Pre-order YOUR TURN! The guide to great tabletop game design

 I just received my author copies of YOUR TURN! The guide to great tabletop game design and it turned out great! 

 

You can preorder your copies here:

Wiley.com (publisher)

Amazon

 Barnes and Noble

Bookshop.org 

 

Hey! I'm on TV!

 Hey all,

I'm going to be on the History Channel show "The Toys that Build America" on October 22nd and October 29 talking about the histories of Bingo, Yahtzee, Nintendo and Gunpei Yokei!

Don't miss it!

Designer Diary: ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo

 Happy ALIEN day! For this special day, I thought I'd share how the ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo board game was created!

In spring of 2020, I was contacted by Ravensburger about their available licenses. I'm fortunate to be on a list of game creators that are offered the opportunity to pitch game ideas to the publisher. ALIEN was on the list and as I'm a big fan of the sci-fi thriller, I knew I had to give it my best shot!

 

 

I ended up pitching two concepts - one based on the 1979 movie and an original idea set in the ALIEN universe around the time of the original movie. Ravensburger's response to both concepts were positive - and they asked me if I could combine the two ideas: Take the game mechanics from the original idea's pitch but base the game on the setting of the original film. When I said that I could, I was asked for a more detailed example of the game. Grabbing some components from other games I had in my collection, I set to work putting together a prototype!

Ravensburger had a few requests for the design: they were excited about the "Jump scare" deck mentioned in the pitch, so I had to explain how that worked...

...and I was asked to not have player elimination or a traitor mechanic in the game design. I said "you do realize this is a movie with player elimination and a traitor mechanic, right?" They replied "You'll figure something out." So instead, I came up with a fear mechanic - the more frightened you got, the less you could do. If you were ever "too scared" to do anything, the game was over.

And of course, Jonesy had to make an appearance in the game. However, I didn't want him to be a player character or a first-player token. Instead, I wanted him to act as he did in the film - causing jump scares to the player and even being a source of frustration until the player could capture him in the cat-carrier.

 

Once all of the pieces were in place, my family playtested the game over and over and over again. This was one of the happy side-effects of the global pandemic - a captive playtesting group!

 

My family was a great help and my kids dubbed the ALIEN miniature "Alan" - enjoying making him "grab" the astronaut miniatures that were stand-in for the player characters. Note the "Ash" miniature stand-in that became a standee in the final game.

Meanwhile, Ravensburger's Steve Warner was leading the remote playtesting efforts on the game. They came up with some of the game's better improvements - turning the jump scare deck into tokens, and splitting the board into two "levels" of the ship.

 

 

This prototype image shows several ideas that were discarded including individual "fear" for each character, a die used to determine the Alien's location (which was meant to be in the shape of the classic egg) and a meter that increased the Alien's speed and lethal-ness as it increased. This is all part of the iterative design process - you try ideas, they either don't work or don't improve the game, so you come up with something else.

Another funny moment during development: I'm friends with sculptor Brian Dugas and we were DMing each other about what projects we were working on - without telling each other what projects we were working on. I deduced that he was working on the minis for ALIEN and said "Hey! I'm designing that game!" We both had a good laugh and I'm glad that Brian was on the project - he's super-talented and it's always great to work with friends.

Like I mentioned, the board was constantly changing as the game developed. These are just a few of the configurations we played with over the course of development. But, I'm pleased with what we ended up with - it follows the structure of the ship as seen in the movie but still allows for interesting movement and gameplay. Also, I love the little details - especially the "acid drip" that is on both levels of the ship map.

Another happy moment was when we learned we could use the likenesses of the actors. This isn't always the case - but having portraits and the other components painted by Stefen Koidl, Studio Hive and Vlad Rodriguez really made the game come alive.

The icing on the cake was the Jonesy "jump scare" that greets you when you open the box. I give full credit to Steve and Ravensburger for that one. It was a highlight of the production and a memorable moment for those who bought the game.

ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo came out in the summer of 2021 and I couldn't be more proud to have designed the game!

 

Designer Diary: The one that got away.

 This week, Disney released this teaser poster from the upcoming Haunted Mansion movie.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a pre-screening of the movie and without violating my NDA, let's just say that Mansion fans will be pleased. After watching the film, it reminded me of a board game that I had designed based on the classic theme park attraction. 

Back in 2018, I was invited by a publisher to pitch ideas based on licenses they had access to. One of them was Disney. Because I am a big Disney theme park fan and a bigger Haunted Mansion fan, I asked them "since they had the Disney license, did this mean that they had the rights to make games based on the theme park attractions?" They admitted that they hadn't thought about it and asked. When they came back finally came back with a "yes", I went to work on several pitches based on theme park attractions including the Haunted Mansion. 

This is the pitch deck I sent them:

As you can see from the pitch, I wanted to make a game that could be slightly scary, slightly fun just like the attraction. As you can tell, I took my inspiration (and more than a few components) from another of my favorite games: Betrayal at House on the Hill. 

I had always noticed that when gamers complained about BaHotH, they often mentioned how they love the exploration half of the game they disliked the traitor half of the game. 

  

Taking that complaint in mind, my design emphasized the exploration but rather than making one player become the bad guy, the villain would be the ghostly bride who - with the use of cards - chased you around the house. If she caught you, you would get a "death certificate" - you couldn't win if you had one. You had to visit Madame Leota in her seance chamber to remove it. 

Fun Note: I originally made The Hatbox Ghost the villain of the game, but I figured that not enough people knew who he was. That will change when the new movie comes out. ;)

  

You also couldn't leave the Mansion if you had ghosts following you - inspired by the quote "Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts, they may try to follow you home" - so you need to appease them by finding items in the house that they want.

The publisher was excited about my pitch and asked for a prototype to evaluate. I leapt at the opportunity although I always clarify to the publisher that this is just a "crude model" rather than the art and design of the final game. I even designed a box!

Both the publisher (and by their reports, the licensor) was excited about my pitch and the prototype... but in 2020 I was informed that the Haunted Mansion license went to another publisher who made a very different style of game.

Needless to say, I was disappointed that this didn't happen as I love the Haunted Mansion and would still love to have a game based on it published. Maybe I'll take my own advice and "Make my own damn Haunted Mansion" game someday.

Announcing YOUR TURN! The Guide to Great Tabletop Game Design!

 

Well, the cat's out of the bag!

I've been writing a new book about tabletop game design called YOUR TURN! The guide to great tabletop game design which is being published by my friends at Wiley & Sons!

 It's like my other books - LEVEL UP! The guide to great video game design and SWIPE THIS! The guide to touchscreen game design - but this one is about analog/board games!

Not only do I share all of my experiences, tips and tricks about professionally designing tabletop games but you'll also learn the history of these genres, the mechanisms that you can use for your own games and how to pitch your game to publishers... or publish it yourself using crowdfunding!

YOUR TURN! features hundreds of original illustrations that I have drawn myself! And best of all, you will learn how to design SIX TABLETOP GAMES of different genres that you can play for yourself!

I can't wait for you to read YOUR TURN! and take your turn designing tabletop games! You can pre-order YOUR TURN! either at Amazon.com or at the Wiley.com website or look for it this summer at your favorite book seller!

Texas Chainsaw Massacre game pre-order!

 I receieved this message from my friends at Trick or Treat Studios!

 

 

We are excited to announce the Officially Licensed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Game! A new tabletop game of horror from designer Scott Rogers, illustrated by Terry Wolfinger. 

 

The players' van has run out of gas, leaving them stranded and at the mercy of the Slaughter family! Work together and push your luck to escape! Preorder Now! https://bit.ly/3UTWqIb

 

I had a lot of fun designing this game, I hope you enjoy playing it!

Watch Gamemaster for FREE!

 

In 2020, I was fortunate to be involved with a documentary film about board games entitled Gamemaster. 

If you've never seen it before, it's available for FREE on Kanopy and Tubi.  

https://kanopy.com/en/product/11057426  

https://tubitv.com/movies/685771/

Board Game contract advice from Not-A-Lawyer

 

Recently, someone asked me "what needs to be in a board game contract"?

Negotiating a contract as a board game designer/inventor can be a tricky thing, especially if you've had no formal training in business - like me. But I have had to negotiate my own contracts in the past and have created a list of topics that you want to make sure are in your own contract:

1) Your advance. How much is it? How far from contract signing will you get paid? Does it come out of royalty? Do you still keep it if game doesn't get made?

2: Your Royalty Rate. How much is it (2-10% is average)? How often do you get paid? Is there a minimum that the game must sell to get issued a royalty check or does it roll over to next period? Does the rate increase if more than a set # of games are sold?

3) You advance/royalty on reprint copies or international translated copies. Do you get an advance or royalty for each language the game is translated into? If there is a second edition (or more) does your royalty rate go up?

4) 1st right of refusal for expansions, second editions, etc. Do you get "first crack" at any new material based on the core game? Do you get an advance/royalty on those derivative products? Do you get your name on the box/in the credits as the originator of the base game?

5) Kickstarter/electronic sales royalty. Often the prod. run printed for Kickstarter is different than those for traditional distribution. What % of the KS do you get (it should be higher than your normal royalty). The same is true for any games sold via Amazon, etc.

6) What is the payment schedule? How often do you get paid? What happens if there is a missed payment? What is the minimum that the publisher will pay? Is it paid electronically or via check?

7) Comps. How many copies of the game do you receive? I usually ask for a case or 6 copies. These are great for self-promotion, friends and family gifts, as well as a copy for your own library.

8) Credits. How are you credited? (be firm on which title you get - this is the #1 way pubs may "screw" you) Where are you credited? If possible, always on the box - front is preferable. But also demand to be listed in the manual and on the BGG website.

9) Rights reversion. If you are licensing your game (which is better than selling it) when do they revert back to you? What reverts back to you: design only or the art and other assets created for the game? Do you own the title too?

10) Additional copies of game. Do you have the option to buy more copies of your game from the publisher? Is it at wholesale price? lower than wholesale? Can you buy remaining stock if game stops being sold?

I suggest negotiating things like video game rights, toy rights, clothing rights, etc. into a different contract as they are moderately to severely different things from your board game. Your rights in your contract should focus on the board game and any "ancillary" products (like game mats, KS stretch goals, etc.)

Keep in mind that I'm not a lawyer. These are just the information and knowledge that I've picked up over negotiating contracts on my own and making mistakes, but I'm getting better at it. 

I wish you the best of luck!