Go Forth and Game Interview: Austin of Dr. Wictz

Tom Gurganus of the Go Forth and Game podcast & blog recently interviewed Austin from Dr. Wictz.  In the interview Austin talks about my experience pitching board games to publishers at Origins, how Dr. Wictz was formed, using the Controlling Idea in Design, and other developments (see Index below for more details on topics).

You can download the episode here.

Podcast Episode Index:
(All links below are to related Dr. Wictz blog posts or links  to things outside of the podcast)

00:00:45  Intro

00:04:22  Advice how to make a video for a board game prototype (Part I & Part II)
               
00:06:30  Dr. Wictz origins (formation of Dr. Wictz) story

00:11:00  How to use the Controlling Idea to design board games

00:19:38  How to use Iterative Design to refine a board game design

00:25:55  A little Unpub Network Love

00:30:18  Cattle Car (Active Design)

00:40:51  Hoboken (Active Design)

00:48:27  Pitching Game Designs at Origins Game Fair

00:51:08  Update on Post Position - Now Bookies and Bettors

00:53:25  Aaron & Austin's Origins Game Fair Side Bet

00:55:40  Game Designers of North Carolina

00:56:56  Why Designers Should Get Board Room Ribbon at Origins Game Fair

00:59:52  The New Jersey Syndicate (Upcoming design)

01:03:56  Overtime (Upcoming design)

01:08:57  A Fishing Story

The Danger of Stronger Copyright Laws in Board Games

There has been some rumblings lately about possibly strengthening copyrights laws in board games to protect game mechanics.  Historically (from my non-lawyer layman perspective) copyright laws in board games have been relatively weak.  I recall Dan Yarrington explaining it like this at an UNPUB panel in Delaware. Devices can be patented, brands trademarked, and rules copyrighted - not mechanics.

What did Dan mean when he said rules can be copyrighted - not mechanics?  Dan meant someone cannot copy the rulebook of a game verbatim, but if they can get someone to perform the same set of action (aka mechanic) using a different set of words, it does not violate copyright.

The challenge to this older approach in copyright law is a series of court rulings that appear to provide some sort of copyright protection to game mechanics as well. I argue that strengthening board game copyright law is bad for board game innovation, designers, publishers, and players.  

Discourages Innovation

Innovation itself is the thing most at risk from strong copyright laws.  Innovation takes place when board game designers modify pre-existing ideas.  Take Ticket to Ride, a remarkable commercial success with a mechanic that tweaked and rethemed rummy.  

Most innovation is the process of tweaking older mechanics.  Having an innovative idea to compete over a set of actions does not mean it has been honed into an intuitive or fun package for board game players.  Many different board game designers work hard coming up with tweaks or iterations based on the same mechanic looking to hit the sweet spot for players.

Stronger copyright laws severely limits what mechanics are available for board game designers to tweak.  That by itself reduce the variability of board games.  Even worse, if mechanics were to become protected, a designer with any idea, good or bad, has to constantly worry if their idea infringes on someone else's copyright.

Why such a worry? Because with stronger copyright laws it becomes harder and more time consuming to identify when a designers has or has not violated someone else’s mechanic.  Under the older copyright approach described by Dan, I can read someone’s rules and make sure I am not copying what they are doing.  Under a system that protects mechanics I have to spend hours and hours of time researching or money on a board game copyright expert to make sure my game is unique.

The problem is the financial reward for making a board game design does not justify paying these costs.  Only a handful of board game designers earn enough money to cover the expense of attending conventions to promote their game designs, yet alone make a living.  Adding additional cost to the game design hobby only pushes more innovative people away from game design and off to doing something else.

Drives out Small Innovative Publishers

Another byproduct is that the cost of making sure a game does not infringe on copyrights drives out innovative small board game publishers.  Board game publishing is a low margin business.  A slight increase in cost across the industry has large implications for the financial viability of many small companies.

The threat of being sued is a big expense.  Keeping a lawyer on retainer, having to drop an additional X amount of dollars for an expert to review the copyright, having to worry about lost man hours dealing with copyright issues in a one/two man company dramatically increases the amount of capital it takes to publish a game.  

To Hasbro, stronger copyright protection is a minimal expense.  For a variety of reasons they already have a fleet of lawyers on retainer.  But for a small one/two man operation -Tasty Minstrel Games, Stonemaier Games, Dice Hate Me Games, Stronghold Games - it's very unlikely they have a legal team on hand for production runs of a few thousand a game.  Even worse, when there is a legal issue it will take up a huge amount of the owner's time to address it because they do not have the budget to push the problem onto a staffer of the company.

Innovation Fallacy

There are some people out there who would respond by saying, but this is all worth it because we will have more “innovative” games.  That, in an effort to avoid licensing fees, board game designers and publishers have to focus on making things that are truly “innovative.”

But this thinking misses the entire point of innovation.  The point of innovation is not to come up with an idea and only use it once.  The point of innovation is to come up with a great idea that is so useful for so many things that we use it over and over again.

Imagine you are the person who invents the wheel.  As a society we are excited someone invented the wheel, not because we necessarily want someone to invent something better than the wheel, but because the wheel is such a great idea we want to use it over and over again for a variety of applications.

We might, as a society, try to do something to award people to come up with the idea for the wheel to encourage the creation of it.  Be it cash prizes, prestige, or even a time period of exclusive use of the idea.  However, at some point we want the idea to be free for all of society to use so we can benefit from the idea and so others can modify it to become an even greater idea.  

Current Copyright protection in the United States lasts either 70 years after the death of the creator, 120 years after first creation, or 95 years after publication.  That means the game Trains, which tweaks the deck building mechanics created by Donald X. Vaccarion for his game Dominion, would have to wait 70 years till after Vaccarion’s death to publish if it failed to  secure his permission to use the deck building mechanic.  Odds are good Hisashi Hayashi would be dead by then and Trains would be one of the many innovative board game casualties from burdensome copyright protection of board game mechanics.

Lessons from UNPUB 5 Presidential Race Cup

The Idea

For those of you wondering why there was a giant cheer Saturday night at UNPUB 5 when some random dude in the corner hosted a paper trophy made from construction paper, toilet paper rolls, a paper plate, and a steak-um box, let me tell you the tale of the UNPUB Presidential Race Cup.

The UNPUB Presidential Race Cup was an experiment to reward playtesters who participated in race games that possibly play better with more people.  A few days before UNPUB 5 I realized there were at least two other racing themed games other than Post Position attending the event.  So I reached out to Douglas Schultz (UFO Racing League) and Daniel Solis (A La Kart) to be part of the series.

The idea was that players would receive an extra benefit from playing all three games because it would let them play a 4th game, to take home the UNPUB Presidential Race Cup--signed by every UNPUB president in the history of UNPUB.  To further reward playtesters, we also created a prize/trophy for each race.  The race trophies themselves may not have been made of the best materials (UFO Racing League - Two Styrofoam plates) or presented in the most desirable form (Post Position - shredded money), but they helped create each race into an event itself by rewarding play testers with something they could only get from playing the game.

The Cup Results

Three players, Johan Kruckemepr, Rob Mitchell, and Marcus Ross signed up for the UNPUB Presidential Race Cup. Each game handles from 6 to 12 players, since there were only 3 players vying to complete the entire circuit, we allowed additional players to compete in each race to win the race trophies and to affect the overall standing of the playtesters fighting for the UNPUB Presidential Race Cup.   

In a bit of competitive balance, each participant in the series won one of the three races. So it was not a surprise that the winner of the cup, Johan, won by a single point.

Playtesters Reactions

I asked the Presidential Race Cup participants if the series improved their experience at UNPUB 5?  The answer was an overwhelming yes.  First, they affirmed that they enjoyed all the game they ended up playtesting.  Second, to my surprise, they said how they appreciate the series giving structure to their day.  With so many great games to play at UNPUB 5, it was hard to decide which games they should or should not play. By participating in the UNPUB Presidential Race Cup series, they were able to not worry about what they were going to do and look forward to the races they knew they were going to complete.

This reaction surprised me because the hardest challenge to recruiting participants was that it required them to commit to playtesting three games at three specific times.  On reflection, I wonder by having the event we enabled those who enjoyed having structure to have that option amongst the chaos of UNPUB 5.

Reflections on Execution

After the event I asked myself, would I hold a game circuit with a championship again?  On the plus side, it created buzz for each game--both at the event and afterwards--and allowed there to be a highlight moment for at least one playtest of each designer’s game.  On the downside, its a bit of work.  Making the trophy was not too bad, but taking the time to recruit participants ate up a chunk of my morning of the circuit.
Looking at it, I think it comes down to what type of game and publicity I desire to consider doing something like this again at UNPUB 6. Creating an event, like a Presidential Race Cup, serves as a way to create post event publicity. There are so many games being playtested and only so many people who write about the event that they cannot cover every game. The only way to ensure your game receives some sort of post convention coverage is to create an event yourself. 
The other reason to consider doing it again was because it was fun.  Creating the trophy, building up anticipation for the event beforehand, keeping track of the participants, and having key moments we share with playtesters & designers creates shared memories that all of us will preserve about the awesomeness of UNPUB 5.

A Dr. Wictz List: A Few Quotes from UNPUB5

There were "more in attendance to UNPUB 5 than the previous three combined"

- UNPUB 5 volunteer

"When a play tester comes back for a third time to play your game again, how can you refuse?"

-Charlie Hoopes talking about demoing his game Lady of the Diamonds  

"I play Power Grid, I like Power Grid, but this game is better than Power Grid."

-Hoboken Playtester 

"I had to run back from lunch with half of it stuffed in my mouth because there was a mob of playtester demanding to play my game."

-Nathaniel Levan

"Last Year I could sit down at any table and play any game, this year all of the tables are full...always."

"Its a good problem to have"

-Bruce & Mike from the Party Game Cast featuring the PartyGameCast

"The game ends when the players have decided who is the winner"

"Oh"

"They have been playing for 2.5 hours"

-Alf Shadowsong talking about Kiva Fecteau and his game Diplomancer

To get picked up by a large publisher you need to design something that their in-house designers could not make."

-Advice given to Paul Owen from a playtester

Working Paper: UNPUB 4 - Post Position

Working papers are where I review lessons learnt to help improve my board game designs and where I publicly brainstorm ideas.  Today I am going to talk about what lessons I learned about my game Post Position at UNPUB 4.

For those of you not familiar with Post Position here is a quick run down of the game.  If you are familiar with the game you can skip to the section titled “Lessons Learnt at UNPUB 4”.

Post Position is a stock market game with a horse racing theme for 3 to 12 players.  The goal of the game is to be the player that earns the most money at the end, although I like to say ‘if you have more than 100 dollars at the end you are a winner, if you have the most money you are the winner.’

Horses are moved five times in the race.  Players move the horses by secretly picking 3 horses on a straightaway and 2 horses on a turn to move.  After everyone writes down the horses they want to move, the orders are stacked in a pile to be read after the stock trading phase.

During a four minute stock trading phase people buy and sell stock with each other in horses. Players take advantage of their inside knowledge of horse movement to find horse stock that is mispriced.  Stock pays a dividend at the end of the race based on where the horse finishes.

Stock in the games comes from two sources.  At the start of the game the bank auctions a single share in each horse. The bank pays dividends to the shareholders who horses place 1st-6th.

The second source of stock isn’t really stock, but a promise by players to pay the stock earnings of a horse at the end of the race.  I call this second source of stock a “short position”.  When I sell a short position share in a horse, say A.A., I am promising to pay the dividend earned by A.A. at the end of the race.  So if A.A. finishes in 4th place, I owe 7 dollars to the person holding the short position share of A.A. that I created.  I make money if I sold the short position share for more than 7 dollars and I lose money if I sold A.A. for less than 7 dollars.

The logic for selling a short position share is the same as selling a share by the bank.  I sell either share types if I think people are overvaluing a horse because it will finish worse in the race than what buyer believes.  I buy either share when I think the horse is undervalued because the horse is going to finish higher in the race than what the seller believes.

The winner of the game tends to be the person who best reads what horses players are moving up and what horses players are moving down.

Lessons Learnt at UNPUB 4

If (people) give you feedback that makes your game a completely different game ignore it, they are only creating their own game.  But, (if) they tell you what aspect of the game they don’t like, take it to heart because now you can start to craft it.

-Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me Games on The State of Games Episode 57

The major feedback I received from publishers was the theme did not match the mechanics.

Game Salute was worried people would expect one thing and get another.  With a title and theme like Post Position, people might expect a typical horse racing game only to discover after they start playing they had purchased an intense stock market game.

Or as Bruce from the Party Game cast put it, when you start playing the game the Chainsaw Of Math starts making a soft buzzing sound - Math Math Math Math.  Next thing you know the engine revs up and saws off your legs.

Bruce and Game Salute emphasized that there is nothing wrong with the game having a little math in it.  There are people who like math games and stock games.  The problem is when people expect a gentle bout around the racecourse, and instead discover they are in an intense game of market manipulation.

Eagle Griffin was concerned the theme did not match player actions.  Specifically, his concern centered on the relationship between stock ownership and horse movement.  Since players keep trading stock during the race, the horses players select to move vary based on what horse stock they purchased.  In real horse racing, horses do not do better in a race because people make bets on them.  Yet, this is what happens when people play Post Position.

He brainstormed with me a bunch of different ideas on how to make the theme consentient.  All of his ideas involved a complete retheme of the game to something like commodities or companies.

All of this feedback left me a little shaken.  Half of me went through a brainstorm of finding a new theme that drastically altered the setup of the game.  The other half of me urged restraint, and pointed out how those drastic changes created a whole different game.

At that moment I remembered the previous night when Bruce Vogel said I should make a convention version with My Little Ponies for horses. He envisioned the My Little Ponies being gambled over by a bunch of large leering men smoking cigars in a back room.  And that is when I it hit me… The Mob.  I can solve my theme problem with The Mob.

People already joke at the end game of Post Position when someone went horribly bankrupt that they were going to be tossed into the river. Who does that? The Mob. And who would have the power to rig the horses at the race track? Again, The Mob. So who are the players pretending to be when betting on horses at the race track in Post Position...mobsters.

I can remake the box cover to emphasize money and betting on the box front to clearly communicate the game involves math at the start to players.  I can even show a mobster paying off a jockey to let players know the race is fixed.

I rolled out the changes for my last game test at UNPUB 4.  I explained to players that they were all mobsters betting on horses with each other.  Bets on a horse paid 22 dollars if the horse finished 1st, 19 dollars if it finished 2nd, 16 if it finished 3rd etc. and bets on horses finishing in 7th place or lower paid nothing.  At the start of the race the house auctions off a single bet in each horse, but throughout the race mobsters can sell and buy bets with each other.  When mobsters sell and buy bets they each have some inside information on the horse race because their influence with the jockeys enables them to push a few horses ahead in the race.

So if your question is “oh, so you changed the game?” the answer is no.   I tweaked the theme to make the mechanic easier to pick up and to help new players to get into the game faster.

Tentative results from the first play testing are good.  The UNPUB 4 playtesters found the tweaked theme to be more intuitive.  I am going to formally rewrite the rules to better fit the thematic tweak and I will talk to some past play testers to see if they buy the theme alteration.  If yes, then I will roll out the newly crafted theme for general play testing.

Say (to yourself), somebody had a really negative reaction to that (part of my game), how can I make it better?

-Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me Games on The State of Games Episode 57

A Dr. Wictz List: 11 Dr. Wictz Highlights from UNPUB4

1. Friday night’s standing ovation for John Moller from designers in appreciation for founding UNPUB.

2. The moment everyone else in the room knew Nick Ferris won the raffle before he did, even though he was holding his own tickets.

3. Almost missing the turn off the highway to UNPUB 4 if not for spotting an UNPUB 3 sign pointing the way.

4. Realizing I was with a group of designers when the free Danish were offered and the roll of tape next to it is selected first for last minute board game prototype repairs.

 5. Bruce H. Voge and Mike Goldman from the Party Game Cast signing a contract stating they must attend the conference debut of an enlarged game of Post Position using My Little Pony plush as figures.

6. Alf Shadownsong becoming a hawker for horses in the back of the race. “I.S for a dollar, I.S. For a dollar. Look! I was selling P.C. for a dollar two turns ago and now it’s in first. the same thing will happen with I.S. It’s a guaranteed winner.”

7. In the same game, total cash held by all players at the end of the game $527, total debt Alf Shadowsong still owed other players at the end of the game, a record breaking $528.

8. “Hey, when did you do that?” --Dr. Wictz

 “Sorry if the game was being played when you weren't looking.” --Other Playtester

9. Meeting and playing Charlie Hoopes’ Firebreak at the most difficult setting with Jeff Watson who has playtested the game over 200 times.

10. Selling my entire orange crop in a future for $4 an orange when each orange was worth $20 while playing Michael R. Keller’s Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice.

11. Having a playtester ask to buy a prototype copy of Post Position to take to conventions.

UNPUB4 Preview: Ben Rosset

For some reason you are still not yet excited for UNPUB4 (www.unpub.net) then you need to check out my next interviewee, the Ben Rosset.  You know...designer of Nevermore Games' Mars Needs Mechanics and Dice Hate Me’s Brew Crafters.  After salivating over what Ben is bringing to UNPUB4 you can also check out my interview with Alf Shadowsong & Kiva Fecteau and Josh Tempkin who will also be demoing their games at UNPUB4.   But enough with this chitter chatter and onto the main attraction.

 

Dr. Wictz:  Mr. Ben Rosset could you give the readers a quick overview of the games you will be playtesting at UNPUB4?

 

Ben Rosset: I'm still working on getting 4 or 5 different games ready and not entirely sure what I'll be presenting. I'm working feverishly to have Homebrewers ready. Its a stand alone prequel to Brew Crafters, my upcoming game from Dice Hate Me Games. That's my number one priority right now. I will also be bringing Brew Crafters the Travel Card Game with me. Its a 54-card version of the full Brew Crafters that plays in 20-30 minutes. It was inspired by Dice Hate Me's 54-card Unpub challenge. In non-beer related developments, I may also bring Stranded, a wilderness survival game that I've been working on for a couple of years, as well as Building the British Royal Navy, an auction game about building ships for the British Navy in the 19th century.

 

Dr. Wictz: From my understanding only Stranded has been presented at other UNPUB events, how has Stranded changed since you started presenting it at UNPUB events?

 

Ben Rosset:  I've recently redesigned the way players gather resources in Stranded. I'm very excited about the changes I've recently made and looking forward to getting it in front of a few publishers.

 

Dr. Wictz: What inspires the themes in the games you are taking to UNPUB4?

 

Ben Rosset: I'm always inspired by topics that interest me or by everyday events. For Stranded, I was camping with friends, and we got on the topic about surviving in the woods if we somehow got lost. Building the British Royal Navy was really inspired by my old Axis and Allies days. I've always had an interest in the history of the British Navy. And Brew Crafters (and all the derivative games) was originally inspired by a tour I took of Dogfish Head Brewery in 2012.

 

Dr. Wictz: How did you get into designing board games?

 

Ben Rosset: I was hanging out with a good friend who I played games with all the time, and he was showed me a game that he and a couple other friends started working on. I thought that was the coolest thing---up until then I had never thought about designing my own games. I went home that night and started thinking about ideas. That was about 6 years ago. I've been a designer ever since.

 

Dr. Wictz: Why do you love making board games?

 

Ben Rosset: First, I love the challenge of seeing what I can create. This is my creative outlet. I don't paint, draw, dance, or write, etc. So designing games for me is a way to engage the rational side of my brain, but also to balance it out with the creative side. To put it succinctly: It makes me happy.

 

Second, I love sharing what I've created with other people.

 

Dr. Wictz: You have attended a number of UNPUB conventions, what is your favorite moment from a past UNPUB?

 

Ben Rosset: At UNPUB 2 (January 2012), a playtester bought my prototype from me on the spot because he loved it so much. That was really cool. Its part of what gave me confidence that I was a good designer.

 

Dr. Wictz: How does UNPUB compare to other game conventions you have attended?

 

Ben Rosset: UNPUB is so focused on unpublished games, so its very different from everything else. The great part about UNPUB is the opportunity to connect with other designers and publishers, people really engaged in the industry. Its an intimate affair (even though its growing rapidly, which is great).

 

Dr. Wictz: What draws you the most to UNPUB?

 

Ben Rosset: Hungry, motivated people attend. Hungry designers and hungry publishers. Its a great match.

 

Dr. Wictz: Any shout outs to your most dedicated game testers (cough  cough, wife, gf, etc.)?

 

Ben Rosset: I had a lot of wonderful playtesters for Brew Crafters, but the game was immeasurably helped by Kevin Barefoot, Lauren Kologe, Eric Handler, Clyde Wright, and Chuck Hughes. I can't thank them enough.  I'd also like to give a shout out to the Table Treasures Game Design Group in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. I probably wouldn't have 2 published games today without them.

 

Dr. Wictz: Thank you very much for talking to me today.  If you want to learn more about Ben Rosset and his games you can follow him on twitter @BenRosset or connect with him on Boardgamegeek: user name rosset37 .