The Thought Process

A new game has been released. In Territory, you are playing cards to a 5x7 grid, using the special abilities of those cards to discard or turn (take control of) other players' cards. In the end, whoever controls the most territory is the winner.

For a full description of the game, or for a free download of the rules to have a look, check out the Territory page on The Game Crafter.

But that's not really what I wanna talk about. I'd like to give you an inside look at the thought process, at the way one change can have profound impacts on a game's design.

In my original tests for Territory, the game had 54 cards and a box that would just fit the cards and the rules. The way you knew which card belonged to each player was by the way the card was facing. You turned your cards so the bottom was facing you. The game was fun, but as the board filled up it got harder to track which cards belonged to which player. Card facing worked, but it was slow.

And so I added markers. You get 15 markers of one color and you always have a marker of your color on your cards. With that one change, the game was suddenly much easier and much more fun.

But that left a design hole: Since the game needed markers, the box was too small. It wouldn't fit both the cards and the markers.

And that led to this thought process:

1. Obviously, we need a bigger box to fit the markers.
2. Now that we need a bigger box, we'll have more room for cards.
3. Since we have more room for cards, let's expand the game!

So I started thinking of things I could add. I didn't want to change the base game, because the original 54 cards worked and were fun. So instead I added cards as optional rules, meaning there were additional cards you could snap into the deck when you wanted to use them to change the game in some way. In the end, there were 4 optional rules that added a total of 54 cards, doubling the original size of the game!

Territory, which was already fun, is now so much better. The playtesters are loving the new optional rules and the snap-in cards. They love changing the rules and changing which cards are used between each game, keeping each game fresh and unique.

And all of this resulted from such a simple thing as wanting to add markers to make the game easier to track.

So Much New Stuff!

Last post was a few months ago. In the dark, scary, intervening silence since the last post, so much has been happening. And by that I mean games. Soooooo many games! Finally took the time to go back and pull out some of the playtester favorites from the last few decades. (Yeah, that's right, DECADES. I've been doing this a while.)

I'll put a short blurb for each game here. As usual, if you want a full description with ever-so-lovely pics, check out the page links below.

In Dark Omens, bad things are happening, harbingers of tragedies to come. Players play Omen cards on each other trying to build up their bad luck. When someone reaches 13 points of Omens, they take a Tragedy. When someone reaches 13 points worth of Tragedies, that person loses the game. At that point the game is over. The player with the lowest total of Tragedies is the winner. But there’s a catch: When one person reaches 13 points, if two or more players are tied for the lowest score, everyone loses. If you don’t have a clear winner, you all lose!

Dissemination is a highly strategic board game played with cards. Cards are elements, and each element has special abilities. You use your cards to capture opponents' cards. First player to capture 25 points worth of cards wins. Dissemination allows you to customize your strategy by building your own deck of cards before the game begins. There are two expansions that greatly increase the number of cards and abilities at your disposal.

In Framed, crimes have been committed. You aren't trying to solve the crimes. Oh no, that's no you at all. You're trying to plant evidence at the scenes of the crimes to frame your opponents. If you get framed for a crime you're out of the game. Last person left in the game wins.

In Graveyard Bash you are a necromancer controlling a team of undead. Use your undead to bash your opponents' undead creatures and to attack their deck, which is their Stash O' Stuff. When your deck is empty you are out of the game. Last person left in the game wins.

In Jade Talisman you are in an ancient, mystical temple filled with moving walls and magical talismans. Players rush around the board to collect these jade talismans, either by picking them up off the floor or by stealing them from your opponents (you're not a nice, polite explorer). Each talisman you own gives you a special power. When all the talismans have been collected, the person with the most talismans is the winner.

To purchase any of these games or for a free download of the rules to have a look, check out any of these game pages on The Game Crafter:
    Dark Omens

    Dissemination

    Framed

    Graveyard Bash

    Jade Talisman

And in upcoming news:

After getting out 5 new games and 2 expansions, what's upcoming is a freaking nap!