martian Chess, Dominion, and 1572: The Lost Expedition by Mike Heim.
My current favorite game idea is an American Revolution board game (of which there are many). I am trying to develop it so that the gameplay is a bit simplified and streamlined for players who are new to war strategy games. I also am working on a solo play mining game. Everyone has game ideas, I'm trying to see if I can make them playable and fun.
Comments
Well although there are not a ton of us...
We still do offer great insight. @Juzek just posted a concept that totally blew me away yesterday! It was interesting to play on the concept of having two (2) opposing motivations. It was brilliant and I turned the idea into a balancing mechanic between 2 or 4 players.
As far as American Revolution that's pretty broad in content. Here is some concrete advice that I too follow if you plan to be serious about designing:
Start with a concept which is fairly small. Something limited in components (tokens, pawns, dice, chits, tiles, cards) and do the leg work to figure out who will make your game and for how much (Quote). Then Kickstart-it... And see if you can get 200+ people interested in buying your game.
Once you have a base of a few followers, now you can begin to explore a bigger game. I wouldn't go with miniatures and such just yet. But maybe you could double the price of your ask to $50 to $75 USD for a game which is in a way "interesting". Your goal is to get 500+ people to back it.
Now that you have a real following, it's time to launch that minis war game with custom dice and a ton of components and cards to boot. Your goal at this point would be to get 1000+ people to reach into their wallets and pay your for your hard earned work.
This advice is only applicable if you want to be SERIOUS about Designing Games. While I had over 1,000 Backers ... Since the game is very late (like 4 years), people are hesitant to support my future projects "on my own" which are basically putting me back at point #1. So I preach what I do and recommend seeing it as a progression from something small to larger to keeping the eye on the prize!
If this is only a Hobby project that will be made for friends and family only... Well then you can ignore this advice and just go straight for the PASSION project that you so deeply want to invest time in making and inventing.
Welcome to BGDF.com ... Hope you find some nuggets of wisdom to help you in your journey, whatever the destination may be!
Cheers.
Thanks
I appreciate the advice and insight. If I can someday market this game that would be great but mostly I'm just going for something playable that people love. I want it to be sorter in play time and lighter in depth than the standard war game. The idea is that the game would consist of one battle from the revolution and there would only be two players with a limited number of stats to keep track of.
Maybe it won't work but that's the goal.
Some considerations
Red Rook,
First, welcome to the Forum! Second, you had mentioned the American Revolutionary War as an idea to nurture and that there are a few such games. I would contend, that are very few games (review of ConSimWorld's page revealed less than three dozen, with most of them centered on skirmishes and tactical level engagements) and even less that do it particularly well. Any designer worth their salt will have played games in the genre, so to that end, I suggest that you play, at a minimum Washington's War, long beloved by wargamers; 1775 by Academy Games, which makes the entire affair more manageable by selecting only one (possibly a second) card per turn; and the magisterial Liberty or Death An American Insurrection. Each of these titles takes in the entire war from beginning to end and provides additional context, considerations, and consequences beyond combat. As a game developer and designer for more than a decade, having worked on 50+ war game titles for Academy Games, Compass Games, and Decision Games, I'm fascinated where this inquiry takes you in the future.
Cheers,
Joe
Professor's Lab
Just Chiming In Here...
...to mention two things:
Welcome, Red_Rook!
I've turned out to be one of those "passion project" folks that questccg has mentioned (sticking with personal and work-related game projects for the duration), and even then I've still learned a lot by browsing and posting here and there over the years. Best of success on your project(s)!
-and-
Thanks for the wargame suggestions, Professor! :)
Glad to oblige!
let-off studios,
No problem! Enjoy!
Cheers,
Joe
Red Rook?
Has he disappeared?
You'd be surprised!
I get a bunch of people who want access and to validate their account and then we never ever hear from them again...?! Go figure. And it happens a LOT. My current policy of new user accounts can go between 48 hours to 1 week... It all depends on my own personal schedule and when I remember to check the e-mails for BGDF.com. That's much better than before (when I initially took over the administration of this website... Where I had people waiting for OVER 1 Month).
So it's much more reasonable in terms of TIME to get an account validated. But I guess in a way it weeds out the users who are not really interested in partaking in the conversations on the website.
I know it's a bit strange?!
Hello
Not disappeared; I just don't have as much time as I'd like to devote to game design.
I hope to be a long time contributor to this forum and the warm welcome helps.
Professor: I do need to dig into the existing games more. Thank you.
Just played a good round of Skull King with nieces & nephews. I took 3rd.
Welcome back!
If I may offer one small piece of advice...that which gets planned, gets done. If you only do something, like work out, design a game, meditate, etc when you have a free moment, you won't do it. It's akin to the response when people say "we'll have kids when we have enough money" ~ then, you'll never have kids.
Take a calendar and mark down the times you'll dedicate to it and let other things make room for you.