The Origins of Cheeseland
Welcome to all who are interested in getting a behind the scenes glimpse of what it means to design a game. In this series I will be sharing my journey (!) as I complete my board game "Journey to Cheeseland," a game of cat of mouse in which a band of brave mice are forced to travel through a dangerous city in order to find the magical "Cheeseland." I'll add a little exercise at the end of each blog for readers interested in trying their hand at game design.
"Journey to Cheeseland" was one of my many "to be explored later" ideas and would probably have remained in that category for a very long time had it not been for the world-wide time-out we're all experiencing. I usually like to explore more complex game mechanics like RPGs, especially TTRPGs (tabletop role-playing games) as I love to GM, War games , RTSs (Real-Time Strategy game) etc. so the concept for "Journey to Cheeseland," a simple cat and mouse board game in which players try to make it to the magical Cheeseland where everything is, well, made out of cheese, was more of a fluke. But while being stuck at home it surfaced back to my consciousness as a "simple" project to be developped "relatively" quickly (warning: nothing is quick in game design and it always takes longer than you think) that could be targeted at families stuck at home just like me.
The first thing I decided was that the game had to fulfill the following conditions:
- It had to be simple enough to be played by kids 10 or older. (A tough one for me)
- It had to be simple enough to be developped in a reasonable amount of time and all on my own.
- It had to be in a format people could download, print and put together at home with some basic instructions.
The Concept: The initial idea focused on a bunch of mice trying to make it to Cheeseland while collecting cheeses and overcoming various obstacles like an angry farmer's wife, traps, poisons, traffic, a mad scientist trying to lock you in his maze and of course, an obnoxious cat. The first mouse to make it to Cheeseland would win.
Though I liked the overall concept it lacked depth and immersion. Being a big RPG fan I also wondered if it should be competitive or if it wouldn't be more fun to explore a co-op approach, especially since the game is also targeted at kids. As a player I enjoy collaborating with other players while having the more dynamic challenge of a human opponent instead of static rules, something a good GM will offer. Some of my favorite modes are team versus (a group of players playing against another group of players) and Mastermind (one player takes on the rest of the players). I already had a cat, Maxo, as one of the obstacles the players would encounter so why not give a player control over Maxo and make him a bigger part of the game instead of being a random encounter? This seemed like a fun approach so my new focus became turning a competitive game into a Mastermind game.
This meant four things:
- There needed to be a clear win status for the mice and Maxo with each side racing to achieve it first.
- Maxo's win status had to be linked to his successful intereference with the mice. In other words, not only does he make life more difficult for the mice, he also gains points each time he does so.
- Maxo needed to act each round while having interesting abilities/powers.
- The mice needed a way to cooperate. The obvious way was to have the players share resources and goals. But I wanted to dig a bit deeper and add an action that would be truly co-operative: the ability to use a walkie-talkie to help another mouse escape a trap or find a critical cheese. (more about this in another blog)
Thematically and mechanically I wanted Maxo to be a constant obstacle and threat. Being caught by him meant a double set-back for the mice as they would be sent home while Maxo's scored a point on his track.
This brings up the importance of theme and story in games. Yeah, yeah, some of you will scream that not all good games have a story so let me explain what story really is. Story is much more than cut-scenes and lengthy dialogue options. These are just the top of the ice-berg and you're right, some games don't need this type of storytelling. For many games the majority of the story lies beneath these obvious forms of storytelling. Story for example explains why you're taking certain actions and why you have a certain win condition. I could just be shooting at cubes but it becomes much more interesting if these cubes are alien ships trying to invade earth and may in return determine how these cubes behave in a consistant manner. I could just catapult objects into the air and try to have them land on a certain spot but it's much more entertaining if the objects are angry birds trying to land on the pigs' constructions. And on and on. Story drives the design of characters, what they wear, why do they look the way they look, why they're "angry"? It also drives the design for the locations and backgrounds. Are we on Earth or Mars? Are we in a city or a farm and what year is it for crying out loud? Story can go even further by being embedded into these environments, not just the overall look but items you may see, find or use, clues you may find, graffiti on the walls, the importance of day or night etc. A narrative designer's job is to merge story and game mechanics seemlessly. Yes, gameplay is king but a good story will make sure this king is actually popular. So now that we have that cleared up, let's return to the narrative in "Journey to Cheeseland."
In the case of "Journey to Cheeseland" the concept of mice stuck in a dangerous city trying to make it to this magical land inspired some of the initial mechanics and board design. But as often happens emerging mechanics started influencing the story in return, requiring additional story elements or revisions. Take Maxo for example. The decision to have him play a large role mechanically turned him from a secondary character into a main one. I'll talk more about developping Maxo in a future blog but you can see how story can inspire mechanics that can inspire story in return. Now some mechanics are easier to translate into a story than others and I have to admit that once in a while it can be a headache to find an interesting (and believeable) way to integrate a mechanic into a world but it's well worth it and adds to the immersion.
I also believe that it is often easier to develop interesting mechanics when you have at least some sort of theme or very basic story in mind as it helps you focus on the kind of emotion you want to evoke. For "Journey to Cheeseland" I wanted the mice players to feel constantly threatened while moving around the "streets" and give a sigh of relief when able to reach a safe spot. Part of this pressure comes from Maxo moving around the board to chase them. But that wasn't enough. So I gave him minions he could also control. Though less powerful than him they still add to the stress of having to escape moving enemies. The other source of stress comes from encounter cards. Though not always bad (it's better to give players some relief or even pleasant surprise here and there) many range from aw shucks to aaaaaarg! Remember story? Yes, each encounter is themed to the difficulties of a mouse living in a big city. I'll talk in more detail about the type of encounters I chose some other time but being uncertain as to what kind of encounter it will be until you reveal the card adds a nice element of tension and surprise.
For Maxo I wanted to create a sense of superiority and cockiness: He can move faster than the mice while controlling several minions. I wanted one of the players, be it a parent or a child, to enjoy being the "bad guy." Maxo's pounce attack spreads fear and he wins draws (the mice escape but lose an item). Most importantly for his ego mice can only run from him (their advantage is that they can use manholes as "portals" to reappear somewhere else). Now why couldn't a fearless mouse actually interfere with Maxo? The reason I'm currently leaving out this option (things can always change) is that it would start muddling the mice's objectives. Some players may spend more time trying to find a way to take on Maxo than achieving their goal. It would require additional rules for mice attacking Maxo and consequences for him losing such a confrontation and more rules is rarely better. But more importantly I want to stick to the theme, a bunch of little mice trying to survive while achieving a crazy goal. You feel much more powerless if you can only escape through your wits (and luck) than if you can take on your opponent. The bigger the obstacles and the more heroic the mice will feel if they make it. (More about ensuring that the mice remain the heroes of the game/story later).
So these are some of my current thoughts on the theme and story of the game. As always thigs can change but I like the clear and intuitive conflict between both parties expressed in a cat and mouse game.
My next blog will focus on the board layout and how it influences the player's options as well as the pacing of the game. I'll try to share my notes on a regular basis (some longer, some shorter) but subscribe to this blog if you want to be notified when the next one is up.
Exercise 1
Chose a game you enjoy (preferrably a board game as they don't include behind the scenes AI stuff you may not be aware of) and re-imagine it in a different mode. What would it take to turn a versus game into a co-op game for example or could it be run in mastermind mode with some modifications? Or take a co-op game and turn it into a team versus game. What kind of rule changes would it require? Would it be as fun or even more fun in a different mode? Don't always go with the obvious option when you design your game. Approaching it from a different angle could introduce some interesting new dynamics.
Share your thoughts on this exercise and if you enjoy this series you can support my work at https://ko-fi.com/pixeldorian.
Until then beware of the orange cat because he's trouble.
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