GAME DESIGN TV - Part II: the Production

See here for Part I in this series.

Then one morning, the doorbell rang and writer/producer Fredérique Veith strolled in with her cameraman and another who did the sound & lighting. They had just a few pieces of equipment to carry, and set up quickly. All were very friendly, and before long, we were shooting in my living room.

It was fun to be able to hit the main points of the design process, recording each one in front of the camera, interjecting brief interviews on subjects such as the inspiration behind a game idea and the different elements that make up a good game. They filmed me paging through one of my son’s books on medieval castles, for example, as I pondered the design of Würfelburg. I also showed them a reconstructed “first prototype” that I made with my sons, using their wooden blocks and a standard square game box (the game was always meant to use both sides of the game box, the way many Zoch games do).

Many of the shots were quite repetitive, as they wanted multiple camera angles for each scene. At one point, for example, I was instructed to enter the room, move my hand along the games stacked in the bookshelf, pull one out to take a closer look, slip it back into place, pull out another one, slip it back, repeat again and again and again. Another time, they filmed me opening one of the drawers of wooden bits I keep for prototypes, searching through with my hands, then closing it again. Then I opened another, and another, until I came to the dice drawer, where I reached in to grab the correct colors of dice I needed. I supposed that there would be quite a few close-ups of my hands in the finished production.

They filmed me creating the graphics for the prototype on my laptop, but carefully avoided getting a shot of the obvious lighted brand symbol on the back of my computer. The camera then captured the action of graphics being printed out onto sticky-back paper and being laminated. Finally, it zoomed in on my scissors, as I cut out the glossy graphics and carefully peeled off the backs, sticking them to the dice and the cardboard. I could only imagine what kind of theme music they would use when this was all spliced together.

Towards the end, I brought out the finished prototype to demonstrate my first play-tests with it. Again, it was repetitive, as I flicked one die after the other. “Flick another one to exactly the same place,” I was often told. “If the game were that easy, I wouldn’t have designed it!” I wanted to say.

One angle Fredérique wanted to pursue was my background in architecture, and I dusted off my portfolio to show some of my work in that area. My design process with games is actually very similar to what it was with architecture. Back then, I would design through building models—sometimes using all sorts of materials, even wire and plaster. As a game designer, I prefer to design through prototyping, “building” many different versions until I finally feel comfortable taking it to my group for play-testing. Some designers prefer to have the game all worked out in their head, but I think better while I’m working with my hands and working on visual elements.

A few hours after the crew arrived, they were packed and out the door again. We met later that evening in the Spielwiese to film the most critical part of the design process: the play-testing session. Designer Bernd Eisenstein along with regular play-testers Rolf and Alfred were there. Jerome, a new designer to our group, who recently moved to Berlin from Canada, also joined us. Most of them were already familiar with my game, and we flicked dice under the bright lights as the camera moved about, capturing every angle imaginable. After filming a few minutes of the start, we moved the victory point markers ahead to jump to the end of the game. Then my play-testers were asked to give their impressions. Fredérique was excited to have Jerome there, as he came from Quebec and could answer in French, as X:enius is produced in two languages. Accordingly, I made an official request for a deep French voice for my overdub.

As I took a break to chat with Michael, they had the guys play some other games like Chess in front of the camera. That was probably the first time I’d ever seen that game come out in the Spielwiese!

The next and final step in the “Game-umentory” was on the following week, when the two moderators of the show came to the Spielwiese to interview owner Michael Schmitt, have a go with my prototype, and ask some more questions.

To be continued…

The Sylvester Awards

Although Peer Sylvester has his own regular game night, meeting in his home across town (and, in Berlin, “across town” is quite far away), he does make it to our playtesting sessions in theSpielwiese often, and has tested many of my prototypes and those of other designers over the years, as well as bringing plenty of his own to the table. In fact, I enjoyed getting to know him better back in 2005 when we drove to the Göttingen Game Designer’s Convention together, each with a backpack full of prototypes to pitch to publishers. He was showing King of Siam for the first time, in fact.

Later, I discovered his blog, Spielbar, and was surprised to learn that he had awarded my card game, Pala, a “Sylvester” for his favorite prototype of the year. “Sylvester” is both a play on his name and on the German name for New Year’s Eve (Silvester), thus the fun graphic.

POSTCARD FROM BERLIN #45: Limits

My latest article in the Postcards From Berlin series is up on the brand-new Opinionated Gamers web site.

In it, I write about limits in life and games. Check it out (and the rest of the web site too)!

GAME DESIGN TV - Part I: the Concept

Lately, it seems, we’ve had as many journalists as playtesters visiting our game designers’ sessions at Berlin’s gaming café, the Spielwiese. And some of our games are even turning up on television on the other side of the ocean, most notably CBS Sunday Morning’s recent program, “Board Games Through the Ages.” Today, the German cultural station ARTE aired their own take on the international gaming culture and the place of games in society throughout history. Made for the daily program X:enius (available in German and French), it is entitled "Warum wir spielen, und was wir dadurch lernen (Why we play and what we learn from it)."

Late last year, a documentary filmmaker contacted me about participating in the project. She was particularly interested in the process of game design, and she was intrigued by the number of freelance designers on whom publishers rely for their products. Herself a freelance producer, she wanted to make a program that also showed the design process for one of my yet-unpublished games.

I’ve always been very interested in both journalism and film. Just as she was interested in learning more about the game design process, I was excited to learn more about the filmmaking process. I must admit, however, that I was also humbled, as I don’t design games for a living, and there are many German designers who are much more established and successful than I am. “I think your background in architecture also makes the story interesting, as well as the fact that you discovered German games here as a foreigner,” the producer assured me.

I’ve done interviews in the past, as the Spielwiese gets plenty of press for it’s unique business plan as a gaming cafe and rental shop. In fact, I’d even done an interview once for a Japanese TV program which was filming a feature on German boardgames. The show was meant to help people in that country learn German, and I apologized after the interview for the many Japanese who would now be speaking the language with an American accent.

But this would be different–a program which detailed the process I go through to get a game idea out of my head, onto paper, then onto the screen, and finally, back onto paper (and cardboard) as a prototype, ready to play-test in my Monday-night group. What would I say? What would I wear–artsy black, geeky t-shirt, or gamy Hawaiian print? And, most importantly, which unpublished prototype would I feature?

I finally decided on Würfelburg (Dice Castle), a game I’d been working on for some time and had just “finished.” It’s a 3-dimensional dexterity game, and I decided that would probably look the best on TV and would provide a bit more action that simply drawing cards and moving pieces on a board. The producer agreed.

Since the prototype was already finished, however, I had to do some preparation for the shoot. This meant a kind of “reverse game design,” as I had to erase some of my computer graphics so that I could redraw them in front of the camera, then print them out, etc. And I gathered all of my materials together in one corner of the living room to make it easier to film: computer, printer, laminating machine, and drawers of wooden gaming bits, dice and plastic chips.

The next morning, the doorbell rang and film crew strolled in with their gear...

...to be continued.

International Gaming Hub

One of the benefits of living in a European metropolis is the opportunity to "melt in the pot" of internationals living here. My wife just attended an international choir concert at Hans Scharoun's impressive Philharmonie concert house featuring traditional Turkish and Russian music, along with American gospel music. It was a four-hour event that could not have been more eclectic.

Last week, I stopped by the Spielwiese for a quick visit with Michael, and we reminisced on the variety of visitors he's had at his gaming cafe since it's start 4 years ago. Some Europeans come here specifically to get their yearly stash of German games, while other internationals are so intrigued by the concept of a gaming cafe with game rentals that they make it one of their tourist destinations.

Reality Cheque

After recently receiving a royalty report for one of my games, I realized I've reached a milestone of sorts. My 5 games published since the end of 2008 have now sold a total of more than 20,000 copies around the world. The past two years have been very rewarding, as I've had the opportunity to meet and work with so many interesting people in the hobby and industry. I am still enjoying these relationships in addition to the design process, and have no shortage of ideas for the future.

However, I also realize that this number is completely incomparable to the amounts of games that better-known full-time designers sell every year. A game that wins the Spiel des Jahres, the Game of the Year award in Germany, for example, typically sells at least ten times this number!