About Matteo
Matteo is a board game designer focused on co-operative gameplay and games "for good". For his talk he gave us insight into the process of creating his game Daybreak alongside Mat Leacock(creator of Pandemic).
He gave an exciting talk on how games can bring up important topics using games and took us through a detailed analisis of the process of creating a board game, by studying the impact on the players and trying to simplify and sistemise the rules.
A few inspiring things that he did that I might follow in the future:
He records his process and decision-making through blogs.
He reached out to Mat Leacock through twitter and they connected through shared interest-to make games for good.
On the Process of making a game
When they first met, Matteo and Leacock tried to establish what they wanted they're game to "feel" like. They decided on:
·Systemic solutions
-They learned how BP(British Petroleum) shifted the responsibility from big producers to the individual carbon footprint. They wanted to shift the responsibility from the individual consumer back to the Big Corporate Companies.
A game that refocuses on collective efforts. There is not just one winner.
Realistic
-a game based on real data
-research on how climate change works; extreme weather condition
-causes of climate change and how economy impacts emissions
-simplify to make a gamified system
Not educational
-not “preachy”
-not forcing you to make the “right choices”; player has agency
Cooperative
-Explores the scenario when big companies decide to actually take climate change seriously (even if it is not current reality, as companies are secretly against that)
Empowering
-have the player get a unique role within the game
-feel empowering after the end of the game
They decided the feel of the game(with these 5 points) before the mechanics and medium.
Process:
Try to create a simplified model of the carbon cycle.
Tons of carbon get trapped in the atmosphere causing change at flora level, and effecting everything.
The Paris agreement- 2015- more countries agreed to get the temperature of the earth to 1.5 degrees?
Slowly adjusted the prototype with realistic data.
Decided to randomize the game with cards
Simplified the card system so It doesn’t get too boring
Created tokens for planetary effects
Realised tokens were taking too much cost to print plus the cotton bag
Decided to use a dice with planetary effects faces
Dice also gives you the sense of randomization
Introducing people tokens to show how it affects the population(you start losing people of damage is too high). Players became emotionally involved after this.
Created an iconography that people could easily understand
What I learned
Making a game takes a lot of trial and error. You have to constantly playtest it and ask for feedback.
You have to adapt the game so that everyone understands it-not force the player to adapt to your rules.
It takes years of iteration and prototiping before a game is ready to be released.
You mustn't be afraid of making changes to your game as they will be needed. Don't be to keen on your initial idea of the game.
Comments