Game Design Journal #1
So, I’ve decided to design a board game.
As an artist, one of the things I most appreciate most about games is their capacity for collecting various visual materials into a cohesive experience for people. Looked at as a medium, the art style, aesthetics, and components vary wildly from game to game, and continue to evolve over time. We now live in the era of deluxified, grandiose board games, earning millions on Kickstarter, their gargantuan boxes heavy with armies of plastic miniatures.
Perhaps it is the contrarian in me, or my nostalgic 80’s heart, but the game I’m drawn to design harkens back to an earlier time — a time of more rudimentary means. After learning about the Hex & Counter genre of games that proliferated in the 70s & 80s, I was taken with how much these games were able to accomplish with such basic components. Some of these early games are masterpieces of graphic/visual design. It was, in fact, the visual presentation of these games that called out to me. The ease of execution in regard to production is immensely appealing. As I plan to offer the game on Kickstarter, the relatively low cost to manufacture will also allow me to set an achievable financial goal. I also see these games as being more environmentally friendly, as they usually only consist of a paper map and some cardboard counters.
Though I own classic Hex & Counter games like Ogre, G.E.V., Napoleon at Waterloo, and have printed out my own copy of Battle for Moscow, I’ve deliberately held back from playing them. I have no doubt there are some incredible ideas and mechanics contained in these games, but I feel like I have an opportunity to create something less derivative, that has a chance to break new ground if I deliberately continue to maintain my ignorance of tried-and-true mechanics.
Time will tell!
Of course, I started with the fun part - the artwork. It’s been a blast translating larger drawings into those lovely, compact 5/8-inch counters. The game is set in a far-out science-fantasy world (think Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun) full of weird warriors, magical powers, and conflict most epic.
When I sat down to test out the movement/combat rules I had sketched out, I was nicely surprised to find some opportunities for strategy and cleverness. It’ll be interesting to add some more specialized warriors/characters into the mix to see how their unique abilities change the dynamics.
That’s all for now - but there is more to come!
If you’d like to receive future updates about the development of this game, and its eventual offering via Kickstarter, you can sign up below.
The game will be called Demonhand.
