Master Magician Developer’s Blog 9/17/2014 

 

I’ve been working on a board game for a year and 9 months now called Master Magician.

I’m trying to find balance, stream line and simplify the game.

The most important element is the audience conversion. The player gaining Fans, converting Skeptics and creating a Loyal Fan base.   This is all represented by cubes in the center of the game board.

I’ve had about 12 play tests so far and have made adjustments each time based on player feedback.

Several of the playtests have gone well, with players having fun and wanting to play again. 

The game has not been as fun for me to play as I would like so far but I have seen and experienced flashes of a cool experience.

People unanimously enjoy the theme of being a struggling street performer and working your way up to performing big illusions in theaters.

 

I recently played Colosseum by Wolfgang Kramer and Marcus Lubke.  This was one of my early Euros and I remember liking it quite a bit when it first came out.  After a few plays though I felt the gameplay a bit narrow and restrictive.  I recently played a variant that opened up the bidding so a player could win more than one lot of show elements (instead of just one per round) and everyone could interact simultaneously during trading (as opposed to one at a time with the active player).  These tweaks made the game better I think but still not as enjoyable as some of my favorite more recent games.

I’ve been playing with the idea of matching the Phase structure of Colosseum though.  There are some strong similarities to Colosseum and  Master Magician and of course some elements that are quite different.

I’ve always wanted a more interesting and dynamic mechanic for taking actions in Master Magician.  Perhaps to take an action you must play a card or receive a bonus action.

Another great game that is similar in that you are building elements to play another is Princes of Florence.  I am amazed at how balanced this game is and the great interaction that happens during the bidding phase and the contest of who gets the best work each round.

 

Dreaming of Dream Palace

Several years ago I had the dream of creating my own casino resort and spa.  Not just any casino though but the casino of the future. It really inspired me and I began to share my dream with others who were usually also inspired.  Then I began to look at the reality of what it would actually take to make my dream a reality. I even changed careers and took a position as a Creative Director at a gaming company so I could learn the casino business through game development.  After not seeing any other real clear action I could take to move my dream forward besides talking about it I after a while stopped doing that.  The inspiration never left me though.

Then a few weeks ago I met with my business mentor and coach and he suggested that I take my big dream and create a small bite size version of it that I could act on right now and a sequence of successive steps that would lead me to the larger goal.

This also reminded me that I had a diagram in my head of all the elements I can see converging that I think are leading up to the inevitability of the Dream Palace and businesses like it.  The rise and gaining popularity of cosplay and live and location games. Augmented reality and other emerging technologies like Oculus Rift.  The frenzy that happens each year at events like Blizz Con, Comic Con and the League of Legends Championships.  The advancement of live interactive attractions like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal theme parks.  I see all these fantastic elements merging into a next generation entertainment facility, experience and service.

Putting these simple images together sparked a few ideas. One is to start designing a game.  The type of game I’m thinking of is a combination of Location, Augmented , Alternate Reality Games (I’ll call it a LAARG).  I’m choosing a pirate theme and the gameplay will be focused on treasure hunting and ship combat.  My target launch and prototyping location will be my local gaming convention, Strategicon.

A friend of mine asked me to do some consulting on a social app project and this really got me thinking that my project should definitely incorporate a mobile app.  I then started thinking of not only an app that is a standalone game but a game service.  And not just designing games for cons but for malls, public and private parties and live events of all kinds completely customizable to the players needs and desires.