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Author Topic: Interview with Donald X.  (Read 2127535 times)

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NoMoreFun

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #625 on: February 06, 2013, 08:59:47 pm »
0

When you're designing a set, do you have a checklist or quotas that you need to meet? For example, what's the number of cards with +buy that you need in a set? What are some types of cards that you need to make sure are included in every set?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #626 on: February 06, 2013, 09:36:36 pm »
+4

When you're designing a set, do you have a checklist or quotas that you need to meet? For example, what's the number of cards with +buy that you need in a set? What are some types of cards that you need to make sure are included in every set?
These days for ~25 cards by default I want about 2.5-3 villages (counting thrones or expensive ones for less), 2-3 +buys, 2-4 remodels/vaults (trash or discard for benefit), 4 attacks (down from 5), 2-3 non-attack player interaction (up from 1), 1 victory card, 1 treasure, 6-7 cards with +1 card +1 action (up from 5, counting villages but not thrones), and a bunch of $5's.
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eHalcyon

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #627 on: February 06, 2013, 09:39:19 pm »
0

No specific regard for reactions and cost tiers other than $5?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #628 on: February 06, 2013, 09:58:05 pm »
+1

No specific regard for reactions and cost tiers other than $5?
I like to include a reaction since some people like them, but it's not a slot I feel I have to fill. Other than $5 I just like to have a mix of costs; I feel like people don't want to see a bunch of games with no $3 or whatever, but really, $5 is what matters. I can't have a bunch of cards at $6+ but I don't specifically aim for zero.
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AdamH

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #629 on: February 06, 2013, 10:13:18 pm »
+1

Would you play one game of Dominion with me on iso, just so I can cross it off my bucket list? Bonus points if I could record it. ZOMG I would just DIE.
It won't be anything special - the cards don't sparkle when I play them, the screen doesn't smell like cinnamon. You'll have the same chair you have already. Any amusing stories I tell, you'll know already from the secret histories and the TV movie.

I've played a few people on Goko; just whoever was on and wanted to play. I can make the trip to isotropic, but these days it will be like after midnight Pacific time.

OMG. Name a time and I'll make it work. That would be so amazing. Of course if you don't want to that's totally cool. PM me or something. You are awesome.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #630 on: February 06, 2013, 10:58:03 pm »
+4

OMG. Name a time and I'll make it work. That would be so amazing. Of course if you don't want to that's totally cool. PM me or something. You are awesome.
Like I said, currently most likely is after midnight Pacific time. I am looking now and you don't seem to be on. I am "Donald X."
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AdamH

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #631 on: February 07, 2013, 12:09:19 am »
+17

OMG. Name a time and I'll make it work. That would be so amazing. Of course if you don't want to that's totally cool. PM me or something. You are awesome.
Like I said, currently most likely is after midnight Pacific time. I am looking now and you don't seem to be on. I am "Donald X."

DONALD X IS AMAZING. (and WanderingWinder too!)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
« Last Edit: February 07, 2013, 08:24:51 am by AdamH »
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jotheonah

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #632 on: February 07, 2013, 01:11:08 am »
+12

the screen smelled like cinnamon, didn't it?
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AdamH

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #633 on: February 07, 2013, 08:21:08 am »
+8

the screen smelled like cinnamon, didn't it?

I may or may not have gotten cinnamon from my kitchen and put it by my screen while I played these games...
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Jimmmmm

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #634 on: February 07, 2013, 08:58:02 am »
0

OMG. Name a time and I'll make it work. That would be so amazing. Of course if you don't want to that's totally cool. PM me or something. You are awesome.
Like I said, currently most likely is after midnight Pacific time. I am looking now and you don't seem to be on. I am "Donald X."

DONALD X IS AMAZING. (and WanderingWinder too!)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was hilarious!

(I noticed the Swindler pile. Just saying.)
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philosophyguy

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #635 on: February 07, 2013, 05:59:21 pm »
+2

When you are playtesting, how do you distinguish between "this card won't work as is" and "this isn't a set where this card will shine?"
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #636 on: February 07, 2013, 06:32:06 pm »
+2

When you are playtesting, how do you distinguish between "this card won't work as is" and "this isn't a set where this card will shine?"

Also, how do you distinguish "this card won't work as is" and "this card won't work at all?"
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #637 on: February 07, 2013, 07:28:38 pm »
+1

When you are playtesting, how do you distinguish between "this card won't work as is" and "this isn't a set where this card will shine?"
Well if the card "won't work as is" then probably there's no set I want it in as is. Putting it in another set with more cards that make it worth playing only works when you play a high frequency of cards from that set; you might do that when you first get the set, and you might only have one expansion, so sure it's good if a card works well in its set; but lots of the time the cards are mixed in with everything else and those combos are not there. It's good if a card from Cornucopia works well with other Cornucopia cards, but it has to be good enough to get use out of when it's the only card from Cornucopia in the game, and that's certainly the intention.

Also, how do you distinguish "this card won't work as is" and "this card won't work at all?"
Generally in the end by some argument that's card-specific, although sometimes I endlessly waste time on them first.

Some cards just die because people don't like them. It could be that the card is hated, or just has no fans. The Remodel from/to deck top just didn't have fans. It seemed fine but left for something that people would like more. The attack that made people discard down to 2 then draw was hated. It's not like I should have tried to add something so fun to it that the result wasn't hated; I can do the fun thing without the thing people hate.

Some cards have tracking issues or other problems with handling them. Dark Ages had "+$2 +1 Buy, copies of cards in the trash cost $1 less this turn." You spread out the trash. It's not great spreading out the trash. Graverobber / Rogue just make you divide the trash into $3-$6 and not; Forager just makes you have a pile of one of each unique treasure. This card also had rules confusion involving some cards being cheaper and others not, and cards moving to/from the trash during your turn. Then the other part of the card was, "setup: each player puts a supply card costing up to $6 into the trash." People spent forever making this decision; it was a classic, "the less it matters, the harder it is to decide" situation. Neither part wanted more work done on it.

Unsolvable power level issues are rarer and take longer to give up on. There was a card in the main set at one point that I finally gave up on in Guilds. "+$1 per action in play" started in Intrigue, and went through many iterations to become Horn of Plenty; the premise was fixable. Madman was too strong when you could buy it, but even that was fixable.
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ConMan

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #638 on: February 07, 2013, 07:54:48 pm »
0

Unsolvable power level issues are rarer and take longer to give up on. There was a card in the main set at one point that I finally gave up on in Guilds.
Hooray for Secret Histories teaser!

If you weren't a board game designer, do you think you'd still be a board game player?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #639 on: February 07, 2013, 08:07:51 pm »
+1

If you weren't a board game designer, do you think you'd still be a board game player?
Sure; I'm not sure how the answer could be otherwise.
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GigaKnight

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #640 on: February 07, 2013, 08:40:41 pm »
+1

It seems like you frequently mention card concepts you gave up on.  Are there card concepts you initially doubted, tried anyway, and found surprisingly good?
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Stealth Tomato

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #641 on: February 07, 2013, 10:24:58 pm »
+4

OMG. Name a time and I'll make it work. That would be so amazing. Of course if you don't want to that's totally cool. PM me or something. You are awesome.
Like I said, currently most likely is after midnight Pacific time. I am looking now and you don't seem to be on. I am "Donald X."

DONALD X IS AMAZING. (and WanderingWinder too!)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"man look at all these bad cards I can make a statement with"

-Donald X., on his own game.
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Davio

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #642 on: February 08, 2013, 02:19:10 am »
+1

Well, at least it was a highly interactive kingdom with Swindler. :)
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kn1tt3r

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #643 on: February 08, 2013, 02:23:20 am »
+1

OMG. Name a time and I'll make it work. That would be so amazing. Of course if you don't want to that's totally cool. PM me or something. You are awesome.
Like I said, currently most likely is after midnight Pacific time. I am looking now and you don't seem to be on. I am "Donald X."

DONALD X IS AMAZING. (and WanderingWinder too!)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"man look at all these bad cards I can make a statement with"

-Donald X., on his own game.

Yeah, very entertaining matches. AdamH appeared a tad too starstruck for my taste, but well... it's fine I guess.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #644 on: February 08, 2013, 02:29:04 am »
+2

OMG. Name a time and I'll make it work. That would be so amazing. Of course if you don't want to that's totally cool. PM me or something. You are awesome.
Like I said, currently most likely is after midnight Pacific time. I am looking now and you don't seem to be on. I am "Donald X."

DONALD X IS AMAZING. (and WanderingWinder too!)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"man look at all these bad cards I can make a statement with"

-Donald X., on his own game.

Yeah, very entertaining matches. AdamH appeared a tad too starstruck for my taste, but well... it's fine I guess.
I have no problem with him being starstruck, I would probably be very giddy myself if I got to play Donald.
But Donald's support for the game and its community IS amazing though.
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kn1tt3r

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #645 on: February 08, 2013, 02:37:36 am »
+1

OMG. Name a time and I'll make it work. That would be so amazing. Of course if you don't want to that's totally cool. PM me or something. You are awesome.
Like I said, currently most likely is after midnight Pacific time. I am looking now and you don't seem to be on. I am "Donald X."

DONALD X IS AMAZING. (and WanderingWinder too!)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"man look at all these bad cards I can make a statement with"

-Donald X., on his own game.

Yeah, very entertaining matches. AdamH appeared a tad too starstruck for my taste, but well... it's fine I guess.
I have no problem with him being starstruck, I would probably be very giddy myself if I got to play Donald.
But Donald's support for the game and its community IS amazing though.

It definately is.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #646 on: February 08, 2013, 03:34:06 am »
+7

Thanks guys, it is easy hanging out on forums but I would still like it to be recognized as one of the great achievements of our era.

It seems like you frequently mention card concepts you gave up on.  Are there card concepts you initially doubted, tried anyway, and found surprisingly good?
There isn't going to be much like this, because I'm not great at trying stuff that sounds bad. There are always people to entertain; I don't want to be saying, "now let's try something that we'll hate, just in case we don't." Next week they'll be at someone else's table, playing Battlestar Galactica and laughing and laughing.

I decided against doing Bridge early on because it seemed like it would be too strong. Spoils was on the idea list for a long time before I decided, what, why not try it out. I think that might be it.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #647 on: February 10, 2013, 09:11:37 am »
0

Donald of the games you haven't designed, what is your favorite?
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #648 on: February 10, 2013, 10:03:36 am »
+1

Funny story, was playing some dominion with a new guy last night, and he kept name dropping Donald X's posts on BGG like they were personal conversations. Was very amusing.

"Oh yeah, well Donald X told me on BGG that this card is because of ......"
"Donald says that this card was originally in Prosperity ......"

All that knowledge at his fingertips and he was still rubbish at the game!
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #649 on: February 10, 2013, 10:32:14 am »
0

Funny story, was playing some dominion with a new guy last night, and he kept name dropping Donald X's posts on BGG like they were personal conversations. Was very amusing.

"Oh yeah, well Donald X told me on BGG that this card is because of ......"
"Donald says that this card was originally in Prosperity ......"

All that knowledge at his fingertips and he was still rubbish at the game!

It's not very nice to make fun of new guys.  >:( 
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