Most game designers are math geeks. They think game mechanics are really cool, and to a certain extent they are right. So most game designers begin with a clever mechanic, and plan to graft a storyline on later.
I've been known to do that, but in general I try to start with the storyline and create the appropriate mechanic to fit it. This works better for me for two reasons: first, the customer is going to identify with the story before he learns the mechanic, so the story better be good. Second, I'm also a math geek. Mechanics are easier than stories. Why not do the hard part first?
How do you come up with the basic idea for a game?
I keep a list of game names, basic storylines, and format ideas, in a notebook. Sometimes the idea just comes to me, but usually I steal it. (Small joke.) Actually, these days I prefer to engineer the format before I write the rules. Brawl is a good example. I decided I wanted a real-time, two-player, character-based card game that was modular, expandable, and priced around seven bucks per deck. All of this was solid before I started on the game mechanics.
How long does it take you to develop the first version of a game?
I can usually hammer out a first draft in about a day. I may have been thinking about the game for a while before, or come up with it that morning. Unfortuantely, with the rest of the work I have to do, the days when I get to hammer out a new game are few and far between.
How long before you have a finished version ready?
Between a week and a year. Depends on the complexity of the game, how good the alpha was, and how much free time I actually have. Also, "finished version" just means it's ready to start final layouts. It takes longer to get it printed.
Brawl was conceived at DragonCon last year, alpha versions were shopped around in the fall (I didn't originally want to publish it myself), I assigned the art in early spring, did final playtest at the same time, and sent the product to press in July. When the game ships, it will have been in process for exactly a year.
What's the most difficult part about the design process?
My biggest challenge is creating a product that people will actually buy. I think some designers have the luxury of striving to create great art, but I need to make money on a product or it just isn't worth doing. (You should see my collection of unfinished art!)
What do you enjoy most?
Playtesting a game that works.
What do you enjoy least?
Playtesting a game that sucks. Running a close second is getting bad reviews from critics who didn't read the rules. Running a close third is getting bad reviews from critics who did read the rules.
Who playtests your game designs?
I have a group of external playtesters which I try to use whenever I have the time. I also have a group of internal testers who meet at my house every Wednesday. We are trying three new games out tonight: A new pair of Button Men, a new draft of Escape from Elba, and a new card game called "Change."
How important is the playtesting process?
I think playtesting is one of the more misunderstood processes in game design. I think many people think that playtesting is a debugging process, like running a computer program to see if it crashes, or stumbling around in the dark to see of you left any nails on the floor. To this end, most playtest groups are composed of hardcore gamers and math geeks.
But if a game mechanic is broken, the designer should probably discover it after about ten minutes. And, while I do use playtests as debugging sessions, it's more important to me to find out if the game is actually fun. And what qualifies as "fun" for gamers and math geeks probably doesn't translate into "fun" for the general public.
My Wednesday night group is composed of very lazy gamers, myself included. I encourage them to stay that way. One or two are hardcore, find-the-holes math geeks, but it's the others who I look to for a really useful review of a new game.
Have you ever scrapped a game after playtesting?
Nothing you would have heard of (obviously) but yes, of course, games often don't make it through. We recently did a simple little board game called "Galaxy" which was almost entirely decided by who played first. And we had a similar problem with "The Big Move," a possible sequel to The Big Cheese.
