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I'm a little late this week because of Thanksgiving... I thought about not sharing this until next week, but I really couldn't wait to tell you about it! :-)
Last Friday I wrote a bit about inspiration. You could say I was inspired to write about what inspires me. I was in a slump for a while. A long while actually. I don't like those times because I feel like I should be accomplishing something... and generally, what I fail to realize is that taking care of myself is accomplishing something... just not the something that I'd like.
That all changed that Saturday.
It was amazing.
A New Design Emerges
To say this design emerged is actually an understatement. It was more like a punch in the face of awesomeness. You see, I was brainstorming with fellow designer Grant Rodiek (of Farmageddon fame) on Google Talk about various game ideas that he's working on. It was a really fun session. I enjoy helping others with ideas. At some point, I decided to take a shower. I've heard many people say that the shower is a place of inspiration for them. I cannot remember ever having epiphanies in the shower... so this was a first. It was a simple start:
Why not have a dice game, where the players roll like Yhatzee!, then use the results of the dice to buy cards? So, each die face represents a specific resource. The cards would have a cost made up of these various resources and would be in a limited central supply... so each player would be trying to score the same cards. If you couldn't completely pay for a card on your turn, you could place resource markers for the things that you did roll and on your next turn, if that item was still available, you could try to finish paying for it.
That was essentially it at first. My initial theme idea was steampunk... or just some sort of building game where you were rolling for pieces of machines and using those pieces to build machines. I thought maybe you'd try and collect sets and score your hand at the end. I opened up my Google Doc which stores my game mechanic ideas and took some quick notes. I told Grant about it and pushed the idea out of my head for the night.
I was unable to do the same on Sunday. I just couldn't get the idea out of my head. I tried to work on some art for Sock Monster, but every time I'd start, I think of this new game... then I had a second idea. Those cards you'd be buying... they should be used to buy other things! A two-tiered system would mean that you'd have to manage what you were rolling for based on what you were going to build. Theme ideas started rolling and the one that made the most sense was building a medieval village like classic computer games... buy workers, workers build buildings.
So, I set to it. I feel guilty starting new projects when I have so many unfinished games, but I know me... the only way to stop thinking about this game was to just go at it. Like most of my ideas, it would show some inherent flaw I didn't see previously and I would have to spend hours upon hours fixing it, so it could just be put in the backlog of failed ideas and I could move on...
only, it didn't happen that way.
What emerged that evening was a game so simple, so elegant, and so fun that it could not be ignored. I played it by myself. Played it with my family. Played it at work the next day. Played it every night this week... this game is good. Like good good. I've designed a lot of crap over the years, and I've designed a handful of things I enjoy... this game is something completely different. I am so excited for it that I began drafting pitch letters already... I'm serious. I can't tell you how many times I've given aspiring designers the advice to never do such a thing... to playtest, playtest, playtest until you know it's solid... but this one is different... I just feel it...
That being said... I'm going to be reserved about it for a bit longer. I was hoping to share print and play files with you this week, but I want to be sure I'm not off my rocker first. I've asked a few people to playtest it for me and make sure it's as good as I think... and I'm going to ask you also. If you'd like to playtest this game before I put it out there for everyone, I'd love to have a few more test groups. I'm working on a design post right now and once I'm sure the game stands up, I'll set up the print and play files and get it out there. Promise!