Math Bad!

I am going to go out on a limb and say that for any game designer you will have a much better success at designing games if you have a strong background in math.  It helps with more than you will ever know.  Take it from a guy who struggles with math, I waste a lot of time trying to solve problems that can almost always be handed by a moderately difficult math equation.  I end up doing more iteration because I don't do a great job of figuring out the math issues early on.  This leads to some wasted time and frustration.  Learn from me and get a healthy does of advanced math skills before you leave high school or college.

I bring this up because I played Automobile last night and fought myself to pay attention and understand what I needed to do all night.  It's a deep and complex game with lots of statistical and analytical thingking.  Players are trying to build their Auto Manufacturing company by building factories, manufacturing cars, managing Car Sales Men, using the Characters Special abilities (which can change every turn) to their maximum effect.

Bryan (center) teaching the Rules of the game.

You have money that is a lot in the first and second rounds but is gone after that and is near impossible to get back. I made several big mistakes but they were all based on assumptions about how the game worked and how stiff the penalties were.

An unknowing Me, about to get my ass handed to me! 

Late in the first round I used a special phase of the game to shut down my factories and avoiding the penalties I would have got for having the lowest technology Car Factories.  But I didn't do the math to calculate how much money the factories would be making for me and that I could have waited to sell the factories until turn two, making a lot more money.

In the end it came down to math.  The two guys who did the best were the math experts, correctly calculating how many cars they could manufacture and effectively sell, gaining the highest profits, allowing them to buy more factories and sell more cars.

Apparently Bryan doesn't know how to take a non-blurry picture of me.

Automobile is a cool game and I would play it again, but I don't think I would go back to it often.  It is the start contrast to my game, Taipan, which has a fair bit of hidden and random elements.  Speaking of which, I am having a hard time getting the new Data Sheets set up properly.  I have made so many changes that the Cards for Taipan have become so significantly changed on the Data side, that I have to clean up the Photoshop files before they will read properly.

As a bonus, check out this insane pistol that shoots shotgun shells.  This is Ben (Bryan's son) holding the monster of a gun.  That thing is almost as big as he is!

Heres me, a 6'4 reasonably muscled guy having a hard time even holding the thing.  Aiming it causes my hand to wobble from the weight.  Maybe I should have cheated like Ben and used both hands!  ;p

A picture is worth a thousand words...

I have been working on a combination of Game Designs for the latest version of Taipan and new Art.  I have to admit that the Art is derailing me a bit and keeping me from getting my cards printed.  But since I don't have the time to organize and play my game this week, it's not that big of a deal.


I have added a new Debt system to Taipan that should make for a clearer Win Condition for the game.  Players must return to Hong Kong to pay off the 50 Coin of Debt they start the game with. The first player to pay off all their Debt ends the game.  The player who has the most Money and is Debt Free, wins.

I have created Coin Art for a 1,5 and 10 Coin.  I also have the Debt Coins made (The red one on the Right).  I searched for a while to find coins that were minted close to the same time the game is set.  I think the Silver Coin was the only one that was not made in the same time period (about 40 years later).  Also, the Debt Coin is not a Coin at all. It's a Wall Plaque that was created in the same time period.

In addition, I have been experimenting with paintings from the same time period (1750-1850) to try out some different ideas for what the final card images will look like.  It's very hard to get them all to match perfectly.  The art from that era was all so different from one another.  Also, there really isn't a lot that survived very well.  Much of it is too dark or too damaged to modify and ends up looking bad after I do my process to them.

 The Rebellion City Modifier Card

This will be one of the City Cards

This will be ether a Storm or Wrecked Ship Event Card.

I am playing with some textures to make them look like they are painted on rough canvas, but those are not ready to show yet.  I have a lot more images as well, but I will save those for another day.  I hope to have a sample card ready to show some time this week, depending on free time.  I am also going to get one last night of gaming in tomorrow.  We are supposed to play Automobiles, so I will have an update about that tomorrow or the next day.