Miniatures News #26 - Stuff vs Good Design
Added 2020-11-07 13:28:21 +0000 UTCBack to the news, we look at
Knight Games's Harry Potter: Catch the Snitch Kickstarter
Privateer Press's Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika: Collision Course Kickstarter
Firelock Games's Blood & Plunder: Raise the Black Kickstarter
and, because why stop when you're on a roll,
Blacklist Games's Dire Alliance: Horror Kickstarter
And I take a look at why we are so often fooled into thinking that more "stuff" in a game makes it better, why that's probably not true and how players and designers can think differently about the integration of components with the gaming experience.
Incidentally, if you listen carefully, you'll hear my son's piano practice in the background. I usually record while they're at school but, for some reason, this week my entire first recording was plagued with a mysterious background distortion, so I had to re-record it later. There's also a door slam at some point. I'm not sure, but it might have been the same son being told to stop playing the piano while his Dad is recording....
Comments
Lol, yes. Funded in under 24 hours... because they reduced their funding target to almost a tenth of what it was the first time around!
Precinct Omega
2020-11-13 13:42:42 +0000 UTCI think Mark's right to a degree (hi, Mark!). But I think that analysis is correct for a segment of the market and overlooks the one in which I'm most embedded - hobby miniatures wargaming. The process of "scrounging/scavenging" is, in many respects, a part of the hobby that actually causes people to become *more* engaged. However, it should also be acknowledged that the reason I'm most embedded in that segment is because, as a produced/designer it is waaaaay cheaper for me to get into game design via a pathway that leaves most of the production costs (miniatures, painting, terrain, dice...) on the consumer. It remains a dream for me to be able to produce a Horizon Wars "boxed set" - something I've long been discussing with Ali at Iliada Game Studios, using his card/MDF flatpack miniatures and terrain, plus my rules, to make a "Horizon Wars in a Box" product. As Horizon Wars is going to be in a development hiatus until 2022, with a bit of luck that might be a feasible product by the time I get around to re-releasing Horizon Wars (with a new title, new art and re-worked setting that fits it more consistently with the rest of the family).
Precinct Omega
2020-11-13 13:41:57 +0000 UTCCustom dice: I understand your point of it "hiding" some statistics. Some custom dice that do it just to speed things up: Queen's Gambit just D6s, weak (3/6) and strong (4/6 with one double hit) attack dice, defense dice (blue 2/6), Force Die (green, some defense some hit), strong defense die -yellow (2/6 one double defense). On the same page, I think Fabled Realms dice was very clever. You could use D6s and check a table, or use the custom dice to speed things up. Another that had simple statistics over their custom dice was Battles of Westeros. One type of d8, with 3 green results, 2 blue, 1 red, 1 valor, and 1 morale. If the color of the result is the same type of target, you hit. Morale makes the enemy go back and valor is wildcard. So green (light) units get hit 50% of the time, Blue (medium) get hit 3/8 and red (heavy) get hot only 25%. On the same page, Green units use 2 dice on attack, Blue 3 dice and Red 4 dice. As to Branding.... having the same tokens and paints and all sort of stuff from the same brand and manufacturer. I think Mark Bigney nailed it on the So Very Wrong About Games, Ep#134, 5:30 in. He says that most people want a "boxed experience". Open a box (maybe a huge box), play your game and later close the box. Everything must be in it. The game will be less played if you have to scrouge/scavange for pieces and parts during the session, because you need to represent a terminal and you have that on another game box.. etc.
Andre Strauss
2020-11-13 13:34:45 +0000 UTCQuidditch the boardgame: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4805427/harry-potter-quidditch
Andre Strauss
2020-11-13 13:06:31 +0000 UTC
