I call the things that the characters keep doing over and over their "routines".(super original, right?) And like I was saying, having the players act out these routines is pretty much the purest form of a licensed game you can make. It will ring the most "true" to fans.
-
Show this thread
-
So, here's the hard part/where the craft comes in. Now I take their routines, and I start converting them into game mechanics, referring back to my list of touchstones over and over again. I think about fans of the show and decide what kind of mechanics they would best enjoy.
1 reply 0 retweets 7 likesShow this thread -
If you followed my recent tweetstorm on playing, this is where I take a bunch of game components somewhere and play with a slinky while I try to brainstorm what the most fun version of the game would be. I also usually try to track down a friend of mine who's a fan of the IP.
1 reply 0 retweets 5 likesShow this thread -
I run my initial plans past them and make sure it all rings true to them. Now, often a hardcore fan will have some very specific thing that "must" be in the game, and I'll usually try to slip that in as a reference or an easter egg rather than a mechanic.
1 reply 0 retweets 9 likesShow this thread -
A word of caution though: Don't build a game design out of "deep knowledge" of the IP - stuff that only a few people would recognize. You'll really impress a small group of people who play the game and confuse the rest. That's why I make those things easter eggs.
2 replies 0 retweets 13 likesShow this thread -
Those super specific bits of info are great for establishing your "street cred" as a fan of the IP, but building mechanics off of them are going to lead you down the rabbit hole. Where do you stop including detail? And the answer is, focus on the touchstones.
2 replies 1 retweet 8 likesShow this thread -
And really, that's the bulk of my process for creating a licensed game. Boil it down to the most important stuff, and make a game that simulates that. Making it fun and novel takes another layer of skills, and that's not really something I can teach in a single tweetstorm.
1 reply 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread -
Oh, one last caution. You don't approach publishers with licensed games. They approach you and ask you to design a game based on a license they have. Don't randomly send a Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. boardgame to a publisher, because it's going to get bounced HARD.
5 replies 0 retweets 9 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @KevinWilson42
This one is very important, and it seems to happen very frequently.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @gamesbymanuel
As someone who was in charge of looking at submissions at FFG for several years, it's definitely something most people don't understand. "You don't have the X-men license? Well just go get it." Licensing deals often take months or years to make happen.
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
Oh wow, that's even worse!
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.