Game Designer’s Blog: Volume 2
“I Want to Make a Western!”
I grew up watching John Wayne Westerns, and El Dorado is one of my favorites.
You see, my dad loves Westerns. So, growing up, we watched a lot of them together. And John Wayne movies were his favorite. I too quickly fell in love with classics like El Dorado, The Sons of Katie Elder, McLintock!, and Rio Bravo. I just loved the adventure, great expanse of The West, and swagger of The Duke. John Wayne had this distinctive voice and way of speaking (you can probably hear it in your head right now), his walk, smirks, and mannerisms were both natural and iconic.
We also loved Clint Eastwood movies like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Two Mules for Sister Sara. Then there were “modern” Westerns (remember I was born in the 1900’s) such as, Lonesome Dove (a perfect epic that still tears me up), Tombstone, Dances with Wolves (another tearjerker), Wyatt Erp, and 3:10 to Yuma. While my wife finds these shows depressing because, “what’s the point, everyone dies.” I find Westerns a comfort food for my soul.
Val Kilmer’s portrayal of Doc Holliday in Tombstone was a masterclass in acting.
“I want to make a Western boardgame,” I told Chip.
“It’s about being a Rancher and your goal is to build an Old West Town. You have Hired Hands to help you, and play Resources to the Homestead to complete Buildings. We would have all kinds of Buildings that allow you to bend the rules in some way so you can be strategic. But there are these Outlaws who try to steal your cards and ruin your plans, so you have Lawmen to defend your Town. Oh, and then we will have these cards that represent all the perils of the West that you have to deal with during the game. So, while you are fighting other players, the West will also be fighting against you.”
Chip’s reply? “Sounds great! So, what’s it called?”
“Life Out West.”
And from there, we were off! We would have Skype meetings at night where I would share all my thoughts, and Chip would help organize them in a clearer way for the game. I would work them out and start making some design files. A day or two later we would meet again to review my creations. Something would seem clunky or just not right, so Chip would say, “What if…” and BAM! Right away he would have a simple solution to make it 10 times better.
“We are going to need a lot of characters,” he said, so I scoured the internet for prototype images and shared hundreds of them. He would reply with his favorites, come up with these incredible names like; Bo Bittle, Nervous Pervis Mills, Jedediah Dinkle, and Carmen Veneno. And while I am typing them out, he would add depth with little tidbits like; Dillon always refers to himself in the third person as “The Beef Czar”, or The folk in Rusty’s Town are fond of saying, “Rusty may be half the man, but he has twice the heart”, and No one really knows which one is Chester and which one is Jake, since they both use both names. It was incredible how effortless he made it seem and how perfectly our characters were coming to life.
Next, we needed Benefits for the Buildings, and Abilities for the Gunslingers. I wanted to infuse all the Western lore I grew up on so I would share a character, plot, or aspect of a Western I wanted to include and right away Chip came up with a perfectly balanced game effect. “We need to include Water Rights,” I would say, and off the top of his head Chip would have the perfect solution. “Someone needs to throw dynamite,” and he would come up with a Gunslinger Ability. “Oh, what if the Sheriff is a drunk,” and he came up with Wes Gellery. It was incredible how well everything was coming together. I would create for hours and hours with nothing but Westerns going on in the background, lost in the excitement of the project and excited to see it become a reality. It was wonderful!
Rancher Board progressions of Abilene through the years
It was always tricky getting everything in its right place. Lots of playing and refinement.
After designing all the components, it was time for arts and crafts day. I used my Cannon inkjet printer and cardboard from cereal boxes for the game boards. I found some special “card” paper, went to Staples for printing, and learned to master a paper cutter to make our first prototype. We picked a weekend, and Chip drove over from Moscow to Walla Walla for our first play through. We had our wives join us and began our first ever four player game of Life Out West, hopeful all these ideas would work together. And you know what, they did! Sure, there were some things to refine and adjust but we had successfully created a completely workable boardgame!
As we talked afterward, it became clear there were some directional decisions to make. Were we making an epic 3-hour game, full of strategic nuance, or something for the whole family? Sure, it is always fun to play a big, heavy, strategy game but I wanted something more accessible that I could play with my in-laws like Settlers of Catan or Puerto Rico. For the first time in this whole process, Chip and I did not agree. In fact, we were quite passionate the other was wrong.
We were both frustrated. After much debate and no resolution, Chip and his wife went home. On one hand, we had made a working game and should be excited! But on the other, we couldn’t agree on its direction. Was everything over before it started or would we be able to figure this out?
To Be Continued…