The List - April 2021

With all these new ideas I've been having, I feel like it's time to revisit The List, and I might add a section to encompass the various new designs that have been cropping up.

Published Games - this hasn't changed much lately, but I hope more games will bump up soon:
- Terra Prime (BGG)
- Eminent Domain (BGG)
- Eminent Domain: Escalation (BGG) (expansion)
- Eminent Domain: Exotica (BGG) (expansion)
- Eminent Domain: Oblivion (BGG) (expansion)
- Eminent Domain: Microcosm (BGG)
- Isle of Trains (BGG)
- Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done (BGG)
- Crusaders: Divine Influence (BGG) (expansion) [printed and waiting]
- Dungeon Roll: Winter Heroes (BGG)
- Gold West: Bandits promo (BGG)
- Gold West: Trading Post promo (BGG)
- Yokohama: Achievements & Free Agents promo (BGG)
- Brainfreeze

Finished But Unpublished Games - in line to be published:
- Eminent Domain Origins [Ready to print]
- Crusaders: Crimson Knight (expansion) [Ready to print]
- Crusaders: Amber Knight (expansion) [Ready to print]
- Olympus on the Serengeti  (FKA Deities and Demigods) [Art paused]
- Eminent Domain: Chaos Theory (dice game) [In line for art]

"Finished" But Unpublished Games - abandoned or backburnered designs that are "done":
- Dice Works (BGG)
- Wizard's Tower (BGG) [Abandoned]
- Isle of Trains: All Aboard (expansion)
- Suburban Sprawl
- Watch It Played [Abandoned]
- Now Boarding [Abandoned]
- Rolling Realms: Jaffee Realms (for Jamey Stegmaier's Rolling Realms)

Current Active Designs - I'm actively pitching these games:
- Keeping Up with the Joneses

- Apotheosis (Co-Design with Rick Holzgrafe)

- Sails & Sorcery [with Michael Mindes]

- Riders of the Pony Express (BGG) 

- Exhibit (BGG) [pitching to publishers]

Backburnered Designs - I kid myself into thinking that I'm still working on these:

- Alter Ego (BGG)

- All For One (BGG) (Co-Design with David Brain)

- Isle Of Trains: The Board Game (Co-Design with Dan Keltner)

- Joan of Arc

New ideas:
- Worker-ception [with David Short]

- False Prophet [Mancala/Worker Placement]

- I-Cut-You-Choose Worker Placement [ICYC/WP]

- Come And Play [Sesame Street memory/rondel game]

- Candyland Game [Candyland/No Thanks mashup]

Old Standbys - games which have been around, 1/2 done and untouched, for years:
- 8/7 Central [Abandoned]
- Hot & Fresh [Abandoned]

- Odysseus: Winds of Fate (BGG)

- Reading Railroad [Abandoned]

- Moctezuma's Revenge

- Kilauea [a designer showed interest in co-designing, but that didn't go anywhere]

- Automatown [with Michael Brown]

Old Ideas that Haven't Gone Anywhere (Yet):
- Investigative/Tabloid Journalism
- Red Colony
- Clash of the Kingpins
- Time = Money
- Dating Game
- Ticket Please
- The Untouchables
- Day labor game based on craps

- Rondel Role Selection

-Scourge of the High Seas [deckbuilding game with 2 center rows]

- Dynasty [I still think this one has potential]

Misc and Really Old Stuff - could probably combine with the previous category at this point:
- 9-Ball
- Blockade Runner
- Roman Emperors (my version of someone else's game)
- Admirals of the Spanish Main (my version of someone else's game)

Let's take a closer look at some of the updates:

First, I moved some stuff around. The categories could probably use an overhaul... Last time I had tried to organize some co-designs, but for the most part that didn't pan out, so I re-sorted those games into other categories, and I added a category for New Ideas. I feel like those are distinct from Current Active Designs, as I'm not necessarily working on them at the moment, but they're also distinct from Backburnered Designs, as that implies I've done some work on them already. So I think a dedicated category for new, promising ideas is worthwhile.

I also tagged some of my old standbys as "abandoned" because, if I'm honest with myself, it's unlikely I'll ever really come back to those. I suppose "Misc and Really Old Stuff" is basically an "Abandoned" category, maybe I should just codify that and put all my abandoned projects there (I like the idea of keeping them around, in case I ever revive them). Ditto Old Ideas that Haven't Gone Anywhere (Yet), those are so old at this point they're effectively abandoned -- except maybe Dynasty. That one still sounds like it has potential to me.

I might also want a category for games that I'd be happy to pitch to publishers, but that I'm not actively working on... so distinct from Current Active Designs, but not really Backburnered either. Perhaps that's what Finished But Unpublished could mean? Though maybe I'd prefer to use that for projects that have been signed or are otherwise for sure going to happen, which is distinct from games I feel are done enough to pitch. I'll try to clean up The List some more each time I post it.

Here's some info on the new or updated items:

New stuff

- Keeping Up with the Joneses:
A relatively new idea, and one that came together very quickly. You try to 1-up your neighbors in 6 different life aspects while trying to keep pace with The Joneses (who always seem to have everything together). Mechanically, it's a rondel game with entangled decisions. On your turn you choose a card from 3 face up in slots labeled 1-3, and get the effect on the card. Then you move a number of spaces on the rondel according to the slot your card was in, and you get the effect of that rondel space as well.

- Worker-ception [with David Short]

In this worker group placement game, you are a travel agent sending families on trips. Each family has a few members, and therefore a few tokens in a stack. There's an overall game board with various "Brochures" on it, representing worker placement spaces that can change from game to game. Each round, you'll place your families (worker stacks) onto these brochures. Then, when it's time to resolve them, you zoom in and play a little worker placement mini-game with the tokens you have in that area.

Dave thought this sounded good and offered to work on it with me, but it's not a primary project for either of us, so it's pretty slow-going. I came up with a host of Worker Placement mini-games based on some of the interesting WP games I could think of, so the next step would be mocking up a prototype --  and solving some thematic issues like "as travel agents, what do we really get out of our clients having a good vacation?" And "exactly what resources are in this game anyway?"

- False Prophet

An attempt at a Worker Placement / Mancala mashup based on an interview I saw with Isaias Vallejos where he mentioned that Margraves of Valeria was initially intended to be a Mancala Worker Placement game, but he couldn't make it work. This one is still in the "idea stage," but I have a pretty good idea how I think it might work, so it could potentially be in a good enough place to put together a prototype soon. Of course, I'll need some data before I bother with that - like what do the worker placement spaces do?! 

- I-Cut-You-Choose Worker Placement 

Another one in the "idea stage," this one inspired by Jamey Stegmaier's top 10 mechanisms video (his top 2 were I Cut You Choose and Worker placement). I have a solid instigating idea that I think could make for a strong main mechanism, but to go any farther I'll probably need to settle on a theme and get some data together.

- Come And Play [Sesame Street memory/rondel game]

An attempt at a kids-level game that I made out of some Sesame Street figures and a Sesame Street branded Memory game that Corbin has. It actually works pretty well, though Corbin's still a tad too young to properly follow rules.

Deal out the cards face down in a circle and place a figure on every other card. On your turn, choose a figure, move it 1 or 2 spaces (maybe specifically clockwise, but maybe either way is fine). Skip spaces that have no cards in them. Then reveal the card in that space - if it matches the figure you moved, you get to keep it! Otherwise, put if back face down, and try to remember who you saw and where you saw them!

- Candyland Game [Candyland/No Thanks mashup]

My latest idea is a simple mashup of No Thanks and Candyland. I tried a proof-of-concept playtest on TTS, and it felt pretty good, now its time to settle on a theme and make some adjustments (such as re-design the board spaces).

Other changes

- Sails & Sorcery [with Michael Mindes]

I decided to add this to the list, since I put some work last year into developing the game into what I think is a pretty good finished product. I am happy to pitch this one to publishers, though it's technically a co-design with Michael.

- Exhibit (BGG) [pitching to publishers]

I decided to get this one back out and pitch it to publishers. We'll see if that leads to anything.

- Apotheosis (Co-Design with Rick Holzgrafe)

After unsuccessfully pitching Apotheosis to one publisher, I had a very promising pitch to another publisher... over the course of several meetings with them, during which we played full games, we made Apotheosis a lot more focused and better, but ultimately they were not interested. I'm continuing to pitch it, and I've got 2 more publishers showing initial interest -- I'll be meeting with them soon to see if they would like to look more closely at the game.

- Alter Ego (BGG)

This one has come a long way since its inception, and I think it's finally close, but progress has been in fits and starts, with a lot of time in between. At this point I even have art done for the cards, but it was sort of abandoned 1/2 way through graphic design... of all my backburnered designs, this one is probably the lowest hanging fruit, I should really just put some finishing touches on it and get the graphic design finished, then either print it, or maybe pitch it around.

 

- All For One (BGG) (Co-Design with David Brain)

Reviving this at the end of 2019 was awesome, and I think the latest version was in very good shape. Once again, the design stalled while waiting for a board redesign (which will probably prompt a card redesign), and the 2020 hellscape didn't help matters any.

I really ought to just get this one into Tabletop Simulator as-is, and worry about a board redesign later. 

- Isle Of Trains: The Board Game (Co-Design with Dan Keltner)

For years I had held out hope that Isle of Trains: All Aboard, the expansion to Isle of Trains, would eventually come out from Dice Hate Me Games. I even saw some cover art for it! but alas, I think it's folly to continue to expect that at this point. Prompted by the publisher, a few years ago Dan and I decided to try and make a bigger game out of Isle of Trains (maybe including some of the expansion stuff), and I maintained this idea that the publisher would still be doing it, so I kept that scope in mind as we tried to make an Isle of Trains board game... Dan more reasonably noted that this publisher was unlikely to really move forward with the project, and wanted to make a deeper, more complicated game. At this point, I think he was on the right track, but the project kind of stalled out a long time ago, so I don't know if we'll ever get there :/

We were looking at it being a rondel game, where you drive your train around a loop of spaces, taking actions there, building stuff on those spaces (for multiple rewards), and push up the value of the various cargo you're delivering to maximize your score (cargo delivered x that cargo's value). My version attempted to be lighter and quicker, closer to the scope of the card game, while Dan was looking to have more stuff going on, unique train cars, etc. I think either way could work, especially if I can just drop the illusion of having to fit a particular publisher's ideas for the game.

- Joan of Arc

I was very interested in this idea a few years ago, but alas, it fell to the wayside and onto the back burner, and as yet has not returned. I got excited about a year ago when a prominent design duo expressed interest in co-designing, but they've been busy with their own stuff, so I don't think they've even looked at this game.

One day I would like to return to this one, but I fear it's time may have passed :/

- Reading Railroad [Abandoned]

After reviving this one recently, I think I've decided that the game just isn't really that great an idea after all. I still LOVE the idea of a word-themed cube pusher where the cubes are tiny alphabet blocks, and I think this one had some decent mechanisms in it, but playing it recently I just kind of feel like it's not quite right. I might have to ride this mashup (word game / connection game) out on a rail, so to speak.

Thoughts on Mashups (also, Candyland + No Thanks = ???)

I like mashups.

What's a mashup?

A mashup is when you take 2 distinct things and, maybe literally, smash them together to make a new thing that's sort of a mix of the original two.

I solicited Twitter real quick to get some other people's off-the-cuff definitions, and they generally agree with what I said above:

@twentysides contributed the following:

Two or more things that are faithful representations of their type combined in a way that still works. So something that is kind of this and vaguely that, I wouldn't call a mashup. Something that is clearly this and very much that, now that's a mashup.

An the ever eloquent @belltowergames describe it thusly:

Two things that are unlike but are of the same kind are brought together to create a work that shares essential qualities of both.

I like all of these definitions, and I think they more than get the idea across. 

I'm trying to think of an obvious genre mashup TV show or movie, but nothing's coming immediately to mind -- maybe that's because I'm writing this in fits and starts as I scan documents for my real job, or maybe it's because I'm feeling a little light headed from my 2nd COVID vaccine dose, or maybe there really aren't that many of them (that can't be!) 

I guess I could point to Daybreak, [warning, I cannot vouch for the safety of that website -- it was recommended to me by someone, but I've never actually used it!], a 1-season TV series I saw maybe 12 years ago that's like Groundhog Day mashed up with a cop show, about a detective who keeps re-living the same day until he solves his own frame-up.

I suppose I could also point to something like Thor: Ragnarok, which mashes up a comedy with a big budget superhero flick. But I don't know if that counts -- is "superhero" really a genre all its own? Also, it's not a great example because I didn't love that movie, but I'm saying in this post that I do enjoy mashups...

The IDEA of mashups

So I guess what I'm REALLY saying is that I like the IDEA of mashups. I find them a good source of inspiration, and I think they can have the potential to take existing stuff I like, and create a new experience that I'm predisposed to like, but that's different enough to be interesting.

As you must know if you're reading this, I like games. I like playing games, I like thinking about games, I like thinking about game design, and of course I like designing games. So how do mashups come into it? Well, even more than a passive story like books/TV/movies,  mashups can inspire new game experiences that are significantly different than any of the games being mashed together. 

A good example of this might be Friedemann Friese' Copycat, which he (somewhat famously) billed as a ripoff of Agricola, Through the Ages, and Dominion. The thing is, Copycat was NOT a ripoff at all! It was inspired by those other three games (deckbuilding inspired by Dominion, worker placement/action spaces inspired by Agricola, and the card row inspired by Through the ages), but the end result feels NOTHING like any of those inspirations. Friese didn't copy those other games, he mashed them up, and then he did the design and development work to make a solid game out of Copycat... whether you think the result is any good or not is up to your preference, but it's certainly distinct from its inspirations. 

Another example could be the decks in the card game Smash Up. That game's whole thing is that you take 2 piles of cards, each with its own feel and flavor, and mix them together to get a deck that plays differently than other combinations. That game used mashups as a main mechanism, and it works rather well!

A starting point that inspires design

You see, a mashup is just a starting point that can inspire a design. You can't just shuffle 2 rulebooks together and press print! 

Like with Copycat, there's a lot of work to be done once you have decided you want to mix together equal parts Agricola and Dominion, and splash in some Through the Ages for flavor. Just like any other source of inspiration, that may be the starting point, but it won't be the finish line by a long shot.

I've entertained some thoughts on a mashup before, a combination of King of Frontier and the award winning Isle of Skye. Whenever I think about Skye Frontier it makes me want to revive the design, because I felt it really did work, and I had made good progress on it already. Just writing this post makes me want to drop everything I'm doing and work on a Tabletop Simulator mod for it! Maybe soon, but for now I've got my attention set on another mashup idea, the recent one about Candyland!

Let's do the Mash! (let's do the Monster Mash)

As a sort of proof-of-concept, I found a Candyland TTS mod, added a handful of checkers, and got my playtesters to try out a few rounds with me of a Candyland/No Thanks mashup. We literally just played Candyland, but instead of drawing a card to advance, we played No Thanks with that card: flipped it up, then either took it and advanced, or put a chip on it. When taking a card and advancing, you also get all the chips on it, just like No Thanks. Oh, and in this mashup, of course, progress down the track is bad!

We didn't play out the whole game, and indeed, with this mechanism, I think a Candyland board is way too long. But as proof of concept, it definitely did work! In No Thanks, a card could come up that's adjacent to one you already have, making that card excellent for you (free chips!) while still bad for everyone else. Every card in the Candyland version has a bit of this potential, as a red card might mean just 1 space of movement for me, but 4 for her, and 8 for you! There was no real analog for that dynamic in No Thanks where you have the 23 and 25, and the 24 comes up (something that's extraordinarily good for you), but with the shortcuts (assuming you MUST take the shortcut if you land on it), there were cards that were extraordinarily bad for you, which added a little consideration to taking a card that advances you a lot, but at least gets you past a dangerous shortcut. I liked the feel of that, and with a redesigned board maybe that dynamic could be exaggerated so it comes up more often. For example, perhaps the shortcut spaces could span 2 or 3 spaces, so as you approach, more cards could potentially land you on one.

One goofy thing about Candyland is the specific treat spaces, which can catapult you all the way across the board, straight to the end (woo hoo!), or even all the way back near the beginning (oh no!). In this mashup, I think I'd just make those "advance to the next special treat" (rather than a specific one) so it's more of a game. Again, those could be not-that-bad (if you're just a few spaces from a special treat), or awful for you (if you just passed one), which is just the dynamic I think this game needs to thrive.

So there you have it, a light, accessible game, along the lines of No Thanks. Is it heavier or lighter than No Thanks if you replace the numbers with a Candyland track? I think it has legs, and I plan to give some of the design details a little more thought.

[last minute thought, just wanted to jot it down... in this mashup, you can clearly see which space you'd advance to, which is a good thing in general. There could however be some subset of cards that have a plus sign or something, meaning that if you claim the card, you also must draw another card and advance per that one as well -- something to make cards a little bit more scary] 

Theme informs design

I've been known to say that even mechanics-first designs are really theme-first, or they become theme-first pretty quickly, as once you have the main mechanism in mind, the theme informs the rest of the design.

As for a theme for this mashup, one idea (sticking with the Candyland aesthetic) is kids binging on Halloween candy, last one to get a tummy ache wins. I like the nod to the inspiring game there, and the theme makes some sense, though I'm not sure it really necessitates movement on a board, but maybe that's not the end of the world.

Another, slightly more grown-up idea is paintball/laser tag/snowball fight, where you spend "luck" tokens to not be the target of an attack, and when you take a card, maybe it has an evasive maneuver on the back (I like the production hook there, take an "incoming snowball" card, and flip it over to show that you dove behind an embankment -- even if it's not mechanically relevant)... eventually your luck runs out and you get hit, last player standing wins. 

Or even more grown up than that, maybe a Battle Royale theme, like Fortnite, where the track board is your health bar. As you take hits, your health goes down (advances toward 0), and when you run out of health, you're knocked out, or dead, depending on the specifics of the theme!

All of these themes seem like they'd work. I kind of dislike the health bar idea just because it makes the shared track board irrelevant - it would be neat if the game board were non-trivial (though I guess in all those ideas the board is kind of trivial). 

I'm open to other theme suggestions, leave 'em in the comments below. And let me know what games you'd like to see mashed together!