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To dice or not to dice?

Sun, 06/07/2015 - 15:07 — radioactivemouse

Dice games seem to be popular nowadays. Games like Quarriers, Dice Masters, Imperial Assault, and King of Tokyo use dice as their primary driving force and it works well.

But I'm starting to see more and more push for dice in indie games. But is the push for more dice games the best for your game? Does your game need customized dice? A game can have sufficient randomization without the use of dice.

Here's some creative ways to go around using dice.

MY GAME SUCKS?! WHY?!?

Fri, 05/15/2015 - 13:26 — radioactivemouse

It's the thing we most fear from our playtesters...

The one thing that we don't want people to say and it's the most hurtful statement to your soul.

"I don't like this game, it sucks"

Steal.

Mon, 01/26/2015 - 00:28 — radioactivemouse

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.

K.I.S.S.

Sun, 01/25/2015 - 04:12 — radioactivemouse

My personal mentor, Alan Emrich, taught me 2 rules of game design, apparently as mentioned by Jim F. Dunnigan, a famous war-game analyst and war game designer. These are:

1) Use Available Resources (steal)

2) K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid)

It resonates through everything I do as a game designer. Is the game idea "stealing" with good judgement? Is it a "me too" kind of game? Are there too many other games like it? Is it too complicated? Can it be streamlined? Can the game do without this feature?

Why I'm not a fan of crowd funding.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 20:42 — radioactivemouse

Kickstarter seems to be an amazing way of getting the funds necessary to fuel that passion project. It's a quick litmus test to see if your idea is even viable; if people like it, it's worth the funding, right?

But I'm just not a fan.

Don't get me wrong, if I see a project I think is amazing, I'll fund it. It's not the support of the idea that I'm opposed to, it's that I don't see myself doing this to promote any of my ideas.

Why?

Well there's a lot of reasons. I believe that successful ideas through IndieGoGo and Kickstarter have several things going for it. These are:

Possible solutions to card draw

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:32 — radioactivemouse

Disclaimer: This blog is merely my opinion. You may have better solutions, but the purpose of this is for people to try and spark their imaginations to find bigger, better designs for their games.

Card Drawing.

It happens in all games that have cards. It's the bread and butter of these games; it's even in my game. Wholly constructed, but beautifully randomized, drawing cards gives a sense of strategy, but puts it in a package of pure randomness. It's the marriage of thought and chaos.

But what is the practical reason for drawing cards?

The Experiment

Fri, 01/16/2015 - 17:37 — radioactivemouse

Trying to create a card game that makes money wasn't something I had thought I could do. To me, it was an unchecked box on my bucket list of things I wanted to do before I die. It would be a personal accomplishment; the joy of knowing I created something that was solely mine and went from conception to completion. When I worked at Victory Point Games, I told everyone I wanted to create a card game...I just never did it.

The Time Mechanic

Fri, 01/16/2015 - 14:49 — radioactivemouse

One of the mechanics I introduce in my game is the Time Mechanic. It's a system that uses a cool down when an active ability on the field has been activated.

Here's the evolution of that mechanic.

When I was playing Magic: The Gathering way back in the day (early 1990's), I loved the Tap mechanic. It was a way to indicate that a card was being used to both you and your opponent and it was so simple in design that people ate it up.

The Combat Stack.

Sun, 01/11/2015 - 17:08 — radioactivemouse
The Combat Stack

One of the things I thought was interesting when I taught about the Lottery Method of conflict resolution is that EVERY element that's put in has a chance to be pulled. If you have a tumbler full of small pieces of paper and half of them are affirmative, half are negative, there's a 50/50 chance on either outcome. But the beauty of it is that this...tumbler is customizable.

The beginning...

Sun, 01/11/2015 - 05:58 — radioactivemouse
Kismet logo

I just got signed to Victory Point Games to publish my new game.

I've been an instructor of game design on many levels. I've worked in the game industry as many roles. I have always wanted to create a card game as that is my favorite genre of game; it's wholly constructed, but beautifully random.

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by Dr. Radut