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Blind playtesting and manual writing https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/diary-25-led-by-the-blind/

I like how this one started out with a cat lazing around and ended with a genuinely interesting "what if" scenario from Greek mythology. Thanks for a good story everyone - especially the parts with the weasel.

Vinci does look like a very interesting game, and must have influenced the design of Smallworld with all these similarities. Looks much simpler, which I expect is a good thing.

We'd then still have the problem of a single civilisation lasting for several thousand years though. Somehow making the game related to the rise and fall of civilisations without players actually directing one would be interesting.

I agree the fundamental premise of games like this - being led from the stone age to the modern age, devising a single strategy across centuries - is counter to the things that actually make societies function. Interesting idea about the alternative victory conditions Jubal, I suppose it would rob players of their feeling of "ownership" of their little nations? I think the main problem from the outset is trying to simulate history in an area control game. For that you need continued or defined ownership of regions. I think the best approach may be a pure card based game, since cards can have such a variety of theme, applications and strategies. I wondered about creating cards for victory conditions like "The Internet" and "Emancipation" and basing the game around scores in various categories which would gain access to them. I dunno; how, for example, would you include warfare in that? That's often been the go-to of game designers.

This is Sparta! https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/diary-24-this-is-sparta/

[> Iron]

We've got our Colossus!
Pity we can't hit back at those bullies with slings...
(Painting: Salvador Dali)

Game Design's Ultimate Challenge
By rbuxton

There are few things harder than compressing the entirety of human history into a video game, and one of them is compressing it into a board game. An example of this is A New Dawn, the latest board game adaptation of the epic Civilization series. In order to meet the Ultimate Challenge, the designers had made sacrifices: retaining the video game's random world generation had come at the expense (in my opinion) of any interaction with the world's oceans. I was disappointed with the absence of naval combat, but how would I have included it alongside a modular board?

I decided to make the tiles of the modular board as simple as possible: a single hexagon providing a given resource (wood, oil etc.). I used concentric hexagons to further divide the tile into three "tiers" - controlling all three would be necessary to gain the resource. Investing in new resources would slow down a player's exploration of the board, represented by flipping tiles over. The modular board would, coincidentally, resemble Catan's.

Next, I needed a single mechanic to simulate nations' military, scientific and cultural advances. I turned to deck building (hold cards, play cards, draw better cards, repeat) and gave players the Hunting (for movement) and Gathering (for recruiting troops) cards at the start of the game. Instead of playing cards, they could "scoop" all of their played cards back into their hand and choose a new one (representing a scientific advance). Their combat strength, however, would be tied to the number of cards they played before scooping - military and scientific advances would, therefore, be mutually exclusive. Cultural advances would be made by "building" cards to make them permanent - Wonder cards would score the most victory points (VPs).

I had mechanics, but did I have a game? I needed a certain kind of person to help me answer that - luckily, I knew where to find them. I sat down with five experienced playtesters (two of them game designers) for a three-player tussle. My team drew the Swords and Slings cards, allowing us to make two attack actions before scooping. Our neighbour drew and built lots of Wonder cards - war was inevitable, since capturing cities was another source of VPs. This highlighted some issues with the combat system: the "scoop and loop" effect trapped the defender on the back foot. They still managed to tie for first place, and we had a lengthy (and completely unbiased) discussion of suitable tie breaks, eventually awarding victory to the player with the most resources.

We found wood, but is it worth the investment?

It was a fun experience and the deck (or, more accurately, hand) building seemed to work, not least because it kept turns short and sweet. One of the main suggestions during my debrief was to tie each resource to a part of the technology tree:

> Iron - military
> Stone - building
> Wood - movement
> Wheat - cities and troops
> Oil - a "wild" resource which counts as anything?

Finishing this project would, however, require years of playtesting: I need at least three "era" decks, and haven't worked out naval combat yet. The game seems to have the potential to meet the Ultimate Challenge, provided I'm willing to write religion, politics, espionage, unrest, barbarians, literature and more out of history. We all have to make sacrifices, but I'm keen to at least keep nuclear weapons: I want the game, and the world, to end when the first is launched.

Have you got a favourite game which tackles the Ultimate Challenge, or any comments on this one? Please leave a reply!

You're right it probably helped the children understand the distinctions between the areas to actually spread them out. They'd already been charging around the venue in their Nerf war so they knew their way around and had divided it into "bases". Regarding accessibility I think its strength was how flexible it could be made, so depending on the group you could change the layout or the mechanics and people could still get the experience in a way that suited them

A visit to a youth club including semi-LARPing and Nerf https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/07/26/diary-23-young-heroes/

Count me in, normal username is fine and I have no preference for genre =)

Exhibiting (for Dummies)
By rbuxton

So bad it's good? My Cosplay certainly drew attention...

For people working on a product, joining a hobby's biggest players at a convention is very tempting. I recently exhibited my prototype board game at the UK Games Expo (UKGE), the third largest board game convention in the world. As a little fish in a very big pond, I struggled to attract visitors to my stand (which had not come cheap). I enjoyed the experience and learnt a lot about exhibiting - I hope you'll find the following tips useful.

1) Bring a friend

There's nothing more depressing than sitting alone at your little-visited stand, unable to go to the toilet because you can't leave it unattended. You'll have several exhibitor passes which give free access to the trade hall – surely someone will help you out in return for one of those?

2) Look after yourself

You need to enjoy the event, so pace yourself – this article contains loads of tips on how to do that. I was drinking about two litres of water a day (visitors to my stand were also thirsty) and my spontaneous evenings of gaming led to my plans for regular meals going haywire.

3) Have an existing community

My most rewarding conversations were with people I'd already met at games events across the West Midlands – people who'd heard my pitch before and were interested in the game's progress. The networking opportunities at UKGE are unrivaled, but you must do the ground work beforehand.

4) Bag the children

(Strictly in the metaphorical sense). If a family approaches and you get the children interested, the parents have no choice but to follow suit. Even though my game is totally inappropriate for under-12s, I had a treasure hunt on my stand and they could win a prize for taking part (chocolate – check with the parents first). This gives you ample time to talk to the family: asking them if they're enjoying UKGE is more likely to keep them interested than just blurting out your pitch.

5) Be visible

Get up from your chair and greet the passers by! Even the most artistic stand cannot compete with the buzz and colour of UKGE; a smile and fancy dress costume are much cheaper and more effective.

Becoming supreme deity - does it take too long for conventions?

6) Be flexible

My big learning point was that, at 90 minutes, my game was almost impossible to demo effectively. I'm adapting it to make a shorter version, and working on a pre-set scenario which will allow future visitors to play a mid-game turn, rather than get a hit over the head with the rules. Even so, visitors to the trade hall want to be wowed by cool miniatures and artwork, which I'm not able to provide. Visitors to the Playtest UK zone, however, are much more likely to be interested in game prototypes. As a new game designer, it was my first port of call, but I felt I should leave it for others now that I had "progressed" to my own stand. I regret that now: my demo's were still technically playtests, my questions were just about components and Kickstarters instead of mechanics. This brings me to my most important point:

7) Do you need a stand?

In terms of mailing list sign-ups, my three days at UKGE were less successful than my two days at the Bristol Anime and Gaming con. At that event, I got a lot of "So you're a board game designer? That's cool!" (for some reason, no one said this to me at UKGE). With no competition, mine was the best board game stand at that event. UKGE has loads of committed hobbyists looking to buy stuff – if you have nothing to sell, is a stand worth it? If you're there for the networking, why tie yourself to a 2m x 3m patch of floor?



I hope you found this quick guide useful: feel free to ask any questions or share tips of your own! There's more about my stand in the diary entries on my page. Thanks for reading, and good luck if you decide to exhibit at your next convention!

My diary for the three days at the UK Games Expo, the third largest board game convention in the world
https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/06/01/diary-20-team/
https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/diary-21-i-am-the-miniature/
https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/06/03/diary-22-little-fish-big-pond/

Thanks Jubal, the marvel reference is a mystery to me though...?

A "Company Name" https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/diary-19-buckyball-games/

The importance of negative feedback https://masterofolympus.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/diary-18-back-to-cube-one/