Welcome back, fellow gamers, content creators, designers, and developers!
Today, I want to pierce through the veil and get behind what drives many folks to move beyond just playing games and pursue that desire to make games. Based on anecdotal evidence which I’ve gathered over the past half-decade, attending numerous conventions, including but not limited to Origins, PAX Unplugged, SaltCon, and WashingCon, the desire to make games seems to fall into three broad categories:
1. There’s a theme that one really enjoys and by extension, their game is clearly missing from the genre. In short, they’re driven by a “passion project” level of zeal. These folks can have an amazing short run, but you may not see much of them after one or two games. Think of the many One-Hit Wonder Bands of the 1980s.
2. Board game design will put them on a track to abandon their current profession and work full-time in the industry…it’s not necessarily about the money, but a very different way of earning an income than that to which they’ve been accustomed.
3. They enjoy the puzzle nature of board game design enough to pursue it regardless of a particular mechanic or theme. Instead, they’re driven by the process. These folks, by far, prove the most successful in my opinion and based solely on my experience.
During the past three years, since launching The Professor’s Lab, I’ve had the chance to sit down and discuss game design and development with 100+ designers in UnPub rooms around the country and almost without exception, they all fall into the three aforementioned groups. While they all have a degree of passion for what they do, I’m always struck by their motive (which may clearly stem from my current line of work).
The first group, our “Passionate Ones” genuinely enjoy crafting that singular game. In talking to them, they don’t have a long-term plan, but really want to get their title to market, even if it’s a relatively short run. The example I would use here is Mark Swanson’s Feudum. Its artwork is absolutely gorgeous; it takes a ton of table space, but makes up for it with incredible table presence; and in the end caught quite a bit of flak for being too clunky. Whatever you think of Feudum, it’s difficult to deny that serious development work was ignored to retain all of that which you see in the final product.
The second group, our “Financial Independents” do have a longer term view, as they often start designing their expansions well before the initial game even hits Gaming Tables around the country or around the world. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are a number of designers, including folks for whom I’ve served as a playtester or developer, including Jamey Stegmaier who have a longer-term plan for their games, but they fall more into category three than two, as the reason (or motive) behind such actions has to do with the game, not the price point and the pay day.
The third group, our “Design Sages” are those who approach the activity of game design from an almost theoretical level first. They engage with their respective community, listen to a number of individuals, both regular gamers and tastemakers, and only then pursue the puzzle of crafting a game eventually enjoyed by many players. This is a difficult tier into which many would-be designers would like to find themselves, but are often enticed by the previous two areas…the desire to make the next best Worker Placement, 4X, Area Control, Deck-Builder or a way to run a campaign on Kickstarter for their project and quit their day job.
Now, while I clearly used a bit of hyperbole to make my points, and only few individuals fell into these rather extreme cases, nearly 95% of the folks with whom I discussed game design fell along the spectrum of these three broad categories.
At the end of each of these blog entries, I’ll take a few moments to provide my background as a bit of context for the topic of the month. For me, I have only one published game under my belt for which I served as the designer: TAU CETI: Planetary Crisis. While it met with some initial favor by folks, like me, who enjoy skill checks, a cooperative game set in a sci-fi setting, the game suffered from a number of issues, not least of which included shipping and fulfillment delays, final editing which failed to include a number of necessary edits, and a lack of regular and timely updates from the publishing company. With those setbacks, I turned my attention away from game design to game development.
As Lance Myxter, The Undead Viking, once said in an interview (and has been quoted for decades) “It takes ten years to become an overnight success.” This, almost to the exact time, has proven true. For the first three years, I played a number of games and absorbed myself beyond the theme and tear into the mechanics…how do games work? Moreover, how do really great games work? From year 4-7, I found Board Game Design Forum, and began my journey into the world of Board Game Analysis and Rules Editor. I offered my assistance, pro bono, and honed my technical writing skills. The next year, my assistance garnered my name in the credits and typically a copy of the game. Finally, during the past 18 months, in addition to credits and a game, for the past three years, I’ve worked with nearly a dozen designers and publishers. In short, I’ve pushed past my passion and zeal and settled into providing customers with services that are in my skill wheelhouse…Design Analysis, Rules Editing, and Playtesting.
Can anyone design games…no. But, I would content that you do have a skill which would greatly benefit the industry. We need designers and developers, graphic artists and illustrators, proofreaders and layout specialists. Find that which you do well, hone that skill, and join us!