hey Jason! just wanted to say I had a really thrilling play of Tin Helm yesterday. usually I die, but this time I found the third shard with a single health remaining. super wonderful. really enjoying listening to your designer journals & your thought process. thanks for sharing!
I just want to say that your thought process, which resolves around the minimalist approach to game components, really hits the high note with me. The big box games not only demand more shelf space but also incur maintenance efforts as well. Especially for those places where there is high humidity. I am currently living in a sub tropical region closer to the equator, and I have to keep my dehumidifier running for almost 24/7 just to keep the mould from devouring my games. Recently, I've become a huge fan of your games, such as Tin Helm and Gate (+Gates). I've also placed a copy of DustRunner (and everything Iron Helm) from the recent TGC Crowdsales as well. I'm looking forward to the Crowdsales of your upcoming UnderQuest.
I agree with everything! If I may add: an advantage of smaller games, such as an 18-card one, is that the math for the mechanics becomes a lot less overwhelming and balance becomes relatively faster to do.
I've gotten several of my friends interested in your games primarily because of the minimalist and approachable size and of course the artwork. Keep up the great work! Also, an idea for an upcoming video, could you do a tour of your game shelf? It would be great to see what games have interested or influenced you in the past. Thanks!
Thanks, I obviously feel the same way. I have zero desire to play a huge game, let alone design one. I think a place exists for those games and certainly many many people love them. However, I will take a small clever thematic game that I can play in an hour over a monstrous-sized game with a million rules and bits that takes 4 hours. But that is just what I like, so that is what I design. :)
Jason, I’m a huge fan of promoting smaller games from smaller people than these massive Kickstarters that never hit the table. Which btw, is really what Kickstarter in theory is supposed to be about supporting the little guy. I have recently been buying games from Japan and the form factor is amazing. A lot of quality content in a much smaller package. Keep doing what you are doing so well sir. I greatly appreciate your thoughts on this subject.
What we need now is a video tutorial of how to make a card game in Game Crafter (for those of us who have not done so before). How you make your cards and get the images into Game Crafter, how you do the box, etc..
It hadn't occurred to me before watching this that game designers are playing a game just designing a game! Your "design small" philosophy, keeping thematics high while realistically limiting yourself to the size of a printed sheet of cards or chits, makes the game YOU are playing kind of a euro game. You win the design game when it's complete and people buy and play your games. Having played games you've already made, I can say I can't wait to see and play this new one.
Thank you so much for the kind thoughts! It truly is a puzzle and it is what keeps me designing. You could tell me I have no limits and that I could have limitless cards, and boards, and custom plastic minis, and metal coins, and all of that and I simply would struggle to create. I need a limitation to get my juices flowing. That is why I encourage all new designers to participate in as many contests as you can. Restrict yourself and you will learn how to become a solid designer.
I just ordered Tin Helm; and you should know that you have inspired me to try my hand at designing a game of similar size (with similar limitations). Thanks.
Thank you for doing this series Jason. You've inspired me to come up with my own small box/tin sized game. I've never done anything like this before and each stage has been its own little puzzle, especially since I started playtesting It, it feels like a single point of health or armour changes things by a lot more than I would've thought. Balancing feels like a delecate process!
Balancing can be tough. What typically works for me is making some factors set in stone (Example: Make all your enemies and give them set health and attack strength or what have you) then I just adjust the character the player is playing until it works. If you keep adjusting all factors at once it can become quite the nightmare. So essentially try making a good portion of your numbers set in stone and adjust the others until they work. Sometimes you may have to change the values you had set, but it does make the process a bit smoother.
@@jasonglover6615 thanks for the advice dude, I'll give that a go! Looking forward to checking out UnderQuest when it eventually drops! The artwork especially on those location cards is really good man.
It is interesting how constraint can fuel creativity. Makes me think of John Carpenter's earliest work, and arguably his best. Limitation and ingenuity are bffs.
Really appreciating this series. I also like smaller games and am digging what I have seen from Underquest. You probably already caught this, but I did notice duplicate flavor text on one of the cards you posted on social media (I believe it was the Undercache location). Figured I would mention it just in case.
That was caught. Thanks for letting me know though. I am excited for UnderQuest because it is not exactly small in my mind, but I bet many folks will consider it small. My goal is to cram as much theme and mechanics and choices into that box so that the game feels much larger than the sum of its parts.
Hi Jason. I share you some ideas to make a new Game. Can be to do the Desolate 2 but with a few changes. *Zombies apocalypse theme. *New elements: -Terror: if arrive to XX points, Game ends. -XP/Favor: can be the currency to obtain benefits (like in Altar, customers, events...). *Enemies: If you no kill the zombie card enemy, UP level. Like Palm island, fliping the card. And backs more dangerous for the Next rounds. If you skip the zombie, sustract a card from the "resolutión deck pile". There says: *Skip: if is level 2, ups to level 3. If is level 4, receibes his special attack (can be lose 1 food, increade terror, spend 1 time "discard 1 exploration card"...). *Combat: you attack first. There are 3 tipes to energy: 1)Luck (no energy): D8: 1 to 5, 6=0, 7&8= roll d6 if is 1to3 gain an afliction; if is 4to6=simply fails=0. 2)Low energy: D6. 3)High energy: D8 (Minimum value 2). Can be a resolution deck with a table: Example: Luck: 2, Low energy: 4, High energy: 7. Counters of enemies. Depends level and Hit Points remaining. Example: Level 1: 1-3hp: fails. // 4+HP: 2 damage. Level 2: 1hp: fails // 2+HP: 4 damage. Level 3: 1-5hp: 2 damage + 1 terror. // 6+HP: 1 afliction. Level 4: 1-7hp: 3 damage + 1 terror. //8+HP: 5 damage + special attack. The enemies cards indicate the special ability (Up terror, lose food, lose time, lose Favor, level Up the Next enemy card, lose 1 item...) Only in level 3 and 4 (the dangerous). When you fight the enemy, decrease him 1 level and discard. When you kill the enemy, decrease to level 1. The objectives "cells energy/other thing like kill graveyard" cost energy, IS not free! And each time needs more successfull points to pass the test. Can't be use the luck, only energy. 1)4+, 2)5+, 3)7+, 4)9+, 5) 11+ and is won! When you end the deck, rest all the energy dice (small and Big energy). You need eat 3 rations instad 2. And gain 1 afliction by each ration no eated. Exploration deck: Tramps can be skiped spending energy points or luck. You can gain new energy dice (small and bigs) but requires sacrifices... More or less, these are some ideas. A big hug.
hey Jason! just wanted to say I had a really thrilling play of Tin Helm yesterday. usually I die, but this time I found the third shard with a single health remaining. super wonderful. really enjoying listening to your designer journals & your thought process. thanks for sharing!
I just want to say that your thought process, which resolves around the minimalist approach to game components, really hits the high note with me. The big box games not only demand more shelf space but also incur maintenance efforts as well. Especially for those places where there is high humidity. I am currently living in a sub tropical region closer to the equator, and I have to keep my dehumidifier running for almost 24/7 just to keep the mould from devouring my games. Recently, I've become a huge fan of your games, such as Tin Helm and Gate (+Gates). I've also placed a copy of DustRunner (and everything Iron Helm) from the recent TGC Crowdsales as well. I'm looking forward to the Crowdsales of your upcoming UnderQuest.
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left
to take away.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Thank you for that !
I agree with everything! If I may add: an advantage of smaller games, such as an 18-card one, is that the math for the mechanics becomes a lot less overwhelming and balance becomes relatively faster to do.
I've gotten several of my friends interested in your games primarily because of the minimalist and approachable size and of course the artwork. Keep up the great work!
Also, an idea for an upcoming video, could you do a tour of your game shelf? It would be great to see what games have interested or influenced you in the past. Thanks!
Thank you for this video discussion. The older I get, the more I find myself attracted to smaller games that are efficient and elegant in design.
Thanks, I obviously feel the same way. I have zero desire to play a huge game, let alone design one. I think a place exists for those games and certainly many many people love them. However, I will take a small clever thematic game that I can play in an hour over a monstrous-sized game with a million rules and bits that takes 4 hours. But that is just what I like, so that is what I design. :)
Jason, I’m a huge fan of promoting smaller games from smaller people than these massive Kickstarters that never hit the table. Which btw, is really what Kickstarter in theory is supposed to be about supporting the little guy. I have recently been buying games from Japan and the form factor is amazing. A lot of quality content in a much smaller package. Keep doing what you are doing so well sir. I greatly appreciate your thoughts on this subject.
Thank you for both the support and the kind words!
What we need now is a video tutorial of how to make a card game in Game Crafter (for those of us who have not done so before). How you make your cards and get the images into Game Crafter, how you do the box, etc..
It hadn't occurred to me before watching this that game designers are playing a game just designing a game! Your "design small" philosophy, keeping thematics high while realistically limiting yourself to the size of a printed sheet of cards or chits, makes the game YOU are playing kind of a euro game. You win the design game when it's complete and people buy and play your games. Having played games you've already made, I can say I can't wait to see and play this new one.
Thank you so much for the kind thoughts! It truly is a puzzle and it is what keeps me designing. You could tell me I have no limits and that I could have limitless cards, and boards, and custom plastic minis, and metal coins, and all of that and I simply would struggle to create. I need a limitation to get my juices flowing. That is why I encourage all new designers to participate in as many contests as you can. Restrict yourself and you will learn how to become a solid designer.
Very excited to see this game develop!!! Any rough idea when we will be able to get a copy?
I just ordered Tin Helm; and you should know that you have inspired me to try my hand at designing a game of similar size (with similar limitations). Thanks.
Thank you for doing this series Jason. You've inspired me to come up with my own small box/tin sized game. I've never done anything like this before and each stage has been its own little puzzle, especially since I started playtesting It, it feels like a single point of health or armour changes things by a lot more than I would've thought. Balancing feels like a delecate process!
Balancing can be tough. What typically works for me is making some factors set in stone (Example: Make all your enemies and give them set health and attack strength or what have you) then I just adjust the character the player is playing until it works. If you keep adjusting all factors at once it can become quite the nightmare. So essentially try making a good portion of your numbers set in stone and adjust the others until they work. Sometimes you may have to change the values you had set, but it does make the process a bit smoother.
@@jasonglover6615 thanks for the advice dude, I'll give that a go! Looking forward to checking out UnderQuest when it eventually drops! The artwork especially on those location cards is really good man.
It is interesting how constraint can fuel creativity. Makes me think of John Carpenter's earliest work, and arguably his best. Limitation and ingenuity are bffs.
Really appreciating this series. I also like smaller games and am digging what I have seen from Underquest. You probably already caught this, but I did notice duplicate flavor text on one of the cards you posted on social media (I believe it was the Undercache location). Figured I would mention it just in case.
That was caught. Thanks for letting me know though. I am excited for UnderQuest because it is not exactly small in my mind, but I bet many folks will consider it small. My goal is to cram as much theme and mechanics and choices into that box so that the game feels much larger than the sum of its parts.
Hi Jason. I share you some ideas to make a new Game.
Can be to do the Desolate 2 but with a few changes.
*Zombies apocalypse theme.
*New elements:
-Terror: if arrive to XX points, Game ends.
-XP/Favor: can be the currency to obtain benefits (like in Altar, customers, events...).
*Enemies: If you no kill the zombie card enemy, UP level. Like Palm island, fliping the card. And backs more dangerous for the Next rounds.
If you skip the zombie, sustract a card from the "resolutión deck pile". There says:
*Skip: if is level 2, ups to level 3. If is level 4, receibes his special attack (can be lose 1 food, increade terror, spend 1 time "discard 1 exploration card"...).
*Combat: you attack first. There are 3 tipes to energy:
1)Luck (no energy):
D8: 1 to 5, 6=0, 7&8= roll d6 if is 1to3 gain an afliction; if is 4to6=simply fails=0.
2)Low energy: D6.
3)High energy: D8 (Minimum value 2).
Can be a resolution deck with a table:
Example:
Luck: 2, Low energy: 4, High energy: 7.
Counters of enemies. Depends level and Hit Points remaining. Example:
Level 1: 1-3hp: fails. // 4+HP: 2 damage.
Level 2: 1hp: fails // 2+HP: 4 damage.
Level 3: 1-5hp: 2 damage + 1 terror. // 6+HP: 1 afliction.
Level 4: 1-7hp: 3 damage + 1 terror. //8+HP: 5 damage + special attack.
The enemies cards indicate the special ability (Up terror, lose food, lose time, lose Favor, level Up the Next enemy card, lose 1 item...) Only in level 3 and 4 (the dangerous). When you fight the enemy, decrease him 1 level and discard. When you kill the enemy, decrease to level 1.
The objectives "cells energy/other thing like kill graveyard" cost energy, IS not free! And each time needs more successfull points to pass the test. Can't be use the luck, only energy.
1)4+, 2)5+, 3)7+, 4)9+, 5) 11+ and is won!
When you end the deck, rest all the energy dice (small and Big energy).
You need eat 3 rations instad 2. And gain 1 afliction by each ration no eated.
Exploration deck:
Tramps can be skiped spending energy points or luck.
You can gain new energy dice (small and bigs) but requires sacrifices...
More or less, these are some ideas. A big hug.