Q&A met Ryan Laukat, auteur van o.a. Eight-Minute Empire.

[Oxyligen]

18: Any reason to get Eight-Minute Empire since Eight-Minute Empire: Legends has seen the light?

[humske]

19 Are you a gameplayer yourself and if so what is you favorite game (besides the one you have designed offcourse)?

20 And do you still have time to play games or do you use all your time for designing and making illustrations?

[ravinck]

Welcome Ryan and thank you for visiting this forum. I hope you will enjoy our enthousiasm for the hobby.

21 - Are you more into creating the artwork for a game or for designing the game?
22 - Who is your favorite artist?
23 - For which designer would you love to do the artwork for his new boardgame?
24 - What is, to your opinion, an underused theme?

[Wyckyd]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for taking the time to visit our little neck of the woods and answer some questions - it is greatly appreciated. When I first came across the artwork for City of Iron, I was blown away. While I didn't back the initial kickstarter, I did back the one for Eight-minute Empire and added City of Iron to my order.

25) How do you go about creating your art? Do you work digitally?

26) On the Red Raven website you mention that aged 13 you designed a game just so you could illustrate it. Can you tell us anything about that design?

27) I read that an iOs version of Eight-minute Empire is in the works. Do you play iOs games yourself? If so, what are your favorites?

28) You've mentioned that Terry Pratchet is one of your favorite authors. If you were given the chance to design a game in the Pratchet universe, how would you go about it?

29) Can you tell us more about your upcoming game The Ancient World?

30) Whatever happened to Lost Continent?

31) Are there any pictures available of saxophone engravings you did?

[Spelhamels_Beerse]

32) What is the most profitable: designing a game that's outside the BGG top 500 or doing the graphics for a game-blockbuster in the BGG top 20 like Dominion?

btw: Love your art-style! It's something fresh in a world flooded with art by Menzel and Vohwinkel! Keep up the good work!

[sinead]

33. Are you planning for more spin-offs or expansions for Eight-Minute Empire?

[Ryan Laukat]

1. When will fringe wars be released?
2. Is the focus more on area controls or deck building in Fringe wars?

1. I originally thought it would be released this year, but after some feedback from playtesters I decided to do some revisions. I wanted to make the game a little more open-ended and thematic. I don't have a firm release date in mind, but I hope it's something I can tackle next year, with a Kickstarter project to fund it.

2. The focus on the current version is area control. Technically it does have deck-building, but the main difference from standard deck-building is that every round you use all your cards in any order you want. Most of your attention in the game is focused on where to place your units and where to attack. Even though the game looks like an American-style game, it is more like a Euro game.

[Ryan Laukat]

3. Which one do you like more and why: Eight-Minute Empire or Eight-Minute Empire: Legends?

3. I like them both, but I would have to say Eight-Minute Empire: Legends is my favorite. I like the fantasy theme and it was fun to do all the artwork. I also like the leader cards and other variants in the game.

[Ryan Laukat]

Hi Ryan.
Welcome to Bordspelmania.

4. Do you prefer to illustrate games or design games?

Thanks!

4. I prefer illustrating. Designing games is difficult and can be quite frustrating, although I feel the constant desire to do it. Illustrating is generally more relaxing and fun. I just sit at my computer and paint whatever I can imagine. The reason I say designing can be frustrating is because I go through many notebooks of ideas and create lots of prototypes I have to throw away. I probably build around 30 prototype games to find one I think is good enough to publish. Sometimes it's hard to drop a game I've worked on for a long time but have to because it isn't good enough.

[Ryan Laukat]

Hi Ryan, welcome ,

5. Which well-known game could we compare Eight-Minute Empire best with?

Thanks!

5. I've had people tell me it's like a miniature version of El Grande. However, since I haven't played El Grande myself, I can't say for sure. I guess the area-majority is like that game. It also has set collection somewhat similar to Bohnanza.

[Ryan Laukat]

6. The inevitable question: what was first, theme or mechanism?

6. In this case, mechanism came first.

I always hear designers say it's best to come up with a theme and design a game around it, but I generally work the other way. A good mechanism idea will help me come up with the theme.

When I first came up with Eight-Minute Empire, I was tossing around ideas about putting multiple decisions on cards, and it seemed like it would fit well with an area control, civ theme.

[Ryan Laukat]

7. I've had my eye on eight minute empire for a while (it seems to fill the same gap love letter did: perfect for filling up the time in between games), but still haven't convinced myself to purchase it. Can you convince me to choose eight minute empire over love letter?

7. Love Letter is a very popular game, and very intriguing, although I have to confess I haven't played it yet. I think the two are different enough I would be happy to own both. However, you might want Eight-Minute Empire when you have 5 players, as Love Letter is for 2-4 players.

[Ryan Laukat]

Hi Ryan,

8. Your game City of Iron has a playing time of 120 minutes, Eight Minutes Empire has a playing game of 8 minutes; do you play games yourself and what is your preferred playing time?

8. I love and play lots of games, although now that I run Red Raven I don't have quite as much time to play new releases. My favorite games are usually around 2-3 hours, have intriguing themes, and a fair amount of depth. I decided to design a short game because I am finding it more and more difficult to get family and friends to sit down for a long game these days.

[Ryan Laukat]

Hi Ryan, welcome here.

9. Can you really play eight-minute Empire in 8 minutes?
Or is it even possible in less then 8 minutes?

Thanks!

9. Yes, it really is possible to play in 8 minutes (although I have to admit for most groups it will run longer, especially their first time playing). When we were testing the game, that was the average time it took our group to play. I'd be interested to see how fast a group could play it.

[Ryan Laukat]

Hi Ryan,

10. When I read the description of eight-minute Empire, it reminds me of El Grande. In which way is eight-minute Empire different of El Grande?

10. I have also heard people make this comparison. Since I haven't played El Grande, I can only speculate. Both games have an area-majority mechanism, but I think what makes Eight-Minute Empire different is that it has a set-collection decision attached to each move decision. Also, it's shorter.