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Author Topic: Credits  (Read 7030 times)

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theory

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Credits
« on: June 17, 2011, 05:05:49 pm »
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Quote from: Donald X.
Thanks unruled, if that is your real name. I'm probably not going to respond to too many "way to go Donald X." posts, or for that matter "Donald X. you suck" posts, but since I'm already sitting at my computer, now seems as good a time as any to mention that I am probably going to get thanked and condemned for many things which I did not do. I didn't post the rules for example. It's Jay's website and if I had to guess I would say he posted them. It only takes one person to post them in any case. You could have one person move the mouse while the other person handled clicking, but one of you would have to be standing up, unless the two of you were on really good terms, and no-one would know the difference in the end anyway.

So here's who-all actually did what, from my perspective.

I designed the game, designed the cards, and showed the game off to Jay (that should count for something, because you have to fly to Columbus in the summer and it's very humid). I worked with Valerie and Dale on developing the game. I wrote the flavor blurb at the start of the rules, although it was edited, and the card FAQ is based on my original card FAQ, although it was heavily edited. Those of you who are game designers will be pleased to hear that the default RGG contract gives the game designer final say on the rules. So anything you don't like about the rules, you can blame me for; I could have stopped it. I got everything I wanted and have no complaints.

Valerie and Dale developed the game. That means they played it a bunch, and would sometimes say "this is a problem" or "this could be simpler" and I would say "oic" or "no you are" and eventually we would agree on a solution. Overall the game is better than it was at the start, which I would not have guessed was possible. They worked with the external playtesters, which I think mostly means that when people begged them for a copy long enough, they said "okay but you have to tell us what happens" and gave them one. They interacted with Jay, and tried to champion our interests on things that we didn't have final say over, like the layout. They wrote the rulebook, starting from scratch (that means "nothing," although you never hear it in other contexts, like, "scratch matters more to me than you darling"). They relentlessly showed the game off at cons.

Jay had a company with a bunch of great games, and was willing to look at new games from unknowns. If you are wondering why RGG is publishing this game instead of some other company, that's why. I thought, I need a publisher. I looked at the games I owned and they were mostly from RGG. I emailed him and he replied within 20 minutes and we set up to meet at Origins. RGG was my first choice and Jay bought the game within a month of seeing it and well 5/5, would use again. Jay let us run wild for a while, and then got to work on the rulebook layout and card layout and having whatever people it is magically produce art and cards and cardboard boxes. He lined up at least 4 other companies to produce copies in other languages, showed the game off at cons himself, and well he probably did some more stuff but it's just too much to pay attention to all of it, eventually you just need to take a break and ideally eat something. Oh he also paid for this stuff in advance, even though for all we know the game will tank and he'll be left with thousands of unsold copies, which I guess means he will try to set the world record for largest house of cards. Oh and he has that website, which I'm just mentioning so I don't get thanked for it again. It has rulebook .pdf's and everything.

Matthias I believe is the head art guy, so like, he probably made some calls on the layout and stuff, and did the cover and the frame on the cards, and he did a bunch of the art. The art isn't all by him, so I guess he has some artist friends and got them to do some. I don't really know much about this end of it, being three steps removed from it really, but he is in the credits and well I already mentioned him and there's no point deleting it. Hi Matthias.

There were a bunch of playtesters. Playtesters have lots of responsibilities. First you have to whine and whine about how you want a copy of the game. This may sound easy, but you know it's like when you whine about how you're losing, give the robber to someone else, put it on those bricks for instance. Sometimes it doesn't work and they take your ore. There's an art to it, like a white canvas with a single red stripe, or a hill covered with giant umbrellas. Anyway after that you have to actually play the game some, to show that you really meant that whining. You don't actually have to suggest any changes; for all we know it's fine already. Then you get your name in the credits, which you can show to your mother, unless you're just listed under the blanket of Columbus Area Boardgame Society or something, in which case not only do you have to live in Columbus, with its humid summers, you also have to show your mother your CABS membership card so she knows they're talking about you. She'll be proud anyway though, unless she's dead, and well for all of you playtesters with dead mothers, I'm sorry I brought it up.

So anyway those are the people and while I'm at it I should thank them. Thanks guys! Valerie and a few of the playtesters are girls, but I think guys means just a group of people, regardless of gender. A guy though, that's a guy. If I had said "thanks, you people, each of whom is a guy," that would have been sexist and wrong. But I think "guys" there is above reproach. Of course I've hidden these thanks in this thread about the rules being posted, where many of them will never see it. Dale will though. Hi Dale. Thanks. Pass it on. I think that's a developer responsibility.

So yeah if you like the art for Village or are glad that the game is coming out in Dutch, that was not my doing. And I didn't write the rulebook or do the layout for it or post it at RGG; I didn't even post the link to it (that was olavf, who I didn't mention because as far as I know he's not even working for us; the .pdf was news to me though, so thanks olavf). Similarly if you wish the cards were triangular instead or that the rulebook was plastic so you could read it underwater, that's not my department. If otoh you think that Village is too weak or too strong or too medium, you can point at me accusingly.

Also thanks in advance to those of you who eventually say something nice about me where I can read it, unless it's somewhere creepy, and apologies in advance to those of you who think we could have done better. What can I say. You never see the mistakes we didn't make.
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