The Designer’s Studio: James M. Hewitt (DreadBall) Part 1
February 8, 2013 by warzan
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I’d almost forgotten we did this! Awesome.
Thanks for the insight that was an absorbing interview. Nice to hear someone else’s experiences and influences from their early years.
Dictaphones and notepads that struck a chord as well.
I myself have made rules for existing games. Now I’m in the midst of making my own RPG and its much harder than I thought. To come up with a unique idea that separate your game from the rest is a challenge. As well as the mechanic behind the game that seems fresh.
Any advice would be a great help.
I enjoyed that. Good to get an insight into a great game like Dreadball.
this is a brilliant video. I’m in the process of making a set of rules to use my battlestar galactica mini’s with, and insights like this help a lot.
Thanks for the kind words! I was half-convinced I’d just babbled for half an hour; I’m really glad people are taking useful things from it! Keep an eye out for part two…
Great video guys – I hope to see many more like it in the future.
For me house rules and home-brew games design is hugely important – it’s another aspect of the hobby that I’d put up there with gaming and painting.
So many people complain about rules, it takes up a load of forum space with continual arguments yet I think people forget the fact that whatever game they play is their game and that if they don’t like a certain aspect they could and should change it. There’s a point to be made that a company should put out the most polished rules it can, especially if you’re spending £30+ on a book – however I also feel gamers have a greater responsibility for the enjoyement of their games.
If you find something doesn’t quite work, or the wordiness of a rule, or the conflict of a rule with another is off – change it. I’d even go so far as to send your changes to the main publisher if you feel that strongly about it.
There’s so much to talk about here but I feel that rule writing and writing your own fiction, even if it be just generating your own scenarios, is as important as any other part of gaming but it can get neglected due to the way rules are written or presented. I think the fixation with the term ‘rules’ (as in RAW) almost means the same as ‘law’ to some people, except without any of the consequence associated with the latter – so some people feel free to exploit a rule, whereas they might not exploit the law.
To me ‘rules’ in a game are more like the Pirates Code – they’re more like “guidelines” and are a system in which your minis can function, which can be updated and changed in a similar way to patches for computer games if necessary.
Of course some rules are more polished than others, for example board games tend to be more polished and focused than those for a wargame, which tends to have a lot of abstract elements to it and a background behind them which then influences how a model or unit works within the main system etc…
Fascinating stuff – worthy of a book I’d say 🙂
So get writing one! 😛