In our last instalment, I was talking about the things I wanted and didn’t want in my future game, as well as some of the other games I have taken inspiration from.
However, it was immediately apparent that despite wanting to make a board game, I haven’t actually played too many. Much of my games experience has come in the form of playing TCGs (distinct from board games) and video games, and the number of actual board games I had played paled in comparison.
This, I knew was something to be rectified, as playing other games would give me insights into what worked and didn’t, and what I liked and didn’t like. As well as introducing me to foundational concepts and gameplay patterns.
So I took it upon myself to y’know… play some games! I gathered some of my closest friends on a Thursday night to visit Boardies Barin Fitzroy, a board game bar, and y’know… played some games! Although the time we spent regrettably passed by so quickly, I did get a chance to try some new games - namely Sushi Go Party! and Codenames, which I knew as being very popular party games and also ones that I had neglected to ever play.
So let’s talk about them.
Sushi Go Party!
This was the first of the new games that I tried, and as an introduction for the unfamiliar, revolves around the idea of forming the highest scoring combination of sushi dishes to form a meal, where each dish has a different score, sometimes requiring multiples to count. The game was also one centred around drafting cards, where you are given a stack of cards, you take one, pass it one and get one from your neighbour and so on. Drafting is a form of play I love in Magic: The Gathering, so it was nice to play a game which employed a similar concept. My affinity for drafting comes the satisfaction of “building the perfect deck”, and employs a different kind of mental muscle than other forms of gameplay.
In terms of the complexity of the game, it was super easy to pick up, and the resemblance to a “sushi train” helped in our understanding. It was quick, managed to still have player interaction in the form of the Miso Soup card, which punished players who both drafted that same card within a round adding a mental mini-game aspect, as well as the Maki cards, which rewarded players for picking up the most of said card compared to other players.
Over all, the aspects of Sushi Go Party! I would love to take with me is the drafting element, and using it as an example of how drafting can work in a game, as well as the strong conceptual element of the gameplay reflecting the real life idea of a sushi train which it is trying to mimic too.
Codenames
Codenames is one of those games that everyone knows, and everyone loves, but somehow was one that I had avoided all this time. I had seen many of my friends play it but each time I would for some reason not be in the mood to learn. Needless to say, I have been sorely missing out. The broad concept of the word-based game is one where you need to use a word-based clue given to you by a teammate to deduce which combination of other related words belong to your team and score points. That was definitely a bad explanation of the game, but you should just go and try it for yourself.
I didn’t get many games in, but reflecting on my limited gameplay, the idea of competing directly as equal teams was novel, given that many of the games I had played were free-for-all or “imposters” in a group of people (like Secret Hitler), and is likely one I will take forward with me. Furthermore, the collaborative aspect of teammates working with their “spymaster” was a dynamic I really enjoyed, where you really had to work with each other to succeed instead of just one person domineering.
Lenticular design
I have recently just started listening to Mark Rosewater’s Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast chronicling the many tales of makes the behemoth game.
In Episode 2, he introduces the idea of lenticular design , referring to game mechanics which manage to add complexity which rewards higher-skilled and experienced players, but also don’t make the game more difficult for less-experienced players. Read more about it in the linked article above, as it’s a core concept I want to bring into my game.
To finish off, it was great being able to try new games, and I know that I have barely scratched the surface of what’s out there. And even though I could spend more time dedicated to just trying new games and doing my research, the best way to learn is by doing, so how ‘bout we actually just start making something?
Next: 03 - Throwing stuff at a wall... (coming soon)
Enough thinking about doing… let’s just do it.