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"What is Red," was the response. We laughed and joked around with the idea for a bit, much of the discussion revolving around the sentence "You are playing Red, highest card wins." Quickly we honed in on the idea that each color would represent a different game/ruleset. I wanted the game to be simple, but with enough depth to be satisfying. Carl agreed!
The idea to make an instant and simple game was somewhat a response to Pairs' huge funding on Kickstarter earlier in 2014. I wanted Red — the name of which later changed to Red7 to allow it to be found in searches — to have the same wide market appeal, a game that you can enjoy in any setting with gamers and non-gamers alike. We were actually going to Kickstart it at one point, but it was so popular at Gen Con 2014 that we didn't see the need — and that's why it's out already!
I poked my graphical designer, Alanna Cervenak, about Red very early on because we like to have good looking prototypes. Here's what she has to say:
Quote:
One morning we started our daily meeting, and Chris told me "so I made a completely new game with Carl. Last night." We'd just finished up production for Impulse, so I had to ask "what. How." I really loved the concept for Red7 (just "Red" at the time) from the get-go, due to how easy it was to learn and accessible to play.
Chris and Carl had been testing it out with a 7Deck, and we had a lot of leeway to conceptualize a theme. It was basically "ROYGBIV, numbered 1-7, ideas GO." It was a really fun challenge to try to stick with a simple, clean, yet interesting aesthetic. We decided on this concept of paint splotches pretty early on, and we were able to really expand upon that with the paint brushes, and calling different aspects of the deck by names like "canvas" or "palette". We saw a lot of success with the short-print deck at Gen Con, and it was really rewarding watching people get into strategic planning. We made a few colour tweaks for the final print run to better differentiate between red/orange and indigo/violet and to gain some more readability for the reference cards, then made a box/rulebook.
This has probably been my favourite project I've worked on thus far as an Asmadi employee as I just really love Red7. Fun fact: I am Canadian, so forcing myself to spell "colour" without a "u" was one of my greatest challenges throughout this project. Love you, Americans.
As you can see, the visual appeal progressed nicely!Chris and Carl had been testing it out with a 7Deck, and we had a lot of leeway to conceptualize a theme. It was basically "ROYGBIV, numbered 1-7, ideas GO." It was a really fun challenge to try to stick with a simple, clean, yet interesting aesthetic. We decided on this concept of paint splotches pretty early on, and we were able to really expand upon that with the paint brushes, and calling different aspects of the deck by names like "canvas" or "palette". We saw a lot of success with the short-print deck at Gen Con, and it was really rewarding watching people get into strategic planning. We made a few colour tweaks for the final print run to better differentiate between red/orange and indigo/violet and to gain some more readability for the reference cards, then made a box/rulebook.
This has probably been my favourite project I've worked on thus far as an Asmadi employee as I just really love Red7. Fun fact: I am Canadian, so forcing myself to spell "colour" without a "u" was one of my greatest challenges throughout this project. Love you, Americans.
One of the toughest game design issues we faced was how to handle drawing cards. Minor tweaks in that area had drastic effects on game length and enjoyability, and it's part of why we tested the game so heavily both internally and externally with the print-and-play. One of the very first rules we tested allowed you to draw any time you changed the rule. This added a lot of end-of-the-game "miracle draw" chains, which were cute but not very interesting. It undermined the planning choices you'd made early and often tossed the game to a coin flip at the end. Who would draw wrong first!
The next iteration was to allow a card draw if the player both played and discarded. This eliminated the long endgames, but it still didn't quite feel right. What we decided in the end was to leave card drawing entirely out of Basic Red7; that way there was a very casual, easy-to-learn experience for new players and folks wanting a light experience. Advanced Red7 contains this rule: "If you discard a card that is higher than the size of your palette, draw a card." This added an interesting new layer of planning, one suitable for people who've played a few times.
The other issue we faced is that like many card games, drawing the "best" cards in Red7 gives you an advantage. Many people don't care; they just want to play a quick game with luck as a fun part of that equation. Winning with a lesser hand feels neat if you can make that sneaky and clever play to do so! But for people who wanted more (and I fall into this camp often), we devised the optional action rules. By adding effects to the low cards (1 and 3) that were beneficial, and to the high cards (5 and 7) that required more careful planning to use well, we aimed to make it so that any hand could win. If you draw seven 2s, well, that's your own fault. There is a limit to how much luck we can remove from a card game...
The end result of Red7 is a game I'm really proud to have been a part of creating. It looks beautiful, I can play it with casual gamers, and I can play it with serious gamers. Also I hope it sells a lot of copies because I'd like to buy an island! I hear they are cool. Well, warm, but you know.
Chris Cieslik
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