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Author Topic: Interview with Donald X.  (Read 2127092 times)

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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1650 on: January 19, 2015, 05:17:18 pm »
0

Would you ever consider making an online only expansion for Dominion? Maybe there's stuff you can't or don't want to do in real life or maybe physical sales are dwindling or maybe Goko explodes with new paying players...
Well it's not out of the question but not likely. There would need to be a compelling reason to make that instead of a set that could be both online and physical. Even if the online version became massively popular, it seems like it would still be better to make a set that worked both ways.

An individual card could happen though; there the idea would just be, that they wanted something unique to promote the online version. As I've said before it would need to be something not doable with a physical card.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1651 on: January 19, 2015, 05:22:31 pm »
0

I realize you have an expansion that's releasing soon to worry about, but do you think there are any interesting enough possible new mechanics left with enough intrinsic variations to support an entire expansion?  That is, are there things left that are worth doing after Adventures?
It's just too hard to say without doing the work. Anything I haven't already worked on might not work out if I ever tried it; I just don't know.

This is with the provision that the set be simple enough and close enough to Dominion. If you don't care about those things then of course you can endlessly make expansions, in the same way that you can endlessly make new games. For Magic I always used the example of a Scrabble expansion - you make words from the cards. It's just an example of how broad your options are, if you are willing to have them be that broad. At this point someone has done a version of Dominion where you make words with the cards, so sometime I will have to come up with a different example.
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Rhombus

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1652 on: January 20, 2015, 12:06:08 am »
0

Why not a special expansion that plays with the pirate ship boards, ruins, and other components?  I understand the concern about always wanting to be able to play an expansion with base, but it's also not like you could play just Seaside and Dark Ages.  Perfect for players that have all the expansions, encourages getting more of them, and people could just leave cards out that require a resource they don't have if they don't have a particular expansion.
Any product happens instead of other products. That's a key thing for any considerations like these. Some people really want Alchemy 2. Why not do that? Because there are more people that would prefer anything else, anything but that.

The potential audience for a product that requires Dominion is larger than the potential audience for a product that requires Dominion and Seaside. Why limit ourselves to the smaller audience? So we can use the pirate ship mat without including it? I'm not seeing it.

The same logic could be applied to the expansions themselves: why make expansions that require base Dominion and not just spin-offs/other games?  Because there is a market for them.

I understand the economic concerns of manufacturing and selling games and that a 2-deep prerequisite has less audience than a 1-deep prerequisite.

I think most game expansions are fairly unlikely to bring a significant percentage of new players to the game unless you are talking about licensed product, which does not appear to be a direction Dominion is going in.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1653 on: January 20, 2015, 12:50:31 am »
+5

The same logic could be applied to the expansions themselves: why make expansions that require base Dominion and not just spin-offs/other games?
It would be better to make spin-offs, yes! I have said this many times.

It is great to have a product that you know has an audience. Any new game I make, maybe no-one likes. OTOH a new game could be a hit; a Dominion expansion has both upper and lower bounds on how successful it can be.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1654 on: January 22, 2015, 10:12:54 am »
+1

Two early cards, Chancellor and Mining Village, have optional effects that have to be done "immediately".  Is there a reason why this wording was used initially, but then later dropped in similar cards?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1655 on: January 22, 2015, 03:56:31 pm »
+5

Two early cards, Chancellor and Mining Village, have optional effects that have to be done "immediately".  Is there a reason why this wording was used initially, but then later dropped in similar cards?
I never wanted that word, other people were involved early on, and at some later point it was all up to me.

Everything is immediate unless it says otherwise. I think that word just makes it look like maybe something else that doesn't say it might have a mysterious delay.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1656 on: January 23, 2015, 06:09:46 pm »
0

How far in advance, if at all, do foreign-language publishers (999 games, etc) get the card names and text in order to make translations?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1657 on: January 23, 2015, 06:24:11 pm »
+5

How far in advance, if at all, do foreign-language publishers (999 games, etc) get the card names and text in order to make translations?
They do get them in advance, in order to have the expansion come out in their country on the same day (for partners that commit that early). I don't know how far in advance. The German translator leaked three Alchemy cards (asking for help naming them), so with some research you could work out a minimum for how far in advance he had them.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1658 on: January 25, 2015, 12:10:04 pm »
+3

Should this go in the puzzle section?
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1659 on: January 26, 2015, 01:46:42 pm »
0

If you were to make still more expansions, would you use Reserve cards again every so often, or would they have to wait for another expansion specifically adding more of them, as was the case with Durations?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1660 on: January 26, 2015, 04:58:21 pm »
+8

If you were to make still more expansions, would you use Reserve cards again every so often, or would they have to wait for another expansion specifically adding more of them, as was the case with Durations?
There does not appear to have been enough official information released to make a good guess there. And I don't want to give out more information.
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Seprix

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1661 on: January 30, 2015, 07:12:48 pm »
+2

If you could change the price of a single Dominion card, which one would it be?

What are names you wanted to give some cards that never got used?

Cats or dogs?

Besides Dominion, what is your favorite board game?

What does the X stand for in your name?

Did every single question I ask already get answered?
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1662 on: January 30, 2015, 07:16:16 pm »
+2

What's your favorite Temporum card?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1663 on: January 30, 2015, 09:51:04 pm »
+6

If you could change the price of a single Dominion card, which one would it be?
This doesn't get me anywhere.

The best possible change would be to replace some dud in the main set. I can't just make a dud a great card by changing the cost though; the cards I want improved, if you change the cost, are still cards I want improved. Like, Thief could cost $0; it just looks bad now, I mean it makes my work on the cards look bad. The card doesn't become one I scoop up; it becomes more powerful in the rare games where I already want it, and that's not doing me any good. Or, Spy becomes more worth-getting at $2, but it fails to become more make-game-good. It would still be slow to resolve and often ignored.

Okay next best would be to improve a dud from Intrigue. No, not doing anything here either.

I could take a powerful card and make it suck by making it cost more. That's probably my best move but it's just awful.

What are names you wanted to give some cards that never got used?
Well if I didn't use the name but like it, won't I try again in the future, if there is a future? And thus I won't tell you whatever it is, even though, how exciting is it really. What, you can read the outtakes article, there are probably lots of names there that I thought were fine but didn't use for whatever reason.

I can tell you that I preferred Late Cretaceous to Late Jurassic in Temporum. That one got changed because the art had Jurassic dinosaurs, and it was easiest to rename it. Similarly Anubis Statuette was supposed to be Anubis Figurine. In Dominion, Boomtown got renamed to City after talking about how the art shouldn't be wild-west-y, but I think that was a good change, I'm not pining over Boomtown. Otherwise, man, Jay has not turned down names. I guess he turned down having a Sir Jay.

They renamed nearly everything on me in Pina Pirata. I had lots of good names too. I am going to cite Any Reptile Will Do, which they changed to, Alligaturtle.

Cats or dogs?
I wouldn't have either if I had to take care of it myself. I appreciate aspects of both.

Besides Dominion, what is your favorite board game?
Besides my own games, Magic: The Gathering. Dominion doesn't have a board so I figured this answer was okay. Whatever is after Magic is way down below it. I'm a Knizia fan; I can cite Clash of Gladiators and Taj Mahal as especially good ones (Clash of Gladiators: obscure and out of print). I made an expansion for Medici. I liked Netrunner a lot, the WotC version, I haven't tried the new one.

If my own non-Dominion games count then it's a question, is Magic 2nd or is one of my own games. When I have played Magic in the last few years, I have been struck by the ways that I prefer Dominion. Like, I always get to play Dominion. I don't always get to play Magic; sometimes I just get to watch you play. That game isn't so amazing for you either. But uh there's still lots of fun to have with Magic. It's hard compare fairly, it has loomed large in my life.

What does the X stand for in your name?
It's a variable.

Did every single question I ask already get answered?
Ugh, not this question again.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2015, 12:52:35 am by Donald X. »
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1664 on: January 30, 2015, 10:10:50 pm »
+3

What's your favorite Temporum card?
For published player cards, possibly Inventor, just for, turn one, play Inventor, advance two crowns, now I rule here, get benefit (let's make it Industrial Revolution). I like Anubis Statuette as much as the next guy. Step on a Butterfly is cool because it's a weak effect that you sometimes get a lot out of.

For published zones, Plague, Plutocracy, and Police State (when it matters) are stand-outs. Industrial Revolution and Age of Cybernetics.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1665 on: January 30, 2015, 10:53:40 pm »
+1

They renamed nearly everything on me in Pina Pirata. I had lots of good names too. I am going to cite Any Reptile Will Do, which they changed to, Alligaturtle.

That's absolutely horrific.  The change, that is.  What was the thought, "Well, crocodiles are like alligators, and the last syllable of alligator is almost like the first syllable of turtle in a few English dialects," I mean, what the hell people?
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1666 on: January 30, 2015, 11:13:44 pm »
0


Did every single question I ask already get answered?
Ugh, not this question again.

I mean, this question is pretty easily answered since it was the last one.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1667 on: January 31, 2015, 12:56:58 am »
+2

Have you answered this question before?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1668 on: January 31, 2015, 12:58:36 am »
+7

Have you answered this question before?
There's a story I've often told. They set up a bunch of interviews when I went to Essen. The first question in the first interview was, "what question are you asked the most often in interviews?"
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1669 on: January 31, 2015, 04:48:17 am »
+1

Have you answered this question before?
There's a story I've often told. They set up a bunch of interviews when I went to Essen. The first question in the first interview was, "what question are you asked the most often in interviews?"

and, which on was it?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1670 on: January 31, 2015, 05:29:41 am »
+13

Have you answered this question before?
There's a story I've often told. They set up a bunch of interviews when I went to Essen. The first question in the first interview was, "what question are you asked the most often in interviews?"

and, which on was it?
The joke is, that that question was itself the most commonly asked question (though I think it was tied with a bunch of things since I'd had a pre-Essen interview). Now I have explained the joke and am sad. This isn't how I thought it would be.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1671 on: January 31, 2015, 07:47:29 am »
0

Have you answered this question before?
There's a story I've often told. They set up a bunch of interviews when I went to Essen. The first question in the first interview was, "what question are you asked the most often in interviews?"

and, which on was it?
The joke is, that that question was itself the most commonly asked question (though I think it was tied with a bunch of things since I'd had a pre-Essen interview). Now I have explained the joke and am sad. This isn't how I thought it would be.

I got the joke at first when you replied to Seprix, and I thought it was funny. Does that make you less sad?
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DStu

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1672 on: January 31, 2015, 09:17:28 am »
0

Have you answered this question before?
There's a story I've often told. They set up a bunch of interviews when I went to Essen. The first question in the first interview was, "what question are you asked the most often in interviews?"

and, which on was it?
The joke is, that that question was itself the most commonly asked question (though I think it was tied with a bunch of things since I'd had a pre-Essen interview). Now I have explained the joke and am sad. This isn't how I thought it would be.

to join in explaining jokes, this was completely clear from the beginning ;)
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Kirian

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1673 on: January 31, 2015, 09:54:40 am »
+3

Have you answered this question before?
There's a story I've often told. They set up a bunch of interviews when I went to Essen. The first question in the first interview was, "what question are you asked the most often in interviews?"

and, which on was it?
The joke is, that that question was itself the most commonly asked question (though I think it was tied with a bunch of things since I'd had a pre-Essen interview). Now I have explained the joke and am sad. This isn't how I thought it would be.


On the bright side, the joke is now funnier.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #1674 on: January 31, 2015, 07:31:11 pm »
+3

I got the joke at first when you replied to Seprix, and I thought it was funny. Does that make you less sad?
Is that a rhetorical question, like this is?
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