Finding Inspiration in Others
This past Saturday, my partner and I spent our day at the BOINGA Indie Board Game Showcase in Boston. Check out the list of games that were there.
0
This is a really welcoming and awesome event for (mostly) local designers to show off their new, or existing games. Even better you get to chat with the designers, hear how the game was designed, how many boxes of inventory are stored in their parents' basements, and meet other friendly gamers in the community.
I struggle with motivation to find the time and energy to commit to designing games. After a full day of work, it's hard to sit back at a computer or notebook and try to iterate on ideas. I'm really in awe of the hard work and dedication these designers put into their games. Some have said they wake up at 3AM or 4AM to work on their game before their children wake up.
I was very shocked at the quality and state of the games. While some were in early stages, others were so good I was willing to buy them if only they had more than just their prototypes. I want to highlight a few games here.
Lem-Tori - Jonathan Ellis
Described to us by the designer Jonathan Ellis as Tic-Tac-To crossed with Rock-Paper-Scissors, Lem-Tori has 2-4 players competing to make simple patterns on a 3x3 board. The nuance being that you can override you opponents' cards my playing a stronger element over it.
We played with three players and this game really has a beautiful learning curve as you start to identify strategies to block your opponent or protect your own cards. This game really impressed me; it can be taught in about 60 seconds, and the rule book is literally a page.
We learned the name is a fun play on words of element and elementary. This game really inspired me so much. I had recently failed at a twist on Rock-Paper-Scissors, and Lem-Tori absolutely succeeds at combining two children's games into a incredibly simple yet strategic game.
Alex
I Smell a Rat - Henry Seraphim
We took on jobs for the mob while trying to figure out which of us was the Rat. This highly thematic social deduction game accomplished it's goal, it had me yelling at strangers I had met 30 minutes prior that they absolutely were the rat and we need to shoot them!
The game plays out over a series of rounds where players contribute good or bad cards to a shared deck and then as a team push your luck drawing cards. This gives a few opportunities for the rat to secretly try and prevent the mob players from accomplishing their goals without obviously outing themselves.
This had some really cool art for the Mob, Mole, and Rat role cards. (I unfortunately didn't get pictures of them.) I hope to see this one again in the future. Henry, the designer, was super awesome and really made his game a blast to play.
Pirates of the High Teas - Emily Vincent
a game with a punderful name! Just recently launched on Kickstarter, Emily's game looks amazing and was a real joy to play. I was amazed at how quickly Emily can teach her game, and get a demo done. This is a light to medium weight worker placement and set collection game, but we played through 3 rounds real quick, got a great taste (pun intended), and was able to move on to check out other games.
The game has a real breezy feel to it where you are collecting and turning in your cards rather rapidly for points. It looks really stunning with a wonderfully unique color palette.
What's really incredible is that Emily didn't just dive into being a designer, but also started her own publishing company. You can read some of her earlier blog entries here. The more I have read about manufacturing, distribution, and marketing, the less I feel inclined to even dream about trying it at a large scale.
Self Reflection
I'm currently at a point where I feel the need for more creativity in my life, and I would love for games to be my outlet for that. However, making them still requires significant, even monumental effort. I'm impressed by every design I saw this weekend. Half of them looked tired. I think all but one work day jobs with games as their passion
I get a lot of mixed feelings at these kinds of events. I get oddly opposing feelings. One of self-doubt and another that is motivating and encouraging. On one hand I struggle to see myself ever making games half as good as some of these. Other times I feel like these are just a group potential friends, hanging out and showing their cool new ideas. I could certainly do that too.
I'm taking a break from work soon, and I want to spend my time really focusing on game design. To make space for this hobby in my life, and reclaim some creativity in my life. I just hope that will be lasting, and won't fade when I eventually need to return to work and get back to paying the bills.