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Author Topic: Interview with Donald X.  (Read 2265977 times)

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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5725 on: August 10, 2024, 01:39:15 pm »
+2

Are Hero and Disciple valid choices for Riverboat?
Ditto for cards not initially on top in split piles like Sorcerer.
The Rulebook for Menagerie regarding Way of thr Mouse specifically excludes nom-Kingdom cards, (so, no Will-o-Wisps) but the only restrictions I see for Riverboat in the Rising Shn rulebook are $5 and non-Duration.
And I don't think Hero/Disciple would break anything, since they wouldn't be exchangeable, just nice delayed theone room/treasure gainer respectively, not hyper different from Mastermind and Pirate in actual gameplay.
They're not in the spirit of the card; they're not intentionally possibilities. If you randomly determine the card via a randomizer, as I would, they will not come up.

Online, the software will do what it does. I'd have to ask to find out.

IRL, have the fun you want to have.
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binbag420

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5726 on: August 12, 2024, 08:34:16 pm »
0

What’s the most recent card you ‘regret’. Not one you’d necessarily replace but one you wish you’d done different or just don’t like (like how you’ve said you don’t like aspects of overlord).
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soudek01

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5727 on: August 13, 2024, 02:15:21 am »
0

Donald, great work on this new expansion. It’s wonderful.

Given the proximity to CornGuilds 2E, why isn’t the effect of footpad a prophecy instead? That would feel so much better to me 🤷‍♂️

Lots of tempo boosters coming out lately (which I like because it means more games of dominion in less time). Are you trying to speed up the card pool slightly?

In the secret history of ninja, you mentioned that you’re holding onto an idea for a potential future card. What are your current/upcoming projects?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5728 on: August 13, 2024, 01:29:36 pm »
+1

What’s the most recent card you ‘regret’. Not one you’d necessarily replace but one you wish you’d done different or just don’t like (like how you’ve said you don’t like aspects of overlord).
From Plunder, the biggest mistake is Siren's unclear loopholes. I don't mind loopholes; I don't want them to be unclear. I'd try it with "first" and see how that went. I like the card otherwise.

For Rising Sun we'll have to wait until people have the cards and start pointing things out.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5729 on: August 13, 2024, 01:44:35 pm »
+2

Given the proximity to CornGuilds 2E, why isn’t the effect of footpad a prophecy instead? That would feel so much better to me 🤷‍♂️
It was an idea for Footpad, is why? There was no impetus to kill a card I was working on in order to save it for Rising Sun. In fact instead I would say, given Baker and Footpad, I considered having more of that in C&G. It's also not so clear that Footpad's bottom effect would play better as a Prophecy; all those early Workshops wouldn't draw.

It's possible for one set to take a card from another; it's certainly happened. Lots in the early days, and some during the Seaside / Prosperity / Hinterlands 2E era. There wasn't the tiniest hint of wanting to move Footpad though.

Lots of tempo boosters coming out lately (which I like because it means more games of dominion in less time). Are you trying to speed up the card pool slightly?
Nope.

In the secret history of ninja, you mentioned that you’re holding onto an idea for a potential future card. What are your current/upcoming projects?
I'm always working on games; today isn't an exception, I'm working on games. There's nothing much to say about them until a publisher is advertising them, and not much more until they come out. Two have at least been mentioned by a publisher: Moon Colony Bloodbath and Pacific. MCB has a page at RGG: https://www.riograndegames.com/games/moon-colony-bloodbath/

I try to put off work on new Dominion expansions as long as possible, get other games made. I do have a file for the next time I work on another one. It has that Ninja idea, though, it may just be an outtake when that time comes, it was an out-there idea.
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Nflickner

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5730 on: August 13, 2024, 03:37:08 pm »
0

Loving Rising Sun--I think it is in my top three favorite sets, up there with Menagerie.  One thing I noticed--there seems to be some cards that are Cornucopia inspired--they benefit from having variety in your deck.  Was that intentional?  I hope to continue to see more card shaped things that encourage variety in the future :) 
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5731 on: August 13, 2024, 05:24:20 pm »
+1

Loving Rising Sun--I think it is in my top three favorite sets, up there with Menagerie.  One thing I noticed--there seems to be some cards that are Cornucopia inspired--they benefit from having variety in your deck.  Was that intentional?  I hope to continue to see more card shaped things that encourage variety in the future :) 
Rising Sun isn't trying to have anything to do with Cornucopia; variety-caring/producing is just a thing any set can have some of.
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J Reggie

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5732 on: August 14, 2024, 09:30:25 pm »
+2

Do you have a rule for what order vanilla bonuses appear on cards that includes bonuses that haven't ever appeared on the same card (such as +coffers and +D)? Or is that something that doesn't matter to you?

Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5733 on: August 15, 2024, 01:37:21 pm »
+4

Do you have a rule for what order vanilla bonuses appear on cards that includes bonuses that haven't ever appeared on the same card (such as +coffers and +D)? Or is that something that doesn't matter to you?
There's no rule that covers the future.

There is a rule for the basic four, though I've blown it there. It's just, keep doing what you did on Market. It's not the order I originally used - they moved the coin last due to the graphic for it - and so I sometimes forget on woodcutters, and so on some versions of Wine Merchant the coins are first.

For +VP etc., well it seemed like text wanted to be before the coin but after other stuff, and symbols after the coin. Again due to that graphic, and whatever the new graphics are. And some of them are like that.

For +Sun, mechanically it had to come first - any significant change doesn't want to happen in the middle of the card (though it can happen in the middle of some other card, in all the Dominion ways). So it's first.

Following these faint rules, +Coffers comes before +D.
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GendoIkari

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5734 on: August 15, 2024, 02:42:44 pm »
+4

Do you have every card fully memorized by name? Or do you sometimes see a card name and have to look it up to see which one it is?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5735 on: August 16, 2024, 04:39:58 am »
+6

Do you have every card fully memorized by name? Or do you sometimes see a card name and have to look it up to see which one it is?
I think I have them all. Not the exact wording, man, I may already have a different wording planned even. But you know. There are just a couple tricky Landmarks and Allies (Labyrinth wants you to gain things, Basilica wants you to have $2 left over), the rest is easy. And I mean I also remember a ton of outtake cards, though not all of them. So many outtakes. And then cards for my other games too, and outtakes from those games. I do still re-read a card sometimes to make sure I'm catching any important subtleties. And I mean when people ask rules questions, well the exact wording matters, and I look the card up.

I have a good memory in general.
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dz

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5736 on: August 16, 2024, 11:57:03 pm »
0

Have you considered giving people on discord the on notice role if they call you “Donald”?

How much of your game designing is making lists / charts / tables of different things?

When doing math in Temporum, why did you decide that cards and crown advancements would be worth $4 instead of $2 (like in Nefarious)?

Speaking of Nefarious, why did you decide Research would be +1 Card +$2 instead of +2 Cards?

What was it like making a tier list for this? And how do you feel about *looks it up* 16/24 people figuring out your list?

I forgot about this in my secret history, but before Rising Sun I sent you a list of 10 cards I liked and wanted to see new versions of, how did that work out? Did it have any influence on the expansion at all?

What are your thoughts on Forts? The quick version of my scathing review is: the flavor is meh; mechanically it's all over the place; the pile is unplayable when there are no villages; Garrison is a table-flipper when you lose the split; Hill Fort is way too good and the choice it gives is stupid when you're drawing deck (wait it's with Garrison); and Stronghold sucks.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5737 on: August 17, 2024, 03:36:03 pm »
+3

Have you considered giving people on discord the on notice role if they call you “Donald”?
I have not. I know most people saying it just don't know any better. I correct them and so much for that. Plus man I'm not stepping into jsh's territory there, he's having his own fun.

How much of your game designing is making lists / charts / tables of different things?
In terms of the files, there's certainly a lot of it. But in terms of like, everything you do, well there's a lot of pacing and thinking, there's all the playing. There's all the time spent making images and cutting and sleeving. But lists are significant.

When doing math in Temporum, why did you decide that cards and crown advancements would be worth $4 instead of $2 (like in Nefarious)?
I think that was really just the math. Well okay. There's an endless battle between big numbers, which give you resolution and make it easier to balance things, and small numbers, which are better in all other respects, make your game easier to play. It's always a question, how far you go one way or the other. Temporum wanted e.g. "when you draw a card, +$1," and the $ amounts scale from there. And then the $ value of a crown is based on, how long do you want the game to be.

Speaking of Nefarious, why did you decide Research would be +1 Card +$2 instead of +2 Cards?
You are asking a question about work I did in 1999, when it was not so clear that I would need a record of everything I did. I think I have a good guess though. In Nefarious you make $ based on what other people do; I put a chip / minion / agent on Research, and when you Research I get +$1. So it was good to have two actions that made you $ (three really of course, since Speculate does long-term), so you could sometimes shy away from Work. I do have the files that generated the card images back when, and the first version of Research did not have +$2, but there are no notes explaining why I changed it.

What was it like making a tier list for this? And how do you feel about *looks it up* 16/24 people figuring out your list?
It was like when you trip on a sidewalk crack, and can't imagine how you did it, and go back and purposefully try to trip on the crack, and can't do it.

I imagined I would be easy to guess, because I spew opinions at people constantly, and people are always asking for them too, like in this thread. It was easy making the list, I like making lists. I didn't feel bad because these were hated cards, or whatever; man we've been over that ground so much.

I forgot about this in my secret history, but before Rising Sun I sent you a list of 10 cards I liked and wanted to see new versions of, how did that work out? Did it have any influence on the expansion at all?
I did consider the list, and typed up a list of possible directions to do some of those things. Anything I actually tried left the list though, there's no paper trail there.

Some of your items of course made the set for other reasons, e.g. there was always going to be on-play debt, and that's a form of "pay resources for other resources." Some it's hard to say. There's "beats up the players for the whole game," but I think that was just, "what can I do with Prophecies." "Shapeshift basic cards" is there in Enlightenment; I don't know if the list factored in there or not. The one thing I'm pretty sure came from that list was the extra turn event that died.

What are your thoughts on Forts? The quick version of my scathing review is: the flavor is meh; mechanically it's all over the place; the pile is unplayable when there are no villages; Garrison is a table-flipper when you lose the split; Hill Fort is way too good and the choice it gives is stupid when you're drawing deck (wait it's with Garrison); and Stronghold sucks.
I like Forts. The flavor is solid, a nice way to have this hard-to-grasp concept the split piles wanted, of showing a progression though you aren't really progressing a thing. Tent was a great idea to get into a split pile; there's less pressure on each card to be the best thing ever, and Tent had been a good idea waiting years to get used. And I mean I think it's underrated, sometimes it's actually good to have that +$2 for a few turns in a row. Garrison is a lot of fun. Hill Fort would have been perfect for the set, going with the other choose-ones, but was too strong to do as a pile; but being in a split pile slows it down nicely and lets us have that experience. Stronghold, man, it's fine. Again, being in a split pile puts less pressure on a card to be the best thing ever, except from dz apparently. It's a cute concept and didn't use up a whole pile to get into a set.

Well done Donald X., I knew you had it in you.
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Nukatha

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5738 on: August 19, 2024, 11:49:32 am »
0

Is there any particular reason why Recommended Kingdoms are always a 5/5 kingdom card split between expansions (Young Witch/Approaching Army sets excepted, of course)? I wouldn't expect riots in the streets if you suggested a 6/4 kingdom someday.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5739 on: August 19, 2024, 12:23:57 pm »
+1

Is there any particular reason why Recommended Kingdoms are always a 5/5 kingdom card split between expansions (Young Witch/Approaching Army sets excepted, of course)? I wouldn't expect riots in the streets if you suggested a 6/4 kingdom someday.
They aren't all 5/5; in particular, with small sets, it's frequently 6/4, maybe even 7/3. And there are all the just-this-expansion recommended sets.

I'm trying to get interactions between sets, which I maximize by going half and half. And you can come at the recommended set from either side - it's Seaside / Prosperity, maybe you bought Seaside first, maybe you bought Prosperity first. You're more excited by whichever half.
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Tid

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5740 on: August 20, 2024, 07:53:55 pm »
0

Is there a world where we see the modern temple games client for Dominion launching on Switch?
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Will(ow|iam)

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5741 on: August 21, 2024, 12:57:30 pm »
0

Is there a world where we see the modern temple games client for Dominion launching on Switch?

Here's Jeff from TGG on the topic, from April this year: https://discord.com/channels/609163450077151233/844099146859806741/1229542593550094437

Quote
There are a handful of tasks to get the game on the Switch:

Tech work - It's work, but nothing seems too crazy here.
Controls - While the Switch has a touchscreen, every game seems to do controller support as well, so that's a project.
Shared Purchases - Switch has some games w/ shared purchases (Fortnite), but it's unclear if that's generally accepted or a special status.
Release Process - Probably the biggest issue - we've heard releases can take months to approve - which is sort of unfathomable, but we've heard it from multiple sources so... The current stores having 'a few days' of review is difficult to deal with already. We'd probably have to support staggered release a lot better than we are doing right now, which is rough, along with the difficulty of messaging that complication to players.

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Will(ow|iam)

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5742 on: August 21, 2024, 12:58:19 pm »
0

Who made the decision to have the sun tokens be 7-pointed stars, and why did they make that decision?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5743 on: August 21, 2024, 01:05:32 pm »
0

Who made the decision to have the sun tokens be 7-pointed stars, and why did they make that decision?
Probably Jay but possibly someone else, and I don't know why.
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MatthewTaranto

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5744 on: August 21, 2024, 02:26:29 pm »
+1

Hi, I'm new to the forum and I love playing Dominion. Thanks for making it!

My questions involve combinations: do you ever make note of particularly fun kingdom sets, or have some sort of compendium of them? I always try out the recommended sets in each manual, but with only two per expansion combo they tend to run out quickly.

Likewise, when playtesting cards, is there a specific order or method involved (i.e. "Let's try half Rising Sun, half base. Now half Rising Sun, half Intrigue..." etc) in order to find interesting or broken combos? Does every card have to be played with every other card before expansions go out?
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5745 on: August 21, 2024, 04:16:26 pm »
+3

My questions involve combinations: do you ever make note of particularly fun kingdom sets, or have some sort of compendium of them? I always try out the recommended sets in each manual, but with only two per expansion combo they tend to run out quickly.
I do note fun sets, and use them as the basis for recommended sets. If I see them after the set comes out, well they're just fun and so much for that. Other people collect sets of 10 also; you can find them online uh somewhere.

Likewise, when playtesting cards, is there a specific order or method involved (i.e. "Let's try half Rising Sun, half base. Now half Rising Sun, half Intrigue..." etc) in order to find interesting or broken combos? Does every card have to be played with every other card before expansions go out?
I endlessly play 5 cards from the being-worked-on set with 5 cards from one other set. For Rising Sun, exactly that; 5 Rising Sun 5 Intrigue, and so on.

I don't pay attention to, was each card played with each other card. Man. There are so many cards.

The bottleneck for playtesting is landscapes. You see 5 Rising Sun cards in a playtest game, but only one Prophecy. So they get way less testing, especially the ones that work well immediately.
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NoMoreFun

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5746 on: August 22, 2024, 03:52:44 pm »
0

With Sorceress you used a wording that allowed it to interact with the top card of the deck rather than the 2nd top. But 2 cards since then (Sea Chart, Poet) have used wording that interacts with the 2nd top card. Is there any particular reason you tend to go for the latter?
« Last Edit: August 22, 2024, 03:54:53 pm by NoMoreFun »
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Jonatan Djurachkovitch

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5747 on: August 22, 2024, 06:22:55 pm »
0

With Sorceress you used a wording that allowed it to interact with the top card of the deck rather than the 2nd top. But 2 cards since then (Sea Chart, Poet) have used wording that interacts with the 2nd top card. Is there any particular reason you tend to go for the latter?

To me this makes a lot of sense (if I'm allowed to respond to a question not directed at me). Sea Chart, Poet, Wishing Well and Will-o'-Wisp et.c. are all conditional labs, and all reveal the top card after drawing because you want the weird stuff to happen after the vanillas. Meanwhile Sorceress and Chariot Race only draw one card, and if you revealed the second card instead of the one you drew you would have to flip two cards separately, when you might as well only flip one. Also, the interaction with Sibyl feels really satisfying.
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Donald X.

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5748 on: August 23, 2024, 03:51:08 am »
+3

With Sorceress you used a wording that allowed it to interact with the top card of the deck rather than the 2nd top. But 2 cards since then (Sea Chart, Poet) have used wording that interacts with the 2nd top card. Is there any particular reason you tend to go for the latter?
Sorceress is specifically interacting with Sibyl; in general everything just wants a good phrasing on its day and that's that. If a card draws a card, it's way better to have "+1 Card" on it than it is to do other stuff and then say "+1 Card." It's simpler, it's what we're used to.

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NoMoreFun

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Re: Interview with Donald X.
« Reply #5749 on: August 23, 2024, 12:18:27 pm »
0

To me it's disappointing that e.g. Courtyard and Wishing Well, or Armory and Vagrant, or Lookout and Sea Chart, don't interact with each other. "Seems like they interact and they don't" ("nombo") isn't a fun feeling. Anyway, thank you for answering, no questions in this post
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