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I remember sitting on the computer in my bedroom when something sparked my mind. I quickly drew a few pictures, then grabbed a few cubes and a black bag. I tested the idea a few times. It worked. It was unique enough of an idea that I felt it was worth pursuing.
My first implementation of this design was that of an Aliens movie game: creeping aliens growing bigger the longer you left them alone, holes where the players would fight them back like a castle siege game on the popular cell phone apps of the time.
Next was a hospital administration. Doctors would be in charge of patients, running through the ropes of an ambulance ride and the ER to end up in operating rooms. This idea, though close to Pandemic, stuck as the best version. Local playtests proved this as well.
Doctors were designed to help in their own special way. Training was added. Everything was going well, including getting a bunch of thumbs-up when the game was tested at meetings of the Board Game Designers Guild of Utah (though a couple wanted a M*A*S*H theme — sorry, Steve). I decided on Healthy Heart Hospital for a name around this time, keeping the same alliteration of all my games to this point. ("Tribute and Taxes" would break this mold as it became Ibyron: Island of Discovery a year or so later, but I digress...)
The next step was to find a publisher. After a few attempts, on a whim I wrote Victory Point Games, mostly known for war games at that point. Of all the attempts, this one I thought would fail before some of the others, but quite surprisingly I received an email saying I had found the "magic door" on how to submit a game to their company and that "...we have an ever growing line of eurogames."
This was the first and not last time I would hear back from Nathan Hansen. Of course, my first email to send the rulebook and parts sheet failed. Luckily, Nathan persevered with me, and shortly thereafter I was able to send an attachment that did make it. Then, like all designers, I was very patient and didn't bug him for a whole week...
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That leads us to Josh Neiman, whom Nathan sent HHH to in order to be developed more fully. Up to this time, little things were fiddled with, such as adding abilities to doctors, but no deep development was going on. Josh was going to pick up the reins and develop it further...but within a month forwarded the design to their new developer: Stephen Zorn.
Zorn, as he liked to be called, was working on HHH as well as a few other designs, so HHH took a back seat a little bit so they could push another game out of the queue and to the public. I understood the problem with too many games and not enough developers — very common in my experience. He worked heavily on the rulebook and the bits and pieces, and for a short while things started humming along until they put him on a project that was to be published within a month. Backseat again.
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First prototype designed by my wife Anna-Marie featuring old television sets;
who would've thought it would be an omen to the final design taking place in the 1960s
Now, this was a year from the last time Nathan worked on HHH, and due to Zorn's commitments, he had to drop HHH, and who do you think they put back on it? Nathan is back, stronger than ever...and I was sent a contract to sign. Yay!
Nathan, at the helm again. This time, he was the developer, completely. Through the next six months we got HHH ready for out-of-house testing and all was looking good. We had more ideas that were in the emails back and forth and getting those nailed down took some time.
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They added many ideas that made sense thematically to the game, taking a simple lightweight game and giving it tons of depth. They tested it some during this time with no input from me. Remember, I was in spam-limbo, not getting any emails of Alan's morphing of HHH. Speed bump.
For some reason, I was checking my spam folder in August and spied an email from VPG. Bluntly, I read that the game had to change or it would be dropped. This is after I thought it was done. I communicated futher and headed to changing it. Then after a week, communications stopped. It was then when Alan Emrich contacted me and I saw his beast of a game. Wow! It had everything I wanted in the game, and tons more!
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VPG prototype
Alan and I talked about the changes, streamlined a bit, then he sent it to a developer. Yep, there was Nathan, back on board for the final voyage of the U.S. H.H.H. Now, we had the priviledge of taming Alan's beast. Streamlining it down, as well as adding to it, became a weekly chore for the next five months. Nathan had some great ideas. I was able to shoot those down as he shot my down as well. Eventually, it was ready — a year from the last scheduled out-of-house playtesting — to get out-of-house testing. Two months of out-of-house testing and it was ready to be sent to the art department...again...to be published. Yay!
Healthy Heart Hospital has been through a lot of development. This is not the game I dropped off at their doorstep three-and-a-half years ago; it is much better. Developers were at every point of this trip. They don't get much credit for what they do, but without their input and willingness to listen to my input, the game would not be what it is. Nathan jumped in and out of this picture many times, but each time he was great to work with. In fact, the whole staff at VPG was great to work with. I am very glad I found the "magic door"...
Final board, with some bits and doctor cards
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