Design Series: Introduction

This is the first of several articles on the design of a new board game that I am currently designing in partnership with OOMM Games. Throughout these posts, I want to give readers a sense of my ongoing creative process, as well as some of the ruminations that come out of each stage.

Part 1: Some Background

Several months ago, designer Brendan McCaskell of OOMM Games contacted me about a potential collaboration with OOMM Games. Fresh off the success of the Stars of Akarios Kickstarter, Brendan had a simple concept he wanted a designer to explore: a fantasy game in which players guided  a prehistoric civilization through numerous generations. The hook? The box lid would feature a cave wall, onto which the players could visually depict their stories in the games.

I was immediately taken with his concept of a game that embeds memory into itself by altering the components. Legacy games are nothing new, but the idea of a game in which past playthroughs become the myths and legends of the next era is something a bit distinct. Rather than it simply being a continuous story, this sort of persistent game could reflect a world where prior inhabitants affected the lives of the current denizens, whose actions in turn would shape future generations.

Over a series of brainstorming discussions, we spun out all sorts of exciting potential ideas, resulting in a vision document. I’ll discuss the importance of a vision document in a future article in this series, but for now, just know that its purpose was to define game’s physical and conceptual scope and it looked something like this:

Don’t get too attached to that working title

Part 2: Peaks and Valleys

Glacier National Park, from the US Park Service

As with most freelance projects, the flurry of initial activity wound down and there was a bit of a lull in activity. Contracts had to be drafted, reviewed, and signed. All that good stuff. Brendan had lots of stuff for Stars of Akarios and Mythwind to keep him busy, and I had my own irons in the fire: in addition to the blog, I had some cool [STUFF REDACTED] for [COMPANY REDACTED] under way. Hopefully I’ll be able to talk about it soon.

This is very much part of freelance game design life: each project tends to go in waves. Whether you’re a designer pitching a concept to a company or joining on to fulfill the company’s pre-existing design goals (this game falling somewhere in the middle), there are usually blocks of time where any given project is waiting for something before it can move forward at full steam. This limbo time is where I started my research. I had taken a class on prehistory back in college, but human prehistory isn’t an area of expertise of mine, fantasy prehistory arguably even less so. I read some books on the history of our species, and how it was shaped by factors like geography, geology, and topography. I dug back into The Stormlight Archive and some other epoch-spanning storytelling I had read for ruminations on how fantasy elements might play into this. I started reading about Glacier National Park and other similar formations, eventually settling on a glacial valley with ice that recedes over multiple games as a basis for the setting for the game world.

Part 3: A Map into the Wilds

A world in progress

So, what can I tell you about this game? Well, it’s still in progress – it doesn’t even have a finalized name yet! I can tell you what it’s about: civilization, history, and memory. About leaving your mark in continuous, ever-changing world. It will have a board, and probably some cards and dice, so I guess that makes it a board game. It won’t be an RPG or a miniatures game, though it will probably draw inspirations from both. Beyond that, the exact form it will take is still being shaped.

Over the next five weeks, I’ll be embarking on the journey of writing up the steps of the process my design process so far. I’m really excited to share my creative steps with the outside world for the first time! These will include:

• Creating a vision document

• Making a minimum viable prototype

• Break for questions (published on here, see below)

• Balancing the creation of the game’s “chassis” against the “engine” that will make it go

• Assembling a vertical slice

During each of these articles, I’ll include design anecdotes, unexpected takeaways, and my thoughts on best practices for that step. I will also take a break in the middle for a few user questions about my process and design philosophy, so you can lob those at me over on Twitter, or by emailing me!

This is a bit of a shift from my usual content, but hopefully people enjoy seeing under the hood of my creative process for a few weeks!