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In June 2009 during the Game Developers' Gathering in Göttingen, Germany, my son Louis and I were sitting at our table, waiting as usual for any editors to visit us. We had already developed more than a dozen games, and this was our second time participating at Göttingen. All of a sudden, an idea hit me: Why not make square action cards that vary in their effect depending on their orientation?
This was well before World Without End was released, so it seemed like quite a new idea to me. In a few hours of talking and sketching, the basic concept of the game came to life: square action cards with four different actions each, a simultaneous planning phase in each round, multi-purpose pawns that can either activate action cards or move along the board to actually execute the actions, an indeterminate number of rounds, four different resources, three types of buildings, and various ways to win.
The Early Stages
It took two months for us to design the first prototype, without a real theme and rather abstract in the game material. First tests were promising, so we kept on going. Over just the next three months, the game experienced ten significant iterations, each of them thoroughly tested. Several other game designers gave valuable input, and our gaming groups liked the design very much.
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An early action card (in German)
During this time, we introduced a setting for the design, settling on a non-descript plateau enclosed by mountains with a few passes to reach it. This explained the seclusion of the game's setting, provided for all game elements, and generated the prototype's working title: Altiplano, the Spanish word for mountain plateau.
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Early board and material design, with action cards placed face-down on a player's tableau,
making planning rather tiresome
In November 2009, we decided to submit the prototype to the Hippodice Game Developers' Competition. During that competition's proceedings – a long four months – we playtested the game again and again, without changing any of the mechanisms. The rulebook, however, was revised and dressed up with some examples, while the game board's size was reduced significantly. This "uneventful" time was well-used to gain experience that would serve us well in future development stages.
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An early version being played at the Hippodice Competition in 2010
(Used with permission of Hippodice's Karsten Höser)
On March 13, 2010, we received a simple e-mail informing us that Altiplano had won the special "Best Full-Length Game" award in the Hippodice 2010 contest. What a day!
Finding a Publisher
But despite our never-ending enthusiasm and contact with many editors, no one seemed to be interested in this game at first. We had to wait quite some time and needed a lot of luck to find a publisher for our awarded game.
During a gaming weekend in September 2010, we happened to meet an editor from Queen Games, while the rules of Altiplano had already been sent via mail to another Queen Games editor. A few days later, Queen requested a prototype, and only a week later we received a call – our game had been accepted! We were completely overwhelmed, and we would never have guessed what was yet to follow. Our adrenalin level was on a constant high, and we couldn't wait to sign our first contract several months later.
Better Is Better
One might think that this would be the end of the story, but it actually only started about then. Without warning, we were carried away by a helluva guy from the Queen Games team – a gaming maniac. Our game was virtually taken apart and reassembled several times in order achieve three main goals:
-----1) Remove any in-game text to make the game language-independent.
I would never have thought it possible since all action cards and tableaus featured a lot of text. But he insisted, so we took our time to create a set of simple icons to be used, which were consequently tested and optimized. Check!
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Final prototype of an action card, now without text
-----2) Optimize the game material for better handling, less overhead, and more fun.
At first, players placed the action cards face-down on their tableau, making it necessary to remember the first choices while thinking about the last one. One had to pick those cards up again and again during the planning phase. The new planning tableau with a slot and an inverted action card layout did the trick. A complicated method to determine each round's starting-player has been removed without any bad effect on the game. Determining the income of the settlement was simplified. Many other elements were refined without losing any tactical or strategic choices. Some of the more complex action cards have been removed from the game, but many of them will probably return in future extensions. Check!
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Final prototype of Edo – then still "Altiplano" – before the artists got to work
-----3) Find a good theme that fits to the game mechanisms.
Quite early we found one possible theme, placing the game during the Spanish conquest of South America. This choice influenced the game's further development, introducing additional elements that made the end of the game even more exciting.
But still, we were not completely satisfied with the theme. Then, after nursing the first theme for more than six months, someone from the publisher came up with the idea of placing the game in Japan during the Edo period. At first, we did not like the notion of completely changing the theme – but after some consideration we realized that this new theme fit perfectly! All game elements were completely in line with the theme, and many additional elements were waiting to be introduced. Check!
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Detail from the game board
And finally, the rules had to be adapted and designed. It never fails to amaze me how much difference a single word can make. In the end, everyone was thrilled by the final results.
And Here We Go
In retrospect, I still cannot believe how much of our initial prototype was changed over the years, while the game still feels much the same as at the beginning – but much more beautiful, less cumbersome, faster to explain, and much more fun to play. All our playtesters still love to play the game, although they already "had" to play it a lot of times.
I hope you will have as much fun playing the game – whether you back the current Kickstarter project or pick up the game at some later date – as we had creating and playtesting it for more than two and a half years!
Many thanks to the Queen Games Team and to our playtesters, especially Timo, Andy, Dennis, Velvre, and all the others of the Spieletreff Braunschweig.
Stefan Malz
[Disclosure: Queen Games hired me to edit the English-language rules for Edo. —WEM]
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