I rather enjoyed this presentation by Jane McGonigal.  Women in game design tend to have a much more socially conscious view, and  I always enjoy seeing conventional thinking challenged:

Gaming can make a better world

Listening to this talk brought up some old memories. Jane’s talk reminded me that once upon a time, I gave a crap about the world. As a kid, I remember the “Energy Ant” coloring books designed to help kids understand the energy crisis and do something about it. I remember that growing up, I put my young idealistic problem solving mind to the conundrums of society and how they might be resolved. Yet the more and more I learned just how screwed up the world was, I began to realize that there are very few people in this world who care about actually solving society’s problems. As a problem solver, I recognized that politicians didn’t seem to be doing it, they seemed to ignore all the sensible answers and care only about their mysterious agendas.

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Game mechanics can be quite technical and might seem like the dry boring part of the game. They don’t have the visual impact of slick graphics or the memorable journey we get from well designed narrative, and so they can be thought of as just another necessary component of a game. The truth is, they are the game. Misunderstanding on this point is what leads to long and tired arguments about story in games and whether or not games can be considered art. The mechanics of a game, once set in motion by the activity are play, become beautiful; they are entirely their own form of aesthetic. What makes games truly fascinating to me as a game designer is emergent complexity that results from a well designed system of mechanics.

Brenda Brathwaite is a designer who truly understands this concept, embodied in her series of games, “Mechanic is the Message”. The game in this series which has gotten so much attention,  “Train”,  attempts to explore the mechanics of the system of human on human tragedy carried out in the Holocaust. A true genius in her field, Brenda sees the world in terms of systems, and noted in her research that human on human tragedy is a result of a careful and deliberate system. She has said that in designing Train, her goal was to understand this system and figure out how to put the player into it. In doing so, the player gains new insight and understanding of an aspect of human existence.

When you design game mechanics, you are dealing with the same stuff that drives the universe.

I love collectible strategy games. I like cards with cool art I can hold in my hands, miniatures I can move around and paint in my spare time. I love cracking open a new rulebook to see what secrets it might hold, or design patterns it might repeat. I love that new feeling of a system unexplored and with the possibility of untold hours of exploration.

I’ve recently discovered a new one, Uncharted Seas. It’s put out by a company in the UK, Spartan games. Oh, its got all the expected cliché versions of the fantasy archetypes:  Bone Griffons (undead), various Elves, Orcs, “Empire” humans and some steam using races like Dwarves. The rulebook is a bit rough, not even completed, with continuing updates on the web site and pdf downloads just to allow you to play the complete game. The designers almost apologetic as they go to great length to explain how simple the rules are, and just how many expansions they plan to release. It’s got all the rough edges of a new game, but yet at the same time that is part of its charm. It gives me that new game feel, the hope of emergent complexity that arises from raw and pure mechanics ready to clash in the space of possibility.

What I especially like about Uncharted Seas is that a fleet can be bought for the price of around a new video game. They also can be painted pretty quickly. The mechanics are pretty clean, with a single dice pool ( 6 sided) where 4, 5, and 6’s score hits. The hits are added up and if they meet a target number, damage is scored. If a second, higher number is met, a critical hit is scored. This wraps up all the rolling into one pool, compared against one set of numbers. The really fun thing is that rolling a ‘6’ counts as 2 hits, and you get to roll again, allowing for chains of hits.

The company also seems to want to support the community, one of the most important aspects of a collectible strategy game. A local game store is running tournaments and has even apparently hired a representative for the area to help push the hobby. This is a key factor for the success of one of these games. So if you are looking for a fun collectable game that has all that new game charm, for a low price, check out Uncharted Seas.

www.spartangames.co.uk/uncharted.htm