Hagoth on Board Game News!

For a while now I've been wanting to put down on paper the story of Hagoth and how the whole game came to be. Well, a few days ago, Eric from Board Game News (here) asked me if I would be interested in writing a Designers Diary article for his website. So, there was the slight push to get this put together. He just posted the write up (here) for anyone who may be interested in how the game design happened and how it came to be published by Mayday Games and ready for purchase (here).

Hagoth Demo Copy!!

Recently Seth from Mayday Games sent me on of the demo copies of Hagoth. He received 3 from the factory. These demo copies are sent as a way of checking to make sure everything is good before doing the full print run.

I figured I'd share some pictures of the game up to this point. For the most part everything looks good. There are a few things that need to be fixed before full production, but that is being taken care of and shouldn't take too long to finish.

It's great to get the game in my hands and see pretty much what it's going to be like once it's officially released. It sure is a lot different from the prototypes I had put together at the beginning. It's actually really cool to see how it has changed over time. I'm going to do a write up of the development of the game from idea to publication. But that won't be ready until the game has been officially released.

 

Also, SaltCon that is taking place this weekend (there's a link to the site in the right-hand column of the blog here). Seth will be there and is going to be running a session or two with Hagoth so that people can see the game and learn how to play it!

Passive vs Active Entertainment

Yehuda just posted about board games and whether they are passive or active entertainment (here). And that post, of course, really got me thinking (his posts seem to do that) about these sorts of issues in the both LDS games that are currently available and in the LDS themed games that I am designing.

Passive Entertainment
This shows up in a game when the game is ruled by randomness: you roll the dice or you spin the spinner or the drawn card determines what happens in the game. In Yehuda's words: "When you roll the dice and laugh, groan, or jump for joy at the outcome, you are enjoying passive entertainment" In other words, you don't have to do a lot of thinking or "strategizing" in the game. Your involvement is quite passive.

Active Entertainment
If you play a game that involves you making many decisions, laying out plans, or thinking up different strategies that will help you accomplish the goals of the game, then you are involved in a more active entertainment. Again, in the words of Yehuda: "When you're called upon to think or make a decision, you are enjoying active entertainment. There are different levels of active entertainment, from the simple (trivia: do I know it or not?) to the complex (how do I get my battalion to that base?). Regardless of complexity, you can rank better or worse players, and most of the time you can work to improve yourself."

In my mind these two "levels" of entertainment would lie on a continuum (each occupying an extreme).

This continuum could then be used to categorize games; games could be placed along this continuum. Some games would include some active and some passive entertainment. Other games would include more passive entertainment, but still include a little active entertainment. Snakes and Ladders could be used as an example. In this game players spin the spinner and move their pawn the corresponding number of spaces on the board. If they end their turn at the bottom of a ladder, then they climb the ladder to the space above. If they end their turn at the top of a snake, then they slide down the snake to the space at the end of the snake. So, there is no decision making involved with this game. The random result of the spin determines all that happens in the game. I would place Snakes and Ladders at the extreme end of passive entertainment on the continuum.

This all raises a question in my mind: LDS themed games (those currently available and those that I am designing and will design in the future), where do they fall on the continuum and where should they fall on the continuum? I ask this second part of the question because I think the audience of the games needs to be considered. If the audience is one that would prefer games closer to the passive end of the continuum then, by all means, design and publish games that fall closer to that end. This quandary also arises from the following news post: Star-Telegram. Were those who rated the games looking for a more passive or active entertainment experience?

Armor of God rejected

I just got word from FRED Distribution that they are not going to do my Armor of God game (it wouldn't have ended up to be the Armor of God (here) had they decided to do it, the theme would have been changed). It's disappointing but I did get some valuable feedback, such as there isn't enough "meat" to the game. They wanted something more to be done with the pieces of armor that players collect, instead of just adding to your faith points.

So, I've got some stuff to work out with the game if I want to resubmit to FRED. I was also given a couple of other companies that the game might fit better. I'm not sure if I want to submit the Armor of God to other companies. I'd probably work out a different theme and then go ahead and submit to them. I guess I'm just not sure what I will do with the game at this point. I do know that in a very short while I'll have a couple copies that I'll be selling and one copy that I'll be giving away to some special person via the blog here (I'm working out a way of choosing that special recipient, probably some sort of contest or something, so look for that in the near future).

Thanks again to Tony Peters for allowing me to use his awesome artwork (Armor of God Cards post)!!

New Poll: Vote for your favorite logo

Well, the results from the last poll are in and it looks like a game based on the wars and contentions between the Nephites and Lamanites would make the best board/card game! What a coincidence that is! I talked about one (here) that the church put out over 30 years ago in the seminary manuals: Nephite & Lamanite Wars. I haven't been able to play it yet, but it looks like fun.

There is also Peril in the Promised Land (one of my designs) that you can read about here. It is a cooperative game where all players take on the role of Nephite captains and attempt to retake their cities from the Lamanites, while also protecting Zarahemla from the advancing King-men.

The new poll (which will only run for 1 week) asks you to vote on your favorite logo from the following 4:

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

After the poll is over the logo that gets the most votes will become the logo for this here blog! Also, any input you might have on these logos is greatly appreciated. Don't hesitate to leave comments.

Talking Title of Liberty: Total War

I recently talked with Darren Andrews about his experiences modding and working on the Title of Liberty mod he did on Rome: Total War.

Here is a list of the questions I had going in (not that other things didn't come up as we talked):
1. What is modding?
2. What got you into modding games?
3. What are the legalities involved in game modding?
4. How long does it take you to mod a game?
5. How many mods have you done?
6. What made you decide to do a Book of Mormon based mod?
7. Tell us a little about the nature of the game: how it's played, what special features are included, etc.
8. How were you able to get other artists involved in the project?
9. Any idea how many times the game has been downloaded?

I also asked him a bit about board and card games that he had worked on designing earlier in his life. He worked on a large Book of Mormon war game and a more card based game with the theme based on the Sons of Mosiah and their missionary efforts. Pretty sweet!! I hope he gets up to his attic sometime and pulls out those old designs.

Enjoy!



Click here to download the .mp3 file

You can find the link to download Darren's mod on the Book of Mormon Battles website (here, hosted by James H Fullmer).

Gaming with My Wife

At times my wife and I have a hard time playing games (competitive games that is). We both are quite competitive so when we are not winning we are a bit upset (it's even more difficult to be upset with your spouse). But recently we've been able to get over this a little bit as we've played Missionary Impossible, Warriors of the Promised Land, and Settlers of Zarahemla. My wife won all three games, even though I attempted to slow her up as much as I possibly could. I've decided that I'm not much of a gamer. At least, I'm not a gamer that wins very often. As I've thought about this I reflected on my experience at A Gathering of Strangers (probably the most I've played games in a long time). I only won one game during the two days in Salt Lake! And that was a game of Dominion: Intrigue (I think I played it 3 or 4 times). On that note, my wife enjoys Dominion as it's not for sure who is going to win until the end (unless of course, you can keep track of exactly how many points your opponents have been buying up). Anyway, I think I'm learning to be ok with the fact that I don't win a lot. I think I just need to enjoy playing, regardless of who wins. Besides, I think I prefer designing the games so I get caught up in thinking about the design of the game a lot when I play.

Nephite & Lamanite Wars

In 1974 the church included several games in their seminary curriculum. One of these games was Nephite & Lamanite Wars (boardgamegeek link). It was an historical war game/simulation based on the wars and battles that took place in the Promised Land as related in the Book of Mormon.

As they were part of the seminary curriculum the games/simulations were meant to be opportunities for helping students learn. There are both objectives and indicators associated with each game. For example, the first game/simulation is based on the encounter Captain Moroni had with Zerahemnah.

The objective is stated as the following:
Students will realize that the strength of the Nephites in battle was a result of their faith in Jesus Christ an obedience to his commandments.

Indicators are that the students should be able to:
1. Relate the account of the battle between Captain Moroni's forces and those of Zerahemnah.
2. Explain the cause of the Nephites' involvement in the war.
3. Contrast the preparation and objectives in the Nephites and the Lamanites for war.
4. Explain the Nephite superiority in war.

In a game, one player plays as the Nephites and one player plays as the Lamanites. Each player receives a number of pieces, each of which represents individual Nephite/Lamanite armies. Each army has a combat strength and a movement factor.

On a players turn he may move his armies and then attack (Lamanites go first). The game baord is a map consisting of a number of hexagons. Here's a remake of the board, done by Chris Hansen (the one in the seminary manual was black and white):

Any number of armies can attack on a players turn. This is done using the Combat Resolution Table. Players create a proportion (attackers combat strength to defenders combat strength) and look up the odds ratio on the table. After which the spinner is spun and a second table is used to determine the final result of the attack.

There are also follow-up sections that take students into the scriptures and ask them questions that get more into the particulars of the situations and those involved. For example, there are questions about Captain Moroni:
What kind of man was Captain Moroni?
How would you like to serve under such a man?

All in all this seems like it would be a lot of fun! I'll post again about it once I sit down and play.

BookofMormonBattles.com

A few weeks ago I talked with James H Fullmer about his games and his experiences designing them and getting them published (link). Today I wanted to talk a little about his website: www.bookofmormonbattles.com.

Jay has put a lot of stuff up on his site. The first link goes to a page of games. It highlights his 2 games, Book of Mormon Battles and Warriors of the Promised Land, and also shows off his Book of Mormon chess set that he designed! Below that though, he has several games that you can play online or print and play on paper. The Book of Mormon Match Game is a nice online matching game created using his artwork from Book of Mormon Battles.

Weapons of War (link)
This section of the website is pretty cool. Jay goes through, step by step of how to make padded weapons (swords & shields currently, with more weapons to come). He does this both in written format and via video. Here's the video of how to create a padded sword (looks pretty fun)!


Watch Making a Level 1 Foam Padded Sword in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

He also has an "interactive" (interactive because you can move around and look at things and even zoom in) map of the Promised Land. Jay says that the map is based on the book Mormon's Map by John L Sorenson. It would be cool to add in some 3d buildings for the cities and stuff like that (a la Google Earth).

All in all, it's a great site to learn more about Jay Fullmer and his work, what he thinks, what he likes to do, etc. I'm sure that kids out there would highly enjoy putting together some padded weapons to use on each other.

Missionary Novelty Company

In my search for LDS themed games and places to find them, I came across the Missionary Novelty Company (link). It looks like they have a lot of games to offer: Build the Kingdom, Greatest Mission in the World, LDSopoly, etc. (I think I saw LDSopoly in Deseret Book here in Logan the other day.) They have both English and Spanish version of pretty much all their games.

As I looked over their games, it seemed to me that a lot of them are very much like remakes of already published games; I'll take Build the Kingdom as an example. Here's a quote from their website about the game:

You’ve been called to the “Greatest Mission in the World”, Earth. Your duty is to build the Kingdom of God by placing Books of Mormons (BoM), gaining converts and building ward houses. First player to gain 10 Celestial points wins. You gain Celestial points by placing the most BoMs, obtaining Principals of the Gospel cards-Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Prayer, “Preach My Kingdom”- which produces the most converts, and building the most ward houses with prayer and baptisms. Principal cards can be traded in to produce BoM, converts and ward houses. Beware of Satan who can slow your progress.

There is also a short video that describes the game that you can watch:



Sounds and looks interesting. From this description and images though, it does sound a little bit like Settlers of Catan (we've even got Settlers of Zarahemla that has been done LDS style). I wasn't sure so I looked at the rules which they have up on their site (link). I have to say, this is a great idea. I like it when I can find the rules for a game. It helps me know a little more what I'm getting into before I buy.

Anyway, after looking over the rules, I would have to say this game is very much like Settlers of Catan. Converts and Books of Mormon are used, as opposed to settlements and roads, and Satan is referred to instead of the robber. It was very easy to read the rules and understand the game. That is definitely important.

After looking over their site and the games they have to offer, I am stuck with two questions. 1) Does anyone have any experience with any games from Missionary Novelty Company? and 2) Why are so many of the LDS themed games available remakes of games that have already been published (without the LDS theme of course)?

New Look & Contest

So, I'm updating the look of the blog here. I'm hoping to get something that looks a little more professional and that goes a little more with the Book of Mormon (not that LDS/Mormon themed games necessarily come from the Book of Mormon only, but anyway...). I've also added some things that I think will make it easier to get around and find things that are put up on the blog.

The thing I need now is a lot more professional looking logo to go with this more professional looking blog. So, on that note I've decided to run a contest. Anyone who would like to design up a logo (100 pixels tall x 500 pixels wide) for this blog and submit it to me will be entered to win a copy of Hagoth: Builder of Ships (which will be sent once it is available)!












I will select the logo that I like the best and that person will receive a free copy of Hagoth!

To submit your design please attached it in an email to: mikedrys@gmail.com. Be sure to put Hagoth Contest in the subject line. Submissions will be accepted until September 6, 2009 @ midnight MST.
Good luck to all!

Please refer to the ABOUT page for a little more guidance on what exactly this blog is all about.

About Mormon Game Design

Mormon Game Design is a site on the internet where LDS/Mormon themed games are discussed.

The word "games" can refer to board games, card games, video games, games and activities that are used for Primary or Young Men/Young Women. "Games" should be taken in the broadest terms possible.

"Discussed" means there will be postings about (a) games in general, (b) what people have said about games, (c) experiences playing and designing games, etc. If it is somehow related to games, then it will be discussed. Hopefully it can become a discussion with everyone sharing their opinions, perspectives, and insights as well.

Lastly, this site is dedicated to promoting the design and publication of quality LDS/Mormon themed games. There need to be original LDS themed games designed and published. How can that happen?

All in all this will be a fun, resourceful place for people who are looking to find LDS/Mormon themed games.

My Portfolio

Published Games


Hagoth: Builder of Ships (pre-order the game)
Being published by Mayday Games


 
Published Artwork

Nepal: Trade & Intrigue at the Top of the World
Being published (2nd edition) by BluePantherLLC. Now available!



Designed Games
Armor of God
Peril in the Promised Land
Temple Builders

Orson Scott Card Talks About Games

I received a link this morning (read it here) to an article written by Orson Scott Card talking about LDS themed games (focusing on trivia games), his experiences with them, what he liked and didn't like, etc. Needless to say, I was very excited to see that people really do think that LDS themed games can be fun and that they NEED to be fun!

Now, how do I get my fun LDS themed games out for everyone to play and enjoy!!?

A Gathering of Strangers

That was a whole lot of fun!! I was able to make the trip down to Salt Lake City on both Friday and Saturday. I had never attended A Gathering of Strangers, or any game convention for that matter, before, but I really enjoyed it and can't wait for next year!

Friday I presented my game, the Armor of God, in the guild competition. It went pretty smoothly. There were 2 groups of 5 judges (from places like FRED Distribution, Out of the Box Games, and Games Unplugged), so the game was played twice. Then the judges rated the game following Mike Compton's Evaluation Form (find it on baordgamegeek here). A total of 8 games were entered into the competition. I'm not sure what place I ended up taking, but it wasn't in the top 4. Not really a big deal though. I mean, I didn't really expect to win. There are a whole lot of great games that the members of the guild design. It was just great to be a part of it and I can't wait to get the feedback from the judges. I'm sure it will help me improve the game a lot.

There were a few highlights of the weekend that I wanted to touch on. After the judging on Friday, Carey from FRED Distribution approached me and asked about taking a copy of the prototype to Armor of God home. In other words, he's interested and thinks it's a pretty good game! No guarantees that they will publish it, but success!!! Part of the purpose of the competition was to get publishers to see the games from the guild and hopefully get them interested in the games we had to offer. Carey was also interested in Mike Compton's game Bandits of Persia! It's exciting to see that publishers have an interest in games designed by guild members!

Also on Friday, Seth picked up the finished painting that Scott has been working on for Hagoth!!! Here it is!!!

He brought it to the Gathering. We both had prototypes of the game as well and we got about 10 people to demo it during the weekend. Ryan from The Board Game Guy was very excited! We're getting closer and closer to being ready for production!!

Lastly, I wanted to add that there was a lot of free stuff given away by all the publishers and game stores on hand. On Friday I won a brand new copy of Dominion Intrigue!!! I ended up playing it 3 times that evening (I even won the first of the 3 games, which was pretty big because I don't thing I won anything else during the 2 days). It's a great game!

All in all, I just loved the convention. I got to meet new people (another guy from here in Logan, now we'll have 4 of us here that design games). I got to play a lot of games. And I found someone interested in another one of my designs. Really, what more could I ask for from 2 days?

Conversation with James H Fullmer

I recently was able to speak with James H Fullmer about his experiences with designing, illustrating, and publishing (via Covenant Communications) his two games, Book of Mormon Battles and Warriors of the Promised Land.



Download the conversation here.

I had a list of questions that we discussed. We didn't really read them out loud or anything, so here they are.

1. What made you first decide to design a game?
2. Was the idea Book of Mormon Battles from the beginning or did it sort of evolve to that as you worked on it?
3. How did the design process go? I mean, did you get some paper, cut it up, and mark them for cards, or how did it go?
4. When did Covenant Communications enter the picture? Did you contact them as you were working on the idea or more after you had it all worked out?
5. How did the whole relationship work with Covenant?
6. What was your process for the artwork (there are a lot of images in both games)?
7. What made you decide to go the second game Warriors of the Promised Land?
8. Was the process with that game pretty much the same as with the first?
9. Do you know the print run size for either game?
10. Do you know how successful the games have been (how many have sold)?
11. What did you learn from your experience that you would like to share with other "would-be LDS/Mormon game designers?"

This is my first dive into doing a podcast or recorded interview/conversation, whatever you want to call it. So I learned quite a bit about that. Plus I enjoyed meeting James (Jay as he prefers to go by) and learning about him and his experiences.

Hopefully this will be of benefit to someone besides me, but if not, I enjoyed it and found it enlightening.

Busy Summer

Things have been pretty busy lately. I was looking forward to summer as I thought it would be a little more relaxed and give me more time to work on my games and whatnot. Anyway, I just defended my thesis! So now I have to wait for the secretary to read through it, make the changes, wait for the grad school to read through it, make the changes, and then pay fees, get it bound, etc. Hopefully by the end of August I'll officially be a MASTER! Plus I'm trying to get going on the dissertation proposal, so that's keeping me busy.

I recently got the Armor of God printed by BluePanther. (I'll be posting a comparison between Guild of Blades, Artscow, and BluePanther here a few days.) I'm ready to take it down to SLC for A Gathering of Strangers. I'm really looking forward to that.

As I worked with Steve at BluePanther to get the cards printed he asked me about doing some artwork for his Nepal game! It was quite a surprise to me. I mean, I've been a little hesitant about my art abilities, but this gives me some added confidence that I do pretty good work. It has made me think more seriously about doing my own thing, publishing my games myself. I mean, having someone do the artwork is a big expense, but if I'm able to do it myself that would definitely cut back on costs. We'll see if I can get enough money together to really go out and do something like that. It would be great!!

The Game Design "class" (Game Design Concepts) started at the beginning of this week. It looks like it's going to be fun to follow along and hopefully contribute something. The problem will be trying to find enough time to participate in such a way that will allow for some contributions. There's a lot going on this summer!

On boardgamegeek a competition was posted for teams of 2 to design and produce a print n play cooperative game. Dane and I are going to design and submit to the competition. It will be a lot of fun to work with Dane, brainstorm, playtest, etc. as we move from idea to prototype to production. The brainstorming process has begun!

Lastly, we've had a little more discussion on the Korihor game that our Google Group (join us) is working on designing. This whole experience has been very educational and informative already. It's not easy working together on a game design, especially when it involves people from 5 states, many who have never met face to face, with so many different ideas and perspectives on what will make the game not only work but FUN! It's actually a lot of fun working on this project with the group. I hope that the end result will be a great game that we will figure out how to publish and offer as a ZGDI game!!! Then we'll put it up on our website as a great LDS/Mormon themed offering!

Anyway, quite a bit going on this summer! I guess it's good to keep busy.

Armor of God Resurrected!!!

Well, I've recently been working on the Armor of God. Originally it was a game for two players only. Phil at Covenant Communications said that two players games aren't likely to be accepted by them for publication. Plus the Guild is having a competition that will take place during A Gathering of Strangers this year (July 10 & 11)! So I started redesigning the Armor of God so that it would play with 2 to 4 players.

I was able to have it playtested on Tuesday the 9th at the Guild meeting. That was great! I didn't play. I just explained the game to the four who volunteered to play it. They enjoyed playing, said it was fun and that it kept them involved. They also had a lot of good feedback that I've gone through and incorporated into the design. I love having a group of people this close that are willing to play others games and help them improve them.

Also, I was searching around online for images that I might possibly use to at least have a decent looking prototype to take to the competition (so far it's just been 3" x 5" cards cut in half). I came across some awesome artwork! Tony, in Kaysville, designed some Armor of God cards for his young men and young women. I contacted him and he gave me permission to use his artwork in my prototype!!

Here are 2 of the cards that I put together using his stuff. I'm no artist, but having Tony's artwork definitely made these (hopefully I haven't detracted too much from his stuff)! Thank you Tony!!



I just finished sending my files to Steve at BluePanther yesterday. He's going to print the cards for me. That way I'll have a hopefully really nice looking prototype.

At A Gathering of Strangers a set of judges will play all of the entries in the competition and they'll choose a winner! The judges come from the world of publishing, and elsewhere. There are no guarantees that anyone, not even the winner, will get their game published, but it's never bad to have those in the industry look at your game.

Hagoth Art Update

So, Scott is working on the art for Hagoth and he's sent me a sketch of the box cover art up to this point.















This is still a work in progress obviously, but he's moving onward and upward!! Seth has sent him some suggestions (I've also been able to add my input), so hopefully we'll have more updates soon!

Anyway, this is me excited about the game (trying to share that excitement with the world) and really looking forward to having it published and out for others to enjoy!

What do you think about the box cover?

Temple Builders

Many different kinds of "resources" are needed in order for a temple to be built. There are the obvious things, like a spot of ground, the building materials, and the construction workers. But there many other things that are needed that are more important.

For example, righteous members of the church are needed. They need to pay tithing, attend church meetings, pray, keep the commandments, and study the scriptures, just to name a few.

Temple Builders is a cooperative game, for children ages 4 and up. where players work together to build the temple. They begin by collecting these other important resources which they can then trade in for the "physical building blocks" of the temple. Once they have collected all the blocks that make up the physical build of the temple they can put it together however they wish.

The game is played by rolling dice, looking to roll doubles, triples, etc. all the while watching out for the dreaded X that might show up. Too many Xs and you will have to give up the valuable resources without which you will never be able to finish building the temple.

This is the first of what I hope to make a line of games aimed at children 4 years old and up. I'm currently working on making a variation of my Armor of God game for kids.