As I was writing a brainstorming document the other day, I thought about how we, as game designers, tend to
Thinking outside of the box (board) ?
Sun, 02/09/2003 - 23:35
Sat, 02/01/2003 - 19:28
#2
Thinking outside of the box (board) ?
A Palm would make a great device for a remake of Stop Thief! Or it could be used as a smart Sauron for the LotR boardgame.
Mon, 02/03/2003 - 11:18
#3
Thinking outside of the box (board) ?
Darkhorse I do not agree with that (I normally do not start with the components).
After the basic game idea (what the game should be about), I decide the "feel and look" for the game. With this come the game mechanism and the components as board, miniatures, cards, tokens etc.
The most important thing in this stage is how the different game component should interact with each other. With the interaction you get the best tool for the task.
This means that I can do several of games from the same basic game idea.
Example:
I work right now on two games in parallel (General and Attack).
It is the same war game and:
- Both game have the same background story.
Both game have the same dice handling
Both game work in the same way in action, combat (no dice, not random) and moral.
Both games have the same army lists.
But
- General is a tabletop game with miniatures.
Attack is a game with paper, pencil, dice and a few tokens (nothing else) (no landscape, no miniatures (a war game that could be played anywhere)).
Back to the top issue. I do not believe that the component is the main issue. The main issue is how the components are interacting with each other and with the players.
// Johan
Sun, 02/09/2003 - 01:52
#6
Thinking outside of the box (board) ?
Yes, Darke, I agree that expecting a potential player to have a Palm to play my game is a lofty whim. I was merely throwing out the possibility of creating a new kind of game with a different kind of appeal. Most of the mechanics and tools that the Palm could provide can be simulated with real-world cards, dice, etc. Just as the mechanics provided by Dark Tower could be simulated with the cards, dices, etc. if only we knew the probabilities and odds of the events which unfold in the Dark Tower device.
If anything the Palm (and Dark Tower) simplifies the handling of the bits (cards, dice, and so on) as there will be fewer. In some ways, handling the bits is a part of the fun in the boardgaming experience. Perhaps, the anticipation of drawing the top Development card (Settlers), taking a face-down hotel tile (Acquire), rolling to hit the lizard man (AD&D) is all part of the fun. Perhaps, in some ways these real world bits make up the joyful experience of gaming.
If anything, I wonder how the Palm might make the gaming experience different--better or worse, who knows?! As I said, it certainly has potential to offer a new experience. In the years to come, it may become as common as the television... Plus, it wouldn
Sun, 02/09/2003 - 23:35
#7
Thinking outside of the box (board) ?
The thing that intrigues me about palm devices and similar bits of technology is not how it can be used to replace cards and dice. To me the most interesting potential is for that of communications between players.
What I mean is, in the type of games I fancy, politics and intrigue rule the day. it
I agree that we all tend to have a habit of thinking with the realm of the norm. Many times this is terrific. We do, after all, have many well designed games to chose from and successors to those games which were still darn good. For example, when Tikal came out, it was the first in a series of action point games by Michael Kiesling & Wolfgang Kramer. Though the action point system wasn