Skip to Content
 

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

5 replies [Last post]
Tue, 01/15/2013 - 19:55
Sperber
Sperber's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/22/2011

Hello everybody.

I joined this site over a year ago when I realized that I might need help for one of my ideas. But right after that my parents decided to move and bought a house which needed more time and energy to make it a comfortable home than we anticipated. So I had to abandon pretty much all of my hobbies and my boardgame designs got locked away.

Now I have time again to persue my dream to publish a game. I never forgot about boardgaming, kept me informed and new ideas for games were born. So I thought after joining the site it is now time to join the community.

A couple of weeks ago I had a major breakthrough for one of my game ideas and I tried hard not to lose the momentum. Right now this game is almost finished, the first parts for the prototype are build and I hope to begin playtesting in january. Not sure if I can make that deadline though, so I won't consider it a deadline at all.

After I read some threads on boardgamegeek in which designers didn't want to share any information of their game but just praised it, ignored helpfull suggestions and did nothing else than blindly advertising what they had thought of I was convinced that it might be time for me to come out of the closet and face reality.
I have hopes for my ideas. I believe in them. But I don't want to be a designer that calls himself a genius and compares his work to the Mona LIsa or Michelangelos Davis. Therefore I decided to go public with my ideas. I want feedback, critizism, advice and, if possible, a little praise for motivational purposes. I want to learn from my mistakes because in the end whether a project is a failure or a success, they all lead me to fullfill my dream. Someday...

Some personal information:

I am 33 years old and live in Germany. I am in a happy relationship but not married (yet). We have no kids and the boardgaming hobby is mostly my personal time since my love doesn't share my enthusiasm. Although she occasionally agrees to play some games.

Top
Wed, 01/16/2013 - 09:52
#1
Orangebeard
Offline
Joined: 10/13/2011
welcome back

Sperber wrote:
After I read some threads on boardgamegeek in which designers didn't want to share any information of their game but just praised it, ignored helpfull suggestions and did nothing else than blindly advertising what they had thought of I was convinced that it might be time for me to come out of the closet and face reality.

I suspect many designers are blinded by their own ideas; I once read that publishing your own games is risky for that very reason (i.e. the designer can't see that the game really isn't good enough to be published)

Glad to hear you are back in "design mode" - what was the big breakthrough in your design? a mechanic? a theme?

Top
Wed, 01/16/2013 - 12:26
#2
Sperber
Sperber's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/22/2011
Orangebeard wrote:Glad to

Orangebeard wrote:
Glad to hear you are back in "design mode" - what was the big breakthrough in your design? a mechanic? a theme?

The key mechanic. I had this idea for a theme but it always eluded me how to do it. Then I saw a promotional video for a kickstarter project (unfortunately I forgot which one) that uses a drafting system like 7 Wonders. I thought that some kind or variation of drafting could actually be the way to make the theme reality. From there on it all came together really easy.

I'll present it here very soon. I already started a thread on boardgamegeek. So if you don't want to wait, please don't hesitate:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/913288/wip-shinobi-the-clan-wars

Top
Wed, 01/16/2013 - 19:03
#3
JustActCasual
JustActCasual's picture
Offline
Joined: 11/20/2012
Welcome (back?)

Really like the sound of the game! Seems like a lot of information, but makes sense and you can always give your players aides. Couple of points that stuck out at me:

~ Having players shout "Let's Duel!!" really loud is cool, but doesn't seem to fit the stealthy theme of ninjas. It can also be really awkward and peer pressury for players who are more introverted.

~It would really be nice if there weren't any dice in the combat system. This may just be a pet peeve, but it feels like a DnD hangover: it works in DnD because the game is literally designed around the combat system. In this game you have a lot more going on, and don't seem to need the dice. It adds time, randomness, and components, resources that you could be using elsewhere. With the drafting and RPS aspects you already have a lot to play with in combat: try to find new solutions that really work with your unique system. Should ninja combat feel random, or more like an elegant dance of cunning and skill?

~You should have a playable prototype about 1/3 of the way through your design process at the latest. It doesn't have to be pretty, it doesn't even have to be the full game, but you need to have something to tinker with. Playtesting should be one of the first steps of a design. I know it can be painful letting your baby idea out into the world, but you really need to see how mechanics interact when other people get their hands on them, and then continuously iterate, integrating new approaches and ideas. Games are fundamentally experience engines, and it's impossible to evaluate a game without seeing people play it.

~Aside: have you considered releasing this as an app? I get the feeling that it would play really well as a slow, almost play-by-email speed game with kind of a calm zen vibe. You could unlock more families, more items, more missions...there's potential. It seems like a neat commute experience with a mixture of calm and action.

Hope that wasn't too harsh, definitely interested in seeing the development of this game. You have a lot to look forward to :)

Top
Wed, 01/16/2013 - 19:33
#4
Sperber
Sperber's picture
Offline
Joined: 03/22/2011
JustActCasual wrote:~ Having

JustActCasual wrote:
~ Having players shout "Let's Duel!!" really loud is cool, but doesn't seem to fit the stealthy theme of ninjas. It can also be really awkward and peer pressury for players who are more introverted.

Well, I guess I can put "swing and miss" on that joke. Take a look at this, it might clear things up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NJC1I-n_6I

JustActCasual wrote:
~It would really be nice if there weren't any dice in the combat system.

Thanks. I will think about it. Your reasons seem logical. I put the dice in there because it was the easiest way. Maybe something else might be better for the game though. If I find a solution I'll let you know. I think I'm going to try both ways (with and without dice) during playtesting.

JustActCasual wrote:
~You should have a playable prototype about 1/3 of the way through your design process at the latest.

I'll keep that in mind for my next project. (There is a bunch of'em.) In this case it just was so easy to come up with new cards and effects that it looked like the game was designing itself. I was on the finish line before I noticed it and I am not that fast of a tinkerer. My handcrafting skills just couldn't keep up.

JustActCasual wrote:
~Aside: have you considered releasing this as an app?

No, I haven't. Sounds really nice but I have no knowledge of programming whatsoever. I'd need to outsource this project to someone who knows what he's doing. And I don't own iphone or ipad.

JustActCasual wrote:
Hope that wasn't too harsh, definitely interested in seeing the development of this game. You have a lot to look forward to :)

Thank you. I am looking forward. Not only to this game but to work with this community in general. I don't mind harsh words (as long as they are polite) at all. I'll set up a thread for this game in the design section of the forums tomorrow. It's 00:30am in Germany and I need to go to bed or I won't hear the end of it.
Mind if I copy-paste your post there?

Top
Wed, 01/16/2013 - 21:22
#5
JustActCasual
JustActCasual's picture
Offline
Joined: 11/20/2012
Yeah, repost is cool :)

Yeah, repost is cool :)

Top
Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut