Game Designer’s Blog 1
Star Wars Epic Duels. The game that started everything.
“Why Do You Want to Start a Game Company???”
I get it. After 35 years of working for a wide variety of companies, across multiple industries, and at numerous positions; starting my own boardgame publishing business may seem like an odd choice. Then again, life changes. And at some point, you ask yourself, “why am I doing what I have always just done?” So, I left Corporate America in search of a new path, and called my old friend Chip.
Chip and I have known each other for 20 years and became fast friends over our mutual love of games. At the time, I was more of a boardgame guy, and he was more of a videogame guy. Still, Star Wars is universal, and we quickly found ourselves giddy as school kids (though grown men in our mid 20’s) as we asked our wives if we could go to each other’s house to play games. Back then, our favorite game was Star Wars Epic Duels by Milton Bradley. This highly underrated gem was fun, quick to play, and had endless combinations. It also got us wondering if we could make our own Character Decks.
Back in the early 2000’s, Yahoo had endless forums and groups. Even one for Epic Duels fans. We quickly discover that we were not alone and found a wide catalogue of fan created maps and character decks from the Star Wars universe. We even found a deck building tool. Soon, Chip and I were making our own decks and racing to try them out with each other.
Custom and fan made Epic Duels decks from our first try at game design
I was always looking for thematic design and impact (like a deck with Leia and Han on the run in Empire). While Chip just had a way of making a great, balanced decks, that not only served the character, but he played them in a way where he was tough to beat (like his Force Unleashed deck with Galen Starkiller and Proxy). Before long, we had 20 custom decks between us and were having them made at a print shop, scrutinizing the best paper stock, and cutting them with a paper cutter. There was nothing more exciting to me that having ideas, running them through my head, and finding ways to implement and combine them. It was pure inspiration with thematic application.
This continued for years as we played and discovered more and more games. We had favorites like Descent, St. Petersburg, Citadels, and Axis and Allies. And Chip introduced me to the world of modern videogames with treasures like Knights of the Old Republic, Final Fantasy XII, and Valkyria Chronicles. We even invited friends to join us for all-night events where we could “die by the die”, in a smorgasbord of gaming options.
My D2 game night flyer featuring some of our favorites, including the much-dreaded Ezoghoul from Mutant Chronicles
I know, you are jealous of my sweet graphic design skills from back in the day.
Then one day, Chip said they had to move away. I was totally bummed out. My best friend in the whole world, and gaming brother, was moving over 5 hours away. And while we would stay in contact and discover the infinite joys of playing games online through Xbox, PlayStation, and Vassal, I knew things would never be the same.
Until one day. I called my buddy Chip and said, “Hey, remember how much fun we had building decks for Epic Duels? Well, what if we made our own boardgame game. A Western…”
To Be Continued…