Hi Everyone!
I'm very new to this site, and had the good fortune to stumble upon it from an outside article recommending it to anyone seriously interested in designing board games. A little about myself: I'm a Master's student in classical music performance, and my interest in designing games stems from comparing games and music. After all, we say that we "play" both, but have we ever stopped to consider what that infers? And at the same time, Classical music has a following that steadily declines over the years, while from what I've seen games have had a steady and consistent fan base. My hope in comparing the two is to discover just what it is that makes games so attractive. I want to find that special something that's responsible for making us want to come back to games again and again, and see how I can apply that to music.
My favorite kinds of games are the ones that foster lots of interaction from players to other players, as well as players to the game, and games that allow for iterative construction/strategy (My favorite is Zendo, despite the fact that I'm terrible at playing it.) I've also made a couple games, one was a solitaire game that I modeled after Missile Command, and they other was an auction game that rewards greedy hoarding and shiny things. While neither have come close to anything that I'd be comfortable pitching to a publisher, I'm very glad that I made them and I've learned a ton from doing it. I can't wait to continue designing and exploring this exciting new world!
So with all that said, here's my newb question: What's your favorite kind of game? What is it in a game that makes -you- want to play it again and again?
