Brazil: Imperial: 2 tables de Brazil hier chez moi. Nous avons joué avec une configuration de carte plus pacifiste. Çà roule bien comme jeu, très rapide. J'ai malheureusement négligé les tuiles exploration. Erreur à ne pas faire la prochaine fois.
Caper: Europe qui se joue à 2 joueurs. C'est un petit jeu de draft. On va placer des voleurs et on va les "equiper" pour effectuer des vols. Dans le fond, on va placer des cartes avec certains pouvoirs pour contrôler des secteurs et les scorer. Ça se joue rapidement, c'est simple mais pas simpliste et le jeu est beau. Il me manquait le petit quelque chose de spécial par contre... à réessayer !
Three Sisters en solo hier soir. Petite game de Three Sisters, un roll'n'write dans lequel on fait du jardinage de citrouille, de poids et de mais en plus de quelques fleurs. On roule des dés, on choisit des actions pis on coche des cases. C'est un roll'n'write un peu plus gros (les auteurs sont ceux de Fleet the Dice Game que je n'ai pas joué) comparativement à ce qu'on voit habituellement. Je n'ai pas capoté malheureusement. Tant qu'à ça, je vais sortir Hadrian's Wall! Probablement à vendre...
Red Cathedral: Bien mais je croyais que ce jeu avais moins de chance (roulé de dés). Ok il y a toujours moyen de mitigé et j'ai pas tout à fait compris le rythme du jeu. J'y rejouerais volontier mais pas un achat.
Stella (5 joueurs): C'est vraiment Dixit rencontre Qui paire gagne. Mais Qui paire gagne est meilleur.
Une joute de Indonesia hier. C'est officiellement mon jeu économique préféré, même que j'ai envie de dire qu'il est probablement entré dans mon top 5. Présentement, c'est un des meilleurs jeux que je possède à 4 joueurs, et celui que j'ai le plus envie de sortir. Je trouve le ratio règles/profondeur parfait. C'est très satisfaisant comme expérience.
Reef: Ma fille essuie la poussière de son jeu et le sort pour une petite partie. Une petit dose de temps en temps c'est un bon abstrait
Barenpark: Ma fille finit par gagner, elle m'a eu à l'usure lol Elle cible maintenant l'expansion!
Dungeon Drop: On le joue comme un petit jeu rapide au-lieu d'analyser let trouver la pièce parfaite alors le jeu garde son charme. Ma fille gagne sur le bris d'égalité (le personnage avec la plus haute initiative.. donc gagner parce que tu es le dernier joueur... déjà vu des bris plus motivant que ça
Cartographer Heroes: Plane of Flame: Intéressant, le volcan qui détruit des zones.. ça peut faire chier, mais aussi tu peux l'utiliser à ton avantage aussi alors ça fait un petit plus. Un partie avec 0 pts et l'autre + 40 ça change l'allure.
Cartographers Heroes: Plane of Knowledge: 6 îles au-lieu d'une grosse map... j'étais pas enchanté au début avec les limitations, mais finalement ça n'a pas empêché de faire des hauts pointages. 2 des 3 cartes qui vient avec les maps sont très facile à doubler les pts alors même avec 2 objectifs peu payants, on peut finir avec un gros total. Quoi que les monstres peuvent faire mal quand ils sont sur leur île tout seul!
Bilan des deux premières expansions: C'est bien, mais non nécessaire. Les nouvelles cartes peuvent servir seulement qu'avec leur map... faut être un gros fan du jeu ou un "complétiste " . j'ai pluis de chance de brûler des pad du jeux régulier avant de passer à travers des expansions. Me reste la troisième à essayer ici ... les autres expansions pourraient venir d'un besoin de compléter une commande pour un shipping gratuit par exemple...
sous cello
Branch Claw: expansion encore scellée depuis un bout, ce n'est pas sa première apparition sans ce palmarès...😕
Marvel Champion: 2 - 3 expansions/pack achat impulsif d'une vente
Concordia venus et Solitaria: Venus j'ai joué avec une copie de quelqu'un d'autres alors moins honteux et Solitaria a à peine un mois alors trop jeune pour connaître la honte encore
Batman the animated serie Masterminds & mayhem: Je ne joue qu'à l'occasion au jeu de base avec mon gars alors probablement un achat de trop
cartographer Depth of sabek: Devrait être joué avant le prochain mois
Formulé Dé: Pack de piste des États-unis... je l'avais oublié... pas ouvert depuis... 20 ans ce n'est plus honteux rendu-là
Expansion de Black Sonata, piste Thunder Alley et Monsters Land: venait dans l'échange du jeu de base.. je ne pense pas y jouer pour le moment prochainement
Échange
Pax emancipation: Thème qui sort de l'ordinaire, mais je n'ai pas pris le temps de lire les règles
Celestia: Vient d'un échange de jeux de poussière... après lecture des règles, disons qu'ils n'est pas en haut de liste des jeux qui me tente d'essayer
The Pirate Republic: Un jeu de pirate est un jeu de cowboy, le thème est tentant, mais les jeux sont rarement bons, les règles chaotiques de celui-ci m'ont mis une pause à mon envie de l'essayer
Cerebria: Éventuellement à essayre d'ici la fin de l'année
Tokyo Highway: Beaucoup de jeu de pile déjà, les enfants moins tentés de l'essayer.
Mechanica: Un échange impulsif... lu les règles et ça m'a donné un goût banal avant même de l'essayer, c'est honteux un peu.
Expansion de Saloon Tycoon: Lui aussi après les lectures des règles, ça tombé à plat, je n'ai pas senti l'intérêt d'ajouter le ranch à une partie de Saloon Tycoon, ajouter du sérieux sur un jeu hasardeux et avec de l'inteaction chaotique n'apporte pas grand chose pour moi.
CV: dans la maison depuis seulement quelques semaines, il est juste pas assez mûre encore
Ce n'est pas si pire... je m'inquiète plus des jeux non-joués depuis 2 ou 3 ans que ceux qui n'ont pas vu une partie encore.
sous cello
Branch Claw: expansion encore scellée depuis un bout, ce n'est pas sa première apparition sans ce palmarès...😕
Marvel Champion: 2 - 3 expansions/pack achat impulsif d'une vente
Concordia venus et Solitaria: Venus j'ai joué avec une copie de quelqu'un d'autres alors moins honteux et Solitaria a à peine un mois alors trop jeune pour connaître la honte encore
Batman the animated serie Masterminds & mayhem: Je ne joue qu'à l'occasion au jeu de base avec mon gars alors probablement un achat de trop
cartographer Depth of sabek: Devrait être joué avant le prochain mois
Formulé Dé: Pack de piste des États-unis... je l'avais oublié... pas ouvert depuis... 20 ans ce n'est plus honteux rendu-là
Expansion de Black Sonata, piste Thunder Alley et Monsters Land: venait dans l'échange du jeu de base.. je ne pense pas y jouer pour le moment prochainement
Échange
Pax emancipation: Thème qui sort de l'ordinaire, mais je n'ai pas pris le temps de lire les règles
Celestia: Vient d'un échange de jeux de poussière... après lecture des règles, disons qu'ils n'est pas en haut de liste des jeux qui me tente d'essayer
The Pirate Republic: Un jeu de pirate est un jeu de cowboy, le thème est tentant, mais les jeux sont rarement bons, les règles chaotiques de celui-ci m'ont mis une pause à mon envie de l'essayer
Cerebria: Éventuellement à essayre d'ici la fin de l'année
Tokyo Highway: Beaucoup de jeu de pile déjà, les enfants moins tentés de l'essayer.
Mechanica: Un échange impulsif... lu les règles et ça m'a donné un goût banal avant même de l'essayer, c'est honteux un peu.
Expansion de Saloon Tycoon: Lui aussi après les lectures des règles, ça tombé à plat, je n'ai pas senti l'intérêt d'ajouter le ranch à une partie de Saloon Tycoon, ajouter du sérieux sur un jeu hasardeux et avec de l'inteaction chaotique n'apporte pas grand chose pour moi.
CV: dans la maison depuis seulement quelques semaines, il est juste pas assez mûre encore
Ce n'est pas si pire... je m'inquiète plus des jeux non-joués depuis 2 ou 3 ans que ceux qui n'ont pas vu une partie encore.
sous cello
Branch Claw: expansion encore scellée depuis un bout, ce n'est pas sa première apparition sans ce palmarès...😕
Marvel Champion: 2 - 3 expansions/pack achat impulsif d'une vente
Concordia venus et Solitaria: Venus j'ai joué avec une copie de quelqu'un d'autres alors moins honteux et Solitaria a à peine un mois alors trop jeune pour connaître la honte encore
Batman the animated serie Masterminds & mayhem: Je ne joue qu'à l'occasion au jeu de base avec mon gars alors probablement un achat de trop
cartographer Depth of sabek: Devrait être joué avant le prochain mois
Formulé Dé: Pack de piste des États-unis... je l'avais oublié... pas ouvert depuis... 20 ans ce n'est plus honteux rendu-là
Expansion de Black Sonata, piste Thunder Alley et Monsters Land: venait dans l'échange du jeu de base.. je ne pense pas y jouer pour le moment prochainement
Échange
Pax emancipation: Thème qui sort de l'ordinaire, mais je n'ai pas pris le temps de lire les règles
Celestia: Vient d'un échange de jeux de poussière... après lecture des règles, disons qu'ils n'est pas en haut de liste des jeux qui me tente d'essayer
The Pirate Republic: Un jeu de pirate est un jeu de cowboy, le thème est tentant, mais les jeux sont rarement bons, les règles chaotiques de celui-ci m'ont mis une pause à mon envie de l'essayer
Cerebria: Éventuellement à essayre d'ici la fin de l'année
Tokyo Highway: Beaucoup de jeu de pile déjà, les enfants moins tentés de l'essayer.
Mechanica: Un échange impulsif... lu les règles et ça m'a donné un goût banal avant même de l'essayer, c'est honteux un peu.
Expansion de Saloon Tycoon: Lui aussi après les lectures des règles, ça tombé à plat, je n'ai pas senti l'intérêt d'ajouter le ranch à une partie de Saloon Tycoon, ajouter du sérieux sur un jeu hasardeux et avec de l'inteaction chaotique n'apporte pas grand chose pour moi.
CV: dans la maison depuis seulement quelques semaines, il est juste pas assez mûre encore
Ce n'est pas si pire... je m'inquiète plus des jeux non-joués depuis 2 ou 3 ans que ceux qui n'ont pas vu une partie encore.
sous cello
Branch Claw: expansion encore scellée depuis un bout, ce n'est pas sa première apparition sans ce palmarès...😕
Marvel Champion: 2 - 3 expansions/pack achat impulsif d'une vente
Concordia venus et Solitaria: Venus j'ai joué avec une copie de quelqu'un d'autres alors moins honteux et Solitaria a à peine un mois alors trop jeune pour connaître la honte encore
Batman the animated serie Masterminds & mayhem: Je ne joue qu'à l'occasion au jeu de base avec mon gars alors probablement un achat de trop
cartographer Depth of sabek: Devrait être joué avant le prochain mois
Formulé Dé: Pack de piste des États-unis... je l'avais oublié... pas ouvert depuis... 20 ans ce n'est plus honteux rendu-là
Expansion de Black Sonata, piste Thunder Alley et Monsters Land: venait dans l'échange du jeu de base.. je ne pense pas y jouer pour le moment prochainement
Échange
Pax emancipation: Thème qui sort de l'ordinaire, mais je n'ai pas pris le temps de lire les règles
Celestia: Vient d'un échange de jeux de poussière... après lecture des règles, disons qu'ils n'est pas en haut de liste des jeux qui me tente d'essayer
The Pirate Republic: Un jeu de pirate est un jeu de cowboy, le thème est tentant, mais les jeux sont rarement bons, les règles chaotiques de celui-ci m'ont mis une pause à mon envie de l'essayer
Cerebria: Éventuellement à essayre d'ici la fin de l'année
Tokyo Highway: Beaucoup de jeu de pile déjà, les enfants moins tentés de l'essayer.
Mechanica: Un échange impulsif... lu les règles et ça m'a donné un goût banal avant même de l'essayer, c'est honteux un peu.
Expansion de Saloon Tycoon: Lui aussi après les lectures des règles, ça tombé à plat, je n'ai pas senti l'intérêt d'ajouter le ranch à une partie de Saloon Tycoon, ajouter du sérieux sur un jeu hasardeux et avec de l'inteaction chaotique n'apporte pas grand chose pour moi.
CV: dans la maison depuis seulement quelques semaines, il est juste pas assez mûre encore
Ce n'est pas si pire... je m'inquiète plus des jeux non-joués depuis 2 ou 3 ans que ceux qui n'ont pas vu une partie encore.
Kemet Blood & Sand à 4 - les tuiles en jeux étaient les "blanches", les "noires" et les "rouges". Je remporte la partie assez facilement en achetant aucune tuile rouge, 2 tuiles blanches (le +1 PP par action prier et le -1 PP en coût pour chacune des tuiles acquises - les PP ou points de prières ou peu importe comment on les appelle sont la monnaie du jeu et servent à acheter des tuiles, recruter des troupes etc.) et une trollée de tuiles noires dont les 4 de niveaux 3 et niveaux 4.
Ma bibitte de niveau 4 "la dévoreuse d'âmes" était vraiment très puissante puisqu'elle me permettait de faire deux points de victoire permanent en participant à un combat victorieux dans lequel j'éliminais au moins deux troupes. Puisqu'une carte de combat permet justement d'effectuer deux éliminations de troupes de façon imparable, je m'assurais ainsi de deux points de victoire permanent à chaque 5 combats - on a 8 cartes et à chaque combat on en joue une et en défausse une autre - j'avais donc un intérêt à me faire attaquer pour passer rapidement au travers de mes cartes et les reprendre en main et j'avais un bon moteur "économique" qui me permettait de gagner des troupes assez rapidement.
Je n'ai pas détesté mon expérience mais en même temps, ça été plutôt long comme partie puisque évidemment personne ne connaissait les tuiles et que ce sont ces mêmes tuiles qui font le jeu. J'aurai probablement été le plus lent ce qui n'est pas dans mes habitudes mais qui au final m'aura certainement avantagé.
Dans l'ensemble j'ai bien aimé les cartes de combats et ce, même si elles introduisent un élément de mémorisation (qui a joué quoi) afin de choisir judicieusement la carte a utilisé en combat. Les tuiles apportent des décisions tactiques intéressantes et puisqu'elle sont pour la plupart unique une certaine course aux meilleures tuiles ou à celles qui "combotent" bien ensemble est à prévoir une fois le jeu mieux maîtrisé. Un jeu où le plaisir et la tension certainement doit croître avec l'usage. Un jeu qui récompense aussi de rejouer avec le même groupe pour tout le bluff et l'ambiance de table qui s'installe forcément après quelques parties. Dans ce sens, Blood Rage vient à l'esprit.
Je ne sais pas à quel point j'aime assez ce type de jeux pour m'investir et jouer 4-5 parties en un relativement court laps de temps et avec les mêmes joueurs pour en goûter toute la saveur. Faudra voir.
3x Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest (2x 2P + 1x 4P): J'aime bien. C'est un jeu léger mais avec quand même de bonne décision a prendre mais sans que cela soit trop compliqué. Comme tout jeu dans le style, cela est plus stratégique à un nombre de joueur bas et devient de plus en plus chaotique plus le nombre de joueur augmente. Selon moi, ce jeu est excellent à 2, 3 ou 4 joueur , mais je ne sais aps si j'y jouerais à 5 ou 6, quoique en famille cela pourrait quand même être drôle. Ma conjointe aime bien aussi, donc on va surement y jouer plus dans les prochain jours et solidifier notre opinion sur le jeu.
1x Isle of Skye + Druids (4P): On fait une petite partie de ce jeu que cela faisait prêt de 2 ans que je n'avais pas joué. Et même si j'ai joué près de 50 parties de ce jeu lors des 7 dernières années, j'ai découvert qu'on a toujours joué une règle incorrectement, soit celle des bonus doublé. Bref, c'est pour cela que maintenant, j'essaie de toujours lire les règlements puis après ma première partie, de re-lire les règlements, question d'avoir tout correctement.
J'ai bien aimé Mind Mgmt, mais je suis pas flabergast. Et je ne sais pas si j'aurais envie d'y rejouer à plusieurs reprises...
Brian Boru, c'est bien, mais on dirait que je ne sais pas comment l'approcher. On dirait que tu fais plus jouer le jeu et qu'il n'y a pas de grandes surprises ou de gros revirement de situation...
Ark Nova à 2 joueurs. C'est vraiment, vraiment un bon jeu! Il y a 2 petits trucs qui me dérangent: la pige de carte peut vraiment venir te faire chier par moment et la longueur du jeu. Et, c'est le principal élément négatif du jeu. Il peut, à lui seul, venir mettre le jeu de côté. On a pris environ 2h30-3h avec les explications pour une game à 2. La game aurait pu finir 15-30 min plus tôt à mon avis si ma blonde avait joué différemment, mais il reste que c'est trop long pour nous. Je pense qu'une partie à deux va prendre 1h45 à 2h une fois les règles connues. Le debut est un peu trop lent, un peu comme TM ou bien Underwater Cities. Malgré tout, on en redemande! Ma blonde a également adoré.
Mille Fiori à 2 joueurs. Un bon jeu de monsieur Knizia. C'est pas idéal à 2 à mon avis, mais ça se joue bien et rapidement. J'ai hâte d'essayer à 4.
Menara est toujours un hit chez nous.
Quacks + Extension des Witchs. Un jeu très le fun, mais la partie à été un peu longue à mon goût à 5!
Super Mega Lucky Box est toujours très cool comme filler.
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea est une excellente amélioration du jeu du premier jeu de la série. Wow! Quel bon jeu!
Bad Company est un bon jeu léger qui commence bien une soirée. Ça roule super bien même jusqu'à 5 joueurs. Bien content de cette acquisition!
Quelques jeux d'enfants (Little Cooperation, Monster Chase, ...)
Babylonia Un bon jeu rapide j'aime bien les connexions que l'on peut faire et scorer vraiment plusieurs points en s'appropriant les villes. Les zigurats je pense pas en prendre 1 ou 2 par partie car c'est sûr que le 10 points ça aide beaucoup. Les jetons en bois un peu mince à mon goûts mais assez grand pour une bonne prise vraiment une bonne grandeur de jeu. Je ne peu pas comparer avec Samurai. En ce qui concerne Tigris et euphrates j'ai seulement lu les règles mais il semble plus long que babylonia ce sera à essayer pour comparer.
Hier, 5e partie de Aeon's End: Legacy of Gravehold. On joue contre le Fate Shepherd avec Qu:LoG et Taqren:LoG. Ce nemesis a un effet très cool qui semble initialement plus dévastateur que ce l'est vraiment au final, mais qui reste très cool pareil, ce qui fait qui est le fun a jouer contre. En plus, il a un mécanisme de Unleash original donc il sera surement un Nemesis le fun a rejoué en mode normal. Mais même avec sont petit tour de passe-passe, on gagne assez facilement contre lui. Bref, on progresse assez facilement dans cette campagne. À suivre!
Voici une longue entrevue que Feld a donnée en février dernier. L'original est en portugais, mais j'ai retranscrit la version google-translatée et formatée ci-dessous. On y apprend qu'avant d'être directeur d'école, Feld était probablement un prof de physique et non d'éducation physique (il est diplômé en physique et en math). La confusion vient probablement d'un vieil article mal traduit.
Ma citation préférée de cette entrevue est définitivement quand il dit : "The theme for me, whatever."
***
Who is Stefan Feld? And how did you get started in the boardgames hobby? And adding to the question of how was the transition from gamer to game author?
Feld: I am the youngest of 4 siblings. Being 5 years younger than my older brother and 10 years younger than my 2 older sisters. Since I was a child I saw them playing board games, initially only when I was very young, but then I was able to play with the older ones, and that was the spark of my passion for board games. Then puberty came and I moved away a little, because I started to have other interests.
I got back to gaming through a friend when I had to enlist and spend 1 year in the German army (Bundeswehr), which was the law at the time. This friend saw in a magazine at the time, a contest to discover new talents in board game design. The theme for the game was radio (the contest was from a radio). As I already liked to think about rules, I had a certain affinity for changing one thing or another, I liked the idea of participating and my friend thought of me for the contest too, so I went, signed up for the contest and got 2nd place in this contest.
That was pretty cool, as we won tickets to go to Essen and participate in the Deutscher Spielepreis award, which is a community award. It's the prize that players often pay the most attention to, where it has the heaviest games that don't fit very well with the other prizes. There's always a big party, I attended the awards and got to know the board game scene in Germany. That was at Essen in 1998. In the jury of this award I received, I had none other than Uwe Rosenberg, who had already launched Bohnanza and was beginning to be very recognized. I met Uwe there, he may not remember that, but I do!!
This whole event was very important to me, because it opened my eyes and motivated me to participate in it, start producing content and interacting with the board game community. From that moment, it took me 7 years interacting with the community, going on meetings with other authors to finally release my first game in 2005! That's when the author's life really began, with Roma!
Did your creative process always happen, even as a player? In your head, have you played with the rules since you were a child? Have you been trying to adapt rules, create new things since you were little? Or, as a player, you never had this concern about being an author and that came later?
Feld: For sure I was just a player initially. Although I created some house rules from time to time, I wasn't worried about being an author, only after I found my creative streak and started creating my games. But I already had fun creating my house rules, although it didn't happen often! Even before the contest I mentioned, I tried to create something or other, but it was in this contest that I started trying to work as an author myself.
Nowadays, you are an inspiration to many authors and gamers, but at the time you started making games, there weren't many authors yet. Who were your inspirations as an author?
Feld: There were 3 big names at the time in Germany, which were Reiner Knizia, Wolfgang Kramer and Klaus Teuber. In addition, Teuber, in addition to Catan, made several games that I really like with Löwenherz, which is a very confrontational game, Barbarossa, which is his party game. These 3 authors were my inspirations at that time. At that time it had one or another name from the USA, but it didn't follow that market very much at the time. I played a lot of Kramer games, like Heimlich und co and then I met El Grande that I played a lot, which is a game, of course!! Others that I played a lot were Fürsten von Florenz and Maharaja! These names that were very big back then are still giants today.
Pedro: I'm a big fan of your work, Feld. Mainly Burgundy and Jórvik.
Bruno Vasconcelos: Burgundy is my favorite Feld! It's one of the few I play online! I can play it with several people and my wife always beats me! It's a super elegant yet strategic game.
Bruno Teixeira : [Shows Tuscany, who is nicknamed BB in Germany, because he is a mini-burgundy, or a family burgundy]
Bruno Vasconcelos : In our group, we have Phil Marcondes . Who is a super fan of Burgundy, and always wins the games he plays! Sandro from the B & B has all his games in his collection! We have Diego Salerno , he also has almost all of his games! We have Claudia too, a super fan of his. These are 4 super fans that we have next here.
(I cut a little bit of conversation here, but Feld said he's sorry for us for the 7x1 until today, when we mentioned that we're from Belo Horizonte! lol)
Regarding game development, how do you do it? Whenever you have an idea do you write it down? Does your wife and children give you ideas? Do you always have ideas in your head and then work on them? How is the working day of an author like Stefan Feld?
Feld: Since I took over as headmaster of the school, I haven't had as much time to think and produce games as I used to. Now I work more on games during school holidays.
It's hard to put into words how the idea of a game starts, but usually I have the idea of a game and I have it all sort of ready in my head. When I have the idea for the game, whenever I have the time, I'm thinking about the mechanics and how to introduce everything, get the game as ready as possible. Then I go to the computer and try to translate all this into images and materials, print and leave everything in an ok format for a prototype, try to play a little, see if it's being cool and fun. I'm doing development and I have the advantage that my wife likes to play and test, so I can play with her and test everything, and she's very critical! She goes on criticizing and saying what she should put in or take out, and only after her approval do I take it to the publishers.
Nowadays, publishers come to me to see if I have any projects they can publish. I have several projects in parallel and then this is being worked on and published little by little. Whenever I have an idea, I start with mechanics. Sometimes it works and it goes smoothly and other times it doesn't and I have to work hard and think hard about how to make it all work and be fun. For Trajan, for example, I had the mancala idea, but I didn't know how it would work. I sat around for a long time thinking about how to make this cool and get to the game we have today. I came up with the idea with the different colors, and the different places to put them.
And so, sometimes it flows, sometimes it's a heavy engineering job to develop a game. Trajan was an example that I had to work A LOT! While Burgundy, from the beginning, almost didn't change anything, it was a work that came out of my head almost straight to the final version.
How do you work math in games? In terms of statistics, probability, how do you try to adjust that and try to balance it out? Are you the one who takes on the role of this job or do you have any help with this ?
Feld: That was never a problem for me. At most, I use an Excel to adjust the accounts. I have a degree in Physics and mathematics has never been a problem for me, so I do this part alone.
What I pay most attention to is the math for scaling to all player counts, which is a challenge at times and I need to pay close attention to that. Despite all this calculation and a priori work, it turns out that a lot is changed in the empirical part. It's not just math, there's a lot of human gameplay element to consider. With experience, it turns out I can do it faster. I know there were things that I thought were good before, but now I know better what works and what won't.
You have a son, correct? Is this your main test group? With the wife and child? Or how do you test?
Feld: Currently, the son not so much, because he is 23 years old and doesn't live here anymore. When he comes, he tests, but in the past when he lived here at home, he helped me test a lot. This I always did with the family. But now, the main thing, there is a board game club with over 100 members and a lot of people like to test my games. There are always a lot of people wanting to test my games! I even worry if I'm not “pissing off” them always coming up with more games to test, but there are a lot of people who love to test new things.
Bruno Vasconcelos: Is there anything new for now?
Feld: I always have something new being developed and produced.
These are my main test groups. And then there are the editors and editors of Alea, Queen Games, who come to my house and spend 2 or 3 days testing and playing from morning to night, frantically, until dawn sometimes. Then they decide what's good, what's working and what we can try differently.
Bruno Vasconcelos: Is Alea's still Stefan Brück?
Feld: Yes. He is an editor at Alea who has worked with me for a long time and has already helped me a lot in several games. Now he's left Alea, but we've worked together for a long time.
How is your freedom to develop games with the publisher? You come and bring the mechanics, the game? How can you decide every aspect of your games, relative to publisher decisions? Do you have marketing and sales influence or is it the publisher's decision?
Feld: It's hard to summarize, but as everyone knows, I come from mechanics, not theme. The theme for me, whatever. I don't have to worry about that aspect of the game, the publisher comes and helps me decide the themes for the games. Burgundy when I started testing it was called “Manager de Pasto” (free translation), when I gave it to the publisher. It's a game that I had the idea of green chips and that was the provisional title to be able to deliver. I always put the initial titles as “something” manager, when I deliver to the publisher.
Lately, I've been trying to get a little more interested in the topic. As an example, Bonfire, I delivered already with an idea for a theme with temples, fire. Regarding mechanics, I work a little differently from other authors, nowadays I never deliver the prototype completely ready. Before, I would deliver the game almost ready, but now I deliver a game idea and sit down with Stefan Brück, for example, and we decide together. With an external idea, we try to maintain consistency, maintain an average complexity, without too many complications, we try to prune and add in the right measures.
What I've learned in all these years is that the publisher has the biggest risk, they're going to publish and do the marketing. And then I trust the editors I work with a lot, and I never lose when an editor asks to remove a mechanic or something, because I can always rework it in another game. As an example of this, we have in Notredame where you pay and do an action, while Jórvik's mechanic where you place one worker behind another, making a queue, was supposed to be from Notredame initially, but the test group thought it was too much of a burden on the match. Then I saved the mechanics and used it on Jórvik.
At that time of Notredame, the feedback was that for that time, with all the mechanics together, the game would be too heavy and the game would not sell well, so the game was pruned to make it more palatable. Jórvik was born out of that, because I really liked the mechanics and I couldn't use it in Notredame. That's one of my strengths as an author, seeing the big picture, working as a team, not just observing the game and its mechanics alone. Getting these outside opinions helps my games and it's been working!
Did the publishers always only consider the German market or did they try to produce games internationally, for the whole world, from the beginning? Is knowledge of the American market an issue to consider? Or is the German market the focus?
Feld: In the beginning, the focus was only on the German market, both for me and for the publishers, nobody looked outside, just what was being played here, what interests us here. For a long time, Alea only had one international partner, Rio Grande Jogos. At that time, the US was very marked by ameritrashes and we were not interested in that here, we always focused a lot on eurogames. We knew a few names like Hasbro and Mattel, but it was a totally different focus.
But a few years ago, the market completely changed. Nowadays it is the opposite, publishers look primarily at the American market, what is sold there, as their main concern. Sales in the US are much higher than in Germany and Europe in general. Not just in the US, but internationally. As an example of Bonfire, which sold more than 1000 copies in Brazil, for example. In the Netherlands 1000, and in the USA much much more.
Nowadays, Eastern European countries have also had their board game scenes being developed. Russia and Asian countries are also new market entrants. The focus nowadays is really on the international market, as opposed to 10 years ago, which was just Germany. That's why many games now have a new version or an English title so they can be marketed globally. This development is very interesting. A few years ago I would never have imagined that I would be sitting today talking to people from Brazil!
Bruno Vasconcelos: This is very interesting. Through the internet, we can meet and have a nice chat with an author we admire a lot. This would never have been possible without technology.
Feld: It's nice to be talking on the internet. But I really want to meet these people this year in Essen too!
Bruno Vasconcelos: It would certainly be a great opportunity for us to meet in person, chat and play something together! Maybe one or the other will be able to show up in Essen this year and we can score something.
Are you in Essen every year?
Feld: I've been in every year since '98, except 2021, because for me it's very complicated because I have to take extra vacations to go to the conference, now as the school's principal. But in 2022 I will be there for sure!
How is Stefan Feld in Essen? Are you just there as an author, or as a visitor, trying to enjoy a little, keep in touch? How is your experience there? Do you still take a prototype or another to test with the guys on the spot?
Feld: My heart still beats faster as a player than as an author. I try to take the time to get to know games as a gamer and I can realistically spend 25% of my time as a gamer getting to know new games, and 75% getting to know people, meeting people and being the author Stefan Feld.
I don't take prototypes there anymore, because I already have the testing structure organized outside, but I think it's a good idea for new authors to bring their prototypes to the fair to be tested by the public and the community. But it's a lot of work for me these days hahaha. This is a tip I give to new authors. As hard as it is, take a prototype to publishers, authors, publishers at the fair to try to present your game. It's a lot of work but it's worth it. Editors have a very difficult job at the fair, where they run around solving various issues. And at the end, sometimes there's a meeting with Alea and sometimes, we're so tired that we let it go and just go get something to eat.
(off topic!) Pedro challenged Feld to a game of Jorvik and Feld accepted and said it would be worth a beer! But that Pedro would have to teach Stefan the rules, because he doesn't remember them anymore. Let's forgive Feld for not remembering Jórvik's rules as he has a lot of games!! (end of off topic!)
Is there a game you're most proud of having made? Do you have any that are your favorite? Which do you think worked best? If you could only choose 1 game of your own to present, which would it be?
Feld: I always have a standard answer to this question: that my games are like children, that I can't choose one over the others. Burgundy is definitely my most successful game. And that's funny because no one imagined that Burgundy would be my big hit. For me, it's a good game, but it's just another game of mine. But it was so successful, it scares me to this day. It's one of my games that still sees more tables at home, but even so I would never have imagined this great success. If I could predict that, I would only try to release games that would make this kind of success. I don't have a game that I think is superior to all the others. But I'm proud of some specific mechanics, which are the highlights of my games. Like, for example, Trajan's mancala.
Bruno Vasconcelos: It's something that we hold in high esteem in you as an author, that you always try to innovate a little bit in every game you play. Without trying to play the same game over and over again.
Feld: Thank you very much! I think Bonfire's mechanics of fitting pieces are really cool. I also like Macao with the dice and compass roses. Which are mechanics that are only found in these games. I'm also critical, I'm not perfect and I know that if I were to remake some of these games they would have some changes.
One of the games that I was hoping people would really enjoy, but didn't really like, was The Oracle of Delphi. That with publishers and testing groups was very successful, but when released did not find the same response. It's something I still don't understand to this day, maybe it's because the influence of luck is a little more prevalent in this game.
To amend, that you cited this disappointment, what is your most underrated game? Which one didn't get the appreciation you thought it deserved?
Feld: Delphi for sure. It's a disappointment, I believe it's underrated, but I understand what it means for a game to be underrated? The difference in people's expectations and all. Everyone expects my next game to be the next Burgundy and that affects the perception of all my games.
The expectation ends up spoiling the experience, many times. That it is impossible to replicate what happened in the past. But that's how it works, I hear criticism of my games, but I stopped doing that a few years ago. Now I don't try to produce the next Burgundy, I don't try to produce the next Blockbuster, I make games that I want to play, not what's going to try to win a prize or something. I don't know what the problem with Delphi is, if luck matters a lot or the setup is too long. I do not know.
Bruno Vasconcelos: It's normal too. There's no way you can release one super game one after the other, but on average you're a super successful author and you shouldn't worry about it.
Feld: One source of disappointment I've noticed is that my lighter games aren't very successful. As was the case with La Isla and Kokopelli, people expect a middleweight Feld and find them too easy and find them a bit boring. The question of my name being linked to a type of game, expectations often get in the way of public reception.
Tuscany, for example, sold in Brazil, even when imported. Clearly he's Burgundy's younger brother, what was the idea behind his creation? Was it your idea or the publisher's to make a new Burgundy a little lighter and different?
Feld: Half and half. Firstly, Alea editor Stefan Brück said that he wanted a lighter, more family-friendly version of Burgundy. I understand that Burgundy sells well and they want to increase the game's audience a bit.
I always had in mind to make a modular idea, instead of a fixed one, as it is in Burgundy, and then, as I already had this idea, I combined it with the publisher's idea and created Castles of Tuscany. It was my decision and the publisher's decision to make this Burgundy lighter and faster to sell to a wider audience. I was impressed how fast Tuscany plays.
Macao has always been a great game. But it is no longer available on the market for a long time. Is there any prospect of a re-release of it in the City Collection?
Feld: Absolutely. Macao is being worked on in the City Collection, it will be available to buy with a few more things than the original version. It will certainly be more affordable to buy than Macao in an out-of-print market.
Bruno Vasconcelos: Can you give us more information about the City Collection? What's the plan, what games are coming out, when are they coming out? Do you know if these editions will be released in Brazil?
Feld: The idea of this City Collection was very interesting, the editor of Queen Games called me and said he wanted to do something different with me. He said he'd known me since Roma, my first game, and he said he wanted to do nice things with me. We decided to repackage my greatest hits, put something new in each game, and launch a new collection with new versions of the games. We started to do all the production, but the pandemic crisis arrived right at the beginning of this freight and cardboard crisis. So it's all developed, but even Queen Games doesn't know when it's all going to come out due to the crisis. It is a shame. Because it's a special project, and everything is now going to be more expensive and later than planned. I don't have the exact information, who knows everything is Queen Games.
What I do know is that the first 4 games were produced and will be released by April, I believe. The biggest problem now in the global production of games is the production of cards, which has disrupted the entire flow of production. There are cases of publishers that took 6 months to receive shipments that should have taken a few weeks.
Bruno Vasconcelos: I work with international freight and logistics, and this crisis is really being very difficult, generating a lot of delays and additional costs for everyone.
Feld: Absolutely. The shipping costs are absurd and there's no way to change it, that's how it is. It's a shame that games have to be so expensive, but I understand that everything is more expensive and the publisher can't afford it all. I don't think it's good, but that's how things are these days.
On the other hand, this City Collection are deluxe editions. With extraordinary quality, I already had everything in my hands, except the cards, and I know that it doesn't justify the high prices, but they are editions of high added value already in their conception.
Bruno Vasconcelos: Nice game is good, hehe!
Feld: The editor at Queen Games focuses on that! He wants everything to be beautiful, of the highest quality, and he cares a lot about the whole issue. Currently the initial 4 are already in production. Games 5 and 6 are already underway. Games 7 and 8 will have well-known games, and there's at least one of those that is a game no one is expecting. I can't say anything, but wait for the news!!
Bruno Vasconcelos: Is it Burgundy??
Feld: No no, that's Alea's rights. So Burgundy won't be in the City Collection, that I can say. One day there will be something more from Burgundy, but currently it's from Alea and it's going to stay that way. The game that no one is waiting for, which I can't say the name of, also starts with the letter B. So there are 5 options for you to guess!
Bruno Vasconcelos: New trivia for people: try to guess the game that will be released between 7 and 8 of Feld's City Collection!!
Feld: We are working on adding the new modules and making them look nice and well done! So far, we have the series planned until the 8th game, then we will evaluate the success of the series and if we continue and release more games in it.
Ideas abound, but we have to evaluate. Summary: games 1 to 4 need to be produced and sent to people. Games 5 and 6 are well underway, they still need to finish producing. Games 7 and 8, some modules and things are missing to be adjusted and then send everything to production. Then we have to see if it will be successful. One thing I can say is that every 4 games in the collection, one of them is a completely new game! So games 4 and 8 are new. [Editor's Note: Game 7 is what no one is expecting!!] I'm really excited and happy about Marrakesh, I think people are going to really like the game! It will be a heavy euro game, not average as usual. [Editor's note: Not to be confused with Marrakesh which is by another author!!!]
Bruno Vasconcelos: Thanks for the insider information! I'm sure there are already a lot of people looking forward to this new collection.
Are you the first person to get the game ready? After that is everything produced and developed? Or do you only receive it along with the normal sale?
Feld: It depends on the publisher. There is a publisher that prints the proof and sends it to the author to check if there is a problem and only then release it for sale. Bonfire, for example, I received a proof print before. Alea, for example, doesn't do that, he only sees it when it's ready for the public. With Queen Games, I have more access to the game during production.
I'm very satisfied with Queen. I've had access to all the material before. But that totally depends on the publisher. There are times when I receive a game from me in the mail and I wasn't even expecting it, it's like a gift. The first time I saw and opened a game of mine, as was the case with Kokopelli, who had a super fast production. Then when that happens, I do a whole unboxing ritual and play the final version of my game for the first time. That's one of my main motivations as an author, having the product ready and thinking that it's in the homes of several people who can play the game, like me. Fortunately, I have a job as a school principal and I don't have to worry about game sales, and that's my biggest motivation: thinking about others playing my games, not money.
Bruno Vasconcelos: This is interesting, because in a creative profession it is better for the artist to have this freedom, financially and in terms of production schedules.
Do you know any Brazilian authors? Have you ever had a Brazilian game in your hands?
Feld: I don't know. I don't know the name, I've probably played a Brazilian game, but I didn't know. I look at who the author is, try to keep up with the news, but I haven't been able to keep up with the community for a long time. Not having much free time to research this, the time I have ends up being to work on my games! Can you tell me some Brazilian author or game?
Bruno Vasconcelos: I've been in Germany for 13 years, and it turns out I'm a little out of date on that too. But I can say about some of the better known ones, like Jordy Adan from Cartógrafos, who came in 2nd place in the Kennerspiel des Jahres, and Brazil, which is going to be released internationally, that I heard about people from Germany reviewing the game and it hasn't even come out yet. in Brazil.
Feld: Oh, okay. A moment… [Feld returns with Cartógrafos in hand] So, correcting myself, yes, I know a Brazilian author and game. It's a really good game!
Apart from your games, what are Stefan Feld's favorite games as a player? Can you tell us your top 3? People love rankings and that kind of thing, hehe.
Feld: There are a lot of great games. And currently, a lot of games that I think are very, very good, but I'm a nostalgic, and the games that marked me the most are old games. One of the ones that impressed me the most was the Löwenherz, another was the Prince of Florence, as I mentioned before, and the Taj Mahal by Knizia. The mechanic I like the most is the auction, and I think the Taj Mahal is very smart, the way Knizia uses it in his games. It is very interactive and confrontational. I like Power Grid, although it takes a little longer than I would like.
Of the most recent titles, the one that impressed me the most was Ark Nova, which I really liked! I really like seeing what people are currently doing, seeing the mechanics that are coming up these days and being able to refresh my ideas.
Bruno Vasconcelos: As a player, I like to play a new game, but you as an author end up looking at it with a critical eye initially, seeing the mechanics and what's new there.
Feld: Another game I really like is Underwater Cities. He has a lot of things I really like about a game.
As a teacher and school principal, how do you see the relationship between board games and education? Have you tried to integrate this at school? What are your thoughts on that? Do you try to activate this at your school?
Feld: I love this theme!! It's a complicated topic, but I really like the principle, I believe that board games should be a subject in high school! I see board games in general as having a lot to teach, both emotionally and socially, as well as in the practical form of the skills you have to develop to play board games. Playing a new game, reading a manual, learning the rules, explaining the rules, all this dynamic has a lot to teach. Yet the dynamics of playing together, learning to win, learning to lose, making decisions, dealing with your mistakes and dealing with all of that is something that has a lot to teach, a very rich experience of communication.
You can learn a lot and still have fun. Not just in pedagogical games, which have this principle, but normal games, average eurogames that we would play with friends, have a lot to teach! Despite all that, I never wanted to do this in my school. Because I already work so much at school, I don't want to mix my hobby with my work. I'm glad the 2 things are in separate areas and that I can keep it that way. I never wanted to have a boring climate where someone says I have a conflict of interest, of trying to promote my games at school, as if it were a marketing campaign. So at this point, it's important for me to separate the two areas.
What's interesting is that in recent years, there's been a lot of my students recognizing me as “the author of the games”, and asking me to make an offer for board game clubs. And now I'm using the opportunity that after the school's renovation, which is underway, I'm going to set aside a room for the board game club that will be run by the students. It is quite curious how interest in board games has increased considerably on the part of young people in recent years.
Bruno Vasconcelos: Do you think this interest is only in your school, because you are a principal, or is it a general interest of young people that is increasing? Like a new cultural development in Germany or something?
Feld: Yes, I believe it makes a difference. Which is pretty cool and adds a charm to the whole thing. But I believe that board games are not as big of a cultural product as they should be in Germany. In Brazil, how is this issue of board games?
Bruno Vasconcelos: In Brazil it is much smaller than even in Germany.
Feld: I still don't see it as having all this success around here either, that I can walk down the street without being recognized or anything. Overall, I don't see that there's this big change in German culture, which is perhaps more of a bubble effect in my school. It only happened on the rare occasion that someone stopped me on the street to take a picture, or autograph a game, taking place in Essen.
Bruno Vasconcelos: Will this board club experiment that you will do at your school be restricted to a club or could you offer a board games course, as you had proposed?
Feld: Even as the headmaster of the school, I don't have that power to create the discipline, so it will be a club. Here in Germany these questions are pretty strict, but whenever I can, I will try to spread these ideas. Currently I don't see this development in the German school curriculum, but maybe one day when I'm retired, board games will be so common in the culture that they can be developed as music, painting or other cultural elements that are included in the German curriculum.
Bruno Vasconcelos: My wife is also a math teacher, and she could certainly use games in various practical parts of her classes, even several authors are mathematicians like Knizia and Kramer. Final thoughts, Stefan Feld?
Feld: In terms of news, I can't say much, because I get a muzzle from the publishers and so I can't say much. Apart from the City Collection from Queen Games, I've been developing a themed game for 2 years, an ameritrash by Stefan Feld, today I picked up some miniatures of the game. This will be, for sure, the next thing that will come out of novelty. I also have a project with Deep Print Games, working on something new with them. It's another heavy euro that I'm developing. We have to see how production will be with these world crises.
With Ravensburg I have a separate Alea project going on as well, but I can't say anything about it at all. But soon, more information about this project will come out. For the fans, I haven't retired, I have several projects, but productions are delayed due to the pandemic and global logistics crisis. Again, I'd like to say that I'm very happy to be able to be talking to you from Brazil, to get my message out there. What time is it?
Bruno Vasconcelos: 12:30 in Brazil
Feld: It's time for your lunch then! Hugs to all the fans in Brazil!
Bruno Vasconcelos: Thank you very much for your willingness! I was glad the interview went very smoothly, and you were so friendly. I'm glad that Brazilians will have a lot of material about Stefan Feld! Thank you very much!
Feld: Thank you! Goodbye! I'll be waiting for you in Essen for a game of Jorvik and I'll bring the beer because I know I'm going to lose!
Ce que j'ai observé de tous ces "extras" et autres promos et exclusivités, c'est que bien souvent, ils viennent rendre l'expérience plus complexe, souvent même alambiquée et ce au détriment de l'expérience de jeu initiale, l'essence même.
"Ce qui se conçoit bien s'énonce clairement et les mots pour le dire viennent aisément" disait Boileau
Wingspan - 4 parties... Après Terraforming Mars, Orléans et Paladins, c'est autours de Wingspan d'être le focus de ma conjointe. Celle-ci n'est pas très "gameuse" et surtout, elle déteste apprendre de nouvelles règles. C'est pourquoi on rejoue au même jeu jusqu'à temps qu'elle gagne après quoi elle me bat une dernière fois pour se rassurer sur sa maîtrise du jeu et on passe alors à un autre quelques semaines ou mois plus tard. On joue avec toutes les extensions et j'ai remporté les 4 parties jusqu'ici...mais ça se resserre drôlement. J'aime bien Wingspan malgré quelques défaut.
Pillards de Scythie, à trois avec Alex et Pat. Première partie pour moi. J'avais également une partie de Pillards de la mer de Nord et sa ribambelle d'extensions. Une fin pas mal épique. Victoire de Pat sur Alex au bris d'égalité (il a un mercenaire- ou peu importe le nom qu'on leur donne dans le jeu - de plus). Je ferme la marche à trois points derrière. Scythia est une belle relecture de Pillard et l'améliore en tout points selon moi.
Roll for the Galaxy - avec les deux mêmes compagnons pour une première partie et ensuite on enchaîne avec une deuxième à 4 cette fois-ci avec le fils d'Alex qui se joint à nous. 2 victoires pour moi, la dernière à l'arraché sur le dernier tie breaker (le plus de dés dans son gobelet). J'aime bien Roll for the Galaxy, je le considère comme un "power filler". Les tours se succèdent à un train d'enfer et le matériel est jouissif à manipuler.
Fantasy Realms - à 4. Je termine deuxième et ensuite bon dernier. J'ai vraiment de la difficulté à apprécier ce jeu. Je ne comprends pas bien comment les cartes viennent s'influencer les unes et les autres alors je commets des bourses et rejette des cartes qui m'auraient été pas mal utiles. Le fait que le décompte des points (même avec l'application) soit aussi long sinon plus que le temps de jeu me refroidi également passablement.
Hyann a réagi à sterober dans Jeux joués en mars 2022
Hyann a reçu une réaction de marcc dans Jeux joués en mars 2022
Hyann a reçu une réaction de Migmeister dans Pile de la honte 2022
Hyann a reçu une réaction de meemtyke dans Pile de la honte 2022
Hyann a reçu une réaction de Hibou77 dans Pile de la honte 2022
