Stepping things up
So its been a while. Crazy times and the joy of plenteous work can push things of for a bit but I’m back so I should get to it.
I want to talk this time about something that is a challenge (I think) for game designers. When to pop up your presentation. I’m going to give a couple of examples that I did last year and the reasoning behind them. Both were at different points. I’ll talk about ZOIN though as it was the first and was ready to be shopped around to companies. That set the design goal post for me. Attractive, functional, themed but not the full monty in. terms of art theming. There are a couple of reason for that for this that I’ll get to in a little bit. But first a droplet of information about ZOIN
ZOIN is a COIN game (heres a great article by Candice Harris on BGG on COIN as a system). ZOIN is a game about zombies. So its Z-OIN. Z(ombie) (C)OIN. Yup. Thats what is called (for now) And I for one love it. Evan Walter has done a fantastic job of creating an interesting and fun game that leverages the asymmetry enabled by COIN. He has set ZOIN on the Eastern Seaboard of the US. The factions - Military, Zombies, Medics, and Civilians. Now saying that is COIN I also have to say (AS there is really isn’t much i the old history books about the great zombie invasion of New England to create all those fascinating event cards) that Evan has created the cleanest COIN game out there. It’s elegant and (going by my home play tests) not easy to win.
But first a little about why I did what I did with (or to) ZOIN.
There were a couple of considerations for a design look for Evan. They are very much interconnected. Firstly is the age old issue of cost. A fully finished product was outside budget but also, an much more importantly not necessarily going to match up with what the Publisher wants and its a balancing act to produce something thats attractive, helps make the game play obvious and gives enough flavor that it helps the publisher get into the game but not make the Publisher feel like the game is handcuffing them and thereby preventing form fine tuning the game to fit in their stable of game..
To help with flavor some sense of setting needs to be at least suggested. This I tried to do with font choice as well as color and furniture treatments. I couldn’t get too much down a rabbit hole of setting. A medieval setting or sci-fi vibe for instance would have required a heavy lift in terms of illustrations and furniture. At the same time anything like that could be distraction to the Publisher. It’s about pairing the selling point of the game with the look. ZOIN is an elegant clean system and the graphics should reflect that. Now thats not to saw the publisher should or won’t cover the game in laser wielding nazi zombies but thats, not really what Evan is selling at this point. ZOIN is probably the best introduction to COIN mechanically (Not theme wise, that is. a different thing altogether).
So I kept the furniture simple. Icons for the factions - A little light hearted and simple, coupled with simple color choices for the factions. I added framing boxes as containers with a little rounded corner action as part of a simple decoration scheme. These icons are a good start but not really ready from prime time. There is an even split for gender but theres a lot of opportunity for diversity through who is represented by the icons and art throughout the game and if this look was picked up by a publisher I’d look to diversify.
Similarly the card is simple with the text and icons front and center. In COIN games it can be a challenge to read the text on. the card that are face up and while Evan has done a great job in keep the text concise and clear its always going to. be a challenge to read across the table. Something else to be addressed in the final art regardless of style. The icons which show the players faction order are clear reads so thats more on the button.
Finally a quick word about the Map. I went for a little bit of a mid century feel with the map at least in font choice. A little touch of the horror movie. The color palette is a 60’s road map. I kept the sea navy for over all dark feel. It’s not as party bus of zombies after all. My goal was for the color of the cubes jump off the board and board state is easy to read. I kept the detail minimal to avoid distractions and keep the players eyes on the prize or playing pieces at least. Some of the player area map colors need work but rearranging some of them would help there. Nothing here is perfect. But the over feel is clear and well presented. Something to get the publisher focused on the potential of the game. (finger crossed).
Now at the same time I started doing work on ZOIN I started working with Hugh O’Donnell on The Troubles which is a 6 player heavily researched and complex look the conflict in Northern Ireland running form the sixties to the late nineties. The two games represent how wide a spread of complexity and narrative COIN can work. My next articles will be on The Troubles so please come back for more on that in the coming week. The Troubles is going to Kickstarter in March with Compass games so it seems timely.
If you’d like to know a bit more about me you can follow me on Twitter, FaceBook and Instagram. Or if you would like to start a project with me you can find my contact info at the bottom of this page.
A high scoring game with the Civilians winning by one point! #COIN #boardgames
— evan walter (@ewalter04)February 21, 2021
