Inspiration

My first game has already gone through many revisions, only a few elements from the original design still exist in it's current state. I didn't get around to creating this blog until I was well into the 3rd or 4th revision of the game. So in this post I'm going to take some time and discuss two different games that helped be an inspiration for my game.

always take the plow field & sow option

I'm a fan of Agricola, a game where players attempts to build a successful farm while only being able to take certain actions each round. You also start the game with a couple different job and improvement cards that will influence that games strategy. The main downside to Agricola is there is very limited player interaction. Whenever I play I always think it would be even better if you could sneak over to a neighboring farm and steal away their prized hog, or  trade some of your lumber for clay.
pros: different jobs that change each game, players build their own space, the need to prioritize different actions at different times, good escalation of gameplay
cons: little player interaction, very little chance to make a comeback, awful artwork

yellow is gonna be pissed at grey pretty soon

So how do you up player interaction? The easiest way is instead of giving players separate boards is to thrust them all together on one big board. The problem with this is you have so much less freedom in creating your space. A game that I love for it's modularity is Carcassone. Players take turns randomly taking little tiles and then build a little kingdom. There is a lot of fun/dickish ways players can interact and steal land from other players. My big problem with Carcassone though is the level of randomness inherent in the game. There is real strategy to the game but there is less long term planning with very little escalation.
pros: very modular, players create their own space, good interaction
cons: too random, low strategy, no escalation 

Looking at my game now there is very little similarity to either of these games, in fact even the first versions were not really like either. Again, these 2 games were the main jumping off points, take the strategy of one and mix it with the interaction and world building of the other. Combine those features, add a couple pinches of some other games, a healthy does of original ideas, and I felt like I had a good idea of how to start.

Next time, I'll actually start talking about my game.