Mike Doyle’s Art Play

Prints Available for Sale

2011-11-25T18:40:00.000-05:00

I'm pleased to announce the sale of limited edition exhibition quality prints of a few pieces I have worked on. Each one is approximately 12" x 17" (give or take an inch or two in some cases). They are all printed on thick archival ultrasmooth fine art paper with archival inks. They can be purchased through my site, Bumble & Bramble.

Each comes with a signed and numbered print, a signed/numbered/stamped certificate of authenticity and a little documentation on the piece which is also signed. They are $49 each or $44 each if you buy more than one (plus S&H). Note all are sold unframed only.

Generally, these are printed larger than originally produced. In the case of the Caylus board, it is approximately 70% actual size and not usable for play. The Battles of Napoleon is also smaller than the original production as the original game was huge!

Colors are rich and vibrant and, in the case of a few (Caylus, for example), are brighter and truer to the my original intent.

– mike

New Lego art and slight delay in game art prints

2011-10-03T07:53:00.001-05:00

First off, for the many who had responded to art prints of game art, it is happening, there was just a little delay. As with all things in life, stuff just seems to take longer than one would expect. I've been experimenting with color proofs on the game art prints to get them just right which takes a little time ... and got a bit caught up in a little something else. :) That being the Lego art above. Probably just a few weeks until the game art prints are ready for shipping at which time, I'll be notifying those of you who contacted me as well as on this blog.

In the meantime... if you are interested in Legos at all, you may know I've been working on a series of abandoned homes. This one above is the third in my series called "Victorian on Mud Heap." It was made with black, white and gray pieces – about 110k - 130k of them – and took around 600 hours to make. The building stands about 5.5' x 6' x 3' and was made only with unaltered Lego pieces. No foreign materials like glue, wood, tape, paint or even modified Legos. If your curious how it was done, I have a general "making of" post on my site Snap where I will be continuing the "make of" series of this piece through the week. On that site, you can also see more close up views which I'll be adding to.

You can also purchase a print of this and even a few actual chunks of the model (one of a kind purchases) at my print shop where I will be selling the game prints in the future (you can see them there as well). Prices for the game prints might be different though than the Lego prints. Probably will sell the game prints in two sizes, one cheeper than the Lego prints and one more expensive depending on the size.

In terms of the future of Lego for me, my next piece will carry on this theme, will probably be more grand and could possibly be a permanent exhibit in an art gallery! Still working on that, but it is a possibility which I'm very excited about.

Happy gaming ... and bricking!

Mike

Limited Edition Game Art Exhibition Prints

2011-08-10T20:51:00.001-05:00

Matte and frame not included

I’m very pleased to announce that in the next few weeks, I'll be offering for sale hand signed and numbered prints of a number of works that I created over the years. These gorgeous prints will be printed on exhibition quality archival matte paper (the kind artists use for gallery prints) using Epson’s state-of-the-art UltraChrome K3 pigment based inks. The prints will be approximately 12" x 17" – depending on the art – and larger than the original publication. Due to the printing process, these prints will be of higher quality and resolution than the original, providing a richer viewing experience.

All packages will include:
- Signed and numbered print
- Signed, numbered and embossed certificate of authenticity
- Artist’s documentation of the piece

The price will be under $50 and will include shipping anywhere in the world. I'm still working out which pieces to offer, but for now covers from El Capitan, Caylus Premium, Eagle and Lion, Leonardo da Vinci.

If you have any questions, interest in purchasing or suggestions for what you would like to see, feel free to contact me.

– Mike

my new sister site: reMOCable

2011-07-29T07:39:00.001-05:00

ReMOCable is a showcase blog that features Lego MOCs (My Own Creations: made from imagination rather than instructions) from builders everywhere, presented in themed entry. Each entry will have a unique and, hopefully, interesting theme that I curate. These themes help to provide a unique and fresh view of works seen together as a group. It is my desire to see MOCs framed within the context of a thoughtful, art environment which reMOCableshould provide. Every few days I should update the site with a new themed entry.

Mike

Newest Lego work

2011-02-11T15:32:00.003-05:00

Here is my second Lego work, Three Story Victorian with Tree. You can read more about it on my Lego blog. This one took about 450 hours and around 55k pieces. It's all Lego, though. No foreign materials like glue or tape and no breaking of Lego pieces to make. You can also buy prints of this.

– mike

Gone brickn

2010-09-29T21:37:00.002-05:00

For those interested or wondering where I'm at, I've fallen under the spell of Lego recently and am continuing my writings and designs on another blog, Snap, which is all about Lego and work on it. Lego is a fascinating medium with its modularity, precision and variability. Having only recently picked it up (since I was a kid) I had no idea what was going on in that world. Well, as it turns out, a heck of a lot. Adults and kids/teens all over the world, building the most incredible things!

My first series of pieces will be abandoned homes, rich with detail.

As for board gaming, I still do play on occasion with friends, though far far less frequently (unfortuately). I stopped the BG art due to burnout. Full time job with long hours, long commute, kids and then BG art taking all my other awake time for a few years in a row sort of took a toll on enthusiasm. Game art is terribly time consuming to create. In the end, I didn't have that luxury. Kids took more of a front seat and the art stopped. It was a great ride though and I thank all the publishers, gamers and game art enthusiasts for the interest and excitement which kept me going for long, and wonderful time! :)

Best,
mike

Supplemental notes on the Function(s) of Board Game Art

2009-04-14T16:33:00.022-05:00

It has been a while since I wrote on the "form follows function" topic (or any topic for that matter due to work obligations), so I thought I would revisit this. A few years back I addressed form/function in this article which received some passionate responses. I reread the old article again for the first time in a long time, and I have to say, it covered more than I remembered. So, I'm linking back to the original article and treating this new article more as a supplement to that old one rather than a rewrite. In itself, this entry is a bit incomplete without reading the older one but still works fine as a first read or on its own.

The Form follows Function Fallacy

I'll start with the term "form follows function" as it seems to have a sort of grand and specific meaning for many. I have heard "form follows function" and "functional art" often referred to in the blogs and forums. Phases like, "the art isn't functional" or "because, as you know, form follows function" or something to that effect often can be found. Well, what does that really mean, anyway? No doubt what the writers mean – in the context of game art – is function = usability. Period. Anything that falls short of the writer's expectation of usability is then "unfunctional art." In the end, I find this a fallacy which is masked with a kind of intellectual air to validate the point. The inclusion of this term, I believe, is more to suggest a knowledge, scholarly insight or some sort of undeniable truth as shorthand. This rather than dive into (or consider) a full discussion or appreciation of the design problems at hand that art is working toward.

With regard to the "form follows function" statement, the problem (and the general failing of that term) is that "function" remains open to interpretation and is a matter of word play more than anything else. In the end, it can mean anything one wants it to. It then has the potential to pollute any criticism or deep understanding of the process through misidentification of the problem(s) at hand.

The first question to ask in any design process or final evaluation of a product is "what are the functions of this object as a product to be sold?" Or one can ask, "what are the design problems needed to solve to?" It is the same question. From there, it can follow what the design solutions are or can be directed toward. Unfortunately, the problems at hand are not necessarily clear. When they are clear, they are not always easily weighted (that is, to what extent is function A more important than function B or what is a successful mix in this particular situation). This can be challenging as one can really never know for sure exactly how important each design problem will be within the context of the changing marketplace.

To put it in history, "form follows function" was championed throughout the 20th century by architects and industrial designers as a rationale to describe certain design principles which followed an object's utility. The original point was that the utility of the object would guide its ultimate physical manifestation through design. For instance, the thinking for the design of a juicer might go: a juicer is about getting juice out of fruit (that is its utility), therefore all design considerations should stem from how best to do that. If a design aspect does not work towards juicing, then it is not relevant - it is simply decoration and should be avoided. (This, as opposed to the function of the product as a whole – juicing PLUS consumer attitudes, aesthetic tastes and conditioning, badge value, etc).

Coined in 1896 by Louis Sullivan (Frank Lloyd Wright's mentor), the term came into being in a time when economic forces and haste were at serious odds with the expensive and time consuming production of fanciful elements. Soon after, another modernist phrase "ornament is crime" began to find itself linked to the "form/function" phrase as moral principles to design by. With the association of the two phrases, the problem then began that the phrase "form follows function" was as much a mantra for an aesthetic inclination (reduction, machine age modernism look) as it was a rational design solving process in its fullest form. Unfortunately, by eliminating from the equation ornamentation and or stylization (which could be used as attraction and for other benefits), a whole facet of design tools and opportunities are lost.

A counter to this severe reductive process is the appreciation of the benefits, indeed functions, that ornamentation and aesthetic considerations (that go beyond an object's utility) can possibly deliver. In architecture for example, ornament can aid in wayfinding, attract customers, cue warmth, be invitational and create unique global identities for properties and cities (particularly in a sea of design simplicity). Here are just a few of many business applications for the ornament in this context. Ornamentation becomes functional. It is then more than the primary utility of the building (or a juicer).

Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao with its characteristic Gehry look. A modern Baroque and certainly different expression of ornamentation (or perhaps "style" is a better term). Nonetheless, the function of visual identity was profound in establishing a memorable mark for Guggenheim and Bilbao – attracting tourists from around the world to this old port.

The automotive designers realized this in the 30's. As testing in aerodynamics was leading car design to a single tear drop look, they came to the conclusion that "utilitarian function" would drive the industry out of business if they didn't address aesthetic tastes (decoration). And so it is that designs took on looks driven not solely by the utility of the object (like the juicer example above) but also were inspired by the aesthetic cues from popular culture (the look of rockets, for instance). This at the expense of utility (physical drag, efficiency, etc). So here, ornamentation drove design as part of a business decision. It defined the look, feel and character of brands that helped to create brand loyalists out of customers and carve out unique identities for companies. Form was the function, along with many other utilitarian considerations – like the utility of physics. These days, if one is to look far deeper, the definition of function could include environmental responsibility. This then goes back to the physical utility of less drag and less energy used to move the car and thus less pollution (back to a teardrop shape).

Here, we see the Aptera which seeks to address the functional needs of physics (less drag), and consequently greater efficiency (less pollution), while establishing a unique brand look and aesthetic appeal (brand definition and attraction). The degree of consumer appeal (the function of attraction) and acceptance is questionable though as it could be too different – weird – for the masses. Though perhaps the Apple aesthetic has trained audiences to appreciate this pure, stylish and spartan look (which I personally love).

So it is then that "form follows function" becomes subject to definition. Physical utility of the object's purpose? Consumer attraction (tastes) and sales? A greater or higher moral obligation? Sometimes these problems all complement each other and other times the problems are opposed. To the extent that all the problems weigh in becomes more a subjective call than mechanical or scientific one. The right mix is generally not perfectly clear. All these then wrapped up in the constraints – financial and technological – within the manufacturing process.

In short, form DOES follow function as long as one truly and fully understands ALL the problems that need solving toward and one grasps the weight or gravity of each topic against the whole. Otherwise the statement is quite useless as a talking point. For this reason, I much prefer the term "problem solving" as it forces one to acknowledge the process and ask "what are all the problems at hand", rather than just refer to an empty phrase linked often to a shallow definition of function. ...Of course, "problem solving" it is not nearly as catchy ...or authoritative sounding.

Defining Game Art Functions

Here now, we come to game art design. Before speaking of successful design (or begin evaluating it) one must identify the function of game art.

It is very simple. Game art functions to enhance the endeavor of the game. That is all game art is for, nothing more, nothing less.

We must then ask, "what is the endeavor of game?" From here, there can be found at least three primary game goals. Firstly, for the consumer, it must entertain. That is, in fact, the only reason to buy a board game product. Entertainment can take many forms which I will describe later, but from the consumer point of view, that is all our games are for. Secondly, for the publisher, it is to make money and further an enterprise. A product can be the best of its kind, but if it does not make money or cause a publisher's brand to rise in perceived value, stature, or selling power it has failed in its endeavor toward the seller. Finally, the game champions the game cause. This is a greater good level which seeks to elevate the category as a whole through the product's own excellence.

In terms of the first point (the consumer pov), game entertainment takes a number of forms (not limited by this list):
- the enjoyment and company of others sharing in a common experience face to face
- the mental brinkmanship
- playability/mastery - the enjoyment of feeling in control or more skillful than others (with what ease one can navigate the game and feel "masterful")
- the particular puzzley mental stimulation board games provide
- the physical (touching materials, fiddling with pieces, viewing depth of field)
- the excitement of competition
- potential to learn something new
- collectibility and admiration of one's collection

In terms of the second point (the seller's pov), a game should:
- provide good profit
- expand a publisher's portfolio in a positive direction
- reflect on the publisher's brand in a positive way
- potentially reach new customers who might seek out other games in the portfolio

In terms of the third point (the category's pov), a game should:
- provide the board game category with a more positive image and a reason to participate
- conversely, dispel negative perceptions of gaming/gamers (child's play, hobby for losers/geeks)
- encourage and facilitate those who do participate to "catch the game bug" and become a gamer themselves

Here is how art can address the needs of the game:

Information Design
- Information design provides newcomers confidence that they can learn the game and the teacher confidence that it will be a successful teaching experience.

- Assists with pattern recognition which can make a game easier to play

- Ramp players up quickly to feel "masterful" in their game.

- For gamers, familiar conventions can be reinforced to facilitate the learning of new or unusual gameplay

Attractiveness
- Attractiveness draws people into the game
- Can help make a title an easier "sell" to bring out of the closet and onto the table
- Gives us entertainment during downtime
- Provides atmosphere
- Can drive sales
- Can generate news/talking power/buzz
- Potentially reach out to new consumers (non gamers) previously unaware, but attracted to box.
- Positively impacts the hobby as a whole (can make it seem more legitimate – seem less a hobby for children or "weirdo/geek/outsiders")
- Positively impacts a publisher's portfolio
- Help to open distribution channels for publishers (especially with their first games).
- Heightens collectibility and admiration of one's own collection – makes collecting fun.

Thematic Detailing
- Thematic detailing brings one into the spirit of the theme
- Makes the game all seem a bit more believable, to the extent that is possible.
- Can facilitate in the learning of a game (familiar theme concepts can support game mechanics)

Information design, attractiveness, thematic detailing

I have heard game art design equated to information design (like illustrative charts and graphs). This is certainly very true. Game boards and components can be information heavy – sometimes very information heavy. (Indeed Titan had a massively dense board, with each 1" hex space being one of eleven terrain types, and having 3 different entry points that had 4 different types of entry methods. All this multiplied a good 80 or so hexes). I have also heard folks make connections to Edward Tufte (a graphic designer / teacher who advocates strong information design). Indeed, you can find a recommendation of his books on this blog, one of my first entries from a number of years back. He is really a great read and full of enthusiasm! There is much to learn from him and use in certain specific game art situations as well.

The board for Titan is a very information dense one. With around 80 hexes with 11 or so terrain types, 3 entry points and 4 types of entries, each hex had many potential reads. Unlike traditional maps, the terrain does not follow natural patterns (like clusters of hills, valleys, mountains, tree areas) but rather geometrically spaced patterns which are hard to decipher.

What one must remember though is his investigations relate to something somewhat different here. Yes, both games and the work he covers are information driven subjects. The difference is that games are entertainment first and foremost. Information design being the primary, but not by any means, exclusive driver of the entertainment values. This is the heart of the matter as many discount or simply cannot realize all the functions that art simultaneously serves. Some parts of game art are pure information, some parts are a combination of information and aesthetic and theming detail, and some parts serve no game playing information but are purely for enjoyment.

I have also heard it said that all this is fine, as long as the function of usability always comes first before other functions. Again, I say this misses the point. It assumes a simplistic process that is black and white, on and off. "Is function decor (or any other function) sacrificing the function of usability? If yes, then bad design." Well no, not necessarily, I say. Because it is all a sliding scale. It is all a matter of degree. In reality, the design process is a long continuum of very discrete interrelated decisions. For instance, it may be the case that a small loss or insignificant loss in information generates a big gain in theme entertainment. Or perhaps the loss could be made up for through another less direct design move. Here, things are not so black and white. Again, it comes down to understanding the weight or gravity or each element with respect to the overall project's endeavor.

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A (less than ideal) case example

I added "less than ideal" as, admittedly, the work I will describe was for me not perfect. In the end it fell short of what I had hoped it would deliver. However, I do believe that the investigation was correct – it's final implementation didn't quite make it to my satisfaction though. The investigation illustrates, for me, some of the push and pulls of a few functions at work.

A project I did a while back, El Capitan, presented itself with a number of design challenges. One challenge centered on the names of the different sections of the board. The board is divided into a 3 x 3 grid where each of the 9 grid spaces is a different city. It is in these cities that the game actions take place. In the original game, Tycoon - which El Capitan was modeled after - the theme was about global travel. Here, the city names (the 9 grid spaces) had clear geographical significance. The cities had names like New York, Mexico City, Tokyo, etc. From these names, it is easy to visualize exactly where each city would sit within the 3 x 3 grid relative to each other as everyone has the basic world map burned in their brain. One need not ever have seen the game to guess which space was which.

The remake, El Capitan, was rethemed to Medieval European cities using their indigenous names. The problem here is that the geographic relationship between the cities is not really known by most, particularly when assigned to a rigid 3 x 3 grid. Add to that, the city names are at times unfamiliar variations and add to that some of the names sounded alike and then we have a bit of a problem. The theme, while much more rich and romantic (to me anyway), was not as easy to play. (Note, this is not to disparage the idea behind the retheme but merely introduce the graphic design challenges inherent within the concept.)

If the names themselves were a blockage, no matter how clear they appeared on the board, they would cause confusion. So it was that I knocked back much of the utility of the names - through decoration - and introduced an iconographic reference system on the cards that referred to the board grid rather than the names. Just as the theme and the cities that were chosen had served as romantic decoration, so too the type was treated as a decorative element through the selection of a heavily ornate font. This added quite a bit to the look (compared to a simpler serif font). The function of the type readability then transferred, in part, to the aesthetic appeal function and the thematic application functions. The newly developed icons - found on the cards - would then hold much of the weight of the information design. These icons were a graphic of a 3 x 3 grid with the appropriate city positions highlighted. The rationale here is that if names are causing a blockage, which they were, it was better to redirect attention to a simpler, more intuitive system – the grid icon or, as I called it, "the pip system" (as the icon highlights looked like dice pips). No language is needed to understand what area each card effected.

This would have been great, but I did not push the strength of the icon enough (it was too small on the cards and the non highlighted pips were too subtile). This made it a little harder to see than it should have been. Add to this the production printed much too dark (which highlights a frustrating problem of artist control within this industry). This dark printing negated the contrast of the pips and intensified the situation. (Some thought it was too hard to play upside down as well; the brain needed to reorient the pips. I found it easy to wrap my head around when the board was oriented upside down to my position. However, we could have added a smaller reverse oriented icon for "upside down players" if need be. In hindsight, I probably should have explored this).

The point here is that the apparent information design function of the type (its readability) was not as obvious as many thought. Some commented that the type should have been more readable. This to increase what seems to be the information design function. The problem was that in so doing, a player would spend too much time directly using the type for reference or information gathering (rather than the pips) and fall into the trap of rechecking each time to make sure a city was Tunis rather than Tanger, Valencia rather than Venezia or Athina rather than Alexandria... and then double checking that for the position on the board because they would get the location mixed up in the grid. To me this sort of checking and making sure during the game was disruptive. In short, the names were not effective carriers of information.

----

I continue to write on the "function topic" as it is not what I believe many think it is. The term itself is a good one in theory, but in practice is is more a shorthand to subject to opinions on definition and consequent misidentification of problems. It is a fascinating subject though which highlights the design and problem solving process.

– Mike

QWG's Cavum

2008-07-26T14:59:00.013-05:00

Cover image

QWG will be publishing Cavum by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Riesling just in time for Essen. It will be printed in English, German, French and of course Dutch. The game takes players in the American West in search of gems. Players mine through the mountains in search of veins, working their tunnels to trace to neighboring cities (pictured on the board in orange). As I understand it, this will be a heavier game than El Capitan and play around 90 minutes.

The look of the game has an antiqued paper finish with period typography and engraved images. Like El Capitan, the punchboards are dressed up for a very nice presentation. These will be pictured in a future post.

Board

A few of the "order" cards

Happy gaming!

– Mike

Blackbeard Anticipation II

2008-06-21T20:06:00.007-05:00

---Update---
I received some feedback which I've incorporated into these charts. They are pretty hires, so you can drag them onto your desktop and use. These print on 11x17 paper. You might need to reduce the size slightly to fit without printing. Again, if you see something incorrect, please let me know.

As previously mentioned, I was looking to add an anti-pirate back to the player aid. Not having played the game yet, I’m unsure if all the details are correct; but I hope it’s pretty close. The information was cobbled together from what I could find from the updated rule sets. I modified the look slightly for both of these to give a little more depth and thematic interest.

If anyone familiar with the game sees details in error, I'd appreciate you dropping me a note and I'll look into correcting.

Happy Gaming.

– Mike

Blackbeard Anticipation

2008-06-08T16:21:00.020-05:00

--- Note, thanks to a few who contacted me with some fact errors in the following player aid. Much appreciated! The image below is the now updated one. ---

Ok, I too have been struck by the Blackbeard bug. I've not yet played it, and never played the original, but a detailed pirate game seems so awesome. I bought the game a week or two ago and have read the rules many times, set the board up for a few rounds of solitaire play and been doing the obligatory daily checks to BGG for rules updates. Still, after playing it myself a bit, I found quite a bit of look ups necessary. I know that's the kind of game this is, but it might prove too distasteful to some I game with. It seems like the game could flow better with concepts better consolidated. To help things move a bit, I've created an 11x17 player aid. This combines the Pirate Actions list with basic procedural guidelines done graphically.

The front of a player aid guide with Pirate Actions. The back will have Anti-Pirate actions and whatever else I can get that is meaningful.

It includes some symbols for key concepts so that it can be scanned if looking for a particular one. For instance, if you are looking for things relating to booty or loyalty there are icons associated with them. For actions that are continuous (or need to follow another action), I've kept on the same scrap of paper which appears to fold over for the next step.

I will probably get this uploaded to Geek if others find it helpful, though if there are mistakes, it would be good to know. Send me an email. I cobbled together concepts from the rules, so I could have gotten things wrong. I know there are also some procedures missing, like Dueling. I didn't want the player aid to necessarily have everything, but cover all the main concepts I would need if just starting.

Next on the agenda is the Anti-Pirate actions, which will go on the back side of the sheet.

After setting the game up, I found the need for more dimensionality. The lack of objects with depth tend to make this game seem less exciting than it really should be. Also, I found many pieces getting lost on the board – like merchant ships. It's not terrible, but I did find that adding cubes and pieces helped the experience. Here, you can see cubes for merchant ships yellow for new ships, white for 0 cargo holds, red for 1, blue for 2, green for 3 and black for 4). Once found, yellow cubes are replaced with one that is randomly drawn from bag. For the KCs, I used large wood cubes that I had on hand. These then correspond to player colors, which I feel is needed. I felt like without player colors, I tended to lose track of my ship a bit. So, I've added player color flags to AOEIII ships. Red flags are used for D&B status which seems nice. Below some images for of quick modifications.

Some modifications to make more appealing to me (and hopefully others in my group).

Congratulations to the Berg/GMT team for this! Very much looking forward to playing. I also am really looking forward to the remake of one of my favorites from yesteryear, Conquistador – another Berg title.

Happy Gaming

Mike

Valley Games’: Municipium (Cover and Cards)

2008-05-05T21:36:00.009-05:00

After having completed the board, I've taken another look at the cover. The evolution of the board did not go in the direction that I had originally taken for the cover. So I found a little disconnect between the two. Not that they have to match, but I did think I could do better here. So, I've restyled the cover with a mosaic and picked up the various characters from the board. I'm quite fond of this. It has the richness I often like to do in these pieces. It also – in a way for me – goes back to the original concept which was more abstract in nature. One thing I have always tried to stray from is a literal interpretation of the implied game story. Such covers tend to look trite to my eyes. Here, with the characters simply lined up, there is no stiff reinactment of a scene or literal story being told. It is more abstract in nature allowing the viewer to imagine.

Card backs: Common card (gray) and family cards with family names

Card fronts from various families

Also, here we can see some of the cards for this production. Again, I think a nice rich touch that ties things together with the mosaic.

– Mike

Supernova Alien Screens and more

2008-05-05T07:34:00.007-05:00

Here we can see player screens with the aliens and icons which correspond to board pieces. They gray type and such will actually be silver, so the contrast is not as you see here. Throughout the program we are planning to use silver which should really be lovely and through a future feel to it against the white.

Some more research cards with silver icons.

Colonization cards with silver

The Colonization cards should really look nice with the silver line work against the green – very special and high tech. It will have a very nice feel as one holds them in ones hands and tilts from side to side.

– Mike

From the Vault: Arte Moderna

2008-05-03T21:38:00.012-05:00

I had the opportunity to play Arte Moderna for the first time a few weeks back. I'd been trying to keep the copy I had unpunched and unused, but the money had mostly fallen out of the punchboard and my friends and I were “in the mood”. I hadn't looked at this for a long time and it brought back a lot of memories – this was my first art to be previewed in a published game. There were quite a few little things the publisher and I put in the game, from a portrait of his wife, to her favorite flower to… Derk, just because.

So, with memories spinning around, I dusted off the old backup hard drive and took a look at the files. One thing I had totally forgotten was the other artists I had created as part of the selection process for the publisher. Some I'd wish were picked, but oh, well. No biggie. I really liked one of them, so I thought I'd share that and a few others that were created for the first presentation.

The first one is based off of one of my long favorite artists, Cy Twombly. While I did not want to mimic other artists (Iike Mayfair’s edition did), I didn't mind this series of paintings. To most gamers, Cy’s work would not be recognizable and would probably seem new and totally alien. One thing you will see is the English rather than native text as this was a first presentation. Also, the format was changed a bit. If I had it to do over again, I would have coded it on both sides for left and right handers, but now I know better. Note here, for the icons, I had proposed an O for open, 1 for once around and 2 for double. This seemed more logical to me than trying to interpret an icon as in previous publications. In the end, the publisher was looking for a stronger connection to the native language, so this was put aside.

Here, we have a few more artist styles that had been presented in the initial concepts. In the end, I'm fine with what was done. There are things I would have done differently. But oh well, live and learn.

Back with my buddies, we played our game of Arte Moderna and had a very good time at it. Although my incredibly poor performance in this session confirmed that I should stay far clear from opening my own art gallery. :D

– Mike

Mechanical Digital, Wooden Mirrors and Other oddities

2008-04-17T20:07:00.010-05:00

Harry Winston’s Rare Timepiece (edition of 50) with mechanical LED display

Fascinating to look at, these unexpected twists of materials and technology boggle the mind. You can read more about them here.

The not so rare PinClock, but fun to look at

Rozen Peg Mirror

I have one of these fiber optic magnifiers on my desk. It never fails to astonish – even product designers who have pretty much seen everything. The effect of the image which is projected to the surface is captivating. In the top image, you can see it compared to a common magnifier.

– Mike

Valley Games' Municipium Board

2008-04-09T20:11:00.007-05:00

Here, we have the board for Reiner Knizia’s, Municipium. This game is a sort of an area majority game, where players place and move their family members on the various key buildings in this roman city. The roads connect the various 6 institutions along a main route and then a special route connects two buildings to the temple. Each city has a special power which is recorded on the scrolls. These powers generally move pieces around on the board. Above the scrolls is an area which holds various key rewards in the game that help lead to victory.

---Update---
Some other clarifications. The board is color coded according to the pieces placed in areas. So colored banners underneath the ovals relate to this as do the spaces in the reward monuments. Some good suggestions on adding icons, so there are now icons on the information scrolls.

One interesting thing with icons. While certainly informative and aiding in scanning, icons also serve to make games more compelling to look at and get into. Reading words are not as inviting as icons. So icons’ presence brings viewers in and offers another dimension to the information – game piece explanation. With these, one can visually match pieces to places and functions rather than go through another layer of piece names and identification as is the case with words. It is that voice that says, “Oh, this piece does that and causes this to happen.” The disadvantage to icons is that they often need to first be learned or referenced through copy or some other descriptive means. In this case, the more complicated concepts are best explained with both the icon and type to prevent annoying lookups.

– Mike

Valley Games' Supernova

2008-03-15T07:59:00.015-05:00

Here, we can see the program for Valley Games’ upcoming space game, Supernova, by Oliver Harrison and Mike Roy. In this game, players use a type of income each turn to place tiles to expand their control in space and fortify held territories. Players get VPs in a number of ways – mostly related to the area in space they hold.

Card backs

For the look, I chose a very techie feel with simple high contrast iconic graphics. White is a nice scientific color which is used purposefully here. Battle cards have a diagramatic graphic feel to them which certainly separates from other space games currently being released. In this way, the strong graphic look has a nice contemporary styling. The more powerful the battle card, the larger the flagship pictured. Research cards retain this techie feel with lovely crisp icons. Card backs contrast the fronts with images, but again are high style with black and white against a colored bar.

Board with pieces. Moons and planet pieces are missing but this gives the general impression.

The board is very simple but effective. Dots are placed at the corners of all the hexes connected with subtle gray lines for definition. It's sort of a constellation look. By varying the star sizes the appearance seems more random then it is. This dot graphic then serves not only to provide atmosphere but also highlights the board’s structure. The board reminds me a little of Ingenious with its simple background, black and a bright colored symbol on the hex shaped pieces. The board fills up with pieces really quickly, so it is not of much use to focus on much detail here which could take away from the scanning. Besides this, the simple, straightforward graphic look is in line with other components and has a modern look to it.

Battle Cards, each with a unique ship diagram. Ship names to the right are simply for flavor.

Battle Cards – special weapons. There are only 3 special weapons cards with very straightforward effects. Simple enough to quickly understand and supplimented with an icon in the lower left. Some might initially complain of the text running up the side, but, as said with only 3 simple choices, it's easier to look at the icon once you know what the choices are. The vertical type then graphically supports the vertically formatted projectiles.

Players may attack an opponent’s space using battle cards (pictured above). Basically, for battles, cards are played either in suit or in different suits, adding the total (along with modifiers) to determine who gets that space. The gray cards are sort of wild (with some restrictions) and then there are 3 special cards.

Research cards. Simple technical looking icons serve to set the mood on these cards.

A few of the aliens. These will be pure flavor added to the player screens, most likely.

The player’s screens will have different aliens on them. These few are the humoids. Painted very realistically, they are crisp and clean and complement the high contrast cards and other iconic graphics.

– Mike

Valley Games' Municipium

2008-03-14T19:07:00.006-05:00

Here, we have a cover for the new midweight Knizia game, Municipium, from Valley Games. While I enjoy the abstract nature of the previous cover version, I am very, very fond of this one as well. The previous design had roots seen in many contemporary arenas including some covers of New Yorker and a number of high style products I have seen. Here we have a softer, gentler touch with bright, friendly colors. Still retaining an abstract quality, this cover lends itself to the highly abstracted game of provincial Roman family politics.

Most of my covers in past have been quite serious to go with the heavier nature of the games, so it is nice to have something lighter here for this somewhat lighter game. In this way, I see a connection to the Big City cover, which also is abstract and fun.

– Mike

Valley Games’ Municipium Cover

2008-03-07T06:23:00.013-05:00

Nexus’ Battles of Napoleon

2008-02-11T14:42:00.001-05:00

Here, you can see more following a previous post on Nexus’ first installment of their Battles of Napoleon series, The Eagle and the Lion. I was looking for a cover that felt a bit high end, so I opted for a period cloth treatment with collages of the two countries. For the typeface, I was pleased to use Firmin Didot as the main face. This font style – along with the Bodoni families had been created toward the end of the 18th century and were considered very progressive for the times. They can be distinguished by their high contrast between thick and thins which were made possible during that period by more refined metals (which allowed for greater details in forging the type) and better quality paper, which could hold the details. A secondary typeface, Sackers Gothic, while not at all period, complements the type with its very geometric forms and elegant elongated forms – offering a high end appeal. Because this will be a series of games, the title lockup with the flourishes, Napoleon head (taken from a medal he had created) and Napoleonic N will remain in other titles, but will change configuration. Each title will then have a family look but with some variety.

Incidentally, the bee motif (which you see on the cloth and above the N) has an interesting history. The golden bees which are really cicadas (not bees at all) were found in 1653 in the tomb of Childeric I, who, in 457, had founded the Merovingian dynasty. This symbol is regarded as the oldest emblem of the sovereigns of France. As such, it is a symbol of immortality and resurrection, which Napoleon had thought very appropriate.

Collaging techniques I do adore both as a point of differentiation in this market and as a device to imply lots of choices and things going on. The overwhelming cover execution in games is to reenact or picture a scene from the times. Collaging contrasts this typical execution while enhancing a level of authenticity. Generally, pictorial scenes on covers don't seem period. They certainly portray a period, but often are not painted in a style that seems of the time.

Note here the sheer size of this box, dwarfing even Roads & Boats from this view and, incidentally, from the side as well.

Above you can get a sense of the size and scale of this game – it's huge. PR and R&B are dwarfed by this box. Not pictured is a side view of the deep box which also is higher than both PR and R&B.

You can see here more of the cards from this game which include infantry, calvary and artillery units. Leaders have three levels as well – Commander in Chiefs, Commanders and Replacement Commanders. Also pictured here are event cards which display battle stats when played.

– Mike

Stunning

2008-02-01T22:39:00.000-05:00

Beautiful and meditative sci art. Definately worth a few minutes to watch the different shifts. You can see more of his work on on his blog.

In Praise of Mathieu Leysenne – artist

2007-12-29T17:27:00.000-05:00

Really, really nice work here by artist, Mathieu Leysenne who has worked on Animalia, Jamaica, and Metropolys. Very nice illustration style very suitable for lighter games in particular. My new favorite artist. Without a doubt the best I’ve seen like this doing boardgames. Seems like a perfect match for Days of Wonder games which run on the lighter, family game side.

Ystari’s upcoming Metropolys. I’m looking forward to seeing what this will be like based on this cover.

Animalia which was released last year. I’ve yet to play. Not sure if this is my kind of game, but I would buy it nonetheless based on the art.

Jamaica

– Mike

Deleted entry

2007-12-28T21:31:00.000-05:00

From earlier this year as it was causing some unfortunate misunderstandings as I have been told. Meant to delete that post some time ago as it later occurred to me that things could be misunderstood. :P. Some understandable interpritations of what I said were completely false to my intentions, unfortunately.

Preview of Valley Games’ Titan: III

2007-12-28T18:13:00.000-05:00

In this post, we can see updated parts and pieces of the Titan project. Most everything has been said already in other posts on this site and are extentions of that work, so I’ll leave it at that. I’m very pleased with this program and look forward to getting my copy!

Board with corner information. Muster and movement info. A close up also pictured here of the movement key with simplified wording. The icons have been removed from the corner muster charts as they get rediculously small and distracting at that size.

A few selections of the battleboards. Having the different colored boards adds a nice richness to the program and, of course is an extention of the board graphics. This extention helps aid in recall as the color system is better/quicker burned into the brain through more exposure.

One side of a reference sheet with close up of muster chart. A few details were added to the chart including amount needed for next creature up and range/flight icons. Varying line weights help the eye better track different terrain routes as color differentiation can be a bit difficult on lines. One could certainly read the terrain copy, but it’s best not to have to read everything every time through. For the rangestrike diagram, I added the units that had that capability and stats related to that. Easy enough to figure out without, but seemed nice to have on hand.

An example of a unit. Much was said of these last round. The only thing I'll say here is that there are always production limitations that crop up in these games. One such reflected here is the rule that type cannot be placed within a certain distance from the edge of the tokens. Seen here is the limits to where it can be placed.

A few leader token examples: ancient/medieval instruments, demon/devel/dragons and celestial bodies. Earier experimentation showed full color (full bleed color) blended in too much to the colored board. Shields simply color blind assitance. White borders and top area helped to project it up from the dark board.

– Mike

The Function(s) of Game Art

2007-12-27T08:51:00.000-05:00

Often times I find that the forums provide a group think toward terms and ideals that fall short of the reality of the games and game creation. One such is the use of the word “functional” as it applies to game art. Whenever I hear it I tend to wince as it I know it is not what the writer really means to say and certainly does not capture what is going on. When individuals say “function” or "functional” what they really mean to say is “user friendly” or something to do with information design. Comments such as “It (the board or art) looks nice, but is not functional” illustrate the specificity and single purpose many assign to the function of art. While information design is a function of design and art, it is not the only function of art. It is then that such comments fall short in describing – or comprehending – what is really happening here. Statements such as these suggest the total functional failures of a particular games’s art without the full consideration of what the art is really doing.

Game art functions on many levels – information design which is clarity and comprehension, aesthetic needs which provides attraction and ambience, thematic needs which enhances the story and finally a branded “look” which provides a unique, iconic look for a branded property (not “samey” looking). It is easy for many to say that none is more important than information design or that information design should never sacrifice for other needs. In reality, the addition of thematic details and aesthetic needs will always lead to a reduction in information design as the more the eye needs to take in, the more difficult it will be to take in a game situation. It is a balance that is sought after. One can certainly find a very “functional” game in terms of user friendliness. But if it does not look good, something big is missing. Cheapass games fall into this category. While many of them might work from a clarity point of view, who really is seduced in to playing them? The art in such games remains relatively non functional despite any user friendliness.

Sure, Cheapass' Kill Dr Lucky may be "functional" in terms of user friendliness, but what does it matter when it looks terrible. The art has done nothing to lure me in and give me confidence that this game is going to work beyond some homemade concoction. Someone will have to work hard to convince me to play the game. ...And they did. This as opposed to the look of the game doing the selling and creating the desire from within me to really want to play. Just because it reads does not make it good art.

A more recent implementation of Kill Dr Lucky. The read has taken a hit here from the previous version. However, unlike the original, I would be initially interested in playing it, were someone else interested. Compared to the original this actually looks fun wheras the old one did not. I've not seen this production in person though, or played the original in years, so I do not know if the board is very readable. It could have readability problems which would be an issue. The only point I make here is that art now functions to generate appeal and consequent interest as well as confidence that this will be more than a prototype.

A game called Siena. Here, we have a pretty board with nearly no functionality in terms of usability. My hunch with this was that the authors had very pretty art (an old medieval fresco) that they were afraid to “blemish” with graphic detailing. Consequently, the game has legendary difficulty in playability.

Aesthetic application functions to attract and hold attention, it creates anticipation and longing, it can drive sales and can promote future plays. I recall when first coming back to gaming a few years ago and seeing the board for Days of Wonder’s game Mystery of the Abbey. Now, this is a game that I should not like. It has deduction, is somewhat chaotic with card movement, it’s sort of silly and has a basic light play – all things I don’t like. So, I debated for a long time but finally broke down and bought it. I stuck it out for 5 games wishing things would be better as the look promises so much. In the end, I gave up on the game. Here, the game art functioned to attract me to the game and hold my attention and desire to believe in the game – even after just so so plays. I really wanted this game to work! I was on the game’s side – routing for it until the very end. It also functioned well to get others to play it with me as they too liked the look.

I have often heard it said of game board art, “The game art needs to be functional, not a painting to hang on the wall.” This seems a very nonsensical statement to me. Art for walls serves to enhance the ambience of a room. By the same token, the art on the game board provides an ambience to the gameplay that very pure data will never drive. I maintain that you are more likely to spend time looking at your favorite games than the art on your walls. Thus, the game aesthetics are just as important as wall decoration aesthetics for setting a mood and ambiance. How often have we stared at the wall art for 60 minutes or two hours at a time? Now how about the game art?

The artwork seduced me. I bought it and played a few times hoping it would get better. The artwork fuctioned both to seduce me and to give me confidence in its performance. Here, the sucess and function of the artwork had nothing to do with ease of play, but of aesthetics.

Cards and board from Through the Ages. They work pretty well from an information design function (though the board has a little problem with the notations). However, from an aesthetic point of view the game really suffers. The amaturish, homemade quality of the art has a prototype feel to it. It lacks the richness and drama that the game actually yields. Were it not for the high praise and ratings that the game has recieved, I might have passed on it. Boy, am I sure glad I didn't though as, for me, this is a great game.

Another point to be made is that strong aesthetics reduces fatigue during downtime. If there’s something pretty to look at, you’re less likely to get as bored when waiting on slow players. If one is less bored, the experience will come across better in the end. Game theme application works toward this end as well by enhancing the environment.

Good aesthetics also increases gamer pride. I have heard many people say they are very embarraced to show non gamers some of these games based on their looks. They look geeky. The art is amaturish for the most part and does not communicate something of sophistication – as these products actually are. The art is generally out of sync with these high grade games using low grade execution art. Certainly there are exceptions like Michael Menzel’s art, but the main point here is that a good look increases pride in the hobby.

A good sense of aesthetics works much like theme in game development. For many Euros, theme is but texture and ambience as well. Many euros really do not need the theme and could be played as green cubes, brown cubes, big square, little square, etc. Theme does aid in recall and in teaching, but more so it makes us feel good during play. So it is that we get medieval and reniassance game after another. These themes tend to be rich with texture, romance and a shared language that we can all relate to. Certainly anything can be as interesting as theme – my guess is that these two subjects are easier to slot in thematic elements to the actions. The point here is that we do desire something to make us feel good beyond the tickling of the brain that we get from gaming. In a way, theme is the pretty picture.

Thematic application functions to enhance thematic detailing in a game environment of weak thematic connection (as is the case with most euros). We all know that Euros are built on certain reductive principles that tend to smooth out the real life details and complexities that provide for richly themed experiences. So it is that game art helps to fill in the gaps here. Taluva is one such game for me. It is simply a pure abstract. However, the game board and bits explain a theme to me so beautifully that I want to believe there is some thematic truth to the game. Again, the art drives me to want to believe in the game. How many times have we seen a game theme rich with history and potentially great visual stimuli that has not been captured in the art? Instead, the art remains pale and bland – marginally themed at best. How disappointing this is! Like pleasing aesthetics, theme is ambience. It allows us to escape into a world of imagination.

Taluva – a pure abstract infused with theme by virtue of art and bits. I can feel and even believe that there is some primitive island life in the works here.

Another abstract game here – Santiago. Unlike Taluva, I don't get a sense of time or place (other than a farm). The art really does not much support theme. It looks very dry, abstract and boring. This also falls under a failure in aesthetic application as it does not look nice or compelling. Consequently, I'm less likely to pick this game up and more likely to get bored of it as soon as gameplay shows wear. Sure it reads, but so would a hand drawn black and white pencil sketch. I wouldn't be interested in playing that either. Just because something reads does not make it good art.

Finally, the branded application functions to give a unique look to the game. This function also serves to attract – if the game looks different then all the rest, then it promises to be different. We all hate games that play “samey.” So too, a samey look does not reinforce that something special is going to happen here in the gameplay. When at cons, spotting a game from a distance that looks unique certainly has the potential to attract individuals over to the table to observe. This branded application also serves to aid in recall both in describing a game and when thinking of the next game to play.

A forgettible board here for Kreta as it looks like any other island map. There is nothing here that looks unique. Consequently, I'm more likely to pass on it based on a first look.

Everything reads pretty good in Augsburg 1510. But there's nothing special going on here. When I played it with my group it came up a number of times... "what do you think of the art?" someone asked. Another said... "well it reads fine..." All the while there was a reflective silence and a shrug of shoulders. It's just that there was nothing of interest here. It's sort of a "been there, done that look".

In the end, art’s function is much more than simply information design. Weighing in the success of all these functions collectively can yield a better view of art’s contribution to a production.

– Mike

Interview on Fortress: Ameritrash

2007-11-26T19:58:00.000-05:00

Recently, Michael Buccheri of Fortress: Ameritrash interviewed me for a piece on said blog. I thought he had some really wonderful questions. Thanks again, Michael for both the interview and well thought out questions!

– Mike

Valley Games’ Titan II

2007-11-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

--- NOTE that early last week (hours after the original BGG post) new chits were submitted to Valley based on the first few comments and have been undergoing testing. Further comments on Geek and/or petitions since around Tues. have no effect as the design has already been underway and is being tested. Unfortunately, the very frequent senseless, uninformed, tactless and hostile nature of Geek posters have driven me off Geek. I generally won't open myself up to the assured irrational abuse by posting on that site for the most part.

Here you can see progress made on the main board from my last post. Many variations have been looked into since then. The final decision was to keep in close to the original board. From the last post you can see that the stone spaces have less detail and more saturated colors so that the spaces are more distinct from each other and easier to read. Additionally, details – such as in the dark hexigon areas – have been reduced significantly so to be easier on the eyes. The contrast of the border around the arrow blocks have been reduced to give the arrows a stronger read.

Corner detail with more distinct colors and fewer textures. This allows for better scanning and fewer details which is easier on the eyes than the previous post.

Updated full board

A board study (not final direcction). Many studies were done to improve the information on the board. In this case, we have colored arrows coded to the two different moving “tracks” . This was further supported with a gap to seperate them. In the end, this version was not used as it was too far a departure from the well known board.

Many variations on the legion tokens were made as well. White borders and a white area on each was needed to better isolate them visually on the board. Fields of color were also needed to better describe each player’s color. It is always the case that fields of color are much stronger than lines of color – just as type on a colored background reads color better than simply colored type on white. So it is then that knocking the icons out of the colors work best to get a color read. For the color blind, we have shield icons in the upper area. The main icons were selected on the basis of contrast to help separate each individual one. So then, we have some icons with very little mass – like the bug on the top second from left – and others with a great deal of mass – like the mushroom under it to the left. The icons were drawn more crisp and refined than the original game which gives them a more serious tone. Finally, each player has a themed selection of icons for fun.

Some legion tokens. Borders and upper area are white to help the pieces to pop off the board. Color fields aid in identifying the color type. A shield device on top is for color blind players. Finally, each player has a theme: green – bugs and plants, blue – old musical instruments, black – Grecco/Roman, red – dragons and demons.

Size comparison between new token and original token. One thing to also bear in mind is that this new drafting board (and the battlemaps) will be bigger than the original board which allows for bigger tokens.

For the unit tokens, artist Kurt Miller developed a series of realistic looking monsters. These and the cover of the game were finished just as I came aboard the project. I worked on many variations for these. Circle chits can be challenging as I lose the corners of the chits (compared to square chits). This tends to drive the type inward toward the center as longer titles fall outside the circle when typeset close to the edges. As the type moves inward, challenges arise in terms of getting an impactful and large image and type that can read over or around an image. Here, we have a red bar which protects the type and gives a clean simple look. The numbers were gathered into one area to help scanability. Here, the eye only has to focus on these pinpoint areas and move onto another token rather than back and forth across the token (with the numbers on each side – right and left) as was the case in the original game. Additionally, subordinating one number with respect to scale helps to separate the two.

Monster art created by artist Kurt Miller (who also created the cover art to Titan). One thing I will probably be changing is the color of the bar – shifting it to a cool color to better contrast from the monsters.

Kurt Miller’s Ogre. Here you can see a comparitive scale of new token and original token.

For the battleboards, we chose to add some information – the strike chart, native creatures and the turn four mustering space. It would have been great to put the hazard chart on here, but it is quite wordy and there just is not room for such a thing. The hazard charts will then be covered on a reference sheet instead. The background texture relates to the main board and adds a bit of richness.

On the battleboard, we have added native monsters to key terrian and a strike chart. Also a gem icon on the timeline marks mustering on turn 4.

– Mike

Valley Games’ Titan

2007-10-11T08:42:00.000-05:00

---- Note development has continued with the art seen below since this original post. This including some simplification of detailing, color shifting to separate colors further and work on arrow detailing. This will be the next post. These improvements address some issues I’ve had since posting below. ----

Board corner detail

--- Note, I've modified the images since the original post with colors for hills and woods switched to reflect closer alignment to original board ---

Here, we have Titan’s Masterboard for Valley Games’ new production. This is not totally finished as it needs some information on the corners of the board, but it is pretty close at this time.

During development, one point of concern was to get the board a bit more readable in terms of being able to differentiate the unique terrain spaces. As you can see below, on the original board, many of the these spaces have very similar hues and color values. When looking at that board, it is hard to tell many of the spaces apart at a glace. Compare the Woods, Brush, Plains and even Desert against each other on the original. The colors remain very close. The same for Hills and Marshes. More concentrated effort is needed by further identifying the icons. The tricky part in working with a color system in Titan is that there are 11 different colors needed. Unfortunately, our memories tend to be able to only take in 7 or so variables maximum at a time so much needs to be done to achieve a higher level of identification. The colors chosen here for the new board have a greater dynamic range both in terms of hue and in terms of value. When comparing the boards you can see that the new board appears almost like a patchwork quilt, with color patterns beginning to emerge. The colors work quite well in defining patterns. Admittedly, the two darker greens are less effective than the other parts of the board, but that is where the icons come in. The original board, however, remains quite flat in terms of patterns rising to the surface. One trick that I use to determine the effectiveness of the colors is to pick a color and then stare at that one space. Now, if I can see other spaces which have the same color without moving my eyes (or moving my eyes slightly a few spaces), then things are working pretty well. In the old board, it is nearly impossible to “see” matching spaces in this manner, except with blue and green to a certain extent as these colors dip into the cool side of the spectrum.

Old board and new board comparison

Some icons were retained while others simplified to reduce the amount of information on the board. Also, to that end, more hierarchy has been given to each space with color being predominant, then icon, then name. Previously, name and icon shared fairly similar order of importance. I have placed the name opposite the number so that there is a pattern to seeing the location of the number in each space – as this is important in determining placement on the battleboards. Texture was added to the board which does increase the complexity – further necessitating the need for smaller terrain names.

Tight detail of bone frame and gem spaces

With respect to the movement arrows, I lifted them up on a separate plain. Also, I gave them a high degree of contrast with the white against black. Again, if you stare at a part of the new board without moving your eyes, you can begin to see arrows a few spaces away. With the older board this is not really so. This is because the icons are embedded in the intricate line work of the borders. Here, the eye has difficulty extracting such details unless looking directly at them. Some experimentation was done in the placement of the arrow icon boxes. At first, they extended further into each space. This helped readability a bit as the motion towards and into each space was more distinct. The downside would have been that the playing pieces would be smaller so as not to cover up the icons. In the end, we opted for what you see here, which is fine. In terms of the symbols used for these arrows, I pretty much stuck to the original. The only modification here is the square, which tended to look too much like the circle. Unfortunately, game play for this part of the game is not intuitive, with all the “may” and “must” enters at beginning or during movement. Icons cannot really depict such nuanced unintuative rules. It remains better then just to keep the icons very simple and distinctive from each other and tie to what most gamers are already familiar with.

My desire with this board was for it to appear otherworldly – as if a game played in another time. The use of gems, stones and bone materials help to give it that feel and provide for a rich look and feel. The tonal variations within each gem allows them to glow, giving the board a sparkle and shimmer. Also, as I’ve said before, I do have an affection for boards which reference games of old where natural materials – such as wood, stone or metal – were used in their construction.

In future posts I will share the tokens on the boards as well as the battleboards. Kurt Miller created some nice looking 3D monsters as well, which will go on the unit tokens.

– Mike

Custom 52 Designer Card Contest

2007-10-05T20:48:00.000-05:00

I ran across some very tasty designs for the standard deck. It seems this site is bringing together designers to showcase their submissions. After the finalists are chosen, they go to print the deck and then the next contest begins for a new deck. Very, very lovely designs.

Custom 52 deck #1

– Mike

Valley Games’ Container

2007-09-24T18:56:00.000-05:00

Here we have a few components from Container which is Valley Game’s latest production and marks their first original game design. For the cover, we let the containers themselves be the heroes pointing the way to their destination aboard the ships. The image features a strong diagonal composition which leads the eye from the many colorful containers to the ship at sea. The sky and containers were created optimistic and bright for the cover.

Money (front and back)

The money was an interesting feature that I enjoyed doing. More often then not, money is the component that disappoints me in games (other than the cover). Certainly there is the paper/card/token issue for which paper remains highly annoying. But also, in the case of paper and card money, I find that I do not care for the look. Typically when showing a bill, the entire piece is shown. The problem becomes making the bill look real. If real, then where is it from? Do you use real currency or create a fake country? Mostly, games tend to follow the monopoly example showing the game’s name and some components. Here, we have avoided the fake country issue by only showing a portion of the bills. In this way, enough real looking information can be displayed without specifying much more. On these bills we decided to celebrate container transportation with engraved images of that theme.

Loan Card (front and back)

End Value Card (front and back)

Also pictured here are loan cards and end value cards. The end value cards are kept secret and determine the value of each kind of container for a player at the finish. The card backs were fun to do. We have here the language of containers with a diamond sign and the typical bold condensed type that you find on containers.

The container theme was further pushed with the rules cover where we used the diamond signs to house a sort of language table of contents.

– Mike

Valley Games’ Supernova Cover

2007-09-19T19:16:00.001-05:00

Here we have the cover for one of Valley’s upcoming titles, Supernova. I had thought it would be nice to take advantage of the “letterbox” format with a blast of light sweeping across the cover. The effect is dynamic and a bit captivating. Space themes allow the possibility of wild, dazzling color schemes. In this case the pinks, cyans and purples are quite unique and should allow the game to pop off the shelves that much better. Supernova’s premise is of the blast taking over neighboring systems. So here we have planets engulfed in the mighty blast. I’ve added some computery bips and bops for a slicker, modern feel. Hex shapes relate to the game components and the computery type can be game rules typeset in this manner.

– Mike

Nexus’ Battles of Napoleon: The Eagle and the Lion

2007-09-17T07:54:00.000-05:00

I was quite excited earlier this year when Nexus games had contacted me regarding the possibility of developing art for their upcoming game, the Eagle and the Lion. This is to be the first massive installment of their “Battles of Napoleon” series.

It turns out that my gaming roots are of wargames where in the ’80s, I used to shop the aisles for interesting Avalon Hill titles. I only ended up playing a few wargames on a limited scale, though. Of them, one of my favorites was the old AH “War and Peace.” I loved the scope of the war and romance of the era. For me this really hit a chord.

So it was that I was extremely keen to take on this grand Napoleonic game from a company with such a reputation for quality products. For those that don't know, Nexus were the folks that brought us War of the Ring and the follow-up, Battles of the Third Age. Now they are digging their teeth very deeply into the Napoleonic battle genre. I had used the word massive earlier, and I'm not kidding. The box is huge - larger than Battlelore. There will be tons of bits as the game is filled with hundreds of miniatures.

I cannot comment on gameplay but can say that it is its own game system which is meant to be deep enough for wargamers, but accessible to the Euros. It uses a new system which is based based both on orders and cards to regulate the actions of the players.

Below you can see some cards for the French side. There are two categories of cards - Leaders and Units. As such, each have a distinct look. The leaders feature a close up portrait, while the units have a soldier in a battle scene. Within these two categories we have a number of types and classes of cards. The leaders have 3 categories, pictured in varied ranges of size. The more powerful leaders appear close up, with the lesser ones further away. Additionally, a ribbon type further reinforces the leader type.

Commander in Chief

Commander

Commander

The units are broken down by infantry, calvary and artillery. Pictured here are infantry units. While the background image will remain fairly similar between these 3 groups, there will be a subtle change to help cue each of these categories. We have spent some time developing the images for historical correctness. In addition, on the card backs, there will be a little info on the actual unit that the picture comes from. Each image will be unique to add to the richness of the program.

A unit card. Each one has the unit type (upper left), unit flag (upper right), moral (below flag), some die roll modifiers (bottom ribbon) and initial unit makeup (4 icons, middle left).

There will be 4 double sided boards that can be assembled to create a variety of scenarios. Configurations will be available to combine 2-4 boards depending on the scale. Pictured here are two boards. The relevant terrain are the hill ridges, hedges and forests. The look here is one of an old engraved map which is meant to lend a feel of authenticity to the program and separate from other miniature wargame products. Other special terrain tiles will be placed on the boards depending on the scenario. To give a sense of scale, each tile is a little larger than the tiles in Roads and Boats.

Two of the eight map pieces.

Map detail

– Mike

QWG's El Capitan: Preview V

2007-09-15T14:26:00.000-05:00

For this next installment of El Capitan preview, I have some spreads from the rules, an expansion board (included in the game) and some token boards.

One of the interesting parts to this game are the 3 “expansion cities.” One can choose to play with 1-3 of these boards, each of which has its own special set of rules. Pictured here is “Porto.” Notice Porto has 3 ports and only one fortress, making it easier to dock here – but harder to get a fortress. Also, note the rewards are higher than other cities. The downside has to do with the shutting down of warehouses – indicated by the dark square spaces. When a player places their warehouse on one of these spaces, the first warehouse in the chain of squares is eliminated from the game. Normal cities simply place such warehouse in the center of the board awaiting repairs. Another special rule unique to all of the expansion cities relates to majority scoring. ALL players who have placed at least one warehouse in the city will now get second majority during scoring (which is 1/2 of 1st majority). The first majority player, will however get the first majority payout – as in normal rules.

Pictured here is the cover and one spread from the rules. In this case, I chose to set up each spread with a background of ocean which adds a nice thematic texture to each page.

Here you can see one of the 4 token sheets enclosed. I like giving more context to my token sheets when possible. To me, they are like sheets of stamps. Postal services around the world now take the extra step with their sheets to add information and interest to them for collectors to admire. I find, with little effort, the overall presentation is much enhanced by the addition of such detailing. Even though discarded in the end, the punchboards serve an important first impression when one opens a game. A well designed and themed punchboard can add excitement and an emotional reward for those who buy the game or collectors who choose not to punch their boards.

For those looking to purchase this game at Essen, I've been told by the publisher that this game as well as all the other 3 MasterPrint titles Leonardo da Vinci, Yspahan and Demetra (Richard Breese's new title, Key Harvest) – can be preordered through QWG Games. Below you can see images of each of these titles.

– Mike

Ystari’s Premium Limited Edition of Caylus II

2007-08-09T19:38:00.000-05:00

Here, we have a few more images of this project. We decided to keep the back cover clean and simple with maximum room for an impactful image. Given that the purchasers of the game will have played the game or could already own it, an explaination of the game and storyline seemed of little value. Since this is a very special game there is a need to rise above conventions. Reducing the back to a simple image adds value as it looks “class” and carries itself with authority through understatement.

Here is a good look at all the tiles (at lower resolution). I chose to illustrate each tile as if part of an illuminated manuscript rather than illustrate the buildings. Some individuals miss the literal interpritation of building actual buildings, but I find the look to be exciting and fresh. I absolutely love playing Caylus and think it a great game, but not for a second do I really feel like the game is reinacting some moment in history. This gives license to explore alternatives that are predicated less on recreating a literal narrative and more on sprinkling in the program the romance and the world of that era. There is a good reason why publishers go back to medieval and renaissance Europe – it has atmosphere, it has ambience. The overall ambience and romance is the story to be told rather than the made up storylines that find themselves on the back of boxes. By infusing the program with something a little unexpected we have a look that is iconic, memorable and contributes to this ambience of romance.

For the back of the punchboards, I had wanted something a little special, particularly for the collectors. So, I chose to enclose a darkened image of the cover that forms a large image across the entire punchboards. This rewards collectors who wish to leave the set unpunched with something that others – who do punch their set – won't have. For the vast majority who do punch their tiles, the backs still look very nice on their own. I also like it when components have some unique aspect to each unique one. The building names are on the back for those who wish to know. Given the building names are really just a dash of flavor that plays little part of the game, it seems no loss to have the names on the back rather than the front.

For the rules, we have a front and back cover much like I did Hannibal, with a simple seamless illustration front and back. This gives a special folder or book like effect to the rules. Below you can see the opening spread to the rules. I found inspiration from some illuminated manuscripts on the format here. So, the columns are very rigid and solid. Additionally, note the detailing of the sentence structure which is like verses from an old manuscript. Each sentence is set on a new line with a colored first letter. This actually makes the rules quite easy to read and scan as you can’t get lost in wordy paragraphs. The font is Trade Gothic Bold Condensed, which is easy to read. Mainly though it has a structure and rhythm much like the old Germanic Gothic typefaces as is set for the first letter of each sentence. Like the Germanic Gothic (or fraktur type), Trade Gothic has a very strong vertical emphasis to each letterform.

3 flavors

The column structure is solid like an illuminated manuscript might be. Here the sentences are set like a chapter of verses – each sentence on its own line beginning with a highlighted letter.

– Mike

El Capitán Board and Card preview

2007-07-30T18:13:00.000-05:00

Below you will see some more work I have done for QWG’s El Capitán – a game which I eagerly await to play. The game, incidentally, is being printed simultaneously by ZMan Games, Pro Ludo and Ystari. Aside from the box (QWG will get the Master Print Series treatment) and rules, the game will be the same for all productions.

The board was great fun to create. Given the theme and romance of sailing the 16th century Mediterranean seas, I had thought the game could be a very rich one. Here, I have treated this program with a good amount of wood detailing inspired by the detailing and predominance in the world of wooden ships. Incidentally, I really like using natural materials in board games as they harken back to centuries old productions of wood and other basic materials. It adds the warmth and physical attraction that boardgames are all about. The basic viewpoint of the board is loosely inspired by a captain's table. Here, we have destinations framed in wood and sitting on a blue cloth. The cloth serves to contrast the wood and help these areas pop out. Additionally, with the blue cloth’s rolling and waving features, it suggests navigating the seas. In the beginning, of the creative process, there had been the notion to set an image of waves behind cities. But this seemed very expected and what would be a typical execution for a boardgame. Also typical would have been to create some sort of old world map broken up into 9 pieces. In the end, we went with this look which I think rich, warm and inviting while maintaining an iconic presence. Such an iconic presence is another function of graphic design beyond information design, thematic design and aesthetic considerations.

For the cities themselves, we have included the wooden framed track which has been stained in areas to highlight a game function, a pattern indiginous to that place and a romantic image of the spot overlayed with a map. Additionally, embedded on the top are port and fortress icons. A seal finishes the map off which indicates each city’s location on the map. Each city is located on the board relative to the others in real life and snaps into this simple 3x3 grid. By the way, the cities’ names are their native spellings.

The real heart of the game, though, is the numbers. As this is an area majority style game, the numbers represent payment to first majority player (halved for second majority – rounded down). I chose to only include the first majority numbers as it is an easy enough instruction and calculation for second majority. Indeed, showing the second set of numbers became more confusing. Not only did it clutter the board with more information to decipher, it suggested that there was not such an easy pattern for second majority. The implication for showing all the numbers is that there is no pattern and thus need to reference each number. I know from working with both sets of numbers in the beginning on the board it took quite a long time for me to notice, “Oh, yeah, these numbers are just halved!” You can see side by side below how the reduction really helped the clutter. Multiply this by 9 cities and it was a huge difference. In the end, the basic game boils down to 3 types of cities based on the numbers – an expensive, high reward city, middle of the road city and cheep, less profitable city. Wolfgang and Rösner worked on the distribution of the cities quite a bit for a new balance.

The final city on the left and earlier version on the right. Clearly, showing both numbers is distracting. As the second set of numbers are simply half the first, it is easy enough to explain and calculate without showing them.

One of the interesting points of game play is the notion of the shutting down of warehouses – which players purchase and place on the numbered track. Basically, the pieces are put in the track to the next available space to the right. When a warehouse is built on a darker colored space this triggers a warehouse to be “shut down.” Essentially, then the warehouse that is located in the furthest position to the left (the first warehouse found on the track) is thrown in the middle of the board and is no longer counted for majority. A player can then come back to the city (they dock in one of the two ports on the top left) and take their shut down building from the middle of the board and replace it on the track in the first avail spot to the right of the last warehouse. This action is for free. Now the catch here is that when determining majority ties are resolved with the first person on the track. So, having one’s warehouse shut down isn’t so great! The half dark spaces are for 2 player games only.

By the way, the cost to build a warehouse is the number in the port in which one docks in. Only one player is allowed in a dock at a time. There are always 2 docks (the exception being the expansion cities) – one dock allows for cheaper building the other pricier.

On the right side of the board, we have the payout table, a place for the decks of cards and a spot to travel to when getting a loan (in between the two decks of cards). For the payout table, I found some images of shipping manifests that were roughly of the period and picked up the numbers on them. (I find it fascinating to think that some individual – hundreds of years ago – scribbled down some type that would later be used for a game to describe his condition.) The decks of loan cards are the two values of loans that you can take out here.

The Payout Table from the board. The type was taken from a ship’s manifest created around this period of time. The left hand column being the number of cities one has buildings in and the right hand being the payout in money. Note the crease in the middle separates the expansion cities if you are playing with more than the base 0f 9.

A “Multi Travel” card. The seals represent distance (in cities) one can travel. The coin is the cost to buy the card. The city is another destination one can take. The “pip grid” indicates the city’s position on the board.

Next we have what the author/publisher calls a “Multi Travel” card. The only way you can purchase buildings on a city is by traveling there and the only way you can travel there is to purchase one of two types of cards – Multi Travel or Specific Travel. In this case, the Multi Travel card entitles a player to move either directly to the city pictured or to any city within a distance no greater than the number of seals on the top. In this case, a player could choose to go directly to Marseille or could go up to 3 orthogonally adjacent cities away from their current location. Toward the middle of the card, I created this little pip icon which frees players from having to think about the names. The position on the icon is the position on the board. Just below the seals is the cost of the card. Cities with more seals are worth (cost) more as they are more useful.

In another entry, I will be previewing the expansion cities that come with the game. Players will be able to add any of these cities to the base 9 on the board for some interesting combinations. This will expand the game to 10-12 total cities depending on players’ tastes.

– Mike

Valley Games’ Big City Cover

2007-07-21T19:30:00.000-05:00

For a fun, relatively quick game that is on the lighter side we have a cover with a fun, lighthearted touch. The color pallet is punchy and colorful. The forms are exaggerated and playful with a strong vertical emphasis. As the game is about a city springing up to life, the vertical forms and unnatural arching give this cover such life.

The layout is part of a flexible format that we developed based on the “letterbox” like format of the Hannibal project we did. In this case, when a vertical image is called for we have a system to capture that.

The type is sophisticated and simply executed with strong vertical emphasis. This echoes the image and game concept of building a city up. The deep blue background contrasts the bright and light colors of the city and allows the eye to focus in on the image.

The city neighborhoods have been developed which look very lovely. I’ll be posting these at another time.

– Mike

Get the Glass

2007-07-13T20:40:00.001-05:00

http://www.gettheglass.com/

This just a recent find. I've not the patience or time to get through it but it is quite lovely. Mostly just a tasty distraction I think.

Enjoy,

Mike

QWG’s Demetra (Key Harvest)

2007-06-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

Here, we see the latest edition to QWG’s MasterPrint Series. Demetra as many of you now know is Richard Breese’s new upcoming Key Harvest title about medieval farming. Like Leonardo and Yspahan, this is simply a box redesign – all the inside components remain as done by Richard’s sister, Juliet.

Cover image. Note how the complexity of the image is contrasted with very simple cloth detailing.

Close-in image shows the level of detail that I put into the painting. Very lovely and authentic feeling.

The cover with two spines.

I believe this cover to be my favorite of the series so far. Here, I have created a detailed and complex scene in a medieval style depicting a vast landscape patchwork of fields. In the game, you will find a board with a patchwork grid of fields so this seemed an appropriate direction. The look is a bit dreamy and quaintly drawn. The technique and feel of the cover relates somewhat to Caylus which also employed a busy, artful touch. As such, the look is upscale and rich.

QWG MasterPrint Series cover lineup.

A yellow orange leather book contrasts nicely with the green cover as well as the other books. The overall effect is very rich. This yellow orange brings out colors in the painting.

The second spine. Again, this highlights the uniformity and diversity of the system. Its ability to complement through a rigid template, but elastic enough to give a wide range of differentiation.

A great deal thought and care is given to each cover to deliver an overall effect of visual diversity and excitement within the system. Each cover – in their own way – contrasts others around them to give a unique and visible texture to the collection as a whole. For instance, you can see with Demetra a complex painting with a very simple, understated cover detailing. Contrast this with Leonardo, which has a simple, bold painting and complex detailing in the leather work. On some covers, we use very bright colors (like Yspahan which is a lighter, brighter game) and others muted colors like Leonardo. For El Capitán we chose a more commercial approach as the publication will have a broader reach. Imagine how rich a living room bookshelf might look with the entire series displayed on it!

In addition the the look and appeal of the series, the MP Series is a limited edition proposition in that the print runs are very small. This adds to the rarity of the collection which adds value.

Congratulations to the QWG team for their continued support and promotion of the MasterPrint Series! I believe this series represents a new positive shift in the development and rethinking of style, sophistication and adult appeal in this category of boardgames.

– Mike

El Capitan: Preview III

2007-06-08T14:03:00.000-05:00

QWG has given me permission to say a bit more about El Capitán and feature some new art here. The designers of El Capitán are Wolfgang Kramer and Horst-Rainer Rösner. I’m hesitant to say that this is a remake of a game they created in ‘98 called Tycoon as so much has been improved and special features/expansions added to the game. I’ve not played Tycoon, myself, but based on the changes, it sounds much better to me.

Firstly, as you might remember, Tycoon had genuine problems with the art. When QWG approached me with this title, I looked up Tycoon – as I was unfamiliar with it – and was shocked by the production. It looked nothing like a German game but more like a bad mass market production. As such, this really must have taken away from game play and, consequently, sales. (I’d post an image here, but it is so bad, I wouldn’t want non-English speaking/reading visitors to mistake the art for mine.)

The designers and publishers have spent a great deal of time refining the game and looking for new opportunities to refresh this title. Most of the changes I’ll mention at another time. One change I will mention here is the cities, themselves. The distribution of types of cities (more valuable, mid range, and least valuable) is different than Tycoon. Also of note is the addition of 3 expansion cities (Portuguese cities) which will be located on the left side of the board. Anywhere from 1 to all 3 of the cities may be added in a game, if one desires. The interesting thing about them is they all have unique powers/features which should add to the replay value significantly. For instance, one of these cities includes a pirate feature which seems an interesting twist.

One of nine city “boards” that lie on the captain’s table within a folded cloth. There will also be 3 “expansion” cities included in the game which can be placed off the board.

Most of the art is near final and I really like the way it is looking. The board, which I will show in another post, is an image of something like a captain’s table. On it are framed city boards that are set within the rippling of a blue cloth. The combination of wood ornamentation and blue cloth looks very rich. Pictured above you can see one such city. Along the top left are the two ports and top right the two fortresses. On the track players build their warehouses in the city. Darkened spaces relate to renovation areas that trigger renovation. The half darkened space is special renovation triggers for fewer players. A payout value is located in each space for the first majority. (Second majority is half that amount.) Dropping the second majority number was very helpful in reducing the visual clutter and focusing attention to the number patterns that make up the board. Given that second majority is always half, it is an easy matter to figure out. Each city portrays a different scene and a different pattern which is appropriate for that place. The cities span the Mediterranean from Spain, France, Africa, Greece and Egypt to name a few.

Image of one of two types of loan cards.

– Mike

Hannibal RvC: Rules and other graphic elements

2007-06-07T19:15:00.000-05:00

In addition to the box graphics, I was involved with some of the card graphics and rules. Valley Games, who is currently working on updating their website, has generously given me permission to preview these elements here.

I really enjoy doing rules as there are opportunities here to do some lovely typeography. For the cover, I created a medallion which was placed over the leather. The leather is used throughout the program including the box cover. I chose to use a crisp, clean white background with which to showcase some classical typography. When using type beautiful type, the high contrast of black type on a clean white background hightens the effect. It also gives a little more of a museum or fine book feel to it. The publishers wrote a very interesting historical background which is what we open the rules with. Following that, is a lovely spread with a table of contents. The rules, themselves, are punctuated with large type for the section numbers and titles. This helps break things up a bit and adds to the interest of the pages. For the type, I've picked up Trajan for the titles (which was used one the cover) and Bembo for the body copy. Trajan, if you remember, is a font that was based on type found on Roman monuments. To complement the Trajan and add emphasis for subsections, I use the sans serif, Avenier. The geometric forms of this font work well with the pure geometry of Trajan.

A very dignified front cover for the rules.

The opening spread for the rules continues the dignified, prestigious look.

The open, airy pages encourage reading as pages aren’t overwhelming to get through. By leaving “white space” on the contents it stands out and can be easier to find when flipping the pages.

A typical spread in the rules. Section numbers and titles break up the space as well which helps when scanning the book for information.

I rather enjoy the back of the box as well. We had a little fun with the complexity scale and game info icons, which – while fun – are tasteful and restrained. The image is moody and type sensitive here as well.

Working on the card backs and Battle Cards were fun. Again, the look of the card backs picks up the leather language as well as the medallions. This feels quite nice. Kurt Miller illustrated the battle scenes which I like. To this was added a very strong and iconic arrow and purple info bar. Red would have been a nice color for the bar on the Battle Cards, but too strongly signalled “Roman.” Purple felt nice, though and conceptually is a mix of blue (Carthaginians) and red (Romans). The overall effect of these cards is very strong and powerful.

– Mike

Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage Cover Graphic Design

2007-05-19T20:49:00.000-05:00

I’ve had the opportunity to have some graphic design involvement with Valley Game’s Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage production. It certainly is a treat to see a game of that caliper in its final stages of design. The graphic elements that I have been working on specifically are the box graphics and rules. Kurt Miller has worked furiously the last few months to create all the art for the game. Here is a look at the approved cover using Kurt’s artwork. I chose to use a letterbox format to increase the drama of the image. The leather texture gives this game a serious look. Adding the designer’s signature added a sense of authority and authenticity to the production. This will be the first in the series of military games which will be part of Valley’s Tactics Line – so we created an icon appropriate for that, which can change depending on the era. The typeface is a classically oriented one which was based on type carved in great monuments.

Note that the cover art, itself is by Kurt Miller.

– Mike

QWG's El Capitán

2007-05-15T10:14:00.000-05:00

The QWG Master Print Edition of El Capitán. Note that for this preview, the designer's name has been removed from the box at the publisher's request.

In the last entry, I had highlighted an exciting new project that I have been working on with QWG which I’d like to expand on. The name is El Capitán and – as the pictures suggest – takes place in the Mediterranean Sea in the 16th century involving Spanish, Italian and Portuguese powers. Basically, it is a colonization/money-making game at it’s heart. ...with, yes some pirate activity. It’s not a pirate game, but in some cases pirates are in play. The designer is one of the big ones that everyone will be familiar with, though I cannot mention his or her name now.

As I understand, the game is to be released Oct 2007 in the following countries (so far): Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK/Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway. Maybe also in Poland, France, Italy and Spain. This is all I know in terms of distribution.

Pictured above, we have the QWG Master Print Series box. Also seen here is how it looks as part of the MP system. The whole experience is becoming very rich and textural. I’m very excited to see this product added to the collection and how the series is fleshing out as a brand identity for QWG.

There will be some nice special touches in the game art, which I’m very pleased with as well. I’ll be releasing more images next month.

Some have been interested in the creative process. So I’ll elaborate on that a bit.

Generally, in these productions, the games are still being tested, fine tuned and finalized. So the safest bet for the artist is to start on the cover. Given the theme has been fleshed out by the time an artist is called on, everything is ready for me to begin here. The cover is also an effective piece for the announcement of a game, so it is no surprise that this is usually the first piece completed.

For this production, I had proposed a few covers which I sketched out. First sketches vary depending on the project. Sometimes it is a rough photo collage to give a sense of composition, color and subject. Other times, I simply find a pool of scrap art that can serve as a guide for subject and style. I’ll say, “Imagine if it looked like this but with some of the elements of the other picture.” And then other times I might actually sketch a rough black and white image or paint a rough picture. Much of this depends on how complicated an image is to draw and how comfortable I am doing it quickly or what can be found to assist in the visualization process. In this case, the publisher was happy with the cover and picked one to move forward with. Incidentally, the alternate cover that did not make it became the starting player piece as seen below.

Spine view of the first three in the series. As with the cover, the designer's name has been left off for this preview.

The starting player tile. No longer a card as previous post. This was actually another cover that I had proposed at the start of the process. In the end, it worked quite well as a start player tile so I picked this up and developed it.

From here, it was just a matter of redrawing the image and refining to what you see above. From the beginning, I also create a graphic look and style to the box in terms of where the title goes and how it all fits together. So, the first sketches are not only image but graphic design. I find I have an advantage being a graphic designer by trade as the image is married to the format from the beginning. Generally, a game illustrator will create an image with a clear space or generic art hole in the picture (like clouds or bushes or such) where the title tucks in. I tend to believe this is why most covers look alike as they have been developed with a standard assumption of how and where a title should be placed. The look is “locked in” by virtue of the illustration which is built to house the graphic design. Given that I had previously worked on a special format for QWG, initial sketches had to take into account how the image would live in their Master Print Series box look as well as live within another format for their partner publisher’s boxes. The two of which need to look great, but different in company identity, but the same in terms of product identity.

In contrast to the box top, the bottom of the box is the last piece to be developed. It is generally low priority as it does not effect anything at all (component inventory, how they come together on a sheet or fit and work with a board) and is dependent on a product image. I generally like taking the photo of the product which I either comp up or receive as a prototype. In the case of the QWG MP Series, I have established a tradition of setting a poem, quote or interesting fact on the sides of the box bottom. It is just a nice touch that I’ve not seen before and adds to the narrative in an unusual but authentic way.

In following posts, I’ll speak more toward board and component development.

Hope you enjoy,

Mike

QWG upcoming production sneak peek

2007-04-30T05:40:00.000-05:00

I’ve been working with QWG on an exciting new game that I'm very pleased with. I can’t really say much about the game other than it is a big box edition that will be released in many countries around the time of Essen. Based on below you can get a general feel for it. Obviously, it’s about shipping in a certain time period. The whole program is very, very rich – perhaps the richest production of mine to date. The detailing on the game is very nice as well. Below are a few cards that will be a part of the game and some detail images.

– Mike

Samurai Cover

2007-03-14T19:36:00.000-05:00

Samurai is one title whose cover I've been meaning to get to. It's a favorite game of mine as it plays quick and is really a beautiful game. The design is a very simple, elegant thing. For such a tight design, I have created a simple, elegant box.

Samurai is really an abstract that has been created on a grid map of Japan. The lovely glossy black bits are like no other and really capture asian black lacquered arts. This thematic detail has a huge emotive impact in the game and is the inspiration for the box. Here, we have a smooth, black surface which cooly features the bits. "Japanesey" type is the play here. Mostly unreadable, its message can be understood over time. Like the FedEx mark whose embedded arrow quietly sits between the E and x, the fun of the mark comes in time to the observant... and that is a delight. More than anything, though, it really feels Japanese. Typeset type also supports the name and is composed to support the asian theme.

The cover's austerity is contrasted by the sides, which are filled with life. Bright colors and wild shapes formed by the tightly cropped paintings swirl about in the cramped space of the narrow box. I further worked to scuff and rough up the paintings in order to meld them together into a unit. The tension formed between these two opposites – the cover and the sides – is fantastic. It is a powerful force that invites the viewer to pick it up and turn it around to observe the effects. The simple cover has the design qualities of both Japanese design and the core values of the game – which is of simplicy and abstracted detail, while the sides add spirit and life to the program.

I very much enjoy the modernity of this box and the manner in which traditional imagery works its way into the design.

– Mike

©2007 Mike Doyle

Sneak Peek: Ystari’s Premium Limited Edition of Caylus

2007-03-06T20:04:00.000-05:00

Note, if you have been here before take another look at things. The board background has undergone some very slight tweaks that make a larger impact on gameplay. Worth taking a look at and the bottom addendum section. :)

Yes, it’s true. Ystari – the company who brought us Caylus – is now developing their own premium limited edition version which, as I understand it, is to be released for Essen 07. I’m very proud to have been part of this endevour and think the whole production is going to be a sight to see. Most of the game art is complete and now aspects of production are being worked out. Below, I’ll describe some of the art that I have worked on. In addition, you can count on a product very worthy of the title “premium.” I won’t go into any details of the production and components as that is work in progress, but some fascinating and exciting upgrades are being looked into – the likes of which I've never seen in a game.

Cover art

Full box top art including cover and four sides. The seamless transitioning of the landscape encourages the viewer to pick up and turn around to reveal more. This wrapped look offers a more premium look as well. Additionally, the intricate, complicated composition is reflective of the intricate gameplay

Box Top Detail

For the cover, I have evolved the direction that I first had displayed last July. You can see the two side by side below. I’ve gone into much more detail with this final version which makes for a far more interesting cover. The overall look is based on medieval drawings of a castle and town. I’ve wrapped the entire cover with this image for a more premium look. To set this off, we have a thin ribbon with the game information.

The final cover is more intricate and interesting. It invites the viewer to look and pour over the details.

The board is structured so all the actions follow the track back to the castle for castle building. I like little information design points like the turn track located next to the stable (for easier connection to the stable's actions). Note, baliff and provost icons will be added at a later time.

Board Details

For the board, we have a look that marries well with the cover. The actions follow the road from the castle back to it where castle building follows. I enjoy little details like the turn order track being located next to the stables – which controls that order. For the buildings, I chose to use medieval illustrations. These seem to add a little life to the program. Coupled with these illustrations are blocks of text as if these have been grabbed from an illuminated manuscript. Period ornamentation finishes the board off.

The information design is primarily the same. I increased the size of the cubes in the upper corner to help readability.

Posted with the gracious permission of the publisher. I hope you enjoy.

– Mike

----- Addendum ––––

One image that I should have posted is the board with pieces on it. You can compare to an identical setup with the original board. Some things to note here are as follows:

– Contrast on the newer board seems lower than that of the old one.
– Less saturated board on the new one allows pieces to more effectively pop off. In the original board and tiles bright colors can tend to swallow up the bright bits a little.
– Allowing road to follow the board sides sets up alignment of bits which aid in scanning. This is because the eye runs up and down faster than at angles where the bits don't line up.
– The VP track is less contrasty and easier to track pieces. The addition of numbers helps support scoring a little bit.
– VPs awarded to building sections are not covered up by the pieces.
– Castle favor awards are now grouped with their counterpart building sections.

– VPs on tiles are a little easier to read than the original.
– Resource costs on tiles (upper left) are easier to read the original.
– In addition to being playful, the new tile images seem more unique and individual. The images also have a period look to them.

All this is not to say the original was bad at all but to say that there has been some thought toward usability in the new edition. While I don't claim it is necessarily easier to play, it seems to work just fine for me. Information seems to be where it want to be: the turn order next to the stables, the castle building favor reward chart below the each castle building section, the favor track following down from the previously mentioned reward chart. Some things to think about at any rate.

In addition, the background is undergoing some slight darkening and repositioning to set it back a bit. This was something I went back and forth on in the design process and previously pushed it too far into the foreground. So, this has been updated accordingly in the post. :)

©2007 Mike Doyle

Tower of Babel Cover (reimagined)

2007-03-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

There are many styles that can be applied to give an sophisticated, adult appeal. One purpose of this blog is to introduce styles that can be appropriated for Euros. Here we have another look that is a bit dreamy and abstract.

Tower of Babel is one of these games that really has nothing to do with anything. Fun to play, but there is no sense of atmosphere. So, for a game about nothing, we have here a cover about... not that much – just building. I could have drawn this with many of the landmark wonders. But in the end, it seemed more powerful to have this single iconic tower. Given the theme doesn't matter or even provide atmosphere, going iconic/abstract and supporting the title seems to me a fine approach. I kept the colors fun – somewhat muted but certainly colorful.

I'm very fond of this style of drawing. It is cartoon like, but adult cartoon. The style is not dissimilar from what Alessandra Cimatoribus has done in games like San Marco, Big Top and Torres. The look has an attitude and for that I'm pleased.

– Mike

©2007 Mike Doyle

Thematic approaches in Euro design

2007-02-20T21:06:00.000-05:00

It seems a very basic thing to understand, the development of theme in a game as it correlates to real life (simulates real life) is most often, if not nearly always contradictory to the Euro philosophy. Real life is messy with lots of rough contours. To adequately describe real life events in a rich way, rules need to twist this way and that to follow those contours. It's the chrome, the exceptions to rules and breaking of rules that allow for this. Our Euro philosophy dictates that rules be crafted cleverly and simply. Indeed, like wine connoisseurs we sip up and break down the games sensing the delicate mingling of mechanics. It is the blending of mechanics and development of new mechanics that we celebrate. However, the rules we love are stretched so tight there is little capacity for conforming to the contours of life. The result are games that cannot resonate on a deeper emotional level that we have come to expect from our younger, American gaming years.

Spectrum of thematic detailing. American Style can run the spectrum but the tendency is stronger theme and simulations. Thematic detailing within the Euro Style can take a few forms. Theme really can't be felt in any real way, though within some of the spectrum theme can be understood as it relates to game play.

Another version of the chart. Note the pink bar which describes our emotive connection to the theme as we play a game. As the design approach favors mechanics, our emotional connection drops off. At the point it drops off, emotion is merely that of a good feeling that comes from looking at the art and feeling a general impresion of the era (pretty themes).This is where most Euros live. For many Euros, the theme can be justified on a rational level. But, again they lack the actual feel of the subject matter. Abstracts and AmeriGames can slip up or down the scale – note chess. I wouldn't call Chess a Euro, but there is thematic detailing in there that exceeds some Euros.

The development of theme within the Euro philosophy takes a number of forms. On one end we have an attempt to simulate real life, pairing down and smoothing out the rough contours until a Euro blend has been achieved. Martin Wallace's Tempus strikes me as such. Here, it is clear that there was a strong desire to create an epic story of mankind's progress as civilizations vie for resources and work toward technological advances. The end result of the game does address all the main points of growing a civilization, but its relation to how things operate in real life seems far from satisfying. Technological advances are reduced down to a number tweak here and there. Colonists, soldiers and all people are amalgamated as identical little pucks. It's a fun game with clever mechanics, but after playing, I only get a vague sense that an epic event has occurred. Sure, my mind knows that all the major points have been covered, but my heart leaves me wanting for more of something. This is the sacrifice that is made to deliver a Euro product. Knizia's E&T is the same story. It's a very logical representation of epic struggles within cultural groups. I can certainly see how there was a strong desire to create this theme and following it through to the final version. My mind can believe most everything Reiner has presented here. On the other hand, plopping down a leader here or a farming cluster there strikes me as more mechanical and tactical rather than living the event. I certainly can feel the flow and fluidity of the rise and fall of nations but that's all I feel.

We move along the Euro themed spectrum to an area I call collaged. Here, there may or may not be a theme in mind when development starts – or perhaps the theme is completely scrapped for another midway in the design process. Real life variables get assigned to actions and perhaps actions are created to replicate real life. Nonetheless, pieces that could be anything are assigned thematic names as theme is collaged into the fabric of the game to form an overall tapestry of some event. Knizia's Royal Turf works this way for me. Here, we do have a race track and horses go around on it and people bet on the horses. But player's roles are mixed up as they both bet on horses and then control any number of horses they please within the bounds of rules. More flavor has been added to the dice with thematic embellishments like a hat and saddle, etc. The game doesn't really make much sense when one thinks about it, but there is plenty of atmosphere to give an overall feel or taste of the theme and certainly some actions feel like a the real thing. Horses do go around the race track and we do bet on them for example. Most important here to the collaged theme is that it is sprinkled throughout on this piece or that action with an occasional action to tie to the real thing.

On the far end of this spectrum we have a themed appliqué. This is a game pretty much fully cooked waiting for a lovely skin. Flowerpower, China and even El Grande work this way. Without the appliqué, it would be an abstract. With a theme brushed on we get a Euro. Nothing in the play of China resembles much of anything – it's certainly fun to play, but I don't get the feeling I've done anything in the end but manipulated rule sets better than the other guy. In El Grande, we have cards that give a little spice and flavor, but again anything could be written in to describe the actions – in this case it refers to the Spanish theme. All the actions in this category are what they are – independent of any real life counterpart.

There seems to be much talk of themes, but I think this must be due to false expectations. Euros provide theme as color, mood, flavor…as ambiance and nothing more. On the end closest to American style, a theme might begin to offer the feeling that we have participated in a simulated event. Though such is a very rare thing. Is it any wonder we get the Medieval/Renaissance/castle building-this-and-that game over and over? Not at all, as it paints a pretty picture for us that we all can relate to. It smells nice like walking into a house with cookies in the oven. While the fast food franchise business might make an interesting model or simulation, it ain't pretty. And in the end, that is what matters for Euros – the lovely ambiance. This ambiance has romance and imagination. While we can't feel the theme during play, the theme makes us feel good.

As a visual designer, it is helpful to understand the limitations that Euros offer us thematically. Knowing that – in the end – theme is really there as color, does give license for how to visually interprit the theme. Literal portrayals or reinactments of what a theme is supposed to be is a fallacy as it will never fill the emotional connection lacking in the game. It is so often the case that box covers paint pictures that try to hammer in a theme by portraying an event. As if by showing it, I'll be one step closer to feeling it in the game. Days of Wonder games take this approach and as a consequence the covers seem stiff and stale. Euro designers abstract reality; they don't seek to portray it. If they do try, the portrayal will fall short of its original thematic intentions. It follows that the visual application of theme can be abstracted. Allowing the visuals the freedom to follow the theme not literally but figuratively helps to manage expectations as to what theme has to offer us. It is there for texture not representation. It is there to make us feel good, not feel the experience that the theme represents.

– Mike

China Cover Examination

2007-02-18T20:37:00.000-05:00

Since I began working on game designs, I have been fascinated with the technique of collaging layers of found artifacts relating to the theme. I started this method with my Puerto Rico and Age of Mythology efforts. Since then, I've given a good deal of thought toward this style of art as it might be applied in game design.

Of particular interest to me is how this style often echos the application of theme in game design . There are many ways a game designer might develop theme within a game. One method designers very often use is to collage thematic details into the fabric of a game. Thematic details are identified and then paired up to mechanics and game play. At times, these details correspond to actions which relate to real life and other times not. For example, in Royal Turf we have a theme of horse race betting. So, here we have elements like a race track, horses, a saddle, a hat, place, show, etc. No attempt was made to simulate the theme of horse race betting. Instead, a clever game was created where thematic elements have been collaged together to give an impression, smell or ambiance of a race with betting. A die with a hat, saddle and such is an example of this collaging technique.

Cover detail

Here I have created a cover that references Chinese ambassidors and buildings. It has a strong Chinese feel to it and a great deal of flavor without any explicit storyline – much like many/most Euros play. This ambient flavor is has a rich look to it which I find appealing. A sophisticated, grown up look appropriate for display on a coffee table or prominent spot in the house or office.

Sophistication is sorely lacking within the hobby. Trite covers are the rule. As a result, our hobby has no badge value, no style, taste or adult appeal. It is of no surprise that our game boxes are crammed in the closets and on shelves while the occasional pretty wooden abstracts are put out for display. There is no reason, however, that a game box can be developed with enough appeal to be displayed on the coffee table. It seems reasonable that the box which represents our passion in life should displace those pretty, unread coffee table books.

– Mike

©2007 Mike Doyle

T&E Board Development Part VI

2007-02-09T20:43:00.000-05:00

After working on Yspahan, I had the inclination to review what I had done for T&E so long ago. Back then, I tried pushing things too far with the old board in terms of allowing too many details and contrasting details to remain. It still was not easy enough to look at for me. So, I took another look at the board. This time cutting down the border’s size and contrasting detail so as not to take away from the action on the board. Also, the board spaces have reduced contrast. All this contributes to pieces that are easier to read. I also rather like the look of this much more than before. This was not meant to be final, so the grid is rough – though it might be nice not to be completely perfect in the end. I’ll probably look into the river to make a little more naturalistic looking with a different treatment of inlayed gold.

Comparison between new and old. It’s quite clear the effectiveness of the newer board compared to the previous one.

Above is a comparison of this board against HiG. The new board reads a bit better to my eyes.

Above, a trick often used in the development of corporate identity programs to see how recognizable a mark can be in a quick moment’s glance. In this case by blurring the boards equally, one can see readability which requires quick scannability.

– Mike

©2007 Mike Doyle

QWG’s Yspahan: Master Print Edition No.2

2007-01-31T19:49:00.000-05:00

As mentioned in a previous post, I've had the good fortune to develop the system look for QWG's upcoming line of unique games, Master Print Editions. Following their first edition, Leonardo da Vinci, we have Yspahan, a fun, light game. I actually had the chance to play it earlier this year and thought it nice. Like Leonardo, this edition will retain the original components of previous productions and will differ only in the box design. The box design is part of a system look that treats all games as part of a family of products.

Being that this is a much lighter game than Leonardo, it was decided that we should contrast Leonardo's serious look with a fun, playful production. Here we have a look that is heavily inspired by bright Persian pallets and rich period ornamentation. The drawing style adapts some simple period drawings which add greatly to the lighter feel of the game. The main imagery focuses on a busy, colorful marketplace – similar to the board in some respects. Gems sitting on the surface add a delightful touch to the cover and speak of a culture trading in precious items. The type is very Arabic inspired and helps to communicate the local. I'm very excited over this cover, both for its ability to contrast within the system and deliver a strong look rooted in the Persian culture and game elements.

The design of the back of the box is still under development and will be coming shortly.
– Mike

For more information on QWG you can go to White Golbin Game's site and the Quined site. Here you can find their previous titles which include the Princes of Florence, Reef Encounter, Taj Mahal and Caylus among others. They have won the Dutch Game Price 2006 (with Caylus) and have some great games for the 2007 DGP with Hermagor, Taj Mahal, Leonardo, Yspahan and a number of soon to be released games: Princes of Florence (new edition), Caylus Magna Carta and Medici vs Strozzi.

©2007 Mike Doyle

Art Play, the book.

2007-01-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

I’m assessing the possibilities of creating a gorgeous, limited edition, hard bound book filled with illustrations and photographs of projects that I have worked on – both real and imagined – along with essays on various aspects of game art. Many of the projects have not yet been published but will be by the time the book is released around Christmas. The book would be anywhere from 40-80 pages, hard bound with a lovely dust cover (coffee table quality) at about 10” wide x 8”. The essays would be an amalgamation of writings and thoughts from this site and more. This would not be a slurp of this site, but a professionally designed, high end piece of art. The price for this micro published art book will be about $60.

If you are interested, please let me know or comment on this entry. If there is enough response, I will develop the book. There is no obligation to buy – for now, I am simply determining if I should move forward with this.

– Mike

QWG Game release: Leonardo da Vinci

2007-01-17T20:53:00.000-05:00

Recently, I have had the good fortune to work with an exciting relatively new publisher out of the Netherlands, QWG. As a marriage between two companies – Quined Games and White Goblin Games – they are actually not really that new to the industry. Between the two of them, they have quite a few good productions under their belts which you can see at the end of this article. They have decided to launch a new series of games called "Master Print Editions" which I'm really proud to be a part of. The series will be unique and collectable like Alea, some of which will be limited editions.

The first game that QWG will publish under this series is one that I've recently been attracted to – Leonardo da Vinci. I'm getting ahead of myself, though. I came aboard not to work on this title but to develop the art for another game, that I'm quite giddy about, both from an artistic point of view and from a game point of view. As this is a new company, we had an excellent opportunity here to establish a strong proprietary look that can carry through to the rest of their games. It happened as we were working on this look and the game graphics, Leonardo came about. Leonardo was decided to be the first in this series, so we began to apply the newly developed system look to the game and took another look into the box art. The game board and components are identical to the original, but the box will signal the first – in what I believe to be – an extensive collection of fine quality games.

The QWG Master Print Edition look and feel. This was the initial sketch I had submitted to QWG to introduce this look.Note that only Leonardo da Vinci is actually being produced under this series.

Here is how different covers might look.

I am quite pleased by the look of QWG's Master Print system. As you can see above, we have the feel of an old world book in a hard box sleeve. Note that the titles in the image shown here were the original concept sketches shown to the QWG team and do not represent actual upcoming QWG titles. Nonetheless it highlights some of the variety that can be achieved within the system. From different colored leathers, degrees of wear and tear, unique objects affixed to the sides of the books (like barnacles in Reef Encounter or a scarab in Amun-Re) and period embellishments, the system comes alive. Each edition will have a nicely detailed leather bound look and will look as if there is a debossed window where the art plate can be seen. Type will fit naturally underneath as it might on such a cover. Additionally, for a little fun, occasionally an object might be placed on the book or on the spine to add to the meaning and to expand the look from title to title. A bookcase filled with antique books offers a warm, mellow invitation for the eye. As one's QWG collection grows, this system should deliver against that quite well. Overall the program has a very rich, luxurious feel to it that I certainly would love to feature on a prominent bookshelf or as a decorative accent in my home... and this is what it is all about. Feeling good with the product(s) and proud to display them for others to see. Such is the value creation that can be developed on a visual level to create appeal, desire and pride in the product and for future releases by a brand.

Original drawing by the master, which this cover painting was based on.

Moving on to Leonardo. I'm very fond of this game (despite my repeated dismal performance in playing of the game) and was especially pleased to be able to work on the cover graphics. To heighten the drama and intensify the piece, I chose to paint a portrait of Leonardo based on his famous self portrait (included above for comparison). This original production was a crayon drawing. I found it was great fun to flesh out the details in paint and color. His work typically has a good deal of detail and highlighting in the hair, so I executed it as such. You can get a better sense of it in some of the detail images below. Finishing it off, I aged the painting with a cracked varnish look. Embellishing every surface are 16th century Italian ornamentations which greatly contribute to the eye candy. Additionally, the drawing compass adds to the message of invention and precision.

Again, here is a case where showing the game activity or spelling out the storyline really is not necessary. Leonardo is synonymous with invention. A powerful portrait highlights the game intensity, offers some level of authenticity and serves as an iconic vehicle toward a memorable cover. Its simplicity draws the eye in. Any ambiguity towards storytelling allows for imagination and further investigation. This is why Tikal's cover is so powerful. It does not labor over a storyline, but powerfully displays an object in an iconographic and emotive way.

Here you can see the spine with the book end as it might look on a store shelf.

The other side which is on the book sleeve side. On this side we can naturally include the cover image which is quite nice.

Back to the box. All the surfaces have been treated as one might expect a book in a sleeve to look. I chose to use a book sleeve graphic rather than just a straight image of a book to allow for branding on the non spine sides of the book. To simply make the game box look like it were a book would have created branding problems for these sides because, as a book, these panels would have been gold pages with little to no opportunity for text. Now with the hard bound book sleeve look there was another problem. One would not expect there to be branding on the top and bottom of the book sleeve – it would seem unnatural. I chose to make it look as if paper has been attached to the surface. This seemed a little more natural and allowed for some branding.

For the back of the box, we continue with the leather texture and include a nice shot of the game. Here, I photographed it with some sweeps of light to add drama. The back sides include an aspirational quote which I thought a nice touch. In this case, we have a quote from a contemporary of Leonardo's. I find that poetry, song, writings and quotes can be pleasant details in games as they are a direct connection to the soul. It is one thing to include a picture painted in the distant past or create an image of people reinacting an event from past. It is quite another to read actual thoughts a person might have had thousands of years ago of a bad harvest or fear of war or perhaps exhileration of battle. Such raw feelings expressed clearly from another are like messages in bottles and have more power – to me at least – than a picture. So it is at times that a few words from the past are worth the proverbial thousand pictures.

I'm sure am looking forward to filling my shelves with these books.

– Mike

For more information on QWG you can go to White Golbin Game's site and the Quined site. Here you can find their previous titles which include the Princes of Florence, Reef Encounter, Taj Mahal and Caylus among others. Also, I see that they won the Dutch Game Price 2006 (with Caylus) and have some great games for the 2007 DGP with Hermagor, Taj Mahal, Leonardo and a number of soon to be released games: Yspahan, Princes of Florence (new edition), Caylus Magna Carta and Medici vs Strozzi.

©2007 Mike Doyle

Thematic Detailing in a Mechanical World

2007-01-03T14:33:00.000-05:00

I begin with my conclusion: that Eurogames with their purity of play and focus on mechanical development use theme differently than other forms of entertainment and even other types of games. For books, movies, video games, war games and old style strategy games (American games, like Avalon Hill), theme development is important for one on an immersive level. For Euros, theme is more about flavor and decoration. As such, visual representation of theme – whether on the board or cover – is more than anything – a matter of aesthetics than storytelling. From this, comes the conclusion that the visual depiction of theme need not be a literal interpretation of events or a story but rather more expressive and freely formed. This applies to the presentation of a story on the cover, to the portrayal of the layout and design of the board to the supplemental information that can go in the rules. Understanding this can give rise to more interesting and emotive visual solutions which can enhance theme on a different level – that of aesthetics and appeal as determining critieria rather than adherence to a storytelling end. It is an emotive solution that can provide power to Euros, not a solution which is tied to a storyline script.

------

Much has been said of theme in Eurogames. What I find most interesting is the theme's practical application to me as gamer. Understanding the extent of the theme's general effect can help me, as a visual designer of games, properly exploit details for best impact. The question arises, "What is a particular theme and the accompanying thematic details offering me during play?" Clearly on some level it has impact, but to what extent? It certainly does not have the power to move me or absorb me into it like a book, movie or even video game would; it is not nearly so immersive. It does not even grab me to the extent that a war game does or an old style strategy game (American game) like Avalon Hill's older productions. For it is the "chrome" – or added thematic rules – in these games’ formats that enhance the feeling of events being simulated. Such chrome or added features contradict the strict structural reductiveness of Euros.

As I play a Euro, I am conscience that my mind does not go to a busy harbor, bustling with activity or amidst a legion of warriors or commanders charging over the hills into battle. I do not think of workers moving about a city looking for goods to build a castle. I do not envision multitudes of slaves driven to construct the next great cluster of pyramids. Theme does not impact me on a vivid level. Such romantic notions of theme and its power are not evident. What I do think while playing is, “This huge army is going to smack Tim's behind off the map” or “How do I stop Bryan from getting any more pink cubes” or “I’ve got to win the bid to prevent Gil from getting greatest majority in western Europe.” It feels to me as I play that the theme relates more to aesthetics than game play. It relates more as a way to describe bits, board areas and actions than to provide any more deeper connection or a sense of real history.

A few Euros whose themes have nothing to do with actual game play. The theme is merely decoration and flavor for what might have been a very dry production. In this way, thematic appeal has been built into the product more from a visual design standpoint than actual game development one.

It is very difficult to relate to a typical Eurogame's theme beyond the surface. More than anything, I have found themes to be purely a matter of emotive power within the context of a cerebral setting. The theme element in Euros generally is little more than flavor, atmosphere or decoration. In games like China, Tower of Babel, El Grande, Hansa, Kreta and Yspahan, I find theme to be more eye candy than an intellectual or story based meal. It is not really so much storytelling going on here but that of applying some human quality or experience to the program to soften the harshness of patterns, logic and math. And that is no small thing. Indeed, it is a huge matter to draw us into play and refresh the mind during play.

Here are a few games whose game play has a stronger connection to theme then those previously hightlighted. The games here are certainly a product of the themes which they are built on. Nonetheless, actual actions don't generally feel like their real life counterparts – if such exist.

Now certainly some themes are so nicely intertwined with game play that one can imagine some aspect of events taking place. In Tigres and Euphrates, I do feel the ebb and flow of civilizations through time. And I can here understand the logic of its game play as it relates to theme. However, I do not feel the details of game play as particularly thematic. That is to say, when I make a move, it doesn’t feel like any event or story that I can picture. Moves make sense on an intellectual level rather than an emotive one. Like with E&T, I do feel theme as the reefs are morphing and moving in Reef Encounter. In Shadows over Camelot, I do feel the reach of a traitor in some Camelot like setting and the forces of evil working against me. In Die Macher, I feel a process of elections and public issues taking shape. However, even in these stronger themed examples, I don’t feel like my individual game play actions are primarily about the story being told. Rather, what I tend to feel is the process and tension of game play and interaction through these actions or mechanics. In Princes of Florence, do I actually feel that my land has been more appealing to particular artisans than others as I win? Not at all. I simply feel that I have manipulated events better than others. These games are far from simulating events or stories at hand. Indeed, this is part of the appeal of war games, older style American games and of RPGs.

Here, the titles capitalize on properties that have been fully fleshed out. Details that the games capture are more vividly experienced as a result.

Other Euros go even further to infusing theme into the game. Dune and Lord of the Rings share many qualities with their heritage, offering a deeper sensation of theme and story. But here, unlike most Euros, the world has already been created and richly carved out through literature. The games that follow, then, have a meta level driven not by their individual productions but by the accumulation of prior assets like books and movies. Fans have already experienced Dune and are given freedom to play out little moments of the worldscape through the game. The game's theme does not create a story, but attempts to mimic a small aspect of an existing vivid one. Nonetheless, they are well executed and refined.

Occasionally, a few games can rise above with respect to thematic relevance. When playing Puerto Rico, I do feel a connection to the roles and actions to the story of building an economy, harvesting, producing and shipping goods. Perhaps this contributes to its success as there is a beautiful marriage between mechanics and thematic detailing created in a typically restrained – Euro – way. The actions both make logical sense to the theme and feel like I am participating in it. Even with this tight coupling of mechanics and theme, I do not picture myself at the ground level taking part in the actions. The game is too abstract for this. This goes to the heart of the matter, as the Euros that we celebrate for purity and simplicity arrive there through reduction and cleverly crafted game play at the expense of any real substantive history.

The medieval reruns. Nonetheless, I enjoy them all and don't mind that the publishers keep them coming. Indeed, the common thematic language gets comfortable. Like a TV series I should have stopped watching years ago, I continue to play because it is easy to get into and does not demand so much of me.

So it is that the power of Euro themes are weak in terms of telling emotional stories. Perhaps this can explain why the same theme can appear again and again and again without problem. In the end, it does not much matter as the productions have not shared any compelling stories with us – we have not lived them. And, as a result, I don’t mind the medieval "this or that." The medieval game is rather nice as there is such a rich visual vocabulary to draw on in western medieval lore. It also helps that this is common to many cultures and has distance enough from our time to provide romance and charm. A tweak here and we’ve got Medieval Mediterranean shipping. A tweak there and it’s Medieval European trading or Renaissance European trading. Nonetheless, no specific imagery floods the mind when playing these Euros beyond a general sense of the romance of a castle being built or the epic spans of time or such, ... And that is enough. For what I am experiencing in play is logic, is deduction, is strategy, is tactics, is ... wholly cerebral with a dash or two of thematic flavor to help it all go down.

Indeed, feeling the story is not necessarily the point of Eurogames. The point has to do with tickling the mind in interesting ways that creates tension and interaction through game play. The point of thematic detailing is to feel a little something beyond the excitement of game play. It is there to satisfy the downtimes with something aesthetic and pleasing to look at. It is the allure and appeal to draw one into the game and then into the game play. In general, the theme is not here to tell a story and the game is not here to serve as a medium of a story’s expression. The rare exceptions here come in times when designers have been able to maintain a tight connection between the game actions and real life actions. For Euros, at best this appears as an ancient coin whose features have been worn down through time. Some connections to the past remain, but for the most part we have the smooth flow of finely crafted game play.

The attention that designers give to reduction of rules and elegant design comes at the cost of thematic detail. Like a coin worn over time, very little evidence of the actual artifact remains.

This does not mean I do not seek out a castle building game or a pirate themed game or a train game or some such. I do look forward to and seek out the thematic expression. I also hope that somehow I can relive some aspect of that theme. Unfortunately, I am always let down at that level. On another level, I do get the satisfaction of being part of a richly presented texture of theme. It makes me feel good.

The artist and publisher could have chosen to highlight the beautiful forms of the pieces in any number of interesting ways. The design approach here, however, was to introduce a sense of drama through landscapes – completely unrelated to the game. In a way, each game has been themed on the brand level.

On the other end, a game without thematic presentation is simply an abstract. It is curious how the Gipf series box graphics uses highly evocative landscapes to bring some natural element into the presentation of an otherwise themeless game. Flowerpower is really just a simple abstract. Thematic detailing here makes introduction to the game a little easier to swallow and prettier to look at. It is purely for appeal as is Gipf’s landscapes.

Here, thematic detailing glosses over the fact that the game is purely an abstract one. It doesn't matter though as the images are entertaining in themselves and soften the harshness of math and logic that the game really is.

So, where does all this get me? Of particular interest are the emotive characteristics that can I bring to a production to enhance the playing experience. By understanding limitations that games – most particularly Euros – have in bringing one into a theme, I am freed from the restrictions that direct interpretations of a storyline might bring. It is not necessarily to elaborate on or fixate on literal details of a story or theme that ultimately cannot adequately deliver.

Unfortunately, such literal interpretations are the hallmark of most productions today. With respect to covers I have written a bit on this previously. This also is very applicable to game board designs. Game boards tend to be quite literal. If one is playing in a jungle, then we see the jungle terrain as if traversing through it. If one is placing pieces on Japan then we see a map of Japan with some geographical features. What is forgotten or dismissed is that this is a game, in particular a Eurogame. This is not a simulation or reenactment of particular events to tell a story but a collection of rules meant to create tension and a fun experience using a theme as its basis for flavor. So then, I believe an artist can exploit features of a theme and put elements together in a fun, gamey way rather than recreating a literal interpretation of events. Either way, the expected storyline is less important than the impact the graphics have to offer.

In San Marco, the artist Alessandra Cimatoribus chose to create a map of Venice in an unusual way. Rather than portraying some sort of period map, each area of the map was filled with colorful illustrations of patterns and motifs. The effect is inviting, unique (iconic for the brand) and fun to look at.

Above is an alternate reinvisioning of the board and bits for T&E. Here, the map and story have been abstracted using period materials. Such abstractions can offer a less obvious and thus more memorable solution. By reassembling elements from the period, the board allows for a more emotive expression of the theme. Below are two published version adapting literal maps to support the theme.

Here is an another example. When I created an alternate board for T&E, I had some choices. The first choice was to take a literal route: to recreate a map of this ancient area with the two rivers. In this way, players will feel like they are building long ago in this area on this terrain, right? It will help to drive the theme, right? I do not believe this is at all the case. T&E is, after all, a very, very abstract game based on a civilization building theme. As mentioned earlier, the game play actions all are logical on a thematic level but are so abstracted that my actions do not have the feel of the story as I play them. A new map won’t help gloss over the abstraction any more then H&G or Mayfair’s did. In this wonderful game, what I do feel, however, is the ebb and flow of masses of cultures rather than anything specifically of this particular region. While this region is the cradle of civilization, this game could be of any ancient culture on any map. In terms of the emotive experience of playing the game, E&T is all about this beautiful ebb, flow, breakup and rejoining of cultures. This ebb and flow is the iconic visual takeaway from the game and what makes it so unusual.

Another choice I had for the board was to abandon a literal interpretation of a map for a more emotive and iconic production. By turning the board into a mosaic of blue tiles and inset gold, something much different is happening here. Given that it retains the rivers, the “map idea” is easily explained and understood as this is the only terrain that matters. Now we have a board made up of tiles that are indicative of period motifs. The very rich blue playing surface with inset gold is pleasing to look at – much more than the drab brown map is. The question was asked by a few as to why the board then couldn’t be made of of brown tiles with the blue for water as this would be more like a map. I would say that if one is to abandon a literal representation of the area, why would the color need to stay fixed? Indeed, all that matters is form – that of two winding rivers which is clear enough to understand. One must remember that breaking away from the literal is not a huge stretch. Subway maps have employed this technique for over a half a century as a more efficient way to dissimilate information. People have grown quite accustom to maps taking different forms. The benefit is that the abstraction here on the alternate T&E board offers a rich, luxurious presence. It also feels ancient and has an attitude beyond the literal. Indeed, it almost feels as if this was a game that was played during that ancient period of time. This is what I mean by treating the gameboard in a gamey way. It feels more like a game than a generic map. For me, that has great appeal.

When playing Thurn and Taxis, do I really feel as if I am calling upon these characters for help? Not at all. But this does not matter as they mostly add warmth and visual appeal to the design.

Above is a detail from Thurn and Taxis' board done by my favorite game artist, Michael Menzel. I really like the look of this board. Note the literal representation of roles here as portraits of characters. While I have no problem with this and think it adds to the aesthetic appeal, I have to wonder whether the publishers or artist had intended these portraits would “get me into the story” of these characters and roles that are available to help me. If so, in this regard this has failed. While lovely to look at, I do not imagine this mechanic to be a person who is helping me out here. In our group, we just call the actions "get 2 cards", "play 2 cards", "swipe board" and the "cartwright." All but the cartwright have been reduced in our minds back to the intended action rather than the characters here to help us. (The cartwright term remains for us just because it is easier to say, I think.) This is an important distinction as the portraits do not get me any closer to the story when playing the game. They certainly look great, suggest a time period, make the board richer and more interesting to look at and draw attention to the four available actions underneath them but they don’t draw me into the story.

In addition to supplementing thematic detailing through visual means, some publications begin rules with “the storyline.” As if this will get me into the theme while playing. I generally just skip over such nonsense to get into the game rules. Better for me would be a little history surrounding some facet of the game. The game does not have to relate much to the history, but it would be interesting to learn something. It would also elevate the game to something with more substance. I know, for instance, that I feel nothing of Crete when playing Kreta. Still, it would be nice to read a couple of history snippits about it during this period of time. Or perhaps that the inspiration for Kreta came from a particular social phenomena in Crete. Yes, the game play would still feel the same – that far removed from anything real, but I would have some insight into the designer’s thought process which would be wonderful.

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There are certainly many ways to design a game. One can begin with a bit of history or some story idea and create a game to fit tightly around that concept and complex historical contour. As discussed, such is often the world of wargames and old style strategy games. More than likely though, I believe Euro designers tend to assemble and collage together bits of historical or thematic details to fit within the constraints of rule sets created. All this is generally based around a core thematic idea (for instance, building a Castle in medieval France). What we get as a final product generally lacks fidelity to any strong themed story but instead has a familiar vocabulary. And so it is that those who expect to dive into a subject will often find Euros lacking. Visual reinforcement of a theme cannot patch the thematic holes left by such designs – nor should it. Instead, just as the designer has stepped away from a subject and pieced together a new language based on a theme, so too should the visual representation of games have license to depart from stereotypical depictions and venture into the unexpected and delightful. In the end, the visual interpretations for the game should seek to appeal to and make an emotive connection to the gamers as the highest order. In so doing, visual designs will remain fresh, fun and celebrate the patchwork of thematic detailing brought to life by designers.

– Mike

Holiday Greetings!

2006-12-22T14:31:00.000-05:00

– Mike

Culture, Style, Design and Aspirational Products

2006-12-21T14:05:00.000-05:00

To the right, I have assembled a number of links I go through daily to acquaint myself with developments in culture, style, design, art and innovation. Understanding and appreciating trends in these worlds is key to understanding how to build more aspirational brands.

Brands that rise above the ordinary can capture the hearts and minds of consumers. It is something for us as consumers to latch on to and claim as badge products that reflect our ever style-conscious needs. Such brands have the potential to redifine categories and generate interest and appeal in them. The iPod is a perfect example of a product put out by a company with uncompromising standards toward aesthetics and appeal. In providing a product of high style, packaged with an eye towards contemporary design and marketed in a slick new way, the brand is not only aspirational, but also responsible for transforming a new format into a must have lifestyle. Not only did it transform us but also its market landscape as other brands have sought to rise to the level of design and aesthetics they find themselves up against with the iPod.

Target is yet another company, whose vision is contemporary based. Fresh, modern advertising, product design and branded alliances with leading industrial and fashion designers have transformed what could have been another cheap discount store within the Kmart landscape into an affordable mass class, aspirational brand. There is nothing aspirational about dishwashing soap, mouthwash and lamp shades. However, design and styling have played a huge role in creating a voice so interesting that it does not matter. Target is simply the place to go and, most importantly, feel good about it ... whatever you may need.

Somewhere along the line someone said, through marketing and design, that a sneaker is the thing to wear. The sneaker was not only to wear, but to stand as an icon or representation of self esteem and stature. There is no reason why a fine German boardgame with its entertainment value and craftsmanship should not sell or have more appeal than it does. Yet, to most, it has the appeal of a smelly old shoe. Aesthetics, style and modernity can help brands rise above preconceptions and stand out in an ever increasingly clogged marketplace of game entertainment. Value creation toward this end through design creates desire and desire a more premium product.

So it is that great inspiration can be found through the links provided which I find myself daily revisiting.

– Mike

Modern Art Released

2006-11-25T12:10:00.000-05:00

I was just informed that the latest publication of Modern Art has been released – this being the edition that I had worked on. The new company, Odysseia, is out of Brazil and will be publishing all sorts of highly rated games over there. Here is a link to their website as well as a minisite for their first release named Arte Moderna. (Please direct any inquires about Modern Art to international@odysseiajogos.com.br). To better serve their local community, the game was finally published in Portuguese. Given that it is such an easy game to play and rules are available, I suppose it wouldn’t be difficut for non native speakers to pick up the game as well. I’ve not yet seen the final production, but look forward to that. Below are varied images for this edition with some explanations.

Above, the cover can be seen. I chose one of the brighter paintings of the set and cropped in close to it. This along with the people give a sense of scale and setting to the image. Colorful covers can have quick impact and here I chose to exploit this. Note that this is a system look with a bar for the title through and a colored border around the image. As a system it’s very strong and recognizible.

Little details that can bring a smile or pleasantly surprise are always a welcome addition to programs. Here, the info strip as been themed from some famous paintings.

One look the publisher was going for is something that would have wide appeal and make for a handsome set. Of the different styles presented, the following 5 were selected. In general, they are approachable and pleasing to look at, even to many non contemporary art enthusiasts. The styles come across as less harshly “modern.” For more on each style, you can find links in the published art tag on the sidebar. There are many ways the project could have been approached. This particular way is more serious and “pretty.” One benefit here is that by showcasing styles that aren’t too crazy, perhaps some players might find a gentle introduction into appreciating modern art. Another approach is one which the original productions of MA took. This was a tongue and cheek approach (perhaps, closer to Reiner’s vision) – “hey everyone knows modern art styles are a joke anyway...” Well, I suppose here beauty comes at the cost of a few chuckles by some. Nonetheless a more serious style was the mandate here and we took liberties to make it look as pleasing as possible.

Again, to give a little something special back to the community, I arranged for one Easter Egg on one of the cards. It’s actually pictured here below. Now, if you don’t see it, Doug Garrett already noticed and posted a comment in the picture section of MA on BGG. Not pictured here are some other details that remain special to the publisher – his wife’s favorite flower a word cleverly scribbled somewhere in the set that is special to him, as well as a few other things that will go unnoticed to everyone but him. I always encourage publishers to put a little something of themselves in it when it can naturally fit. After all, it is their product in the end which they have worked hard to create against odds.

One thing I haven’t seen done before, though perhaps it has, is to treat the entire counter sheet as a canvas with interesting additional information. True, the outer sheet will be thrown away in the end after the counters have been punched. However, the effect upon opening the game is very appealing. Also, it rewards serious collectors for not punching and playing the game by providing another element that is nice to look at and particularly special just for them. This is similar to how the postal service rewards collectors with extra information outside of the perforated stamp area. I hope to continue this in upcoming games with perhaps little historical snippits, images or some graphic add ons that make the sheet as a whole interesting to look at. Here, I treated the counter sheet like a canvas, keeping with the contemporary art theme. The counters needed to be horizontally symmetrical so the same artwork could work for the back sheet – therefore the placement and layout was somewhat restricted. Nonetheless, it has an appeal beyond what individual counters would offer alone.

The counter sheet has an overall impression beyond the individual chits as the whole was treated as a canvas.

Another element we introduced was a certificate of authenticity which is individually numbered. Yet another small reward for purchasing a this release. It also shows great pride from the publisher about his product. I had brought this idea up in a previous post and rather like it. Euro games have a limited reach. As such, the products are rather special and unique. Print runs of 2000, 5000, 7000 or such are really very small in the scheme of things, particuarly compared to mass games. The certificate celebrates the rarity of these products as a category. After all, this is something Hasbro will never be able to give us. In this case, during production, the artwork was added to the sheet of screens which is of a stiffer stock. Being such a small certificate – a little larger than a business card – it was easy to squeeze onto the sheet at no additional cost. Generally in publishing, there is paper waste – whether it be through larger than need be components or extra unused paper. Such paper could be smarter utilized for add ons like this.

A certificate of authenticity, each one individually numbered.

Below are the 5 player screens which are fictitious museums. The publisher had asked for a die cut top, which I rather like in the end. The black background is not part of the screen. I chose a banner format for the information as one often finds banners at museums. I had also added color to the “sky” area just to give punch and an element of fun to the program. Since buildings can be a bit drab in terms of color, this adds a spark of visual interest to player areas.

The rules were a bit set in terms of page count and have quite a few pages. For this reason, at the end we added artist “bios” as filler and an add on. Given that the artists are made up, these bios are of course fictitious. They do give greater meaning to the art, though, as one reads what is going on in the lives and in the heads of the artists. I find when looking at paintings, knowing details like this is often a quick way to gain appreciation into a particular artist’s work. To add to the gallery and modernity feel, a bright white paper was chosen and the typeography was kept as what one might expect in a museum guide. We had a little fun with the paintings allowing them to be chopped up and meshed together with other graphics. The effect is fun and delightful to look at. We ended the rules section with signatures from Reiner and myself. I thought this a nice touch, again to add pride and authority to the product. I’m not sure why designers’ signatures aren’t regularly included in games, but it would really be nice to see more often. Space providing, it would be extra nice to see some design notes or thoughts on the game from the designer. Even a simple and stupid “I hope you enjoy this game” message followed with a signature would add warmth and the touch of closeness to the authors.

Here, one can find Reiner’s and my signatures. I’d really appreciate this more in games.

Here are two of the artists’ bios.

Here the artists’ tracking board. Just a simple, clean design.

Reef Encounter / Amun-Re Covers

2006-11-19T18:42:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update as the art hasn’t changed too much. I thought against putting the publisher’s series number on the front of the box. I still love having brief copy to highlight the game a bit more on the cover. Also, some more appropriate binding cloth patterns used graphically here. Someone had noted the fish was not a parrotfish. It is a actually a certain variety of parrotfish – I just liked the shape of this type more in this image.

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Reef Encounter Cover and System Look

2006-11-16T19:31:00.000-05:00

I have been spending quite a bit of time lately developing a collection of potential system looks. This is a matter of creating and recreating covers for specific titles over and over in different ways. More on system looks can be seen in my previous article.

One such cover I’ve developed that I’ve really become fond of is for Reef Encounter – one of my favorite games. Enclosed here is the cover, the box and a system snapshot. I thought a closeup of the corals with a parrotfish captured the strange world that the game represents. This gives an added advantage of being quite colorful.

This system look employs a stamp label look that contains the information and a pattern for the side. This pattern much like cloth patterns one might find on the binding of a book. Some detailing here that I really like is the use of a brief game description on the front cover to draw the viewer in. It is a way to engage the viewer to read without feeling committed – one can read more on the back if one wishes or move on. The read is quick enough and hopefully flavorful enough to create interest and better describe the game at hand. The copy is not “flavor copy” – the storyline – but a brief description of what to expect as a game. Also compelling is the use of the publisher’s series number on the front as well as the sides.

When a game has a very strong system look, the logo is not totally necessary on the front cover. This is due to the fact that the system becomes stronger than the mark in terms of identification. Here, I have included a generic company’s name using a generic symbol. On the front is simply the symbol appearing as if stamped on – even at times allowing it to bend over the side to give the label a more realistic look of being attatched to the box. On the sides, one can find the whole mark and company name much more pronounced. This is not unlike some book publishers that might simply have a symbol on the front cover.

For me, this system and the covers have both flavor and style. Most importantly, I would put them on the coffee table, mantle or some other place of distinction – where these objects really belong.

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Thoughts on the cover

2006-11-04T18:37:00.000-05:00

Cover as an attractor. Cover as a representative. Cover as a brandmark. Cover as a badge. Cover as a family crest. Cover as a sales tool.

Properly identifying and understanding this ambassador’s many roles and responsibilities is a necessary first step in the development and critique of final art. A cover’s ability to meet consumers’ needs on these levels can ultimately help sales within a product line, within a publisher's broader portfolio and further out into other publishers’ portfolios.

I hear a good deal of skepticism regarding the importance of cover. Statements like, “It’s all about the product, the play and the experience in the end. I can take or leave the cover – it’s of little influence. Yes, most likely, a serious gamer would not buy a game by the cover alone. I certainly hear much of this and see others’ points. However, the roles and responsibilities a cover provides extends deeper than I think we are often willing to admit in the seduction, the sale and support of the community.

A good cover is magic. At its best, the magic can draw our attention to the product. It can seal the deal between two comparable choices. It can increase anticipation and get the game to the table more. It can heighten one’s desire for the game to work. It can help us as we evangelize the product, the hobby to others and outside the community at large. In the end, it is a powerful tool that can influence sales.

The sale can be made in many ways and forums. It is not necessarily the exchange of money, but the moment before purchasing when one says, “I’ve got to get this!” It can be browsing in one’s FLGS, researching online or at a retailer’s site, at a friend’s house or at a con. It is here – that moment one’s heart races in anticipation of a new game – that the cover can work its magic. It is here that the cover needs to work as hard as it can to deliver on the game’s promise of a good product and a potentially great experience.

Cover as Attractor
I begin with the obvious. If a cover catches one’s eye as attractive, it’s off to a good start. There is no formula to attractiveness. Attractive covers can be dark and rich or pale and muted, simple and bold or complicated and messy, serious or silly or any end of the many spectrums. Now, this said, it is more than simply, “I like the way it looks” or “don’t like the way it looks” as this is painfully subjective and an unreliable measure of attractiveness. Think of a woman (or man) who certainly is good looking but “not your type.” Mostly what matters here is a level of execution that suggests that the product has been well thought out and produced – an indicator of the level of production and promise a game holds. A partial measure is how it attracts the eye enough for one to pick up and investigate more or to inquire at a friends house what the game might be or if it is good.

Cover as Representative
Here, a cover’s role is to highlight some aspect of the game, the game’s theme and its tone. Toward being a good representative of the product, the publisher and creative should ask the following during the development phase:

- What is this game’s essence? Is it a very abstract game? Is it dry? Is it serious? Is it silly? Is it complex or simple? Is it a gamer’s game or more casual or less hardcore? Answers to these questions can guide the tone of the art. It is not necessary to capture all of these points within the framework of the cover art, but instead to identify one or more potentially important points that one wishes to make.

I would not have guessed this game so thoroughly dry and abstracted based on this cover. I don’t mind dry games at all, but was caught off guard when I found more about it. The addition of a character and donkey in the foreground suggest more human perspective in the game. Perhaps the removal of characters and more emphasis on land plots could have been more expressive of the dry nature of the game. Or perhaps a different style of illustration could have helped – one more abstract in nature.

- Where is this game taking us? This is a very simple matter and one always addressed. This matter being time period and place. To many games, this really is the theme. For this reason, publishers and illustrators certainly focus their efforts to this point of communication. Games of ancient Aztecs have an ancient Aztec flavor, etc.

- At what altitude are we playing this game – ground level, 40k feet or somewhere in between? This is an important aspect that I don’t think well recognized. For this reason, I’ll spend some time on this point. Games which have highly abstracted mechanics generalizing thematic actions often find themselves at a higher altitude of play. I frequently find when playing Eurogames, that I don’t really feel like I am what I am supposed to be (a medieval merchant for example) or to be doing, but certainly do feel the flavor of the time and place. Eurogames, with their treasured clever simplicity tend to take players at a higher level looking far down on the intended or implied activity. For instance, in El Grande, I have no sense that I am dealing with knights or am necessarily in this time period by virtue of my actions.

I find that the higher altitude a game takes players, the more generalized a cover should be within the framework of thematic time and place. Conversely, the closer a game begins to replicate real life activity, the more situational a cover should probably look or, at least, have license to portray. I say this because, more often than not, covers set up an expectation toward theme that simply is not there. A frequent technique is to portray characters in the middle of some action(s) relating to implied actions in the game. For example, I see a cover with a merchant on it unloading goods on a waterfront filled with other merchants and shoppers and a shop’s sign and I think, “Cool, I’m going to feel like I’m there trading goods at a port during early Renaissance.” The reality though, is that I have a common ship – used by all players – and move it throughout the Baltic while periodically exchanging my colored disks for colored generic barrel tokens or for coins from stop to stop. That’s it. And that’s Hansa. It’s a great game, but it is not the theme that has been set up by the cover. Instead, I’m up at 40k performing highly abstracted series of moves on an old world map – again, very fun play but a major disconnect from the product promised on the cover. This is what I call “a merchant, a ship and a sack of gold” covers. I’ve seen variations on this frequently, nearly always with this large gap between cover and theme play. Such covers generally go to great effort to detail situations covering many or most game activities from a ground level perspective. A trading game will have merchants in the middle of a deal, perhaps with a ship (if there’s shipping, of course) and perhaps the goods off to the side. A canal building game will have guys in overalls digging with the overseer and an aqueduct along with period construction techniques. In short, period people posed as if I’m them. What a surprise later in the game to feel that, no, I’m not them, or at least I don’t feel like it.

With this ground level execution, I had hoped play would take place in town, exchanging goods. The activity and portrayal is so specific rather than wholly implied as it is in the game play.

Again, a fairly ground level view for such a highly abstracted game. The fact that the characters are not taking part in action but pausing to look at the viewer does help abstract assumptions on game play however, which is a plus. They are engaging the viewer to participate in their world. The disconnect, though, is that I get no sense of knights during play at all.

Is it any wonder then that theme and lack thereof is such a highly talked matter? Our collections are filled with products that celebrate ground level theme that is not really part of the product itself. We are set up to desire and dream of being transported to places taking part in situations only marginally implied.

Conversely, some games do overcome the temptation to spell out a game’s thematic intentions. Tikal is one such game. Here, on the cover, we don’t see archeologists, or native guides or trails, or a jungle map, or guys digging up treasures or the uncovering of temples or volcanos in the distance. Instead, one single treasure mask flanked by native bush is all that is needed to peak my interest. And, oh, by the way, the pyramids are there on the bottom upon closer examination. Absolutely nothing has been set up here in the way of a ground level play. I assume where this game takes place based on the treasure and flora, and I guess, because it is a treasure, we are perhaps talking about treasure hunting...maybe. Are we natives living 1000 years ago? Or is this the present? It doesn’t matter, though. What it does set up is the emotive engagement toward a place where I want to go and to experience. The set up is enough for me to reach toward the package and pick it up. When I look at the cover, I think that the game will powerfully capture some aspect of being there... and it does. Perhaps this due only to the production of the board and pieces, but it’s not important. In the end, after playing the game, the cover has fulfilled its promise of taking me to this place. I look back onto it a few days later and once again dream of going back.

The mask is a powerful detail that promises nothing of gameplay, only suggesting an exotic local. Pyramids, which are subordinated below, reinforce the local and could suggest more on gameplay theme if one wants – though it does not describe the uncovering of pyramids, only the existence of them. Still, the pyramids could have been omitted for an equally appropriate and powerful cover.

Like Tikal, with the cover of China, references toward game play are ambiguous ... and this is not a bad thing. It would seem to be about temples or something on a grand scheme. More than anything, the image is beautiful and takes me to a place where I’d like to be. In the end though, the gameplay is so abstract and board relatively unembellished, the game could be of any place. Perhaps better it would have been to focus on a still life of a period object (perhaps something relating to diplomacy) that is evocative of a time and place without showing the place itself. In this way, I wouldn’t be disappointed that I didn’t feel like I was in China when playing the game. On the other end of this production, the board could have been enriched and more evocative of China to satisfy the feeling of some Chinese authenticity. In this way, there could be more payoff against such a beautifully seductive cover image as this. Nonetheless, the image is attractive, colors are rich which gives the game some appeal.

Now, I know where publishers and artists are coming from when covers over explain situational events. Certainly, this is the sort of treatment often seen on fiction book covers of fantasy, sci-fi and romance novels. The objective there is to put one into the story, to get us one step closer to seeing what we are reading or will be reading. Here, this works. Books do detail experiences and places to great degree. We read situations and experience them as a character might. In this way, situational covers on the books can heighten the experience by giving us a fantasy glimpse of some aspect of the story which we have experienced. Now, moving back to our Eurogames, the situational art most often does not translate because the experiences are marginally implied at best through game abstractions. One might argue that these situational covers on games fill the gap between game play and implied thematic actions or that they are the storytelling device to complement the game. However, as said, more than that they tend to set one up for disappointment when the game is not what it appeared to be on the cover.

Situational covers are abundant within certain book genres. While not always the greatest, they do take the readers to places they will go and experience within the pages of the books. There is no gap in expectations here. The reader will certainly feel an attachment to the image after reading the book.

So, what techniques can be used to avoid situational explanations that might over-promise gameplay? There are many ways to approach this. Some quick ways to think of it are to get very close on to an object and create a still life, like Tikal. If it is a game of economics in Renaissance Dutch world, perhaps it is a beautiful Dutch still life of coins. Or an artist can go far back to describe a setting – for instance a Dutch port filled with ships for Hansa. New illustrative styles might be employed which have a more abstract quality (some can be seen a little further in this article). Many options exist that extend beyond the merchant, the ship and the bag of gold. In either way, the goal being to portray actions that are not explicit but suggestive or iconic.

Representatives of a new movement. As the Euro movement is characterized by innovative new mechanics and game play, it would seem that games should look new and innovative. Covers can play a huge role in signaling newness. As notions of games for adults can carry negative baggage for those outside the hobby, cover art with a fresh look can work well to dispel these thoughts. If a game does not look as one expects, than expectations toward what a game is can be shaken for such individuals. Just as these products have redefined the boardgame category, so too should their look reflect this redefinition. Now, as Eurogames are trickling into new points of distribution – from coffee shops, to book stores to Target, these unexpected venues offer greater license for unexpected looks.

Summary
As a representative, the cover should take the viewer to some place and time that the game does - if there is a setting to the game. It should have a tone appropriate for the game - whether that be serious, silly, rich or dry. It should avoid overreaching thematic embellishment such as character situations only broadly implied in gameplay. Finally, as a representative to a new breed of games, it can bear the weight of signaling a changing gaming environment.

Cover as a brandmark
Iconic covers have the power to establish in the mind’s eye the product brand. Such power aids in recall and the ability to relay and speak of a title to others. Below are two covers. There is no question here which cover is more vividly recalled. Tikal’s powerful image burns into the brain whereas the Settlers image is very easily forgotten. Many factors contribute to this gap. On Tikal, the object is simple and large. The colors are deep and saturated. In Settlers, a more complicated image is set in a very small window on the cover. The image has no iconic value but it very situational making it hard to remember. Additionally, colors are muted making for low impact.

Cover as a badge
Badge products and brands are those which we use to define ourselves as consumers and individuals. It is the swoosh on the hat and the little white earphone buds in the ear. It is any element that brands exploit to differentiate a product and to define the brand in a powerful way. It is these things that consumers can latch on to and proudly get behind as a matter of pride – a badge of authority or distinction. These badges become symbols of attitudes greater than the product they represent. A white earplug suddenly says to the consumer, “I am hip, I am creative, I am of style.” It rises above an element that simply says of the brand, “I am iPod.”

No matter who you are, the white buds and cascading wires are a clear visible sign that you belong to this “club.”

Covers have the potential to rise above brandmark status and above brand representative status to become badges that represent individual gamers. As the cover is the most visible aspect of game brands, they can be that facet of our hobby that we can proudly stand behind and say,“This is me. I am a gamer.” As a category, however, I do not find this appeal in covers that I see. They have not the adult sophistication, intelligence or style that I might attribute to this hobby and that I demand as such an individual (or such that I would like to portray). And, yes, I do believe gaming is very stylish – in particular Eurogames. The Euro product category is one developed with great craft and finesse toward streamlined reduction and intelligent simplicity. Such reduction and simplicity is certainly very modern and sophisticated.

A snapshot of the category. The overall look is old and tired – not infused with the modern attitude and style that one would desire in a badge product.

Where covers generally fall, however, is in a camp that employs a relatively specific group of illustrative styles that appears cartoonish ... in an outdated way (as seen above). There is no style infused in the artwork. To style, I look towards many sources. From children’s books to annual reports, magazine illustrations to cosmetic packaging and everything in between, we find a rich and interesting world of illustration. These illustrative styles offer more attitude, interest and style than our current crop of covers do. Such new, more sophisticated styles can become the vernacular that defines this new breed of game design and outlines a path toward badge propositions.

Geek anxiety, as Mark Johnson puts it, abounds. This anxiety is that association with the pimply faced introverts that we once were or the many whom we played with. More often than not, being an adult gamer enthusiast draws associations to D&D, Magic, sloppy party games or trivia style productions. Or perhaps associations revolve around child’s play. Whatever the negative perception, it certainly is not a club I’m proud to declare publicly. Covers carry a great deal of weight on them in terms of overriding the general perception (geekity, child’s play) to the values that makes up the product (that of sophistication, modernity, elegance). As a whole, I do not believe covers have met this goal.

Geek alert! Geek theme aside, the corny characters oddly placed in stiff positions possesses negative badge value. While the publisher is family oriented and probably attempting to communicate this, there is no style that I can stand behind as an intelligent adult. As fun as the game is, as beautiful as the board and elements are, I'll “brown bag” it to and fro, so as not to appear as some oddball.

Again, a stiff portrayal of characters and activities. Devoid of style or drama it is not a cover I can be passionate about as a representative of my culture. I’m not putting this in my office for others to see.

Not a badge proposition either. Such a sophisticated and elegant game and yet the cover is simply trite.

Cover as a family crest
Covers have the potential to define the publishers’ brands in ways that encourage sales and provide authority. Beyond the logo, there stands the opportunity to define a proprietary brand look and feel which can differentiate their products from other publishers. In this way, the brand look becomes a sort of logo beyond the company’s mark itself.

The most commonly mentioned brand to effectively take advantage of this is Alea. Each box carefully adheres to a template which, when seen as a family of products, has greater impact than the individual units. Beyond greater shelf impact - as the family line might be displayed in retail settings - the potential arises for increased sales as some collectors seek to complete their Alea set. Again, a retail setting can even be a friend’s closet where games are often stacked by brand. In these cases, where the Alea collection stands together, the boxes form a larger unit that the draws the eye in, potentially increasing likelihood of play and the possibility of further sales. It is for this reason, that new publishers would do well to look into defining a programatic look beyond an illustration and logo simply placed on the bottom corner. The need for this approach will only grow as the landscape of publishers enter an increasingly congested marketplace.

What can constitute a proprietary look and feel? A family look can be made up of the box size, graphical elements (like a colored bar strip), positioning of the main artwork (when not full bleed much like Alea does), size and positioning of game titles, position of the publisher’s mark and any graphical elements to support it (for instance bar/block behind Avalon Hill’s mark), templating for sides of boxes and a house style for illustration or subject positioning (for instance the person on side of Alea’s spine or character in the foreground of Phlanx’s games). Surprisingly, given all the techniques at their disposal, very few publishers take advantage of establishing a strong house look.

The power of a strong proprietary look is undeniable here. It draws the eye into the collection as a whole and then to individual product offerings. On the shelf, the collection becomes a unit.

With the Alea covers above, the Look is clear. We have an assigned “window” area for an illustration, an area for the title, a background texture treatment, an area for the designer’s name and an area for the product description. Although the placement the company logo has not been resolved, the system is very consistent. Whether one is a fan of the Look or not (I am not so much), the overall portfolio style is impressive (even to me). In short, the whole is greater than the individual parts. Despite any misgivings I might have with the details of the system, the fact that implementation of the program is consistent, makes the program a strong one with great appeal as a family of products.

In terms of misgivings I have with the system, I would say that the emotive impact that the cover image can deliver has been greatly diminished by its reduced profile on the cover. The result here is that it is harder to get into the picture and that leaves less of an impact. Images tend to look a bit fussy as details get small in this format.

The Hasbro reincarnation of Avalon Hill certainly has a strong identity as well. Beyond a mark which is contained on a black field, the brand makes use of two bars that intersect at the mark as containers for title and supplemental information. No matter what the size or proportion of the box, this will work. It is probably no coincidence that a division of the Hasbro giant have a mark that so dominates the box, even over the product brand. This is probably a sign that the proprietary devices of two bars are not effective enough. Indeed, they have been cluttered with information that is even allowed to violate the bars, such as the sticky in Betrayal. At other times, patterns such as in Robo Ralley dominate over the bars and ghosting such as in Battle Cry break down the cross bar effect. This aside, as a mass brand looking to dominate the crowded shelves, an overpowering logo certainly must have been a conscious thought.

For most publishers though, logo placement, box size and templating for the box sides are the only tools utilized in their program. Consequently, often times one needs to scan for the logo to recognize the publisher. Without assistance from a graphic system, a lone logo tends to seem more of an afterthought. Some examples can be seen below.

Days of Wonder benefits from a square box which is surprisingly unique – or, at least, very uncommon – in this category as far as I can see. Certainly Hasbro AH has square boxes as seen above. In general though, rectangular formats dominate this category. Beyond consistent use of box size and shape, logo size, logo placement and title placement, there is nothing proprietary about the covers. The illustration style is consistent, but because it looks like everything in this category, such consistency doesn’t help much. As for the square box, given the rate that new publishers are entering the market, it is only a matter of time that the box shape will loose its power. In that case, there will be little else definable here beyond a mark.

As an aside, square formats are difficult to work with in terms of imagery development. While the outer shape has an instant appeal, square images generally lack drama. This is because a square is a balanced, resolved shape. A rectangular image will naturally add a dynamic touch to images. Compare, for instance, normal TV screen proportions with the more extreme letterbox proportions. The sweeping landscape format initiates a dramatic composition by its very proportions in comparison to standard TV proportions.

While Ravensburger has a stronger mark than DoW in terms of shelf presence, there is no sense of common order or systematic detailing in the overall package. The mark’s use of a diagonal helps things considerably as it becomes a sort of violator that in no way blends into the box art. Whatever one thinks about the mark, at least it ties the products together in a small way. The overall effect here is not one of a collection of offerings that are part of a set. Remove the logo, and these games could be any publishers ... and often are.

Shared properties certainly can retain multiple publishers’ looks. This can simply be a matter of cropping and resizing an illustration to fit within different box proportions and working around any graphic devices a brand might use (like AH’s colored bars seen above). However, in cases where the print run and materials are common between two companies, a product will generally retain a single publisher’s proprietary branding while the second partner will tack on a logo to that look. This is to greatly control costs. Such is the case when Rio Grande runs with Alea, as an example. The box retains the Alea look and feel and gains or substitutes a RG logo for the RG products. Brandmark aside, in my head I am buying a RG product to complete my Alea collection. This because, as a consumer, I feel that I have purchased an Alea product. So strong is my identification with Alea through their proprietary branding.

Alea’s identity preserved across another brand. Either way, I feel like I’ve purchased an Alea game which is part of the Alea collection and not a RG product.

On the far end of the spectrum, we have a complete lack of proprietary identity with the Eagle Games productions. Here, Eagle did have a core box size for their signature productions, but strayed from this with coproductions and other situations. The difficult to read logo was not placed consistently and later simplified (perhaps for readability) as seen on RRT. The fact that the mark had no container (a box, circle or some other consistent background to contain it) makes the mark a harder read and seems more of an afterthought application. At times the mark is allowed a little play as seen in Attack! where it has been themed. While this is not necessarily a graphical “no no” in itself, great caution should be taken if a brand is to reinvent its mark based on theme. In this case, Eagle had no proprietary look to fall back on, which really hurts identification. Indeed, I might very well think Attack! were from another company if I were a newcomer to gaming. Whatever one may think of the former company, the lack of any uniform presentation looks sloppy as it lacks a professional, coherent look as a company unit. The end result here is a marked decrease in shelf scanability as one might look to seek out Eagle games. Such freeform application also undermines the satisfaction Eagle collectors might otherwise get from trying to collect them all – it seems less like a collection.
Finally, there is Splotter Spellen which has no visual template whatsoever – each game being it’s own entity. At times, their mark appearing hidden on the cover, but mostly not. As you can see below, there is no size, shape or formatting commonality at all. While I rather like some of their covers, including those below, there remains no proprietary elements that can help shelf scannability – not even a logo. The brand is the game and nothing more. While the highly informed can connect the games together, for most it is not evident that these products fall under the same publisher.

Were I not so informed, I would have no idea that these games came under the banner of one publisher. This is a missed opportunity in situations where the products might live together as there is no opportunity for brand loyalty for the uninformed.

The cover is more than an opportunity to impress. It can inform toward the nature of the game and this genre of games. It can infuse the community with a greater sense of pride in our hobby as well as attract others to it. It can be a tool to highlight a publisher’s full portfolio and encourage purchasing across it. Conscience attention to details which address these points can certainly serve publishers well as part of larger marketing plan.

– Mike

Tempus Box Cover III

2006-09-19T08:21:00.000-05:00

I still like it today, so I’ve continued with some refinements. Often times composition is tweeked in this stage to better give order. I believe there was a comment to this effect in the previous post. In this case, the buildings have been nudged here and there according to a proportioning system. This heightened sense of order seems appropriate to me given this streamlined game. Boiling down the history of human endeavor into a few simple rules strikes me as very severe. So then, a highly structured cover. Below you can see the underlying structure and how things fit together.

For the sides, I have alternated warm and cool panels of clouds. It looks quite nice and is a good contrast to the solid harder objects on the front. The clouds then add the the sense of the passage of time, which is nice.

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Tempus Box Cover II

2006-09-18T21:25:00.000-05:00

Above pictured is the evolved cover for Tempus. I liked the main concept from before but have given more interest and warmth to the piece. Mark’s suggestion (previous post) was a good one I think – that is moving the buildings up on the plain. By doing this and placing as I have, it adds to this abstract feel of the game and provides depth. Also adding to the abstract nature of the game is the paper thin buildings and their flattened non perspective. Adding cool colors to contrast give the piece a sparkle and increase drama which I enjoy.

Now, for the hypocritical part. Again to add warmth and interest, I’ve included bits and pieces of historical material – a battle, a train, an Egyptian farmer, etc. Yes, I certainly did say before that I didn’t think the game need to explain everything out. Well... I would say in this case, rather than portray the “reinacted” events in windows as the published version did, the collage here serves as an abstract texture. One can read the details or not, it mostly doesn’t matter. So long as one gets the feeling that there is a progression through time – that is enough.

I’m now liking where this is heading. Let’s see if I feel that way when I wake up in the morning. :)

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Tempus Box Cover

2006-09-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

I recently acquired a copy of this fascinating game of civilization building and advancement through time. Shame about the cover though. One thing I think many publications suffer from is this need to over explain a game’s theme. In so doing, the cover promises far more than the game really delivers. In this case, the cover filled with technological advances from farming to airplanes implies a rich texture of far reaching goals. It suggests managing railroads and fighting with a broad sweap of weapons through the ages. While this is so – to a degree – the game’s simplification of concepts blurs these ideas down to cloudy notions of advancements. Now this is not to discredit the game, as this seems appropriate from a game standpoint. Only to say that I'm not feeling the railroads or planes in any real way while playing the game.

As Tempus has gone to great lengths to collapse the wide rift of time into a relatively simple game, I believe the cover could go a long way to abstract this notion of the advancement of civilizations. Architecture often is a good measure of a wide array of advancements, from building materials, techniques, organization, sanitation, city density, military stability, etc. Also, as the game rewards city building, it seems appropriate to highlight this progression through architecture. Here, the architecture is presented in a simple, iconic way against a dramatic sunrise background. The look and feel is murky and shimmering.

While I like the look of this, it is still lacking. So, I continue work on it...

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Dune Board II

2006-08-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

Now that I have quite a few characters, I had wanted to continue work on the board where I had reserved room for some tone and manner art. Yes, unfortunately I have only 4 factions represented, but that’s the way it goes. I tried a hexigon board shape to allow for 6 pictures, but in the end, the strong hexigon shape competed too much with the circle – which I really like as a thematic device. Here, as you can see, I have characters which appear ghosted out of the red sand. Next, in some manner, I will be integrating text from the book. I think it needs to be a good chunk of text as it will be small and probably a border treatment. Any suggestions for copy??? It needs to be more than “He who controls the spice, controls the world.” :)

As a sidenote, I love integrating text, whether it be period poetry or some such into boards as texture. Words tend to really humanize the experience. It’s one thing to see illustrations of a person or army or house or artifact from a period. It’s quite another to read a line or two of something some guy actually wrote thousands of years ago. This particularly if the words have relevance to the subject – war, harvest, etc.

As for the Bene Tlailaxu Tanks, I want to have a separate board which can separate the leaders from different factions. Or perhaps this will be a sort of player mat in which the screen will split in half – a hidden area for cash and army and the tanks in front of the screen. I’ve not given it too much thought except I thought the little area in the corner of the board wasn’t ideal for organizing them.

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Creative Update

2006-08-22T21:11:00.000-05:00

Currently, I’m working on two games for publishers both due out next year. I can’t talk about them, but they should be very nice. Also, I’m having such a good time with the Dune set that I’m continuing work on this. At the moment, the leader tokens are a fascination for me. I’ll be adding to them in the previous post daily until either I burn out or finish them. Either way, I’m pretty satisfied – if for no other reason then they are very fun to create.

– Mike

Dune Premium Limited Edition Leader Tokens

2006-08-21T18:36:00.000-05:00

--Update-- I’ve been adding to this post each day as I do more of these tokens. I’m having such a good time with them, that this game element is hard to put down. At this rate, I hope I might actually finish them all.

Above are leader tokens that I painted to accompany the board in the previous post. Having the portraits all looking forward in a common position helps to create a power to this piece. I chose a more realistic portrait to add richness to this program. One thing I’m never a fan of in games are the “reinactment shots.” Those are the character portraits that try to help players “picture” actions in the game. For instance, a character with a knife in the hand. I find my imagination much better than can be portrayed particularly when the art tends to fit in a small area. It usually lacks power and effect. This is one issue that I have with Magic and other CCGs. To set up a situation in these cards, the characters tend to get tiny and less effective than if they were pictured close up to the viewer.

I really like the way these are looking and am looking forward to continuing with other elements of this game.

Close up of a few pieces

Dune Premium Limited Edition Board

2006-08-14T20:32:00.000-05:00

... well I can dream, anyway.

I had a chance to play this for the first time this weekend and ... I loved it. It’s a strange wild ride of a game. I’m told much like Cosmic Encounter from the same designer and, from what I have heard of CE, it seems that way. Going into the game with the understanding that it is as much an experience as anything, I enjoyed the ride. The graphics really show age though. Typical for the time and AH, now by our standards it is quite shabby.

I know this game is quite popular – though more an occasional treat for the Dune heads than a gaming staple. That’s ok though. What suprised me was to see it ranks 49 at the moment. The game seems to have a cult following. Not suprising given the rich material that oozes from this piece.

Cult games have the potential for special edition releases as followers can be passionate enough to look for an expensive upgrade. Unfortunately, being under the AH badge, I suspect this one is buried deep in the Hasbro vaults never to see the light of day. While they brought back Cosmic, I suspect they lack the dna to get such a game right for my tastes. These cult games have the potential to rise to a higher standard.

Above, a board that I have begun to create. (Note above is work in progress). This would simply be printed, not actually made of wood and such –though I understand some have made custom boards of wood. This story is one of legend and prophesy. As such, I would create a game of timeless beauty. Though science fiction, the most appropriate feel for this seems that which borrows from antiquity. Circles also seem important to me. AH did take care to emphasize the circle. I would take it a step or two further with the graphics supporting the shape whenever possible. Inlayed wood, gold leaf and mother of pearl touches all make up the details. I like the feel of this. It seems very rich and reverent.

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Own a custom Doyle meeple avatar

2006-08-11T19:01:00.000-05:00

I've had a lot of requests for these digital images so... for some GG you can stake your claim into meeple territory in style. Each meeple will be sold to only one individual. So once you recieve your meeple, it's yours and yours alone for life. Along with a handsome avatar sized icon, you'll also get a printable plate with my signature – again, yours and only yours. Use it as a screen wallpaper if you like. Make a t-shirt out of it... and sell it. Whatever you want. You'll be the only one who can use it.

To buy, please reply to this thread on the Geek with the character you want. I will reply by geekmail to the first response for each character. After you receive a confirmation geekmail, please send the appropriate GG and email info, and I'll send you the files. If I don't receive a response to a geekmail in 2 days after I send it to you, the character will be up for grabs again.

Please don't make the request on this blog or by geek mail as it will be difficult to tell who claimed what first. Only those who first request a character in this Geek thread will get to take advantage of this limited time offer.

The cost is variable depending on the avatar. By far the most requested has been ... you guessed it ... 7 of 9. Most are 20GG, but the most desirable are a bit more.

- 7 of 9: 50GG
- Picard Locutus: 40GG
- Darth Vader: 35GG
- Picard (Normal): 35GG
- Wesley Crusher 5GG (bc I can't stand him)
- Miles O'Brian 5GG (he's a bit nondescript – pictured below the Wesley)

All others are 20GG.

Best of luck! May the force be ... er... live long and prosper.

- Mike

Modern Art Preview V

2006-08-09T09:58:00.000-05:00

This is the final preview in a series of five showcasing the style of one of the artists for a new edition of Modern Art shown with generous permission of the publisher. For more information and release date you may read the first installment.

Here you can see all five of the artists together. Each artist focuses on a different subject matter to aid in recognition. For example, artist one will equal birds, artist two will equal letterforms, artist five flowers and so on.

I hope you enjoy.

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Caylus Board Development II

2006-08-02T07:08:00.000-05:00

Below the latest development on my personal exploration of this board. The primary evolved feature is the overall aesthetic. I went for a manuscript approach as I wanted to lighten the board. This helped me control some of the values like the pink tile spaces. Mostly, I worked on some of the smaller details. Some of the developed tiles are pictured on the board as well – though, as you can see, they are incomplete. A border detail was added within the playable tile areas, to help the eye track along this strip and call out playable spots. It also adds to some of the thematic detailing. Tile VP values dropped out by mistake but will be dark to pop. Additionally, the outer track still needs to be developed.

– Mike

©2006 Mike Doyle

Caylus Board Development I

2006-07-28T21:39:00.000-05:00

Continuing with the Caylus project for my personal investigation, I've begun laying out the board. This is preliminary and there are some incorrect details and incomplete art – but it's a start.

Firstly, let me say that the published edition of Caylus is just fine and I have no big issues with it. The information design on the tiles and board is quite good for such a complicated game. Also, particularly good for a game seeking language independence.

My first objective was to get the castle closer to the center of the board. This reason for this? Since this is a castle building game (with subsequent infrastructure development) I wanted to put this front and center. It also will create a nice visual focal point which is appealing to look at. From the castle, goes the building track. I loved the way in the original game that you follow the track across the different actions. I expand on this by ending the track back into the castle for the castle building phase. In this way, it is one simple explaination – simply follow the actions on the road – that's it.

The section building area corresponds to the favor track which is just below it. In this way, there is a direct connection between these as the game progresses from section to section. The favor rewards for castle sections are close to the building area where I believe it is more appropriate. I've also moved the turn order track right next to the stables for a direct connection there.

One thing I have noted with many boardgames is this focus on pictorial icons of buildings to represent purchases. It's a funny thing though. While this works quite well for computer games where you can see your city growing and being built, the effect is quite different in the boardgame. For the computer games, you really feel like you are looking at a town growing. For boardgames, because the symbols are confined to different tiles, I don't get a sense of a town so much. Additionally, the buildings all start to look alike and don't serve to communicate actions so well. So, in this version, I've compiled many buildings in a scene around the castle. It looks nice to me and has the Disneyland map effect, which is playful and entertaining to look at. In their place on the tiles, I will have other icons such as people and objects representing the actions drawn in medieval style. This further supports a medieval feel. Now, one might say that the original theme of building buildings along a road is more thematic, but I donno. When looking at the board with these tiles (which I did not include in this post), I feel the theme of visiting areas and conducting actions more than before. I don't feel building a building so much, but I do feel a more colorful liveliness of medieval activity.

There is something very gamery about having an outer track that you travel on – it feels good and understandable at a glance. This could be due to the fact that we have Monopoly burned in our brains and there is an association there. No matter though as it is pleasing.

Castle detail

Actual size detail

– Mike

Caylus Box Cover

2006-07-25T15:19:00.000-05:00

Cover Detail

Created with an eye on medieval drawings, this cover is at once playful and serious. Bright colors, naïve medieval drawing qualities and sense of scale all deliver a fun look. Additionally, by wrapping the picture around the box, this playfulness is enhanced and invites the viewer to turn the box around and investigate the landscape on its sides. On the other hand, by antiquing the image, applying graphics very elegantly and using a rich color palette, we have a cover that offers a serious, adult look.

Flat view with 2 sides. The pictorial quality of the sides is a rewarding treat when seen on the shelf.

Spine: I really love the effect here on the shelf. This game looks fun. It is important to note that the spine has at least as prominent role as the cover in terms of shelf impact. This holds true both in crowded store environments where games are displayed by their sides or in the home.

I’ve created a band graphic that wraps completely around the box vertically (and onto the back) which tells the main story. This story starts after the title, wraps around the box and ends at the title. Again, a device that encourages the viewer to pick the box and explore it, turn it around, read more and perhaps move onto the game details next to the band on the back. I’ve not yet seen this done before on games, but I like it very much. It seems like anything that is compelling and well written can wind along this strip including rules summary. If rules were used for a game, it might help demonstrate how simple it is to play. At any rate, this band winds around the box as the Caylus road winds around the board.

I have the king larger than life pointing at his command – to build the castle. The medieval technique of drawing people larger than life in context has a distinctly cartoon look, much like those turn of the century political cartoons. I absolutely love this and the many narrative details that were used in medieval art – scrolls coming out of the mouth as talk bubbles for instance. Whenever possible in games of this period, I like to evoke this look. Again it tends to offer warmth, playfulness but have enough historical backing to be serious. In the process of creating this, I had planned to put workers with tools building the castle and city buildings. In the end, this got too busy and didn’t look as good, so I took them out. The king alone works fine with me as he is the one setting the challenge to build. I don’t really subscribe to the notion that a cover needs to tell all that a game is about. A cover can tease the viewer to find out more. It should have enough meaning to show context and highlight some point of the game. Beyond that, if the mood is right and it is attractive, it is a fine thing.

Initial quick sketch. Here the basic layout was mapped out with the king centered towering over the castle. You can also see the workers. While developing the art, it was becoming clear that all the workers were too much.

For me, this box could set comfortably on my coffee table or office desk. It has enough badge value to give me pride in my hobby and elevate it to more than simply a kid’s game.

– Mike