The Lethe

Step 1: The Ordinary World – A long time ago
My love of board games runs DEEP. It’s honestly crazy because I didn’t get into them until quite recently. However, I can firmly say looking into the mechanics of them is one of my favourite activities these days. Pondering the intricacies of what makes an effective, fun game is awesome. What really makes it fascinating, though, is my interest in storytelling. This has manifested itself in theatre, english and then film. A couple years back, this interest spread to tabletop roleplaying games as they were not just the creation of a story but the creation of a medium by which stories could be told. It was a whole new dimension of elements to think about. As I got into board games, I realised that they, too, are mediums for storytelling. It’s less obvious, but the best board games are ones that have the capacity offer heart-wrenching, anxiety-inducing, blood-pumping experiences where you can truly get invested in the personal stories created between friends. The ones where you can play it a second time and still harken back to previous games and complain about just how close you were to winning. Now they don’t all have to be like this – there is plenty enough artistry in just creating a fun experience. The many mechanics, tools and design philosophies in game creation offer many ways to make a good game. But I’m a perfectionist when it comes to this stuff. I won’t accept this project as complete until I make a great game.

Step 2: The Call to Adventure – September 29th 2022
So, why the fuck am I making a board game. Well, first off, it’s fun. So… blow me. But, you do have a point that I am a fundamentally unmotivated person so there did have to be some sort of stimuli to incite this action. The details of which are embarrassing so like- don’t judge me, ok? On this particular occasion, a streamer I watch launched a production company. Now this company is mainly intended to help content creators host large scale events and get brand deals in it’s current form. However, they put out an open call to any creator and mentioned that they would like to go into game design in future and upon my questioning: “Would you ever be open to making a traditional game like a board game or TTRPG?” he replied “Yeah, maybe, sure.” Which is good enough for me! Mainly because I was already wanting to make a board game and this gives me a level of guidance on what to create that I will use as my crutch to limp through my creative process. This is going to be great.

And so begins my journey… I have no clue if I will ever complete it.

Step 3: Refusal of the Call – November 15th 2022
So…. hehe… been a while 👉👈 This page is sort of my neglected child. I haven’t even made this public yet. Regardless, it’s thematically relevant to ignore it for a while. Either way, before I plunge into the depths of game creation, I need to dip my toe in, first. We begin, (3 weeks ago) with brainstorm! Only one core theme in mind: This games has to be about streaming. A shotgun of spaghetti to see if anything sticks or if this pursuit is a lost cause. And y’know what? I think some stuck. One of the first things I had to decide on is the game’s core mechanic. Many such mechanics are worker placement (putting down indicators to collect/build/accrue points or resources in a certain location), eurogames (building a structure or society to expand and create), resource management (juggling necessary resources to survive and thrive), pattern creation (managing elements to construct favourable combinations), deck building (building a deck of cards that synergises to make a winning strategy), war games (controlling units to battle other players) and engine building (collecting and utilising processes that feed into one another to create maximum value) and many, many more. If you’re playing as streamers, the growth process would be most thematically similar to engine building. As such, that’s where my thoughts started. AND ACTUALLY (JAN 27TH 2023 ERIS BREAKING IN) I REFUSE YOUR FUCKING CALL. I realised recently that I do not like Engine builders. They have so many elements and so many things to consider and it would take me five thousand years to balance. So I will come back soon (heh, probably not) and update you. We’re scrapping it all.