Putting My Neurons to Use – A three part story of board game design and sleepless nights.
A board-gaming bio by Martin Daine
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Part 3: Paper Boat Games
My first meeting with Marcos went really well and I came away pumped. We had both made a list of things that we wanted to get out of the union and our lists lined up perfectly. The only fly in the ointment at this time was Richard. I’d known that Marcos had designed with Richard in the past but was unsure of the current status. Marcos made it clear that they were a partnership and so Richard too would be involved. I didn’t know Richard and so was a little uneasy but was happy to trust Marcos and his judgement. Still it was important that I met Richard so that I could understand what he would want from the relationship. This would prove to be the first hiccup.
Richard was busy. It was difficult to set up a meeting time but our paths would cross at Airecon. This was a great opportunity, I had arranged to do some playtesting so not only could Richard meet me he could also see some of my designs. But the opportunity was lost. Maybe I hadn’t been clear about my expectations. When I finally found Richard and Marcos they were playing someone else’s game and then they playtested one of their own with the other designer and I joined them. When the game finished they left for home and I had missed my opportunity to understand Rcihard better. More than this though I was put off by the language during the playtest with the other designer. “Ricard and I”, “Marcos and I.” I left feeling like a third wheel.
I reflected on my Airecon experience. It had once again been fantastic, I had played lots of games and made some new friends, friends that I have kept since. But the playtesting hadn’t gone well and the biggest disappointment was the lack of the meet-up. I had expected to come away with a clearer idea of how we would move forward as a threesome but instead I came away with more questions than answers.
I spoke to Marcos and told him that I was having serious doubts. I didn’t hold back in expressing my feelings but what I didn’t tell him was that I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to carry on with the design process at all. We all hit low points in our journey and this was mine. Marcos was honest too, his positivity rubbed off on me and I decided that I would come back stronger. I arrogantly told myself that they needed me, that I would be the one who would bring the prevaricating to an end and make sure that we were published.
We moved forward together.
After playing around with various names that we could collectively call ourselves we landed on Paper Boat Games. Perfect, it says fun, doing, creating and was a strong image. Marcos made a great logo
Now we needed to choose our launch game. We wanted a game that was accessible in both cost and play but we weren’t going to lose sight of the fact that it had to be to be, above all else, fun. We all had a backlog of games in development but rather than plunder these Marcos suggested that we develop a new game together. This was the Paper Boat Games Challenge. Firstly we would each come up with the idea for a new game, just a title and brief outline. This then would be passed on to the next person who would create a blueprint for a game. The third person would refine it. This gave us 3 new games and, if good, we might use one to launch with.
Snapshot was born.
The following months were a mix of developing the game and developing our relationship. Covid was upon us now and so we could only meet remotely. We set up a weekly meeting to discuss progress, agree actions and make some decisions – this would be our business meeting. In between meetings we would playtest, trying out various rules and gathering feedback.
I quickly learnt how to use Tabletop Simulator and took an early lead in playtesting, Marcos followed on Tabletopia. Marcos used his creative flair to replace my crappy graphics with a professional touch bringing the game to life. Richard analysed our outputs looking for cracks, fixing anomalies and challenging our perceptions. I made spreadsheets to analyse possible outcomes, the chances of things happening, the spread of points, balances, imbalances and risk versus reward. Richard scrutinised, improving the point spread and the rules. Marcos made a physical copy and started to play “properly”. This was when we knew that we had something good, something really good. It played well on line but it played great in person. Now we didn’t want to play on-line, it was way too much fun moving the cards around by hand and shaking all those dice.
Snapshot had grown up.
Like an unruly teenager, it still has a lot to learn though.
Now came endless playtesting and refining, adding elements, taking them away, simplifying. New artwork, new-new artwork, different animals, a change of setting and improved icons. Hours spent, good, fun hours and still, even now, we are finding little improvements. But Snapshot has grown up, it is no longer our little baby, it is an adult about to be set free upon the world, a world that will either embrace it or reject it. But whatever happens, it’s parents will always love it.
For more information about Snapshot, click here
