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Author Topic: Interview with Donald X.  (Read 2126761 times)

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Davio

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #475 on: January 09, 2013, 07:14:45 am »
+3

Id put Mining Village and Fishing Village in an All Star list anyway, possibly even Working Village!
Hamlet, man!
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #476 on: January 15, 2013, 01:41:44 pm »
0

Here is a collection of mistakes in the German forums:
http://forum.dominionblog.de/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1338
This is great, but if you want to go that extra mile, what Goko will need to fix these is fixed text in German. I'm sure they can get someone to translate for them, but you know, if you have fixed text I will give it to them and you will get to have it all just the way you wanted.

I was at Goko when they were copying the German from the cards into their system and I did make sure that King's Court and Venture were corrected (but that's the only errata I noticed at the time).  Thanks for the link, kn1tt3r, I'll make sure that they get looked at.

Thanks a lot.

I got permission to edit their card text and all the errata on the German page you linked to should be in (but I did the copy-paste manually myself so I can't guarantee that it's completely error free).

Here's hoping there aren't any mistakes in the Guilds translation...

I got permission to edit their card text and all the errata on the German page you linked to should be in (but I did the copy-paste manually myself so I can't guarantee that it's completely error free).

Here's hoping there aren't any mistakes in the Guilds translation...
Incidentally I sent the list to Jay and I believe fixes will be incorporated into future printed German cards also.

Regarding the problems with Hans im Glück and RGG, I think Hans im Glück won't publish the German version of Guilds right?
If this is true, can you say something about if there's already a replacement publisher found for the German version?

Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #477 on: January 15, 2013, 01:43:40 pm »
0

Regarding the problems with Hans im Glück and RGG, I think Hans im Glück won't publish the German version of Guilds right?
If this is true, can you say something about if there's already a replacement publisher found for the German version?
Last I heard HiG was out of the picture. I don't know where things stand. I don't know who is publishing Guilds in German. I bet someone will be doing it.
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Ozle

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #478 on: January 15, 2013, 01:47:15 pm »
+2

Regarding the problems with Hans im Glück and RGG, I think Hans im Glück won't publish the German version of Guilds right?
If this is true, can you say something about if there's already a replacement publisher found for the German version?
Last I heard HiG was out of the picture. I don't know where things stand. I don't know who is publishing Guilds in German. I bet someone will be doing it.

If you need someone I just got myself a swish new Epson Stylus C20UX off a guy in the market, will do a bang up job!

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #479 on: January 15, 2013, 03:17:37 pm »
+1

Quote
And a certain percentage of them!  Alchemy only had one village -- University

I'll count Golem as a kind of village


Every large expansion has three villages cards that let you play more actions
base has festival, village and throne room
intrigue has mining village, shanty town and nobles
seaside has fishing village, native village and bazaar
prosperity has KC, city and WV
hinterlands has Xroads, BV and Inn


Every small expansion has 2
alchemy: kind of golem and uni
cornucopia hamlet and Farming Village (ok Trusty steed also)

DA has as a 1.5 expansion 5 villages: squire, Wandering Ministrell, Procession, Fortress and Bandit Camp

so we can expect 2 +action cards i Guilds :)
« Last Edit: January 15, 2013, 03:19:15 pm by achmed_sender »
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #480 on: January 15, 2013, 04:33:48 pm »
0

Oh I got a real life legit question for once!

Urchin -> Mercenary

Whats the thought process behind that?

If your street urchin gets attacked he grows up to be a big bad mercenary?
Or its a mercenary posing as a street urchin in order to trap unwary thugs?
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theory

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #481 on: January 15, 2013, 04:39:31 pm »
+2

On the topic, are there any other card names you are particularly proud of?  I like City a lot.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #482 on: January 15, 2013, 04:54:02 pm »
+1

Oh I got a real life legit question for once!

Urchin -> Mercenary

Whats the thought process behind that?

If your street urchin gets attacked he grows up to be a big bad mercenary?
Or its a mercenary posing as a street urchin in order to trap unwary thugs?
As a kid he's an urchin, he grows up to be a mercenary. He gets taught the ropes by another attack card. Even if it's just another urchin he learns a thing or two.

Previously he grew up to be a bandit. That made more sense. It didn't work out because sometimes you would want to fight Bandit by buying some and you couldn't, you had to upgrade Urchins. So I switched it to Mercenary, which was called Mercenary because you pay it to attack.
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Drab Emordnilap

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #483 on: January 15, 2013, 05:10:09 pm »
0

Previously he grew up to be a bandit. That made more sense. It didn't work out because sometimes you would want to fight Bandit by buying some and you couldn't, you had to upgrade Urchins.

Also, Bandit is now Rogue, I think?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #484 on: January 15, 2013, 05:11:09 pm »
+5

On the topic, are there any other card names you are particularly proud of?  I like City a lot.
City was called Boomtown when I passed the file on to Jay. There was a sketch for it I was commenting on and I was saying how the name suggested wild west but of course we wanted medieval, and Jay said oh uh maybe we should rename it. City is a great name for it so that all worked out.

Man, good card names. Scheme is pretty satisfying. Jester had to be in some sense a funny card, and I was happy there. Treasure Map is nice; the card was not based on the concept. Torturer feels like he's torturing. Ruined Market etc. are pretty cute. Procession is nice for a Throne variant. I like Band of Misfits a lot.

Ill-Gotten Gains was a hard one. It was originally Bad Penny, and then for a while it was Cursed Idol. People would say, but it doesn't curse the person with the idol. Tunnel was hard; what gives you gold when you discard? Sometimes you discard to attacks, in which case it's an escape tunnel; other times you have a name like Cellar, some kind of basement or storage area, and the tunnel leads away from that. It doesn't always work but it hits sometimes. Anyway neither of those is top-notch, I am just telling name stories.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #485 on: January 15, 2013, 05:12:23 pm »
0

Previously he grew up to be a bandit. That made more sense. It didn't work out because sometimes you would want to fight Bandit by buying some and you couldn't, you had to upgrade Urchins.

Also, Bandit is now Rogue, I think?
Well yes, but Bandit was different. It didn't make +$2 but both attacked and gained-from-the-trash in the same turn.
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jotheonah

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #486 on: January 15, 2013, 05:13:26 pm »
+1

The nice thing about Torturer is that it lends itself to a verb which is appropriate. (iso's "waiting for X to be tortured" always makes me giggle). But the decision making, it can be quite torturous.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #487 on: January 15, 2013, 05:26:55 pm »
+1

Sometimes when I play a Torturer on Isotropic, when no one can hear me, I say out loud "Wheee, torture torture torture torture". So if anyone plays against me and I play a Torturer, now you can imagine that.
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ednever

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #488 on: January 15, 2013, 06:34:45 pm »
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Previously he grew up to be a bandit. That made more sense. It didn't work out because sometimes you would want to fight Bandit by buying some and you couldn't, you had to upgrade Urchins.

Also, Bandit is now Rogue, I think?
Well yes, but Bandit was different. It didn't make +$2 but both attacked and gained-from-the-trash in the same turn.

Wow. My initial reaction is that I like that a lot. It trashes an opponents card worth $3-$6 and then gains a $3-$6 from the trash. Effectively a thief for "everything else".

Why did you change it? Was the trash and gain too powerful (or bit powerful enough, hense the +$2?)

Ed
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #489 on: January 15, 2013, 07:05:15 pm »
+3

Wow. My initial reaction is that I like that a lot. It trashes an opponents card worth $3-$6 and then gains a $3-$6 from the trash. Effectively a thief for "everything else".

Why did you change it? Was the trash and gain too powerful (or bit powerful enough, hense the +$2?)
It was not too powerful.

There is a certain kind of player who does not enjoy having a Duchy stolen. It's one thing to make you lose a Duchy; it's another if I get it at the same time. This was further compounded by your inability to buy a Bandit. You steal my Duchy and I'm all ugh fine whatever I buy a Bandit. Wait I can't, I need to upgrade an Urchin, it is so not happening.

So I moved Bandit out of Urchin-land, and then had it attack less often. And splitting the attack and gain meant it needed that +$2.

For a long time the set had three trashing attacks - Knights, Bandit, and Barbarian, which was "+$2, each other player trashes their top card and gains a cheaper card that shares a type with it, or a Ruins if they can't." I especially liked Barbarian. But I think a lot of Dominion players are not keen on this kind of attack, and the players who do like them did not need three of them. So they got one and a half.
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michaeljb

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #490 on: January 15, 2013, 08:54:10 pm »
0

Barbarian sounds really cool. A candidate for a Dark Ages card in the Treasure Chest set? ;D

(I know you've said that if there was going to be anything after Guilds, Jay would rather have it be something new than a set with more Durations/VP token cards/etc so I guess that really makes my question did it get substantial play testing, or did the decision to drop it come before it got very much?)
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #491 on: January 15, 2013, 09:55:19 pm »
+2

Barbarian sounds really cool. A candidate for a Dark Ages card in the Treasure Chest set? ;D

(I know you've said that if there was going to be anything after Guilds, Jay would rather have it be something new than a set with more Durations/VP token cards/etc so I guess that really makes my question did it get substantial play testing, or did the decision to drop it come before it got very much?)
Barbarian got plenty of testing.

The reasons for not doing Barbarian in Dark Ages continue to apply for not doing Barbarian elsewhere. Justifying bringing it back would require like some market research showing universal love for the Knights.
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GeoLib

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #492 on: January 15, 2013, 11:52:43 pm »
0

You've said that you avoid politics in your games, and something that I appreciate about Dominion over say, Settlers of Catan, is that you avoid all the robber placement nonsense and one person feeling like everyone is ganging up on them. At the other extreme is a game like Diplomacy, where politics is most of the point. Perhaps counter-intuitively, it's one of my other favorite games (though I play it orders of magnitude less often due to the difficulty in getting 7 interested people together for a whole day). Have you played Diplomacy, and do you like it? Based on playing it, or perhaps what you've heard, do you think politics works in this sort of situation where it becomes the focus rather than an annoyance.

In reference to the massive, time-consuming game aspect, do you design your games to be quick because you, personally enjoy quick games more or because you think that they have broader appeal and people get to play them more often? Same with the politics: do you avoid politics because you like apolitical games better or because you think it makes them more fun for consumers?
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #493 on: January 16, 2013, 05:08:35 am »
0

Name, reaction, and artwork of Horse Traders synergise very well. I find this card very thematic.

Bazaar should have been a Village. Every card which looks like a market should net a Buy.
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RobBennett

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #494 on: January 16, 2013, 06:23:10 am »
0

Since GeoLib has asked your opinion of Diplomacy, I need to ask your opinion of Axis and Allies. My boy Timothy insists.

Rob
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #495 on: January 16, 2013, 10:10:55 am »
0

You've said that you avoid politics in your games, and something that I appreciate about Dominion over say, Settlers of Catan, is that you avoid all the robber placement nonsense and one person feeling like everyone is ganging up on them. At the other extreme is a game like Diplomacy, where politics is most of the point. Perhaps counter-intuitively, it's one of my other favorite games (though I play it orders of magnitude less often due to the difficulty in getting 7 interested people together for a whole day). Have you played Diplomacy, and do you like it? Based on playing it, or perhaps what you've heard, do you think politics works in this sort of situation where it becomes the focus rather than an annoyance.
I have not played Diplomacy. I have played other political games, like Risk and Settlers.

I think it's fine if some people like political games; I just don't like them. I don't enjoy spending the evening whining about who gets the robber and don't trade with Tom; I don't want the game to come down to people picking who wins. Richard Garfield argues that all political games are the same; he likes politics but doesn't need more games that have it. I don't remember how he actually argues this, but it seems to me that if convincing another player to do things good for both of you is more useful than whatever else you're doing with the components, then that's the game, the rest is window dressing. But I personally don't even want that one political game.

In reference to the massive, time-consuming game aspect, do you design your games to be quick because you, personally enjoy quick games more or because you think that they have broader appeal and people get to play them more often? Same with the politics: do you avoid politics because you like apolitical games better or because you think it makes them more fun for consumers?
Being fast does a lot for you.

Quote from: Donald X.
Fast games are good because there are more opportunities to play them, players get more of a chance to win a game over the evening, and you get more variety of experiences over your evening.
I have made longer games, but they're less likely to get published. I make shorter games because 1) I like that for several reasons, 2) other people like it, 3) we get in more plays, 4) they are more publishable.

I don't like political games. You can't eliminate politics in multiplayer games with interaction and decisions. You can cut it down to size though. There is kingmaking in Dominion, but not enough to make it a game that people say has kingmaking in it. I don't know how the public in general feels about politics, but I think, they've got those games already, they don't need them from me.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2013, 10:12:03 am by Donald X. »
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #496 on: January 16, 2013, 10:11:43 am »
0

Name, reaction, and artwork of Horse Traders synergise very well. I find this card very thematic.

Bazaar should have been a Village. Every card which looks like a market should net a Buy.
Bazaar has that name because there was unused art from the main set that needed to be used - specifically, unused art for Market.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #497 on: January 16, 2013, 10:14:17 am »
0

Since GeoLib has asked your opinion of Diplomacy, I need to ask your opinion of Axis and Allies. My boy Timothy insists.
I have not played Axis and Allies and do not even have much of a notion of how it goes.

I liked Vinci but it had too much politics. I am told Small World has less kingmaking but I haven't played it. Risk (the "classic" game rather than modern versions) is the game I am most likely to use as an example of what not to do.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #498 on: January 16, 2013, 10:28:22 am »
0

Richard Garfield argues that all political games are the same; he likes politics but doesn't need more games that have it. I don't remember how he actually argues this, but it seems to me that if convincing another player to do things good for both of you is more useful than whatever else you're doing with the components, then that's the game, the rest is window dressing.

At least you can get away with designing an unbalanced game and rely on players' diplomacy to even it out. The races in Cosmic Encounter are not quite balanced but it doesn't matter much.

I think I get the gist of Richard Garfield's argument here but I have seen few games in which diplomacy is so dominant (the Werewolves/Mafia type of games come to mind but they don't deny that it's all about persuading). Most games are of the sort that someone should be able to trailblaze multiple paths to victory that cannot be blocked by everyone else. Your pet peeve Risk is not of the sort, that's why it takes ages to complete.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2013, 10:30:19 am by ipofanes »
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Ozle

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #499 on: January 16, 2013, 10:34:37 am »
+1

Richard Garfield argues that all political games are the same; he likes politics but doesn't need more games that have it. I don't remember how he actually argues this, but it seems to me that if convincing another player to do things good for both of you is more useful than whatever else you're doing with the components, then that's the game, the rest is window dressing.

Wow, and then he designed King of Tokyo....
« Last Edit: January 16, 2013, 10:35:50 am by Ozle »
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