My Ukrainian's a bit rusty but I think I can manage these particular translations.
The Ukrainian one, after I answered the questions, he said, now how about another interview, and I said, how about later, and went on to say, you know on the question about, was game design a job or hobby or what, I managed not to say that doing interviews was work. And he apparently misunderstood, and repeated this as if it were an answer to him saying thanks, and as if I meant that doing interviews was no work at all. Anyway when people ask me if they can ask me questions, I answer them, starting with that one, but I do not always give it my all. Which is to say, the Spanish one was a lot of questions and I was somewhat terse and perhaps look bad as a result. I did not mean to suggest that no games are worth playing other than Magic and my games; it's just, if I name five games, I'm doing Magic a disservice. And when I said how Dominion didn't take much from Magic, as I previously have, it's not that I personally haven't gotten much from Magic - I got serious about being a game designer because of Magic. But I did not think, "if only I could take Magic's deckbuilding and turn it into a game." Dominion has more in common with tableau-building games than with Magic.
Anyway here they are.
1. In spite of the fact that you are a well-known person, can you introduce yourself to our readers?
I'm Donald X. Vaccarino, the world-famous game designer. I made Dominion and some other games that may be out by the time you read this.
2. How do you consider the fact that earlier there were rumors about your name among board game fans? They thought it was an anagram, under which a group of authors was hidden, and Donald X. Vaccarino doesn’t exist. Perhaps this is because it is difficult for some people to believe that this game could be designed by one person, besides who hasn’t been noticed especially in the industry of board games. How often journalists ask this question?
I think part of why there were these rumors is, because Bernd Brunnhofer of Hans im Gluck had previously used a pseudonym for his own games. It didn't really bother me, and no-one talks about it anymore, though they did a bunch in 2008.
3. Aren’t you of your creation? Are there any changes in your life caused with the release of this game?
Aren't I what of my creation? I will pretend you said "proud." Yes. Here's a pat on the back for Donald X. Vaccarino.
Making Dominion has certainly changed my life. I make games for a living, although I've also had to spend endless hours playtesting Dominion expansions.
4. What is most likely we will see: a new game with the deck-building mechanics or completely a new game with new mechanics by Donald X. Vaccarino?
I have 1-3 new games coming out at Essen this year (2011). So, a new game with new mechanics! Kingdom Builder has already been announced.
5. What can you say about the industry of board games and CCG, and how long will their friendship last? Board games with CCG mechanics is appearing continuously, as people like them and they buy these games. What can you say about the relatives of the Dominion, games which appeared after the stunning success of the Dominion? Which of these games with the deck-building mechanics like best?
I'm not sure what you mean by the first part and don't think I agree. Board games don't have CCG mechanics. Magic has really two mechanics to call its own: 1) you buy random packs of cards; 2) each player has their own deck. Board games have not really been copying these mechanics, or the specific resource system and combat of Magic. Stuff like getting combos between different Magic cards, that all came from earlier games, from WizWar and Cosmic Encounter. Dominion does take "you have your own deck" from Magic, but they aren't really relatives beyond that. Magic is a game of resource management and a particular kind of combat and so on; Dominion is a game of building a deck.
There are two kinds of relatives to Dominion: Dominion clones, and actual new games with a deckbuilding component, like Eminent Domain or A Few Acres of Snow. The clones I have zero respect for. The actual new games don't bother me at all, I am pleased people are going places with the mechanic, and only hope that they don't go anywhere I'm planning on going.
I have not played anyone else's deckbuilding game; I am too busy playtesting Dominion expansions and new games of my own.
6. Are you still playing Magic the Gathering? What can you say about the format of the LCG? What do think about such game? Do you think LCG are fairer to the player and his wallet than the usual standard CCG? Or think this is almost the same thing when concerns the money spending? And if we consider the problem in such a perspective, do you think that games similar to the Dominion are good alternative to such systems? Can we say that Dominion Generation has taken the best of the CCG and left no controversial economic distribution model?
I stopped playing Magic when I made Dominion, because I no longer had any friends who wanted to play it. It was my favorite game for many years, and I still follow the news of new expansions, but I don't see myself ever getting back into it.
The LCG format must be doing okay, but I wouldn't have guessed it was worth pursuing. It's nice that you can just buy all of the cards, rather than the random cards in Magic packs, but in my experience a given person only has time in their life for a single CCG, and I would think an LCG would take that same hunk of time. So, why not just play Magic? You'll have more people to play it with, and you can play it like an LCG if you want - just buy a certain amount of cards and play with those.
The LCG way of selling cards is not remotely the same as the CCG way. Even if you spend a lot of money on an LCG. When you buy a lot of Magic cards, it does not take long to get to the point where you are really just getting one card per pack - you have multiples of all the rest. An LCG isn't like that and so much for that.
Again I think all Dominion takes from Magic is, you have your own deck. The combinatorics thing predates Magic, and Magic is not a game of building a deck like Dominion is. I know people compare them a lot because you build a deck in order to play Magic, but really the only common ground there is that each player has their own deck. Now, I don't wish to underrate Magic; I had not played WizWar or Cosmic Encounter when I first played Magic; for me, the idea of interacting rules on cards came from Magic. But I know Magic didn't originate that idea.
So anyway, if what you like about Magic is the combos, you can get that from a bunch of games, whether they have deckbuilding or not. It's a great thing but it's not unique to Dominion and Magic. Instead of building a deck, you can build a tableau, such as in San Juan and Race for the Galaxy.
Instead you could say, that what you want is a good game; then of course it's nice if your good game does not have Magic's distribution model.
7. If we are talking about investing in favorite games, how many additions are still waiting for the Dominion?
I am planning on having eight expansions total; Hinterlands, this October, is the sixth.
8. Which game from the new products in 2010 do you like the most? And what game do you play most often now?
I play Dominion most often, followed by new games I'm working on. I rarely play games from other designers these days; if you want to design games for a living, you don't have a lot of time to play games that aren't yours. I played one game of Roll for the Galaxy this year, which I liked. It's not out yet.
9. What is the game design for you: work, hobby or vocation?
Thinking about games, making them, and playtesting them is all good times. Trying to get them published and proofreading rulebooks and so on is all work.
10. What do you think about the transfer of board games to mobile devices? Doesn’t you think that this throw away the most important element - communication?
I like computer games, which are often solitaire, so I don't see it as a problem at all. When you are alone on the train, play a game on your phone. When you get home, have some friends over and play in person. Playing a board game on a phone is different from in person, but it can still be fun. I don't expect board games to be so big vs. other kinds of games on phones, because there's so much you can do in a phone game that you can't do in a board game.
11. What future for board and card games do you see?
I haven't given this any thought. They've been around for a long time, so I don't see them going away. There's a lot of competition for your entertainment time now, but people are still playing games.
12. Do you play Dominion well?
Yes! I am still making mistakes, but I am a fine player.
* How do you start at the boardgames?
If you mean, how did I start playing boardgames, I really didn't get heavily into them until introduced to German games by my Magic-playing friends in the mid-90s. If you mean, how do I start working on a boardgame, I start with a mechanic usually, one of the many I've got sitting around waiting to be turned into games.
* Which was your first game that you get as a gift or you bought?
Basic D&D, back when there was no Advanced D&D.
* How much time do you use in a week for boardgames?
I work on them every day, and play two evenings and an afternoon each week.
* How much time do you spend to finish a game (idea, test...)?
It varies a huge amount from game to game. The big thing is, does the game have rules on cards that have to be balanced (some games have rules on cards that don't have to be balanced, and of course some games don't have rules on cards). That situation will just take up as much playtesting time as you give it. Other things may just be a matter of how fun they are, or doing the math.
So for example, Dominion has rules on cards that have to be balanced; the original game took me a matter of hours to finish, and then playtesting the cards after that took months. Nefarious does not have rules on cards to balance - there are rules on cards that don't have to be balanced, where I just needed to decide if they were fun enough, and stats on cards that I balanced with math. So it went very quickly.
* What can you tell us abour your first games?
My oldest games were just my fixed-up versions of existing games. When I started seriously making games, I made a lot of games where the rules were different every time.
* How did you get the idea to make the game Dominion?
The initial idea was the solution to a problem in another game I was working on. In that game, you were going to have your own deck of cards, with cards for each of your characters in a party of adventurers. When you drew a Sword card for your Paladin, that let your Paladin use his sword once. I realized at some point that the math for this game was too hard - an attack card might just be "deal 3 damage per level of Sword skill," but that meant, you had to look two places, multiply the numbers, remember that total, look at your next card, look at your character, multiply the numbers, remember that total... And this was all just to see if you wanted to attack or not. The cards really had to be as simple as "do 3 damage," but I still wanted your characters to be built up over the course of the game. And the solution was to have you build a deck, gradually adding cards that did better things as a way of building up your character.
Once I had that idea I realized I could make a separate game with just the deck-building premise, and none of the other stuff from this game. It sounded cool, although it took me months to get around to making it.
* Do you really expect the success that Dominion has get?
I expected it to be a big hit for gamers, based on how much my friends liked it. I did not expect to win the SdJ.
* What do you feel when you design such a successful game? How do you feel about winning the Spiel des Jahres?
Well, it's great to be successful. I don't have anything interesting to say about it. Winning the SdJ was great.
* Can you tell us your strategy when you play Dominion? Do you play your own games?
I play almost nothing but my own games - that's the only way to get enough playtesting done. The first strategic advice I have for you for Dominion is, have a strategy.
* Do you have any new expansion for Dominion?
An expansion called Hinterlands is coming out at Essen this year, and there are two more expansions planned after that.
* What can you tell us about your 2 new games: "Kingdom Builder" and "Nefarious"?
Kingdom Builder is a game of putting pieces on a board. Your pieces do three things: they score for you, they gain you abilities, and they limit future plays. There are different scoring methods and abilities available each game.
Nefarious has two rules that change each game, making each game a small puzzle to be solved. You invest in what you think the other players will do and choose which inventions to build, based on what the rules are this time.
* If you could design a game in the history of games... which one would be that one?
I'm happy being the guy who made my games.
* Which other designer do you admire?
Reiner Knizia, Richard Garfield.
* Can you tell us your top 5 games?
Among games that aren't mine, it's a big step down after Magic: The Gathering.
* What was the last game that you played and you get addicted?
If you mean, that isn't one of my games, then Magic: The Gathering.
* Any future project?
Yes, all the time, many future projects. Any announcements are up to the publishers, once I find publishers for them.
* Any advise for the new designers?
Go to conventions to show your games to publishers. That's the advice I was looking for when I started out.
