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Author Topic: Interview with Donald X.  (Read 2127012 times)

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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3075 on: June 11, 2016, 02:26:53 am »
+10

What is your favorite expansion to date?
It's like you're asking me to pick my favorite North Korean dictator!

Related question: What (other than promos) do you consider to be your greatest failure in dominion?
So you mean cards, since you cite promos? Or maybe, other than the horrible mistake of having promos? The promos are not topping any lists of biggest mistakes, I will just make that clear. Yes they fill up the list of biggest promo mistakes, someone needed me to say that.

In the rules, I think the worst thing is just that reactions should be played when reacting (you can argue that this isn't in the rules, but it should also be in the rules).

In the cards, in general, I would have made both trashing and Witches a little weaker. The intention was not to almost always buy those things. Possibly the fix for Witches would be changing the way the player count determines the number of Curses, in which case that would also count as a rules thing.

In the cards, specifically, Rebuild is the worst mistake power-level-wise, Trader and Possession rules-wise. No surprises there.

Business-wise, obv. I should have rushed out a clone soon after the main game, gotten a head-start in the Dominion clone business.

For flavor paragraphs I will go with Cornucopia. Once it lost the jesters fighting to the death, it really needed another good joke.

In terms of catching other peoples' mistakes, there was not realizing that the guy saying his Intrigue cards were thinner was reporting something real that just wasn't that.
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eHalcyon

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3076 on: June 11, 2016, 03:11:29 am »
+1

Quote
Engineer: For a while there was a different Workshop: Gain a card costing up to $4, get +1 VP per empty pile. It seemed reasonable and then I had one too many games that were dominated by it. I tried a lot of replacements, man, like ten other cards, mostly very briefly. Engineer stood out. However it had the issue of being able to trash it to gain something plus another Engineer, to run out the pile. Dame Josephine suggested having it cost Debt, which fixed that problem while taking no space on the card.

Can you elaborate how the Workshop with "+1VP per empty Supply pile" ended up dominating games?  It sounds totally innocuous to me, so a story or two about those games would be really enlightening!

I'm also interested in why the version that could gain itself was an issue that needed solving, since there are other cards that can run themselves out pretty easily (e.g. Magpie, Stonemason).




No guarantees that Gathering cards will ever appear outside of Empires, but should they remain strictly tied to VP?  Gathering with coin tokens seems like an obvious thing that could work.  Same question for Landmarks.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3077 on: June 11, 2016, 03:44:42 am »
+7

Can you elaborate how the Workshop with "+1VP per empty Supply pile" ended up dominating games?  It sounds totally innocuous to me, so a story or two about those games would be really enlightening!
Some players buy some, maybe eager to get copies of some cantrip everyone likes, like Caravan. The Caravans run out. Now the workshop is making +1 VP. That's attractive so people start getting more of the workshops. The people who already have them want a 2nd pile to run out and help empty the workshops. Now they make +2 VP per hit and there are ten of them in decks so players scramble for points while the workshops empty the Estates.

I had a couple early games that were stupid because of this card. Then for a while the card seemed fine. But we started to see the bad cases more and it was clear that one reason we hadn't been seeing them was because we hadn't realized how good the card was.

I'm also interested in why the version that could gain itself was an issue that needed solving, since there are other cards that can run themselves out pretty easily (e.g. Magpie, Stonemason).
It's not "it's awful that this pile runs out," it's "it's awful that you can choose to run out this pile incidentally." What you want is Caravans. But instead of gaining a Caravan, you trash the workshop and gain a Caravan and another workshop. You're running out the workshops as this random extra thing you're allowed to do on top of what you actually wanted, which was gaining Caravans.

Some players will just automatically do this; they can do it and that's enough for them. They exercise their power. And it sucks. It's anti-fun, so the card doesn't do that.

No guarantees that Gathering cards will ever appear outside of Empires, but should they remain strictly tied to VP?  Gathering with coin tokens seems like an obvious thing that could work.
For me Gathering cards want to be things that Defiled Shrine is specifically dodging putting tokens on. So, cards that put VP tokens on their pile. "Gathering with coin tokens" runs into the problem of interacting with Trade Route, but that aside, would get a different type if it happened.

Same question for Landmarks.
Landmarks are intentionally tied to VP.

You could just make cards that modify the rules. I considered it way back when; it's a thing I've done in many games. I didn't do it because Dominion has kingdom cards filling that rule; they change the rules plenty. Dominion doesn't need other rules-changing cards. I considered it again later and still didn't want them.

But I do have Events and now Landmarks. Events can change the rules, but only via the Event-buying mechanism, which is like buying a card without the card; it felt like a reasonable extension. Landmarks can change the rules, but only in these VP-making ways. While they are each a step towards just having randomizer cards that change the rules, they still both try hard to stay within limits, to only affect the game in a way best done via these mechanisms. In general the best way to change the rules in Dominion is still to have kingdom cards that do different things.
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Witherweaver

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3078 on: June 11, 2016, 12:06:16 pm »
0

When you play tested Catapult how many people threw their cards across the table?
No-one. You could be the first.

Sign me up for projectile Dominion.
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Seprix

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3079 on: June 11, 2016, 12:28:45 pm »
0

What is your favorite expansion to date?
It's like you're asking me to pick my favorite North Korean dictator!

So none of them?

Also, real question: In what ways did you consider 'breaking dominion rules' for specific cards?
« Last Edit: June 11, 2016, 12:33:36 pm by Seprix »
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3080 on: June 11, 2016, 12:46:56 pm »
+1

Is Jessi J a new name for Jessica Cox, or are they a new artist for Empires?
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3081 on: June 11, 2016, 01:23:47 pm »
0

My mind tried to come up with an explanation for why Royal Blacksmith is out of order. I thought maybe it had a different name until very late and then just replaced the name but not the layout. Is there anything to this, or is it just a weird thing?
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3082 on: June 11, 2016, 01:59:07 pm »
+2

My mind tried to come up with an explanation for why Royal Blacksmith is out of order. I thought maybe it had a different name until very late and then just replaced the name but not the layout. Is there anything to this, or is it just a weird thing?

My question is, if all the cards are listed in alphabetical order, then why is Royal Blacksmith found where it is?

Probably so that no card notes would span two pages.
But then why is it in the wrong place on the inlay?

We didn't think that art looked "Old."
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3083 on: June 11, 2016, 03:18:57 pm »
0

Have there been any other instances of the card name changing to reflect the artwork?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3084 on: June 11, 2016, 06:11:12 pm »
+3

Also, real question: In what ways did you consider 'breaking dominion rules' for specific cards?
I'm not sure I understand the question.

I intentionally break any rule that I can get a good card out of breaking. The main set breaks "you can only play one Action card a turn" and so on.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3085 on: June 11, 2016, 06:14:07 pm »
+2

Is Jessi J a new name for Jessica Cox, or are they a new artist for Empires?
Jessi J is a different person.
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Seprix

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3086 on: June 11, 2016, 06:15:19 pm »
0

Also, real question: In what ways did you consider 'breaking dominion rules' for specific cards?
I'm not sure I understand the question.

I intentionally break any rule that I can get a good card out of breaking. The main set breaks "you can only play one Action card a turn" and so on.

Okay, and +buy breaks the 1 buy a turn, and so on. What else was there that you considered but ultimately rejected?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3087 on: June 11, 2016, 06:28:29 pm »
+3

Have there been any other instances of the card name changing to reflect the artwork?
Not quite like that, but:

The art for Goons was submitted for Pawn; one of the things that resulted in me typing up artist notes for each set after that (also the Steward image was a guy with a serving dish). I came up with a name for the art and then abilities for the name (then tried other things until I had a card that worked, which did not end up as Goons-like but what can you do).

The art for Storeroom was submitted for Vault. I think there the artist offered multiple directions. The art sat around for a while, waiting for a card.

The art for Bazaar was submitted for Market; there there were just accidentally two people doing the art. I had a card called Bazaar in Seaside and said, we can use that art there.

City was called Boomtown until art was being made. I said "make sure it's not Wild-West-y" and Jay was all, uh maybe we should change that name. Then he used the same art for City and for a Carcassonne product.

Names for Alchemy were locked in before the cards were done. Alchemist and Golem were new cards trying to fit the names of outtakes; then Scrying Pool got an attack because it was the most attack-like sounding name other than Golem which I didn't want to change when that time came.

Governor has cropped art from an edition of Puerto Rico, and was designed to relate to Puerto Rico.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3088 on: June 11, 2016, 06:33:33 pm »
+1

Also, real question: In what ways did you consider 'breaking dominion rules' for specific cards?
I'm not sure I understand the question.

I intentionally break any rule that I can get a good card out of breaking. The main set breaks "you can only play one Action card a turn" and so on.

Okay, and +buy breaks the 1 buy a turn, and so on. What else was there that you considered but ultimately rejected?
That is just too broad. Any given basic rule probably had a card trying to break it at some point. To make an exhaustive list of things that sound like rule-breaking that ended up as outtakes, I would have to go through the Secret Histories, which you could do instead.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3089 on: June 11, 2016, 06:35:14 pm »
+2

Have there been any other instances of the card name changing to reflect the artwork?
Not quite like that, but:
Actually this exact thing did happen with two cards in Temporum, also done by Alayna. It was supposed to be Late Cretaceous but she showed Jurassic dinosaurs; it was Anubis Figurine but she drew a larger object, so Anubis Statuette.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3090 on: June 12, 2016, 08:29:25 pm »
0

The Empires rule book mentions that first editions of Intrigue include the base cards. We also know that Possession has errata. Also, the template for cards has changed with Empires with many of them having nicer bigger fonts, and I'm pretty sure I read last year around the time Adventures came out that the Basic Game of Dominion was planned to switch over to the artwork versions for treasures and victory cards.

So, with all of that, is it safe to assume that 2nd editions are coming out for all expansions? If so, will the new cards have the new Empires layout.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3091 on: June 12, 2016, 10:58:21 pm »
+2

The Empires rule book mentions that first editions of Intrigue include the base cards. We also know that Possession has errata. Also, the template for cards has changed with Empires with many of them having nicer bigger fonts, and I'm pretty sure I read last year around the time Adventures came out that the Basic Game of Dominion was planned to switch over to the artwork versions for treasures and victory cards.

So, with all of that, is it safe to assume that 2nd editions are coming out for all expansions? If so, will the new cards have the new Empires layout.
The text in the Empires rulebook does imply that Intrigue may at some point not have base cards in it. It doesn't go further and no announcement has been made that would clarify things.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3092 on: June 12, 2016, 11:28:15 pm »
+1

Landmarks are intentionally tied to VP.

But couldn't you conceivably do more "When scoring" Landmarks without the need for VP tokens?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3093 on: June 13, 2016, 02:06:06 am »
+3

Landmarks are intentionally tied to VP.

But couldn't you conceivably do more "When scoring" Landmarks without the need for VP tokens?
Yes. However if you look through the ones in Empires, and then the ones in the outtakes section of the Secret History, and then try to think of some, I think you will find that the outlook is not great there.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3094 on: June 14, 2016, 12:12:14 am »
+3

So, people always ask what was your biggest Dominion failure.  But I don't remember if anyone asked the opposite question: In your entire time making Dominion, what do you think has been your biggest accomplishment?
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3095 on: June 14, 2016, 03:33:28 am »
0

In terms of catching other peoples' mistakes, there was not realizing that the guy saying his Intrigue cards were thinner was reporting something real that just wasn't that.

Uh? What is this about?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3096 on: June 14, 2016, 04:03:01 am »
+6

Is Jessi J a new name for Jessica Cox, or are they a new artist for Empires?
Jessi J is a different person.
My mistake, further research indicates that they are the same person.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3097 on: June 14, 2016, 04:06:43 am »
+6

So, people always ask what was your biggest Dominion failure.  But I don't remember if anyone asked the opposite question: In your entire time making Dominion, what do you think has been your biggest accomplishment?
A big trick that Dominion does is, it lets you have a more complex game, a greater number of card interactions without getting to be too much, via the magic of hiding your cards in a deck. It's like building a tableau, but without the impossibility of making sure everything happens that's supposed to.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3098 on: June 14, 2016, 04:08:29 am »
+6

In terms of catching other peoples' mistakes, there was not realizing that the guy saying his Intrigue cards were thinner was reporting something real that just wasn't that.

Uh? What is this about?
Someone posted on BGG, "hey I think my copy of Intrigue is fake." One of the symptoms was the cards being "thinner."

Jay halted printing immediately. He got the card thickness measured. They were not thinner. Card printing resumed.

If we had realized that thinness was a symptom rather than the disease - that it indicated a real problem, just not thinness - we might have avoided having bendy Adventures cards.
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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #3099 on: June 14, 2016, 04:48:58 am »
0

So, people always ask what was your biggest Dominion failure.  But I don't remember if anyone asked the opposite question: In your entire time making Dominion, what do you think has been your biggest accomplishment?
A big trick that Dominion does is, it lets you have a more complex game, a greater number of card interactions without getting to be too much, via the magic of hiding your cards in a deck. It's like building a tableau, but without the impossibility of making sure everything happens that's supposed to.

Ah, so you mean, as opposed to, say, Cosmic Encounter, where all the rule-bending effects and their interactions are always present? Yes um I guess that's great but many games had it before, not only card games like M:tG but also games where effects are bound to, say, creatures on a map and interactions only happen on encounters between creatures.

Or did you mean something else?
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