Steal.

In my last blog, I talked about the 2 rules of game design: 1) K.I.S.S. and 2) use available resources.

By "using available resources" I really mean "steal"

The game industry is a unique beast. It's not like products or stories where ideas are shielded and using someone's idea will get you a nice visit from "sue". The game industry thrives on the exchange and manipulation of these ideas.

But you say, why are there lawsuits regarding games?

Ideas can certainly be copyrighted, but it's the EXPRESSION of those ideas that people go to court over.

Case in point. EA's The Sims Social was clearly an attempt to get the Sims into the more casual, Facebook audience. But Zynga had made a game later called "The Ville" that clearly stole from The Sims Social. It was so similar that in side-by-side screenshot comparisons, you couldn't tell them apart. EA rightfully filed a lawsuit against Zynga and they eventually settled out of court.

However, in the early 2000's you couldn't pass a game store that didn't have at least 5 FPS titles with a WWII setting.

How does this relate to board and card games?

Simple, really. We have the freedom to explore and take from our game world around us, but we must express them into something that's truly ours. But as designers it's not much of a problem because our whole purpose of making games is to inject our personality into something we created.

So how do we steal?

As designers we must be aware of our world around us. Not just in the hobby we call board and card games, but in everything outside of the game world. Inspiration can come from anywhere. It can start with "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" to "I like that thing in that game. I want to make a game based off of that." We know what ideas are "trending" and what ideas are "played out". No one in their right mind would want to create a modern/slightly futuristic FPS game...games like Call of Duty and Battlefield have that genre on lockdown. I love deck building games, but I know it's a trend; everyone is making a deck building game nowadays. Dominion, Ascension, Thunderstone, Star Realms, Legendary, Quarriors...all of these games have their audience; you'd be fighting over the thin slices of the deck building "pie" that those other games don't have. It's not wrong to make a deck building game, but you'll definitely have your work cut out for you.

I believe the game industry runs in cycles. Some are apparent, and some are not-so. I was playing this video game called Shovel Knight. It's a throwback to the NES days (for those that actually remember) and proceeded to win a LOT of awards last year. Practically, there should be no place for Shovel Knight in this day and age where 3d and immersion rule, but it came back and reminded us of how fun games were back in the day. Graphics...are not important. Gameplay is the king.

This is how we steal, we steal effectively by finding something that was there before, but not as apparent now. Sir Edmund Hillary mentioned he climbed Mt. Everest "because it was there". We make games because they're "not there". If we make a game and it's already there, people will go to that first before yours. Your game design must truly feel fresh and new in order to draw people in.

With the game I'm producing (which is being produced as I mentioned in my first blog), I have 2 primary game mechanics. One is "time". It's a variation on Magic's "tap" mechanic, but it's been modified to feel thematic and make more sense. The other is the "combat stack". In essence, it's really a "lottery tumbler" applied to a card game as combat. It's not new. It's just old tricks with a new coat. See my older blogs for details on each of these mechanics.

Now, if this actually works, only time will tell.

I believe this is why there's so much buzz over the Oculus Rift. The Oculus is a virtual reality device that was successfully Kickstarted and is slated for release this year. This certainly isn't an old concept; there were virtual reality devices in games as early as the 80's. There were even movies made using virtual reality as a motif. But like I said, games go in cycles. Maybe it's that we realize that our technology can bring about a more immersive virtual reality experience. Maybe it's the nostalgia of days past. Regardless, the Oculus Rift is an amazing piece of technology and even now there are knockoffs.

What we need to do is look into the darkest corners of board games to find something we can polish and make new. What will come out of it will be ideas that appear fresh, but are really not. The blueprints are out there, all we need to do is take them and make them our own.

So steal smartly. Make great games.