Fred is also a game designer with several games already to his name, and this interview sees him with his designer hat on.

Didn’t see that coming, did you?

A little background

At around the same time as I was at the UK Games Expo last year (you can read all about that here), I saw Fred posting about his time at a smaller convention called PunchedCon, and about the game he designed for the convention, and the small number of copies that made it out to people to play.

That game was A Very Civil Whist, and I wasn’t the only person who took notice. Phalanx Games were also in attendance at PunchedCon and liked the game so much that it’s currently available to pre-order on their website!

After learning about this, and speaking to the folks at Phalanx, grabbing a few words with Fred seemed like the natural way to go, and here we are.

Enjoy.

The interview

Hi Fred. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Let’s start with the basics. Tell the readers a little bit about yourself.

I’m originally from the south-west of France, though a significant part of my childhood was spent in Southeast Asia. Life has now brought me to London. While I’ve been academically trained at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Toulouse, my professional trajectory led me to work in the field of data. Funnily enough, I’m now at a major toy company (corporate guidelines limit me from being more specific).

As a kid I played games like Tarot and Risk, and the always exciting choose-your-own-adventure books that we played with my older brother. Later years I dived into the worlds of Magic the Gathering and Warhammer. Gaming took a backseat during my boarding school years, save for the occasional game of Go.

I know you from your Youtube channel, Homo Ludens, which is about war and historical board games. How did you get into these games, and what inspired you to start your channel?

My reintroduction to board games in my late 20s was (a bit) like a revelation thanks to Twilight Struggle. The gaming landscape had changed and matured in ways I hadn’t imagined. The complexity and depth that war and historical board games offered were both captivating and intellectually stimulating. I felt they allowed players to immerse themselves in moments of history, to re-live, re-think, and even re-shape events.

I noticed the potential of these games not just as ways to have fun, but as mediums to convey historical narratives and complexities. The channel became my way of delving deeper into this critical intersection of history and gameplay. I also envisioned it as a way to welcome newcomers, by providing them a nuanced understanding of wargames and other historical board games.

I have to admit that before I heard of A Very Civil Whist, I didn’t realise that you’re a game designer as well as a player. Your published credits on BGG go back to 2021, but how and when did you start designing games?

Yes, I wear different hats in the hobby: player, reviewer and designer. In 2018, I was driven to design because I was frustrated by the lack of games on the Paris Commune, an uprising in late 19th century France. To fill that gap, I started working on my own design, drawing inspiration from games like 13 Days and Fort Sumter, but steering the mechanics in a novel direction. My aim was to design a game that remained accessible while not compromising on historical depth. My initial intent was to make a single game, but you can say it ignited a passion I hadn’t anticipated. Today, I can’t imagine not designing games.

Looking at A Very Civil Whist in particular, what was your inspiration for creating that game?

The idea for a Very Civil Whist’s was almost serendipitous. While I was thinking about integrating trick-taking mechanics into historical games, inspired by Brian Boru, I stumbled on German Whist—a very fun two player variant of whist from the 19th century. At around that time, the Punched Con organisers approached me to contribute a freebie for their convention, themed on the English Civil War. This synchronicity drove me to read about the subject, and start adapting the trick-taking mechanics to encapsulate the historical theme into the system I had in mind.

For those not in the know, what sort of game is A Very Civil Whist, and who is it for?

A Very Civil Whist, is a game that uses the framework of German Whist, and adds to it layers of historical context and strategy. The two players represent the Royalists or Parliamentarians—two factions wrestling for dominion over England in the mid-17th century. The game incorporates leaders and assets emblematic of the English Civil War’s key figures. The game is short, around 30 minutes, and quite simple with just a few pages of rules.

Were you surprised by how much love the game got online when copies went out earlier in the year?

While I wouldn’t say the game became an overnight sensation, within certain circles, its novelty garnered some interest. Historical gamers appreciated the unique approach to the English Civil War, while trick-taking nerds were intrigued by this fresh twist on a classic whist variant. When I declared I had 20 copies up for grabs post-convention, they disappeared within a couple of hours, which was surprising and made me quite happy. I assumed the game’s journey would conclude there, as a convention freebie. It was a pleasant surprise when PHALANX reached out.

Phalanx Games now have A Very Civil Whist available on their Make Games Happen page, which is a pre-order programme not unlike GMT’s P500 scheme. How did the relationship between you and Phalanx begin?

My familiarity with PHALANX was from several years ago as a player. Over the years I’ve developed some contacts and friendships with individuals within the company and also showcased some of their games on my channel. As it happened, PHALANX people at the Punched Con saw potential in A Very Civil Whist. The timing was great, as they were about to launch a revamped edition of Unhappy King Charles.

Have the folks at Phalanx had any hand in the development of your game, or is the game we’ll see soon the same as the original game you designed?

Like all decent game publishers, PHALANX’s involvement in development is critical. Their expertise helps me increase the game’s rules clarity, balance, and overall playability. Though the game was near its final iteration when they took it on board, their inputs streamlined it, preparing it for a commercial audience while retaining its original design.

Schemes like Make Games Happen seem like a great way for independent designers to get their games made real. For you, with your game designer hat on, how much difference is there in taking this direction as opposed to a crowdfunding campaign?

While I believe that platforms like Kickstarter have radically changed the board game industry, allowing unique concepts that might not otherwise see the light of day to be realised, they can sometimes prioritise visual appeal over depth or substance. I mean… SO MANY MINIS! Right? That’s not to say it’s always the case; many projects are rich in both, but there are a lot of half baked projects. 

Make Games Happen and P500s on the other hand, give us a distinct avenue to bring our games to a dedicated audience that puts their trust in established publishers. That said, I’m not ruling out crowdfunding entirely. In fact, the idea of creating small, niche games with unique mechanics for a direct audience, similar to what Dan Bullock did with “The God Will Have Blood”, is quite appealing to me.

What’s next for Fred Serval games? Do you have any more games rattling around in your brain? If so, do you have any hints to tease us with?

Currently, I’m pouring my energy into finalising projects already in the pipeline:

• A Gest of Robin Hood, published by GMT, depicting the folk hero Robin Hood as a guerrilla leader. It’s inspired by Colonial Twilight, a game by a designer I admire, Brian Train. I’ve been very excited to design this insurgency (family) game and can’t wait for the board gaming community to finally play it.

• Napoleon 1870: A collaboration with my Friend Brian Asklev for the French publisher Shakos. This is an entry-level block wargame that focuses on the initial two weeks of the Franco-Prussian War.

And of course, there’s “A Very Civil Whist” that’s keeping me busy!

Beyond that, my mind is always playing with new ideas. Some concepts I’m thinking about : a trick-taking game focused on the First International, a tableau building game about the collapse of the USSR, and an asymmetric wargame on the Battle of Algiers. Only time will tell if and when I will make an actual game out of those ideas.

Last, but by no means least, what’s your favourite biscuit?

I wasn’t much into biscuits until I relocated to the UK and discovered chocolate hobnobs. They quickly became a favourite of mine.

Closing comments

I’d like to thank Fred for taking the time to answer my questions, and doing so so thoroughly. His latest game – A Very Civil Whist – is available for pre-order at the time of writing right here, courtesy of Phalanx Games. I’ll be reviewing it as soon as I get my mitts on it.

Remember to head over to Fred’s channel, Homo Ludens, if you haven’t before. He has some big names on there and covers a lot of games that my regular readers might not be familiar with.

If you’d like to see me ask more people about their preference in biscuits, get in touch and let me know.

If you enjoyed this interview and would like to read more like this, consider supporting the site by joining my supporters’ membership at either Patreon or Ko-fi. It starts from £1 per month, offers member benefits, and lets me know you’re enjoying what I’m doing.

The post An interview with Fred Serval appeared first on Punchboard.

Cogito Ergo Meeple are the brains behind the Philosophia titles Dare To Be Wise and Floating World, and the upcoming Sci-fi epic, Solar 175. I had the chance to grab some time with them to ask a few questions about the team, their games, and their taste in biscuits.

Interview

Let’s start at the beginning, would you like to introduce yourself, tell us what you do, and let us know a bit more about Cogito Ergo Meeple?

We’re Maddie and Joe, co-owners of tabletop game publishing company Cogito Ergo Meeple. We’ve published two games so far, both of which are big box board games that incorporate sandbox style play. When designing our games, player experience is the highest priority so we work very hard to ensure high quality gameplay through extensive playtesting. We have a new euro style legacy game called Solar 175 which is coming to Kickstarter on the 1st March!

You mentioned your first two games. Those two, the Philosophia titles Dare To Be Wise and Floating World, had classical, historical settings. What was the inspiration behind them?

We are both teachers and the first game started as a fun way to teach our students about ancient Greek Philosophy, hence the ancient Greek setting. For the second game we were inspired by the amazing ukiyo-e artwork of Japan. We have been living and working in Tokyo for the last 6 years and so this city and its rich history was a huge influence on the game.

Morality and ethics are clearly at the heart of what you do, challenging players to think and feel. Is it something you always had in mind for your games?

Yes, engaging with difficult and interesting ideas has always been a key part of what we want our games to be. We love the medium of tabletop games as a method to get people together to interact with complex and difficult ideas in a fun and engaging way. First and foremost our games are designed to be fun but if players also leave the table with a little more knowledge or an improved skill that can only be a good thing!

So looking forward now, to Solar 175. The first thing that strikes me is that it’s a dramatic change in setting. What made you go from designs set in the past, to something based in space?

We’ve always been interested in the concept of exploration within a game and we have been working on the worldbuilding of Solar 175 for many years so we felt this was the next game we had to make! There are actually quite a few similarities between our past games and Solar 175, even though they may sound very different at first glance. Solar 175 could really be seen as a spiritual successor to our last game, Philosophia: Floating World. Both are fast paced games with a deckbuilding/bagbuilding element and a high level of player interaction. Actually the biggest city in the Solar 175 universe is Yurushi which is located where Tokyo is today so many of the same themes come through in both games despite seeming so different at first glance. 

It’s more about the theme of exploration then, rather than any particular setting? That’s really interesting. With Solar 175, how long has it taken you to go from initial concept to what’s about to be launched on Kickstarter? Were there any major changes to the game you can share with us?

Many years! We started off by developing the world and, as time has gone on, the Solar 175 universe has slowly become more vivid in our minds. It has been a long process but it has meant that the gameplay development has been great fun as we had this vast rich universe to create and playtest our game within. The legacy elements came in early in order to allow players to explore the universe we had created and to feel its huge scope and scale. Once the world had developed to a point where we were happy with it, we spent the last 2 years perfecting the gameplay to make sure the player experience was as fun and engaging as we had envisioned. 

One major change to the game along the design process was the core mechanics. We settled on an interaction of bag building, area control and worker placement mechanics, all of which we feel match the theme really well and provide engaging and interesting gameplay experiences. However, early on we set our sights on the card drafting mechanic but it just didn’t hit the mark. It worked well for the first few games but it just didn’t have the level of replayability we were looking for. 

Thanks for the insight, I find it fascinating to know what ends up on the Cutting Room floor. Solar 175 has the addition of a legacy-style campaign. It sounds like a legacy game with a difference to many though, as nothing is destroyed, only improved. Can you give us an example of how that might happen in the game?

Yes, great question! This is our key design philosophy behind using the legacy mechanic. We found that many players see their board games as permanent collectable items and that the destructive nature of legacy campaigns can end up making these games feel cheap and disposable. Our aim is to keep the excitement and permanence of the genre but remove the disposability. The solar system of Solar 175 will continue to expand and evolve endlessly. Throughout the campaign you will be unlocking material and building the story of the world and this will not stop. An example of this is shown in the miniatures we have used. Like all our previous games we have put a big focus on creating a high quality production so players feel that they are gaining new permanent items rather than feeling like they are replacing disposable ones.

I’m positive that feeling of the game not being disposable is one which will resonate with readers, me included! I saw you mention that both Orleans and El Grandé are inspirations for Solar 175. Are there other classics – new or old – which you’d like to draw inspiration from for future games?

We try to learn something from every game we play, tabletop is so full of new and innovative ideas right now that there is no shortage of places to go. Although the medium is literally ancient it seems like there has been a seismic shift of possibilities in the last 20 years and we are still only scratching the surface of that! In terms of specifics I’m not sure as we tend to look for the mechanics that fit best with the game rather than starting the other way around but there are many classic games which have influenced us!

Given those influences, what sort of person do you think will enjoy playing Solar 175?

Solar 175 is a big heavy game with a rich theme. Gameplay wise it is a bag builder so if you enjoy deck building games you will find the core feel of this familiar. If you enjoy the rich narrative of games like Gloomhaven you will also find a lot to like in Solar 175. It is for players who would enjoy the deep strategy of a complex euro game mixed in with a rich narrative and quality components. It is certainly aimed at people who are heavily into this hobby as it is not a light gateway game!

Finally, and maybe most importantly, what’s your favourite biscuit?

Chocolate digestives for sure, you just can’t beat them! 

Thanks for your time folks, and a fine choice of biscuit.

Now head to Page Two to read the preview of Solar 175.

The post Interview with Cogito Ergo Meeple & Solar 175 Preview appeared first on Punchboard.

The interview

Me: Hi Jonny, thanks for finding some time for me. Let’s start with something nice and easy. When you’re not designing or playing games, what are your favourite things in the world to do?

Jonny: I am a musician and composer, so I enjoy playing instruments, writing songs, and listening to albums. Before I became a full time game designer/developer, teaching private music lessons was one of my main gigs. I also enjoy collecting vintage knickknacks, reading about behavioral economics and pop science, swimming in rivers, and playing disc golf (amateur). I’m a pretty eccentric character overall, with a lifelong interest in arts and crafts. Game design fits right into that. I also like cats and tea.

Me: Sounds like you’ve got plenty to keep you busy! I know your early love of games came in the early 2000s with the likes of Puerto Rico and Stone Age. Which of those early games do you still play, and why?

Jonny: I do love eurogames from that era, from Carcassonne to Caylus in complexity. As with music, I like to study the artists who pioneered the styles I play, such as Miles David with modal jazz, and the Beatles with pop-rock. With eurogames, I often turn my attention to designers such as Kramer, Kiesling, Dorn, Feld, Dorra, Henn, Colovini, Cramer, Lehmann, Steding, Moon, and Knizia. And I don’t just play their mega-hits; I play their lesser-known games too, looking for hidden gems.

You can trace many contemporary designs back to games like Puerto Rico and Stone Age—even if those games are not as popular as they once were (or have questionable settings). There’s a wealth of interesting mechanisms in those older titles—and often more player interaction than you see in today’s euro games, which sometimes get criticized for being “multiplayer solitaire.”

Me: I know what you mean. When people tell me Euros aren’t interactive enough I always recommend they go back and play Caylus, Hansa Teutonica, or Troyes. For you personally, what was the turning point when you went from “I love playing these games”, to “I think I can make these games”? Was there a ‘Eureka’ moment?

Jonny: Well at first, I was a bit intimidated by knowing that genius designers such as Knizia were math wizards. As a player, I was always amazed at the numbers and distributions I’d see in eurogames—and how they were somehow “balanced” by some elegant math formulas beyond my capacity. Math was never one of my strong suits. But after reverse-engineering a few games, I started seeing simple, repeating patterns. For example, the number sequence 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, which we see so often in games, is stock “triangular scoring,” not something so wild after all. It’s just a useful pattern many designers use, giving proper incentives for set-collection and such. As I became more confident in understanding these kinds of numbers, nonlinear systems, and basic behavioral economic principles, I started to think about making my own games. I took my first swing at board game design in 2012.

Me: I know you worked very hard in the early days to make your games a reality. If you had to give a new designer one piece of advice to make their dream come true, and see their game in stores, what would it be?

Jonny: Some aspiring designers say, “I just want to see my name on the front of a game box.” Well, really, that’s not too hard to achieve—but you might regret it. You should want your name on a game box you’re actually proud of. If that means waiting for the right publisher or opportunity to arise, that’s fine. It’s worth it.

Having a game out there that you’re not happy with is like getting a bad tattoo—you’ll probably have to live with it the rest of your life. I have both: questionable games and tattoos. Follow your dreams—and don’t let them become nightmares.

Me: Wise words, I really like the tattoo analogy. Your games and personal vibe seem to really draw from your part of the world, over there in the Sierras. When games like Coloma and Sierra West were starting to take shape in your head, which came first: the mechanisms, or the theme and narrative?

Jonny: I often start with a mashup of mechanisms I think “sound good” together, rather than one “riff” as we might say in music. As soon as I get that core system working, I look for a theme that will guide the rest of the design. I rarely come up with a complete game and try to slap a theme on it last minute. I think of my design process as thematically informed. And I try to work within settings I can treat properly, such as the Wild West. I’ve grown up with Gold Rush history all around me, so that’s an easy one.

Me: More recently though, the likes of Merchants Cove and Lions of Lydia have taken your themes in different directions. What plans do you have to bring your games back to California and draw on the stories there?

Jonny: I have hopes to make a game about the infamous Donner Party. But that will take a brave publisher to handle that setting tastefully (no pun intended). In contrast to my Gold Rush games, working on Lions of Lydia took quite a bit more research to make the theme and mechanisms gel properly—yet even that game was inspired by the setting: the first use of coins as currency. The game arch moves from a resource based economy to a one dominated by coins.

Merchants Cove was set in Final Frontier’s “Five Realms” universe, which is a Lord-of-the-Rings-like world, full of The Mico’s whimsical art. It was fun to dabble in it, introducing some new characters. Their upcoming game Bardwood Grove is also set in the Five Realms, and will have a lot of fun musical elements in there. I’ve enjoyed seeing it evolve in the last year.

Me: And while we’re talking about different themes, the recently-announced Unconscious Mind sounds really interesting. A game set around early 20th century Vienna, where players are members of Freud’s Psychoanalytical Society. It’s a very different style of theme for you, and it sounds like it might be a hard sell for some. Psychoanalysis in Austria might not have the same draw as striking it rich in the Gold Rush. Why do you think we should get excited for this game?

Jonny: Unconscious Mind is the next big project from Fantasia Games. Their first project was Endless Winter, which I developed and designed the expansions for. It was one of the most intense and rewarding projects I’ve worked on to date. Yoma, one of the owners of Fantasia (and the art director), co-designed Unconscious Mind with two of his good friends. He asked me to take a look at it on TTS and give my honest opinion on whether or not they should make it Fantasia’s sophomore effort. After just one play, I said yes! It’s a very tight eurogame, with a very interesting mashup of mechanisms that fit the setting quite well.

After that, I was invited to become the lead developer (and co-designer) and take the gameplay to the next level. The theme is fascinating—and Yoma’s crazy idea to use two famous artists to divide the real world and dream world is nothing short of brilliant. The box cover says it all: in the foreground, you see Vincent Dutrait’s depiction of a real-world patient reclining on a couch—then above him the walls break away into Andrew Bosley’s illustrations of the dream-world…

Me: I spoke to the guys from Dranda Games at the recent UK Games Expo, and they told me a bit about your involvement with their new game, Solar Sphere. How did you come to get involved with the project?

Jonny: I met Simon Milburn at Essen 2019 at the Alley Cat Games booth (he’s their lead developer). After some time in 2020 he asked me to pitch my designs to his new company, Dranda Games, which he co-founded with Ayden Lowther. They took a look at one of my yet-to-be-signed Westerns, Claim Jumpers. They eventually passed on it, but wanted to see if I’d consider developing the follow-up to their game Solar Storm, Solar Sphere. After a session on TTS, I was sold. It had some really cool things going on—especially the “drones” which are the game’s secret sauce. I agreed to develop it and create two expansion modules.

It’s been a real pleasure working with them, and at the time of this writing the game is on Kickstarter, pushing $85,000 and 1,300 backers. I suspect it will go beyond 100K by the end of the campaign. And I believe the game will have legs in retail after it is fulfilled, given just “how much game there is” in a relatively small box.

Me: Finally, what else is in the pipeline for you at the moment, what would you like to tell us about?

Jonny: Right now, I am trying to better focus my efforts, after a long stretch over being over-committed to projects. I felt spread thin, and wasn’t really able to make time for proper self-care. But that said, I have design/development projects of various shapes and sizes in the pipeline with Fantasia, Final Frontier, Alley Cat, Crafty, Elf Creek, Talon Strikes, and others. We’ll see most of those roll out in 2022-23. I also have a handful of unsigned prototypes I might look to pitch. But I’m in no rush. I want to be proud of every game with my name on it, quality over quantity.

Me: Absolutely the right mindset. I’m excited to see what comes over the next few years. Thank you so much for your time, Jonny, I know you don’t have much to spare, so I’m very appreciative.

If you enjoyed this interview, you can read more here.

The post An Interview With Jonny Pac appeared first on Punchboard.

I want to tell you why your rulebooks should be the best, most exciting thing when you open the box. I want to explain what goes well when a rulebook is good, and just how bad it can be when a game’s rules are poorly written. Hopefully by the time you finish reading this, you’ll have a newfound appreciation for your games’ rules.

After all…

The rulebook IS the game

When you take the time to think about it, you start to realise just how vital a game’s rules are. Without the rules, all you’re left with is a box full of tokens and pieces. You could try to make a game out of it, but it would be impossible to play the same game the designer created. The rules take the pieces in the box, and tell you what to do with them in order to have some fun.

This is another point in the proceedings where it’s worth taking a moment to actively think about that. While some of the things you do in the game might be intuitive, it’s down to the designers and their rules editors to make sure you know what to do with the box of bits once it lands on your doorstep. They’ve got a few pages, a few pictures, and a few thousand words to explain every single thing that happens in the game.

Back to basics

In a simple game, explaining the rules should be relatively easy. If I asked you to write the rules for Snakes & Ladders (Chutes & Ladders), you might think it’s simple, and it might look something like this:

1. Place both pawns on space 1 of the board.
2. Players take turns rolling the dice. Move your pawn along as many spaces as the number you rolled on the dice.
3. If you land on the bottom of a ladder, move your pawn to the space at the top of the ladder.
4. If you land on a snake’s head, move your pawn to the space at the end of the snake’s tail.
5. The first player to space 100 wins!

Great, you know how to play Snakes & Ladders now. As the designer I can put those rules in the box and breathe a sigh of relief, confident you know how to enjoy my vision. But now put yourself in the place of the customer. You read the rules and try to play, but you’ve got questions:

• What’s a pawn? There’s no picture included, I don’t know what it is.
• Who goes first? How do we decide?
• How many games are we meant to play? Just one, or did you intend we play a best-of-three?
• What happens if I’m on space 98 and I roll a three? Do I need to roll the exact number? What happens if I go over?

These might seem like exaggerated examples, but they’re all valid questions. If you’re designing a game for families and you don’t explain everything in terms that non-gamers can understand, you’re asking for trouble. We’re only looking at Snakes & Ladders here, a game with no player agency. The entire game is based on random dice rolls, and no decisions can ever change the outcome. Even with such a simple premise we’ve got questions, and where we’ve got questions, we’ve got problems.

Putting on weight

If it’s that tricky to write the rules for a game as simple as Snakes & Ladders, imagine starting from scratch with something as complicated as a war or Euro game. Think about a game like Root, or Scythe. Both games are excellent, and a lot of fun, but that’s only true because the rules are cohesive, consistent, and they both have great rulebooks.

Root includes an extra book which sets the game up in the middle of a preset four-player game. Each player passes the book around, performs the moves written in the book, and reads descriptive text out to the rest of the group. This way everyone gets a gentle introduction into what is essentially a war game, a genre (in)famous for tricky rules. I believe that the Root walkthrough book was instrumental in helping make the game the success that it is. The cute artwork and forest setting is a comfort blanket, draped on top of a game which could have been impenetrable for many. The way the game takes you by the hand and welcomes you into its arboreal embrace is fantastic.

As games become more complicated and try to pack in more content, it’s becoming critical that rulebooks manage to hold the players’ hands through the learning process. With the numbers of board games released each year growing by thousands, there’s a lot of cardboard trying to grab your attention, and the quality of the rulebook can mean the difference between a smash hit and a damp squib.

Who are you? The rules police?

There are some people reading this now thinking “that’s nonsense, a good game is always easy to learn, who do you think you are, beardy?”. It’s a fair point. I’m just a bloke with a funny accent and a love of games, and so in the interest of putting some kind of credibility into this article, I sought some professional insight.

Paul Grogan, of Gaming Rules!, is -among other things – a professional rule book editor. When you consider he works on rule books for games by Vital Lacerda – the modern day king of very heavy board games – it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about making a game understandable. I caught up with him and asked some of the burning questions I had.

A chat with Paul Grogan

Me: Hi Paul, thanks for giving me a few minutes of your time. First things first, what does it take to elevate a rulebook from average, to excellent?

Paul: Good structure first. It should have the right rules, in the right place. A good introduction, taking a high level overview of the game and drilling down into detail when it’s needed. There needs to be a detailed components list with images.

Me: So when it comes to actually writing the rules, what would you say is the most difficult thing?

Paul: Most difficult thing: Gosh… its bloody hard. Harder than most people think. Making a good rulebook requires a good team and good people. It takes a lot of time, effort, checking and rechecking. It’s difficult to say what the “hardest” part is.

Me: It sounds like there are a few different places it can go wrong. Can you think of any examples that spring to mind where a poor rulebook has had a detrimental effect on a game’s success? What do you think went wrong with the rulebooks?

Paul: There are a number of examples of how a poor rulebook killed a game. First Martians, Batman Gotham City Chronicles, and many more. Why were they bad? A combination of things. Structure is the biggest one, hard to find rules that an index cannot fix, over-complicated explanation of some rules.

Me: When a publisher or designer comes to you with a draft rulebook, when you start work on it, what are some of the red flags you’re looking to correct?

Paul: A lack of examples, lack of images, and a lack of blind playtesting, where situations occur which are not in the rulebook. Rules hidden only in examples is another one.

Me: That’s all really interesting, thanks for your time, Paul.

Adding context

Not expecting you, dear reader, to just take my word for it, I did a quick bit of digging into the games mentioned above. Batman: Gotham City Chronicles is, by all accounts, a great game. The biggest problem seems to be around rules confusion though. A couple of minutes on the game’s forums on BGG turned up threads like this one for errata and FAQ, which is currently at seven pages of questions, and has lots of errata relating to the rulebook. There’s another thread where players are pleading with the publishers to listen to them about the rules and player aids.

First Martians seems to have suffered with similar problems. Another dive into the murky depths of the BGG forums for the game reveals, among others, this thread of rules questions and errata, which is currently at 233 posts. First Martians is a game I really want to play, it’s super-heavy, and looks great. But the thought that I’m probably going to have questions, and that there’s probably an answer in the ten pages of that thread, is a big turn-off for me.

This is very much a problem of the internet age. The problem isn’t necessarily with poor rulebooks – that’s always been a problem – but with the fact that in a truly connected world, word travels fast. I can remember hearing about the First Martian problems on Facebook groups, back when I first got sucked into the hobby again. Everyone is capable of a quick search for a game, and very quickly knowing about any shortcomings – in terms of the rules, or anything else about the game.

Looking forwards

Technology’s irresistible growth is pushing into the board game space, and it’s only going to grow. I’m expecting to see interactive rules apps and tutorials becoming commonplace. I don’t think they’ll ever replace rule books, this is meant to be an ‘offline’ hobby after all, but the popularity of how-to-play videos, like the ones from Gaming Rules! and Watch it Played, prove that the hobby isn’t totally adverse to non-physical media. The best that publishers can hope to do is to strive for perfection, knowing that they’ll never reach it. Even in a world as connected as ours, with all manner of collaboration and meeting tools, mistakes can still slip through the net.

Nigel Buckle and Dávid Turczi created a pair of games released early on in 2021 – Imperium: Classics and Imperium: Legends. These games (which I will get around to reviewing!) are brilliant. Deck-building civilisation games with a huge number of asymmetric races and factions to play as. As a solo game, it’s about as good as it gets, but there’s a major omission in the rules. There’s a type of card which commonly turns up, and the solo bot is meant to just discard it. Unfortunately, that rule was missed in the rulebook, and it means players would treat it as an ‘other’ card and carry out an additional action for the bot, making the game much harder than intended.

Along with other errata and spelling/grammar mistakes, it’s a game that’s crying out for a 2nd printing and an errata pack to fix the original games. Luckily, for the designers and the publishers, through the magic of the internet they’ve been able to print an errata and answer questions. It’s only the sheer quality of the game which has kept people playing, and kept word of mouth spreading its gospel, but it goes to show that even with seasoned designers, and big publishers like Osprey, mistakes will always happen. If you play the Imperium games, you can download the errata here.

Final thoughts

I hope that’s given you a little insight into some of the pitfalls and problems that every rulebook faces, and an idea of the challenges the writers and editors are up against. So the next time you pull your favourite game off the shelf, and remember how easy you found it to learn, spare a thought for the hard work of the people who put it all together, and appreciate the huge job it did in teaching you how to play. They do a difficult job, and we owe much of our enjoyment of this wonderful hobby to the words and pictures inside.

Do you have any favourite examples of rules done well, or those done badly? Let me know in the comments below, or send me a tweet here – twitter.com/punchboarduk. If you enjoyed this article, you might enjoy others I’ve written in the blog section.

The post Playing By The Rules appeared first on Punchboard.

Interview

ME: Hi, and thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions Keith. First of all, just for anyone reading this who doesn’t know you, could you give us a quick introduction?

KEITH: Hi! My name is Keith Matejka. I live in Madison, WI with my wife and son. I am a board game designer and publisher. My publishing company is called Thunderworks Games, which I established in 2013. About half the games I publish are designed by me, like Roll Player, and the other half are from other designers, like Cartographers.

I worked in video games for over 15 years before moving to work on board games full time. I play bass guitar and I have played music most of my life.

ME: I know playing games with other people has been difficult over the last year, but which games have been your favourites in the last few months?

KEITH: I’ve been playing board games with my family much more in the last year due to COVID, so the games I have been playing are more in-line with their tastes. We are Harry Potter fans, so we’ve been enjoying Hogwarts Battle and I’ve been introducing some classics to my son, including Power Grid and Ra.

As publisher, if there’s an opportunity to play a game, often playtesting takes priority over playing published games. So, I’ve spent a lot of time playtesting upcoming Thunderworks titles, like some upcoming Cartographers map packs, an upcoming Roll Player Adventures expansion, Cape May, and some unannounced projects we’re working on.

ME: Speaking of Roll Player, the setting for the game is such a clever idea. How did you first get inspiration to create a game, about creating a character for a game?

KEITH: The spark of inspiration for Roll Player came from playing games. I was at a prototype playtesting event here in Madison called Protospiel, and I was playtesting a friend’s roleplaying game. I had finished up my first publishing project called Bullfrogs, and I was looking for something new to publish. Afterwards, I was thinking about roleplaying games. I played a lot of tabletop roleplaying games in college, and have also enjoyed roleplaying video game games like Skyrim, or older video games games like the Ultima series. When I worked in video games, I worked on a lot of character creation software in the past as well. So, I asked myself “What if there was an entire game about making characters?”

I started thinking of Roll Player as a parallel to other games on the market. Roll Player is very “meta” – the game before the game. So, would think “If Dominion is the pregame to Magic the Gathering, then Roll Player is the pregame to D&D/Pathfinder.”

ME: I think ‘meta’ is the perfect way to describe Roll Player. Off the back of knowing that, would it be safe to say you’re a fan of role playing games?  If that’s the case, if you had the chance to recommend one RPG that everyone should play, which would it be?

KEITH: Yes, very safe . There are so many great RPGs out there these days. I think the best RPG for someone is one that fits your interests best. Do you like rolling lots of dice and fighting fantasy monsters? D&D’s perfect. If you are playing with younger kids, No Thank You Evil has such a simple ruleset, beginners can understand it and start playing quickly. If you like some science-fantasy, Shadowrun is amazing. If you like horror movies and detective stories, Call of Cthulhu is your best bet. Kids on Bikes is great for lovers of the 80’s and Stranger Things.

For me, the RPG that I’ve played the most and have the most love for is Vampire: The Masquerade, as I like social roleplaying in a world I’m already familiar with… and I like vampires.

ME: Thanks for the advice, No Thank You Evil sounds like one I’ll check out with my son. It was really cool to see how Roll Player built up from creating a character, to battling monsters and taming creatures, with the expansions. Now with Roll Player Adventures taking the series to a natural place – campaigns with your characters – was there always an intention to create the series in this way, or was it a more organic process after the success of Roll Player?

KEITH: Roll Player was intended to be a small, focused experience – just a game. The added Roll Player expansions and the addition of other games in the line started as a response to the feedback from playtesters and fans of Roll Player. Players wanted combat, so I added it. Players wanted to go on adventures with their characters, so we built it.

The growth from a game that was intentionally as generic as possible to one that has a world built around it with political factions, leaders, kingdoms and important characters all came together organically as they were needed. We still continue to add details to the world with each new game in the setting. There was no master plan. The world evolves as new games need it to.

ME: That’s fascinating, I didn’t realise it had grown as organically as that. Moving on to another of your games, Skulk Hollow was such a neat implementation of asymmetric gameplay, with players taking the roles of either a hulking Guardian or a band of foxes. Will we see more games in this universe, and if not, will you be looking to make more asymmetric games in the future?  If so, can you give us any teasers?

KEITH: I always have always loved asymmetry in board games. Skulk Hollow is a game I designed, but is published by Pencil First Games, which is Eduardo Baraf’s publishing company. Ed is a good friend, and he asked me to work on this game for him a long time ago. Luckily, it’s been a successful title for him, so we’re going to do more in the line. The next game is called Maul Peak. Design is locked down, and he’s finishing up all the art ahead of a Kickstarter later this year. So, keep an eye out for that.

Ed has lots of plans to expand the Skulk Hollow world (World of Bore) with more products. I think asymmetric gameplay is a big piece of that equation, and I’m sure there will be more games that feature asymmetry in their designs. As for Thunderworks Games published titles, I don’t have anything in the works that is nearly as asymmetric as Skulk Hollow, but it’s something I consider incorporating as new ideas come together.

ME: Then we’ve got Herbaceous was a complete change of theme and style for you. It’s a gorgeous little game, and a very relaxing game to play, but how did you come to be involved with it?

KEITH: Herbaceous is also published by Pencil First Games. The core design is from Steve Finn. I designed the solo mode.

When Herbaceous was getting ready for Kickstarter, Ed asked me if I’d be interested in working on the solo design, as Steve wasn’t interested in working on it at the time. I had some extra time, and I was excited to work on something new, so I jumped onboard. Ed sent me the files, I spent some time with it, and delivered the solo mode to him.

Herbaceous was the first in this line of games I worked on. After Herbaceous, we did Sunset Over Water, Herbaceous Sprouts, The Whatnot Cabinet, and Floriferous. All these games were designed by Steve, and I helped out on the solo game. They’re fun projects for me because they’re small in scope, and there are a lot of restrictions on what I can and can’t do. It’s a fun challenge. The design of the core game is locked when I start, so I have a clear goal, and a limited number of additional components I can request, etc.

ME: I’m really excited about Cape May, Thunderworks’ new Euro game this year. I see you’re listed as a developer for the game. How long has the game been in development, and what made Thunderworks decide it was a game for them?

KEITH: Eric Mosso, the designer, showed me Cape May at Origins Game Fair in 2018, and we signed the contract for publication at the end of that year.

When I first played it, there was something about it that really was exciting. I’ve always loved economic games, and euro games. In Cape May, there’s a really interesting decision space for players on each turn. Making plans and using the various gameplay options finding fun solutions to find the best move at any point in the game.

Thunderworks has enjoyed a lot of success with fantasy-themed games, but I want to do more than just one type of theme. What I choose to publish is determined almost completely by what I personally enjoy. If the game is super fun, I’m interested in publishing it, not matter what the theme, or mechanics are.

It’s been a long road to publication on this title, but we knew that going in. Thunderworks is a small company. I target 2-3 releases a year, so that means sometimes games are often signed and placed in the queue until I have the time to focus on them. I am pretty involved with every title I release, so they can take some time.

We did quite a bit of development on the title, which Scott Bogen, a friend and social the media/marketing expert at Thunderworks, took the lead on. He was very excited about the game and really helped shape the final product.

Michael Menzel’s did all the illustrations for the game. His artwork is amazing! He was the artist I wanted on the project at the very beginning and he is the perfect artist to establish the game’s look. So, we took the time needed to make sure we could get on his busy schedule. Regarding credits inclusion, sometimes I put my name in the credits, and other times I don’t. It often depending on how many design updates were made during development after signing the title.

ME: I really like the fact that there’s no hard-and-fast rules about what you’ll publish, and that producing a fun game is first and foremost in importance. Cape May’s real-world setting and traditional Euro game feel seems like a change of direction compared to past Thunderworks titles. Do you think this will be a one-off, or can we expect to see more games in this style in the future?

KEITH: Thunderworks will continue to publish fantasy games, but I also want explore other genres. Dual Powers: Revolution 1917 was the first real-world setting game I published. Cape May is the second. I plan to continue to publish games in a wide variety of genres with a variety of themes. I don’t want to restrict myself from publishing an amazing game just because it doesn’t fall in-line with other things I’ve already published. So, anything’s possible.

ME: Cape May is another game in the Thunderworks stable that supports solo play. I know that the past year has forced a lot of us to look for single-player options, but Roll Player included it before that. How important is a solo option to you, as a designer, and when during the development process do you start to work on the single-player game?

KEITH: Every Thunderworks title has included a solo mode for solitaire players (with the exception of Blend Off!). I consider it a requirement for publication for any future title. More and more people are playing solo, especially in the last year. It’s also just a nice option to have, knowing that if you can’t get a group together, you can play the game by yourself.

I usually work on the solo mode after the multiplayer design is complete. I want the solo game to emulate the multiplayer game as much as possible, and then I usually end up adding a small “bell or whistle” to the solo design to give it a little something unique.

I evaluate the multiplayer version of the game, isolate all the interaction points of the game, and think about how that interaction can be simulated, or maybe remove the interaction if it’s not critical to the solo game.

ME: I really love learning how different designers approach solo play, so thanks for the insight. While you’ve got a captive audience, is there any more you’d like to tell us about Cape May that we might not already know?

KEITH: Cape May is a medium weight euro that players 1-4 players in around 90 minutes. Players play as entrepreneurs in a seaside Victorian city in New Jersey. Develop new commercial and residential buildings along the city’s historic streets while taking the time to discover the local wildlife as well.

Preorders for Cape May open on www.thunderworksgames.com May 17^th and will be delivered around July of this year. Preorder Cape May directly from Thunderworks to receive the Vocation Mini-Expansion for free. The Mini-Expansion includes roles for each player that provides a once-per-game power, and adds a special event card to the event deck.

ME: That’s great. Thanks for your time Keith, I can’t wait to see how Cape May turns out.

My thanks again to Keith Matejka for his time and insight. With any luck I’ll be covering Cape May as soon as I get a chance to.

The post Interview with Keith Matejka appeared first on Punchboard.

Alex was kind enough to give me some of his time to answer a few questions. He’s one of my favourite designers, and Maracaibo was the first review I ever published here, so I was over the moon when he agreed to talk to me. Anyway, enough fawning, on to the questions and answers.

Interview

ME: Hi Alex. First of all, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Whereabouts in the world are you at the moment, and how are things going with the pandemic, and returning to normal?

ALEX: I’m in Vienna, Austria and things become much better now. Restaurants, hotels and theatres were closed the last several months, but will open in 2 weeks. I think Austria made it quite well through the pandemic. I could not live test games during the last months but I got to learn Tabletop Simulator and it worked fine.

ME: It’s good to know things are on course for getting back to normal for you. Are you managing to play games at the moment, with lockdowns and the pandemic still causing disruption for gamers? Which games are you playing most?

ALEX: Funnily I even played more games than I did before. As we couldn’t meet anymore I started to play games with a friend online, so talking via zoom and playing games. There I found old games I missed at the time they were released. And I must say, I really enjoy it! I played Through the Ages, Hawaii, Stone Age etc. But also my last years release “Monster Expedition“, which I really love as a fast dice game with some very nice decisions.

ME: I love Stone Age, and you’re right, there are so many games out there, and so many pass us by. I’m a fan of mid to heavy euro games – which game do you think is underrated or unknown, that people like me should play?

ALEX: I know exactly what you mean. So many great games out there. I can’t tell you any underrated gems, because I usually only play published games once. Mostly I test my own games. However I played Underwater Cities several times, it’s great. But you probably know this already, it sold very well.

ME: Underwater Cities is a great game, yes, I really like Vladimir Suchy’s games. Let’s talk about your games now. The settings you use in your games seem to vary a lot. Pirates, cowboys, mines, witches, islands, modern cities – they’re all in there. Where do you get inspiration from for your new games?

ALEX: It’s different from game to game. Several games were started 15 years ago. This doesn’t mean that I worked on them for long, but I started it, put it away, then years later worked again on it for some months, and then put it away again. It’s not very efficient, and these were my older games. Some are pirate themed, because as a teenager I liked the computer game “Pirates!” a lot. My latest game together with Arno Steinwender is CloudAge. That one took about 3 years. I wanted to have a more modern theme.

ME: It seems like hand management and set collection are two of your favourite board game mechanisms? What other mechanisms do you like the most, and could we see them in your future games?

ALEX: Everything with cards. I think almost all my games except Isle of Skye have cards in them. So yes, keeping cards in your hand is great as it reduces the subjective downtime as you have something to plan with. I also like rondel games and a nice map as game board. My next game will also have a great map but people can build on it via tiles.

ME: With Great Western Trail getting a second edition, other than the new artwork, what other main differences are we going to see, compared to the original game?

ALEX: No big differences, only some small tweaks, e.g. some buildings might change a tiny little bit. I like to listen to the community. Of course they don’t speak with one voice, but some feedback will be worked into the game.

ME: The solo game in Maracaibo vs Jean (the automa opponent) is great. Will you be adding an automa player for the second edition of Great Western Trail?

ALEX: Yes, but it won’t be designed by me. There is a great fan made solo version out. It’s based on another fan made solo version. Both designers gave permission for it to be included and got contracts. Knowing that there was a well-received solo version out, I felt it would be pointless to make my own one.

ME: The two follow-up titles, Great Western Trail Argentina and New Zealand are really interesting. Are these going to act in the same way as getting new maps for an existing game, or are they going to play in different ways?

ALEX: Think of it like different maps in Ticket to Ride. Each one will have some new elements, but will have the same core rules.

ME: Does this mean the new Great Western Trail games will be staying at the same level of complexity as the original?

ALEX: Yes, they will have the same complexity. But this is still work in progress, so this might change.

ME: In addition to the new versions of Great Western Trail and the Maracaibo expansions, do you have any other new games at the prototype stages? If so, can you give us some hints about the settings, and what kind of game we might expect?

ALEX: My next game will be a heavy game like Maracaibo or Great Western Trail. It’s planned as an Essen release, so October. But it’s not announced yet by the publisher, so I can’t say more about it.

ME: That’s extremely exciting! I’m looking forward to learning more about it. Thank you so much for your time, Alex. Is there anything else you’d like to say while you have our attention?

ALEX: We have such a wonderful hobby: Nice people and many, many great games every year. I’m grateful to everyone taking a closer look at my releases. Thanks for the interview.

ME: It was my pleasure. Thanks, and auf wiedersehen.

I just want to say thank you again to Alex for his valuable time. Exciting times ahead with new Great Western Trail games, an automa included for solo play, and a new heavy game this year! If you’ve never played one of his games, you really should. There’s something for everyone, from light to heavy, and you can find a list of them here.

The post Interview with Alexander Pfister appeared first on Punchboard.

Interview

Me: Hi, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. For starters, who are you, what do you do at Plastic Soldier Company, and which game is currently on your table the most?

Mark: I’m Mark Cooke, Operations Director for PSC Games. Day to day, I’m mainly overseeing the project management and production of our games, and working with publishing partners to produce our games in multiple languages. Unfortunately due to the current situation I’m not really playing many games on a table! I’ve been playing a few prototypes online though, including Prison Architect.

Me: For anyone reading this, who may not know much about Plastic Soldier Company and PSC Games, can you give us a quick summary of who they are, and what they make?

Mark: Plastic Soldier Company formed about 15 years ago and focused on making historic miniatures. PSC Games was formed about 5 years ago to publish board games with a historical or combat theme.

Me: I’ve noticed PSC Games seem to be moving into more mainstream-style games, in addition to their traditional war games. Is this part of a new direction for the company?

Mark: Yes, it has been quite organic though, as PSC Games built up a reputation for quality, fun, games, we’ve had more designers submitting games and other organisations wanting to partner with us. This has led to some exciting upcoming projects that I’m really looking forward to working on.

Me: Has the success of the Rome and Roll: Gladiators Kickstarter surprised you at all?

Mark: It’s always a bit nerve-wracking launching a new Kickstarter, you just never know how it’s going to do on the day, or what competition you might be going up against! But we were confident with this one, as it’s got a fabulous design team behind it, and there’s a lot of love for the base game.

Me: Are there any plans for more Rome and Roll expansions?

Mark: Dávid and Nick are always planning! We haven’t scheduled anything in yet, but that’s not to say there won’t be any.

Me: The announcement for Prison Architect: Cardboard County Penitentiary came out of the blue. It seems like a big coup, how did the partnership come about?

Mark: Mats at Paradox heads up their partnerships and licensing, and is always on the lookout for opportunities. He’s also an avid board gamer, and is a fan of some of PSC Games’ titles. At Essen Spiel a couple of years ago, he swung by the booth and got chatting to Will Townshend (owner of PSC Games), and a relationship developed from there. Some of the designers we work with are massive fans of their games so it seemed like a natural fit.

Me: I saw Dávid Turczi was playing a prototype of Prison Architect before Christmas, so how long has it been in development?

Mark: It’s been quite a while, coming up on a year. The initial stages of designing the bones of the game were relatively straightforward, but we were struggling to make it feel fun. After many months of iterations and hair-pulling, it became a really fun and clever game. There’s still some of that original design evident in its current form, but it’s also changed dramatically too!

Me: How closely are you working with Paradox Interactive / Double Eleven to create a physical version of their game?

Mark: We are working really closely with the Prison Architect team at Paradox. A lot of them are board gamers, so are really keen for us to make this game! They have also been really helpful in advising on what could be quite a sensitive topic in some countries, and sharing how they’ve approached this. We have regular meetings with them, and a Slack channel that we’re all able to communicate together on.

Me: How difficult a challenge is it to keep the same feel and aesthetic of Prison Architect, but come up with a game which works on tabletop instead of a screen?

Mark: The main challenge of pairing down a video game to be a fun board game is choosing what to include and what not to, as video games can be quite expansive compared to what you’re able to include in a box. The initial designs for the board game were taking over 4 hours to play! However, through playtesting and refining, we were able to bring some of that down, cut some stuff out without it losing the feel of Prison Architect, and make it a fun and enjoyable 90-120 minute time.

Me: What do you think will be the biggest potential hurdle to overcome in making Prison Architect a hit?

Mark: It will likely be the public perception of incarceration around the globe. This has been addressed in the game though with a twisted mirror effect, as a player you get to decide how you run your prison, “evil money grab” vs “happy rehabilitation”. Caring for the prisoners’ comfort and hygiene is very much a central mechanism that is directly rewarded in the game. However, the game is cartoony and caricature-like enough so that if you don’t wish to wrestle with the ethical dilemma of imprisonment, you don’t have to and can just enjoy the exciting auctions and tile laying aspects.

Me: Speaking of this perception of incarceration, what are PSC Games doing to make sure they approach the game with due sensitivity and research?

Mark: One of the ways we’re doing this is through working with a consultant who was previously incarcerated in the US, who then became a professor of humane architecture for prisons, and is now an architect.

Me: There seems to be a growing trend in bringing video games to the Tabletop. Frostpunk, Kingdom Rush, Stellaris, Stardew Valley to name just a few from recent memory. Do you think this is here to stay?

Mark: I think there’s a wealth of fun and interesting themes and stories within video games that would work well as board games. With the development in mechanics, game design and production techniques, and the growing interest in board games, I think we will continue to see big licences coming in cardboard form!

Me: Do you have anything in the planning stages you can tell us about? If not, are you working on anything you CAN’T tell us about?

Mark: At this stage all eyes are on fulfilling Procyon III, which will be coming to retail soon, as well as a new edition of Blitzkrieg! that combines the expansion in to the base game. We then have Rome & Roll: Gladiators, followed by Prison Architect in May. We have some other stuff lined up (we’re booked up well into 2022 now!), but can’t really talk about it at this stage.

Thanks again to Mark and PSC for talking to me, I’m really looking forward to seeing how both The Defence of Procyon III and Prison Architect turn out. You can be sure you’ll know as soon as I do.

Adam

The post Interview with Mark Cooke from PSC Games appeared first on Punchboard.