Here’s an interesting post about the design aspects that make some modern RTS games like Company of Heroes and Dawn of War less suitable for high level play than Starcraft. The OpEd theorizes that being less suitable for continued high-level play is one of the reasons why these games, despite their strong critical reception, are nowhere nearly as big a phenomenon as the afore-mentioned Blizzard Machine.
I think the points are excellent and I’ve seen them in other guises (e.g. board games). Namely, degrees of randomness can work for and against you. Also, simple presentation = gameplay clarity. I still think fondly of Civ I largely because the map was SO readable, unit combats had a simple abstract animation, and so on.
But design reasons aside, I think the Starcraft vs EVERYTHING is a bit like the WoW vs EVERYTHING phenomenon. Both benefited enormously be being “first to market”. Ok, Starcraft wasn’t the first RTS (I believe Dune was?) and WoW was behind UO, Everquest, etc.
Lots of good stuff going on, so thought I’d give an update. If you would like to see more info about any of these, please <comment> and I’ll prioritize to please!
The Ultra-Secret Nintendo DS Aerial Racing Game
Actually, it’s not that secret, and I’m thinking about getting permission to blog more about it here because really any publicity right now is good publicity. We are thick in development at the moment, and also in the middle of negotiating with potential publishers. Exciting times!
I’ve been working on this game under contract to Big Sandwich Games since last May or so, and have really been enjoying it. The people are great, the project is fun, and the location isn’t bad either (Granville Island in Vancouver BC).
I’m the lead designer and day-to-day producer on the game. I don’t typically recommend that those be the same people, but in this case our team started very small and I’ve been involved since the inception, so it just made sense to continue on. We passed a point where getting a new on-site producer doesn’t make sense.
I was quite late to the bandwagon, but I’m officially on it now.
Of course, I’m not going to catch this kid any time soon.
Guitar Hero and Rock Band turn out to be no brainers. That is, they’re just about impossible not to like. I never thought I would ever be persuaded to purchase a plastic guitar, let alone a set of fake drums, mic, and second guitar to go with it. But here we are, and I own all of them. And they are worth every cent!
I watched the Guitar Hero thing develop from a bit of a distance. I thought it was “cute”, but not something I’d be into. That was until a friend put a guitar in my hands and let me rock out. And let Jessica rock out. She was hooked instantly, and me soon after. Since then, we’ve put our fair share of time into GH3, and that led to Rock Band. Guitar Hero is fun on its own, for sure, but Rock Band is soooo sublime. When four people are wailing away on the instruments and they’re into it–I mean really into it–it’s just amazing. I believe games serve a lot of purposes, and among them is certainly escapist experiences. Playing rock band is about the closest any of us will come to playing big name tunes in front of a (fake) audience, and that’s what makes it great. Yeah, the guitars are plastic; yeah it’s “just a game”, but the social and emotional experience is absolutely real, and just a friggin blast! As a very experienced gamer, it’s also great to have completely new experiences that no game has ever delivered before. Rock Band does that well.
As games, GH and Rock Band are quite polished designs with constant player feedback and reinforcement, excellent visual designs, abbreviated but effective storytelling, and loads of personalization opportunities. I’m especially impressed with Rock Band’s rocker creation and clothing system. It’s really cool how many different looking band members you can get. The way your band name and the band characters are integrated into all the intro/outro still shots is also pretty slick. Everything just helps reinforce that you have an actual band.
There is one part of Rock Band which sorta stinks, though, and that’s the user interface. How many Rock Band sessions have you had where people keep accidentally backing out of the band setup screen, then going back in, then someone else backs out, etc. Frustrating when trying to bring new players in. Also, I’m not sure why it’s required that the band leader be present in every session. It would be so much more player friendly if you could play your band with any combination of instruments you want. We made the mistake of having the band leader on drums and played a couple hours before realizing we really should have made the guitarist the band leader, since that’s the instrument one of the two of us is most likely to play at any time. But there are still times I’d like to do drums/vocals, or bass/vocals, or whatever. Just seems like an unnecessary restriction to me.
The core art is still Jeff Simpson’s. Jessica helped me mock in the reference info, Time Track, Passing Time boxes, and so on. Combined with the latest Viking Ship concept, I’ve managed to eliminate separate player references entirely! That’s a great plus, to me. Everything you need is either on your ship sheet or on the gameboard.
I’m headed off to Gamestorm 10 this weekend, which is held in Vancouver WA (just before the bridge to Portland).
On the agenda are playtesting sessions for two of my games: “Longship: Viking Raiders” and “A Murder of Crows”. I’ll be doing them as part of the Protospiel West events, I hope.
Both games are showing some promise and I’m looking forward to this next round of playing. Both of them are fairly mature; that is, I’m no longer playtesting to see if they are completely broken/totally un-fun/lameroony/etc. Instead, I’m checking balance, changes, and just trying to get a sense of to what extent they are enjoyable.
If you’re going to be at Gamestorm and would like to play them, EMAIL me or just search me out.
“This train is for cockfosters,” intoned the voice inside the tube carriage. All I could think was: In that case I’ll wait for the next one. Who wants to be on a train with a bunch of Cockfosters?
Six and a half years after our first visit to London, Jessica and I found ourselves once again on a train from Heathrow. Our flight had arrived perfectly on time, and we cleared Customs without undue wait, although not wholly without incident. It seems that there is an underground sport few are aware of: Customs Line Racing!
CLR is a fierce competition, and one largely without formal rules. This lack of rules, in fact, seems to be one of the defining characteristics. It creates many opportunities for the clever. Our opponent in this heat was a well-appointed woman in her mid-fifties. She was an experienced racer and put that veteran know-how to use over the first and middle stages of the race. At every opportunity, she would casually move forward in line a couple of inches, gracefully overlapping shoulders and feet with those in front and slithering into new positions. Over twenty minutes and about eight line switchbacks, she managed to move from just behind us to at least 5 persons ahead, all while avoiding confrontation and accusation. Very sly and very silly.
Moogle.net just posted a nice little piece about the differences between “ideal” game development (aka do whatever you want without constraints) and real world game development.
While it’s not the most glamorous or enjoyable part of game design, the constraints of working on a team are extremely relevant to day-to-day designer experience.
While I have your attention, also check THIS OUT if you haven’t already seen it. Can anything really top a monkey riding a border collie? I mean, really? (Ok, owning two border collies does make me a bit biased to collie-based entertainment.)
Pirates of the Burning Sea released on Jan 22. For those of you that don’t know, it’s yet another MMORPG entry into a crowded market. 10 million WoW subscribers can’t possibly leave too many free eyeballs, eh?
I’ve been following POTBS for several years with some interest. It is, of course, one of the games I would have really, *really*, REALLY loved to have worked on in a significant creative capacity. Another is Medieval Total War. I’m not saying that based upon its success (which remains to be seen), but simply based on topic. MMORPG set in 1700ish Caribbean? Sign me up.
My latest Gamasutra feature just went live. It’s basically an expanded version of the Longship Dice Design post from December, but all prettied up with some pics and such.
Let me know what you think of it! Interesting? Dry? Hard to follow? Informative?
The fine folks there have offered me a monthly slot if I want it. Could be a lot of fun. However, I’m trying to decide if (a) I have enough time, (b) I have enough material, and (c) the readership will appreciate what I have to offer. Hmmm.
Of course, just about every year is Year of the Games for me. But my head is really bursting with game-related projects and it’s only a few weeks in!
Secret DS game: the DS game I’m designing is now officially in pre-production. It’s an exciting time–everyone is powering ahead, we’re making good progress, and I’m sketching out the blueprint for cranking the thing out. It’s an aggressive schedule, hoping to finish by June or so. But it should be doable, and I think it’ll be a fun action game. I can’t wait to share more details. And the team I’m working with is absolutely bursting with great guys.
A Murder of Crows: it continues to play well, and a few tweaks have put it in good shape. I have a playtest copy out for review by a publisher, but I’m also seriously considering publishing it myself if it doesn’t take. I’m really hoping that 2008 is the year I get at least one more paper game in print one way or another.
Longship: Viking Raiders. This puppy hasn’t been forgotten, either. Jeff Simpson recently finished a 2nd pass on the gameboard for me, which is super. Pics soon. Also, I’ve lined up an artist who really wants to develop the rest of the game–a good friend and another talented concept guy. When we scratch out a deal, I’ll post some preview pics. I’m not sure where Longship will land yet, but I’ll definitely be moving forward with it somehow.
Unnamed XBLA pitch(es): although the XBLA pitch I was working on the last few months has sort of died, I’m assisting on a pitch for another XBLA title. I can’t say what, but it will be an AWESOME game. I really hope we can land it.
Other digital stuff: the game concept I was shopping to Microsoft readily adapts to PC, DS, Wii, etc, so I’m hoping to pursue other avenues for that one if it’s XBLA chances are well and truly dead.
The challenge this year is to spend time and effort in the most rewarding areas. In the games industry, you have to have a lot of irons in the fire, because the chances of any single one landing is pretty low. And if one thing bonks, you have to jump on the next one and somehow keep up your enthusiasm.
Here’s hoping at least something in the above list works out!
Evidently, our house is infested with vermin. Or at least it was. Our fiesty orange cat, Red Sonja, has captured and/or killed 5 mice since Saturday. I knew we were getting a little slobby, but not THAT bad.
It’s now grown to be some weird part of our nightly ritual. Once we finally get in bed, lights off, reading finished, blah blah blah–give it about 5 minutes and then *pounce…squeak…squeak…squeak*. At that point, I’m glad that she caught said mouse, but less than enthusiastic about having to attend to the situation.
Actually, when I say “caught”, I mean more that she has located the mouse, and is now deciding how much to let it run around before catching it again. So we have to come out and outsmart both the cat and the mouse at the same time. The mouse, because ultimately we need to catch it ourselves and dispose of it. The cat, because we need the cat to catch the mouse.
In May 2003, Jessica and I walked the Offa’s Dyke Long Distance Footpath (affectionately called the “ODP”). It covers 212 miles from the Severn River to the North Sea, straddling the border between England and Wales. Along the way we met great people, partook of great pub food and ale, and also were the recipients of a GREAT deal of rain. It was an amazing adventure for us, and we invite you to join us via this unabashedly nostalgic travelog pieced together from our journal entries. It’s a story filled with pain (really), laughter (really), and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit (sorta).
A few years ago, I wrote an article for Gamasutra.com (”The Theory of Game Relativity“) about classifying potential players of a game and then using that to help assess how much your game will appeal to them. It’s more or less a mental exercise, but can help remind you to include some features that will reach a wider audience, or at least your intended audience.
The original article featured a few HIDEOUS illustrations that I made, thinking at the time that the vast Art Department at Gamasutra would certainly pretty them up. Imagine my horror when the illos appeared in the article.
Recently, a very talented artist named Jeff Simpson redrew the player pie, so I thought I’d share. Read the article if you’re interested in what ’tis all about!
Be warned: this post is pretty long and contains a lot of boring calculations. Go check up on BRITNEY SPEARS or PARIS HILTON or AMY WINEHOUSE if you have a short attention span. (Take that, Search Engines!)
The most unique and enjoyable parts of the LONGSHIP game design are the weather system mechanics and the CargoMasterTM mechanics (according to playtester reviews, not just my random opining). So why isn’t this post about those? Because, thats why.
Joking aside, I will write about those mechanics at some point because they are far more interesting. But I just recently retooled Longship to use custom dice instead of straight d6s, so I thought I’d explain some of the design decisions and math behind the new associated mechanics. First a little background:
Here’s a link to some playtesting photos of LONGSHIP and LE TOUR. Special thanks to JEFF SIMPSON for making me the awesome board–really captured the vibrancy and mood I was hoping for. Without it I would’ve had trouble ensnaring playtesters with so many gorgeous games only feet away.
I just returned from BGG.con #3 (Board Game Geek convention in Dallas). (www.boardgamegeek.com)
Like last year, I had a great time and met a lot of nice people, saw a lot of cool games, and lost a lot of sleep. I didn’t play nearly as many games this year, but that’s because I brought a bevy of prototypes with me. Ok, three prototypes, which probably doesn’t count as a bevy. I brought “Longship: Viking Raiders“, “Le Tour“, and “The Pied Pipers of Haemlin.”
Many thanks to the playtesters who made this convention a success! Your feedback was quite helpful, and I came away with some great ideas and some real improvements to throw into the games.
“Le Tour” was played once, on Friday. Things were a little clunky in a few spots, but it was not altogether unexpected since it was the very first playtest for the game. We worked through some of the major holes on the fly and I came away from the session with some great feedback and a plan. On the flight home I made some progress on the changes, and am looking forward to doing some surgery and prepping for the next playtest. I have high hopes for the game because the theme isn’t overdone and team bicycle racing has some really interesting mechanics and dynamics (which is why I decided to make the game in the first place).
“Pied Piper” made it out of the case, but was never played. I wasn’t that enthusiastic about it, really, because it’s a beer and pretzels game (not the right audience for it) and it’s more or less in the can. It’s actually a good game for what it is, but I was keen to get the other two played more because they are newer designs and need more testing.
“Longship” really had a coming out party in the sense that three full sessions were played and the playtesting feedback was overwhelmingly positive. That really made the con for me; “Longship” is a labor of love and a game that I have a love/hate relationship with. It’s been through about three major iterations over the past 2 years, and it keeps showing great promise but then ultimately gets dragged down by some disappointingly clunky bits. After the last playtest (about 2 months ago), I made some significant changes, killed a few darlings, and did some polishing. I also had an artist take a pass at making a nicer gameboard because aesthetics can be such an important part of game enjoyment, and even playtesting can benefit from nice looks.
When I broke the game out for session #1, I was a little anxious, but the gameboard immediately drew some players in. So began the raiding!
Very quickly, it became apparent that the game had really turned the corner. The core of the game has been solid all along, but there were just some dead branches and things that really needed pruned. It is now more strategic, has less downtime, is visually more appealing, is more balanced–just a better game overall.
Sessions 2 and 3 went similarly well–I was in the rhythm of teaching the game, and Jessica was immensely helpful in that regard, too (she played in all three games). The sessions were great because the collection of players was different each time, different strategies and approaches were tried, and different game conditions emerged that drove different experiences. (Kinda the point in a replayable game!) Some of the strategies that session 1 players feared could be dominant (for example the Pilot + Shaman combination) were quickly proven not to be universally attractive, and vice-versa.
In all, I would put “Longship” at 80% towards where I hope it will end up gameplay-wise. After the next round of changes, with any luck it will be up around 90 or 95%. People had fun, so that’s really what it is all about. I was especially pleased on the last day because a player from the previous day sought me out and begged to play again, but I had a flight to catch. She said that it was her favorite game of the con. Never a bad sign!
I’ll post some pics here as soon as I download them.
I’ve been playing a lot of Team Fortress 2 by Valve (Part of the “Orange Box”, of course). By “a lot”, I mean enough to make me tired, skip other games, and generally interfere a bit with my daily schedule. My “a lot” these days doesn’t even rank in the annals of hardcore players out there; I have a pretty busy life and if I play 2 hours of a game on any given day it’s somewhat unusual.
After I bought the Orange Box, a solid 2 weeks passed before I could break away from TF2 long enough to even BOOT Portal (which was terrific) or the Episodes (still on Ep. 1, thanks to TF2).
TF2 is the first game in a while that DOMINATES my self-control. WoW was the last game to do this. With TF2, it’s almost getting ridiculously funny when I actually promise myself I’ll only play for “XX minutes”, because it’s basically guaranteed I’ll completely overshoot that mark by “a lot”. The other night was typical: I was tired, hopped on at 9:15 and mentally promised “No Later than 11pm Under Any Circumstances”. At 12:45, I finally wrested myself free, and even that was a near thing.
I played a lot of Team Fortress Classic, which actually makes it a bit surprising that TF2 has hooked me so much; usually I find that repeating a game (even a great one) often loses a lot of the attraction. There are lots of amazing games that I’ve played that when the sequels came out, I just felt like I had “been there done that”, and even though I wanted to play them, I couldn’t get hooked.
Anyway, everything about TF2 screams polish, and here is my random list of what I believe makes this a virtually flawless design:
Theme. Amazingly executed and integrated into every part of the experience: the visuals (duh), the level design, the audio, the character abilities
Class Balance. The more I play, the more I feel that every class is superbly balanced. No class seems overpowered; none are useless. Most importantly, I’m amazed at the deep…
Strategies and Counterstrategies. Even the toughest sentry gun farm can be undone by a spy. Even the best sniper can be cornered. Even the toughest heavy can be undone by a backstab. Which leads to some thrilling…
Dynamic Matches. The perfect class balance and map design really encourages you to switch classes with the ebb and flow of the match, and to fill team holes that are unpresented. It’s stunning how much of a difference one class change can make. Brutal stalemates are broken simply by one player switching to an engineer or medic at a time when the team really needed it. Some of the best players seem to switch often and happily.
Level Design. Obviously playtested to hell and back, and we reap all the benefits!
Domination / Nemesis Feature. Too fun, and really ads a lot.
Scoring System. Very nice that there is a lot more than just kills and captures. Assists are particularly cool, and it’s great that the top of the scoring list could as easily be a medic as a sniper as a spy, etc.
Stats and Achievements. The class score logging is fun; the achievements are cool.
Replayability. Because of all of the above, TF2 doesn’t get tiring. I may get tired of playing one class, so I switch to another and it’s a whole different game. Respawns happen fast enough that you never have time to get up from your chair and break free. You’re in for the long haul.
TF2 is a fantastic game design achievement. Long in development, but it shows in all the best ways.
Next week is BGG.CON #3. Hard to believe it’s been a year since the last one. I’ve been to many conventions, and I’m hard pressed to think of one where I’ve had *more fun* than last year’s BGG.CON. It was the perfect size, filled with the most amazing game library, and the attendees were by-and-large more than pleasant.
The convention is held in Dallas, and is put on by Aldie and Derk of the amazing www.boardgamegeek.com.
If you’re going to be there, give me a ping at tsigman atttttttttt yahoo dot you know what.
I hope to be bringing two or three of my prototypes to play. I’ll be listing more information HERE later this week. With any luck, I’ll have:
Longship: Viking Raider (a strategy game of plundering in the 8th century!)
The Pied Piper of Haemlin (beer and pretzels game where you compete to lure the most rats out of the city)
The Tour (a card game of team bicycle racing)
If you are interested in playing any of the above or even helping run some playtests, drop me a comment!
Tyler Sigman is an award-winning game designer, writer, teacher, and former aerospace engineer. He loves gaming in all forms, from the poker table to the Commodore 64.
