After arriving to ExCel this morning I watched the crowd with which I arrived. Many people overweight, many much older than I would expect. I continued watching people at different panels and it was quite interesting to see the change in audience. I might make some comments about this in the following text if I manage not to forget about it...There is so much I would like to write and probably won't be able to come up with everything I wanted to write down.
(searching for page 1 out of 22) Science of Discworld by Ian Stewart. I guess that majority of you who know me read a Terry Pratchett book from Discworld, a bit less of you might have read the whole Science of Disworld series. I personally read this because there was nothing else to read (meaning anything new to read) in our house. But soon I realized that this book written by three different authors - mathematician, biologist and a writer - is actually good and fun.
Ian started with 'How to make a world'. There are two ways - sensible way in which everything is simple and makes sense (that is Discworld) and the 'stupid way' which is roundworld. In this case it is a giant lump of rock floating in the space for no reason...there are many things that don't make sense and need to be explained by let's say nuclear physics. Even there has to be something like gravity so everything on the roundworld could stay on the surface ...you get the idea. On Discworld we have Magic and Narrativum to make things happen on Roundworld we have Technology that sometimes make things happen (and it takes ages) and science or rather the rules of science.
So how to write a book about Science of Discworld when there is none? Anyway one day Terry, Ian and Jack were debating over this topic and came up with a solution. They simply need to put the science somewhere...and there it was a Roundworld created by wizards of the Unseen University.
The first book was a success. Terry did not want a second book but after about 18 different stories from Jack and Ian Terry decided to give it a try and there it was a second Science of Discworld.
[...] Listening to Ian was wonderful. He is wonderful person and certainly knows how to entertain people and experienced quite a lot that can be told. So after this awesome talk I wasn't sure if anything could beat it.
Social Media and New Authors was a panel discussion I attended in order to see what authors do to promote their work or if they even do it. Some think it is a necessity. One should give information, be friendly. It's being a part of a community (reading/writing community). Most see twitter as the best social platform and see facebook as something more let's say commercial or something that can be used to persuade your 'friends' to read your book etc. It seems that one should have a webpage with at least some basic information that can be found, but be active on some social networks. Blog is also a possibility but it is something more personal.
Anyway it came down to - be an identity online, have a good image, never say anything you would not say in public, control what you post, never reply to a flamewar, ignore negative review. But FIRST you should have already written something that you can advertise and sell or let people discover. And that is also where the marketing aspect comes in. Some people do it themselves some have other people to do it for them....Anyway if you want your posts to be read... what sells is 'sex, violence and shock'. ^_^
Future of the Board Games
I wasn't even sure if I wanted to come here but in the end I'm really greatful that I did. The first surprise is...TSR Designer o_O or Steve Jackson o_O? Well, I've written several papers on board games, TCGs, RPGs and wargaming in the past...so there was initial boom of all this and certain games were invented and then other games replaced them. There was a decline in certain types of these games followed by a new boom of these games. Board games are now in their third boom. So what is new or so succesful about the new games?
The learning curve for the games is different, the games are more simple and more 'family friendly'.
Cooperative games came to existence and are popular (you want to play a game with your child not against him/her, right?). Co-op games are easier to introduce and can become extremely viral fast.
The games in general are now accepted (it was looked down upon in the past, no one was taking games or rather the gaming industry seriously either).
The games are also quicker (take shorter time to play). When a game takes less time to play it can be played casually (thus more players...that might become hardcore gamers).
Is this all due to people having access to all kind of devices on which one can play games (I mean cellphone, tablets etc)? Probably not. But if it is a pushback from electronic games it's most probably because playing MMOs can be a really frustrating experience - running into a teenager that all he can do is swear, be rude and even kill you (your character that is) is not something one would like. That can be a reason why to gather around a table and play a table top game with real people in real life.
It also seems that games nowadays are more versatile/variable. For example choosing different aspects in the game randomly (see Smallworld) can mean a completely different game (strategy/tactic). Interactions in the game can create a completely new experience unlike in older games in which the game usually is the same all the time (no matter how good the game is). (personally not sure about this)
It seems that games are finally being accepted. So what now? Will the market be saturated? What kind of games are we gonna play? Will they be digital? Will the games as we know them today even survive (see many TCGs, d20). The games might start to be ported to mobile devices...might be projected on the table, played on several devices, even virtual reality could be used? Anyway what would still make these games different from computer games? Their simplicity, social aspect.
The games would have to keep their simplicity and aspect but something new could be added - for example some kind of timing efect. (even though there are games that already work with time....who builds this or that pattern the first wins a round, or answer in certain amount of time or games in which you need to rely on your reflexes.) Digital board games could also be played in several sessions not at one. Games like Risk for example.
Anyway many people play certain games online already, some over skype some over an app someone wrote.
Now we have a mass-market, geek-market and a even smaller market. Some games can be competitively some not, it all depends on the target group.
We also learned about some new games coming like Mars Attacks dice game or Munchkin Pathfinder (what happens when companies cooperate?).
After this (I think) I went to the Art Demonstration and Art Exhibition. I went through the exhibition studying the illustrator's styles and sometimes I was in awe what some can achieve with certain medium notably Anne Sudworth or Lisa Conrad. I also stopped looked at Martina Pilcerova work once again and this time I actually appreciated her work. I never really liked her work but after seeing it today she has my appreciation because even some of those illustration I did not really enjoy in some games look actually way better on the original painting.
Anyway I spend some time watching and listening to two painters talking about acrylics. I did not really discover anything new. I still don't really understand why acrylics should be a difficult medium to use. For me it's the perfect medium as with it I can achieve what I want which cannot be said about any other medium. Anyway it inspired me quite a bit so I'd like to buy something I can paint on and paint something. But not sure if I'll come up with something^_^. I have a blank playmat laying on the floor and still did not figure out what to paint on it.
After this I participated in the Open Sketching Class. I have the pics on me so when I get back I'll add them here as well some photos (it is forbidden to take photos almost everywhere...so there might not be much). During the class I really felt like a complete loser^_^. I just can't draw something that stands in front of me o_O.
So after all those disappointments I went to a game tent to find out that I won't be able to participate a RPG Design workshop so after some going wandering around I went back up to listen to Ian Stewart - this time talking about himself.
I won't write down the stories of his life, but I'll only say that I enjoyed it. He was lucky in his life as it seems. He had a good math's teacher unlike me which is kinda unfortunate. Anyway I'm glad that some people can actually have a good life and the opportunities to become what they want to. (oh he even played in a band! - lead guitarist)
After two hours of Ian Stewart I moved to another room just to listen to him for one more hour. It was about news in maths and the importance of mathematics in our lives. It was interesting to listen to and there were theories described that I would like to check but I won't do that now as that will require much more time. Anyway it also seems that string theory is not dead so I might check for some news there.
7pm and I could go to a panel that wouldn't be flooded with people (I have to say that I did not feel well, the air is not good when there is too many people in the room). Playtesting board games was another interesting with Steve Jackson, Ric Bretschneider and Sebastian Bleasdale among others. My flatmate is trying to come up with a game and asks me to give him some feedback and to playtest. So I was wondering if I could find out what we do wrong...
Anyway it seems that each designer has its own approach to designing games. But well the basis of a game is usually a mechanic (concept - first draft).
During playtesting one should interview the players after the game, why did they do such a thing in a game why they changed a strategy, should take notes of what is going on, both casual players and hard core gamers should test. More casual players are capable of doing 'silly' things and this way can sometimes discover holes in rules etc. More experience player might discover something else (a mechanic not working, something broken in the game, something else that can be exploited etc). Some games that are more specialized should be tested by players of the target group (miniature games/wargaming).
If a game takes long...usually this means that there is something wrong with the game and it is usually the fun aspect missing.
If a playtester encounters a problem he or she should announce it. He or she does not need to solve it but the designers should know about it so they could fix it.
Testing problems - can you reach a win con? is the game balanced? (if players have equal chances of winning, thus not a single strategy being favorized, equal power of cards/units etc if not symetrical - asymetrical for example in StarCraft where we have Protos, Zerg and Terran forces...), are the rules clear? is it fun? how people react to the theme? see how the game behaves when someone starts doing something unexpected (unexpected with that I mean even hatepicking does not need to be something that is unusual or a bad choice in a game), speed of play?
One should think about algorithms for occurences or cards etc. number of resources, actions in a turn.
If a player wants to play again, you did something good. Players should go deep (even during one game), explore the game, this way you can see more patterns that you might not see or expected yourself. (oh yeah Jace, the Mind Sculptor...anyone?)
If one wants to start designing he or she should start with what they are passionate about and see how this works in different games.
This panel was awesome as well and my mood was good once again. After this I wasn't entirely sure where I want to go so I went to talks about the BIS projects and such. I wasn't really aware of British Interplanetary Society so I did not really know what to expect but Gerry Webb is not unknown to me (nor Stephen Baxter). From space societies and growing into a interstellar civilisation, to World Ships and actual colonisation. In those four hours I was given so much information that I will need some time to digest. I won't try to do a summary of BIS projects so I will rather let you read some info about them, simply go to http://www.bis-space.com/.
With this my day was at an end. Exhausted and hungry it was time for some dinner. I forgot to mention the people. I was practically among people more scientific oriented and games oriented. The age groups were different, at all the games/anime panels males were predominant and the audience was younger but still older than I expected. And seeing Steam punk costumes alongside cosplay and lolitas is kinda fun. ^^
Anyway this concludes my today's post...I don't even know what I'm going to do tomorrow^_^.
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