By the time i finally gathered my thoughts on the subject it was dark. Sun got tired of scorching the city, and the only thing burning hot was my cup of coffee, sitting next to STALKER the board game on my table.
It was good.
But this game wasn't my design. It was created by team of Awaken realms, and designed by Pawel Samborski.
That brought a taste of sadness to event. Making a game about Stalkers was my big wet dream. I started designing It when i felt that i needed a knew challenge in life.
But what do you do when you have an idea of a game, but no knowledge of how to design, produce and develop the game?
You learn.
So, I did. I've read everything i could find on designing and producing board games, but most notably Quirkworthy's blog, Burger games blog and Jerry Stegmaier blog. It helped to understand how massive undertaking i was looking at.
But you also need practice to understand what kind of games and thier differences exist. So I played everything i could get: from Warhammer 40k , Lord of the Rings skirmish to GMT games about World War 2, several RPG titles, euro style boardgames and countless others. That gave me solid understanding of maths behind the dice rolls and variety of options to make game challenging and interesting.
But by then Ville Vourella has released his magmun opus, his Stalker RPG set in classic Strugatsky brothers world with 5 zones across the globe. It was something unique. He developed a diceless system for an RPG, where everything worked on advantages or disadvantages known to Game Master.
But, I kept working on my Stalker. By this time it was a hybrid between skirmish and role-playing game. My first ever playetest showed that i needed to learn how present my game to the players. So refreshing course in sales was in order.
Follow up session showed that players struggled mostly with understanding what type of dice they shoud roll. Initial system used a ladder from d4 to d12 to represent the quality of skill. For those used to DnD one d20 roll, such complexity was too much.
Then i decided to review my project, and return to original board game format. Approximately at the same time Zona was relased. That game was a masterpiece of telling an adventure story set in Exclusion Zone, but without the official licence. Clever.
Next step in project was to simplify the dice pool and allow the skills to affect the not only dice rolls but position on the table. Eventually Patric Todoroff has wtitten and developed a Zona Alpha, light and versatile skirmish rules set in the same setting.
I should have stopped by now. But i didn't. I kept working on a game that by now, more that 8 years in development was bringing tears into my eyes. Its a project that you must complete, but every time you progress you seem to fall behind.
Recently I ve backed a project called The Zones. Its an book about customised Zone creation for any setting, but focused on classic Stalker troupes.
I look at the huge box of Stalker the board game. I must find time to play it. May be it will help me to revive my old love.
Or may be i should stop wasting time and scrap it? Use all the development for something new? Stalker taught me a lot. May be its time to let it go?
Sun was about to reappear in the grey sky above. My coffee has gone cold but was still bitter and strong. Just what I need after a long night of solace.
