This is broken game.
I worked on Imperial Settlers for the past 8 months. I worked day and night. Every day, every weekend and every holiday. I was testing on Christmas and I was testing on Easter. There was no way to get rid of the game, no way to clear my head and stop thinking about Imperial Settlers. You think about new cards when taking shower, you worry about balance when you get to bed. This is obsession. This is changing your whole world around one thing – Imperial Settlers.
The game is scheduled for Gen Con 2014 – this is my most important release, this is the moment I was preparing for years, this is me debuting at Gen Con, biggest event in North America. This is it. This is the moment when I put on the plate all the best I have and I go to US and say: Here I am. This is my new game. Play and have fun. This is my moment.
But…
The games are not yet in US. They are at manufacturer.
It may happen that manufacturer will screw up, print something bad and we will need to postpone Gen Con release.
It may happen that shipping will have some problems and games won’t make for Gen Con.
It may happen that some documents will be wrong and customs will hold the game for few weeks.
It may happen that nearly year of my obsessive work and biggest event of my life will be ruined by a mistake of one person hardly involved in board games. Manufacturers worker, shipping guy, custom employee… A guy.
You can imagine how much broken, devastated or simply pissed off I would be if it happens.
Yesterday Japanesee referee – hardly involved in playing football – ruined months of preparations of Croatia players. He threw all their hard work into bin. He took their hopes and dreams about World Cup and said: Sorry, you worked hard, but I made mistake and all those hours you spent in training were waste of time. I can’t imagine how broken, devastated or simply pissed off Croatians are now.
Football is a broken game. I love it, but there are these moments I am so close to throw my TV off the window. Yesterday I had this moment. And as I can imagine, many of you had it too.
I strongly believe that good board game is the one that tells a good story. You play it and suddenly you are sucked into it, you feel chills on the skin. Emotions grow. In a moment you defend castle. You hear roar of warriors. You smell boiling oil. You are into it.
That's how I design my games. I always want to tell a good story. I want players to be into it. As deep as possible.
No, not really. Football sucks.
It made me yell at the tv. The decision was poor and could easily have resulted in a yellow card for the Brazilian player for simulation. Whilst Brazil was the better team, the pressure was starting to tell, and I so felt the injustice. I agree that most 50/50 calls went Brazils way, but then, the Croatian team set up that situation by earlier clumsy tackles. So the referee was primed to react.
As for being broken, other games are more dominated by referees. Rugby for instance.Being from New Zealand, I am generally a neutral observer at the Fifa World Cup, but end up watching lots of rugby. And the selection of the referee often gives an indication of what sort of game to expect – fast flowing or a whistle fest. We won the Rugby World Cup (that we hosted) , but to be fair a few decisions went our way in the final (much to France’s annoyance to this day).
Hopefully the next game doesn’t feature a referee moment, and restores a little faith.
Every cup judges regressing. It’s a pity.