Hi there! Welcome back! It’s been a few months since my last entry… sorry about that! I could say it was because of all that’s been going on, the big C and general mass hysteria, but in all honesty, I got a bit stuck in the board game building process. Card design and balancing in particular. Nothing to fret just yet! That’s a nut we’ll get to crack in due time 😀 So without further ado, let’s talk about THEMES.
“Never judge a book by it’s cover” a wise old person once said… but it’s hard not to! A book’s cover can convey so much information about its content. You can see if it’s your favourite author, or a publication whose books you usually enjoy. A quick glance at the image on the front can give you an idea if it’s a serious or a comical novel, what the subject matter is, the overall quality of the book, how nice it would look in your library and the overall theme.
You can have the best content, but the theme can make-or-break your creation. (Ok…theme very important…check)
So how do we go about choosing a theme for this board game? You need to ask yourself a few questions:
1. Who is this for? Who is the target audience?
2. How relevant is it to the gameplay?
3. Do you even like this theme?!
Simple questions with relatively simple answers. (Everything doesn’t have to be difficult all the time say I!)
1. Who is this for? Who is the target audience?
This question is what got me started on trying my hand at creating a board game.
I truly love board games. I love how they look, all the little parts and pieces, the dainty masterly crafted playing cards, the creative and meticulous rules that help you immerse yourself in the game’s world. Alas, this hobby of mine, has become nothing more than a collection of boxes… My girlfriend (and friends) can’t stand listening to me explain a 40 page rulebook or get really annoyed (when playing) when I point out what they did is against the rules on page 32 paragraph 3 section 8b. They all want to play Monopoly, snakes and ladders or … Cards against Humanity!! Everyone knows the rules, turn off your brain, make Stefan shut up…
Well I won’t! I’m gonna make this board game for you bunch of ingrates! Simple rules but satisfies my strategic itch. This game is going to be built for board game casuals and fanatics alike!
So what do we learn from this? Not too many rules. Can’t have more than an average of four A4 faces. Simple and clear. Casuals… BOOM… happy.
However, I have to play this game too… I need some tactical thought, nerve wrecking action, EXPLOSIONS! This game can’t just be dice rolling and park walking. It has to satisfy both ends of the gaming population spectrum. It has to be easy to learn and hard to master. (Pffsh…eeaasy)
2. How relevant is it to the gameplay?
(This is where I realised my last post was on themes as well… What the hell?! Anyways, I did say they are very important so here’s some more!!)
Ludo narrative dissonance is a big word. Some gaming enthusiasts might know about it or have heard the phrase before, but what does it mean? It’s when the narrative/theme doesn’t complement the gameplay. When the game says something but does something else. Using a video game for example, where the story dictates your character is the hero and overall nice guy but in the game you murder and steal from everyone and everything in sight (Dare I say …Uncharted?!) This ruins the immersion, for some people at least. So how do we avoid this?
When I started thinking about the game, I knew I wanted an easy strategic war game and as I said in my previous post, I wanted cool mechs and robots. Therefore a robot arena game! I can use the idea of combining parts, weapons and some program-like skills. The gameplay mechanics would fit the theme nicely I believe. Although, there’s already a few mech boardgames (GKR smexy game) and my gf/buds (target audience) aren’t into mechs as much as I am. Not a very good selling point. Lets add something else into the thematic mix…pooches and kitties. (What’s going on? You hit your head or something?) Hear me out, who doesn’t want to see a cute pupper handling weapons of mass destruction? Kitties versus Puppies gets the idea across quickly for rival factions and easily differentiate between them. Further down the line, when we surpass Games Workshop, we can have different sets of cute animals fighting for dominance in huge hulking war machines. Who knows?
Cats VS Dogs
To quickly recap: Cats versus dogs piloting mechs. Knowing this we can create game mechanics that are relevant to the theme. How so? Modular weapons to focus on the mech aspect of the game. Skill cards that are akin to the animal faction that they belong to. For example cats can have more agile related cards while dogs being bulkier can focus more on damage output cards. The theme will help us create the board game from the start.
3. Do you even like this theme?!
Mechs, dogs, robots and cats? Hell yes!
Joking aside, working on the project you will have to face this theme all the time. If it’s not something you love, the product will suffer. You will suffer. Try and make sure it is something you will enjoy and look forward to work on. It’s true you can try and pander for the generic audience, but the more you spread your theme to appeal to everyone, the shallower it gets, and you’re competing with other huge companies that have a lot more resources, experience and man power than you have. Find a niche audience who like you for what you do and you’re golden.
Hopefully, dear reader, you will make part of my niche audience in the future. 🙂