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

[Ryan Laukat]

Hi Ryan,

11. How did you come up with the 'eight minutes' in Eight Minute Empire? Is it a symbolic number? Did you play it several times and then counted the average playing time? Did you make a calculation on paper?

Thanks for replying and joining this website!

Greetings,

Hello!

11. I mostly decided to name the game Eight-Minute Empire because it was a catchy title. Also, that's about how long it took us to play when we were testing it. We used a stop watch (but didn't calculate it on paper).

[Ryan Laukat]

Welcome mister Laukat,

12) Which of your own games (as designer or artist) do you find the best?
13) What made you decide to design your own games?
14) Why did you create your own publishing company?

Keep up the great work!

12. My personal favorite of all my games is City of Iron (as designer and artist). I like the strange theme and the gameplay.
13. I've always been fascinated with games and have been obsessed with coming up with new ones for as long as I can remember. I really enjoy the challenge of matching a theme to game mechanisms. Even when I try to take a break or focus on other things, it seems my brain constantly churns out ideas (even if most of them are unusable). It's like I can't not design games.
14. I created my own publishing company because I wanted to have a lot of control over the production of my creations. Kickstarter made it possible.

Thanks!

[Ryan Laukat]

Hi there Ryan!!

15) Can you make a living out of the boardgames you make and/or publish? or do you have another job next to it?

Hi!

15. I actually still have a day job. Making board games is just a side income for now. I work for Cannonball Musical Instruments as head of hand engraving and a tester of trumpets. www.cannonballmusic.com

Before I decided to design and illustrate games I wanted to be a professional trumpet player, and in fact I studied trumpet at a university for a time.

[Mac-S]

Hello Ryan, welcome to Bordspelmania and thanks for your answers thus far!

34. When you designed Eight-Minute Empire, was it your goal from the beginning to make it super-short? Or did that just happen along the way?

35. Is there a big difference between designing a "miniature" game like EME and a "big" game like City of Iron?

And the obligatory off-topic question:
36. Do you have pets?

[Xildur]

Hi Ryan,

37 Which award would you prefer to win, Spiel des Jahres or Kennerspiel des Jahres?

[Ryan Laukat]

16). As I can remember eight minute empire was a kickstarter project. Would you recommend this to other game designers if they want to publish a game?

16. I would definitely recommend it to other designers who are willing to prepare for it. I love Kickstarter because it has allowed me to share my creations, but it is a lot of work. I think if a designer is planning to use it, he/she should learn as much as possible about it, and make a very detailed plan. Before starting the project, he/she should know how much it will cost to produce, pack, and ship. He/she should know exactly how to ship it. Also, in my opinion, at least 50% of the artwork should be finished, and the game should require no further playtesting.

Basically, unless you are using a fulfillment service to do some of the work for you, the Kickstarter project will be like a full time job. I think it's important for designers to understand this before jumping into it.

[Ryan Laukat]

Hi Ryan,

17.) Which illustration are u most proud of and why?

Hello!

17. I'm probably most proud of the Adventurer card I did for the Dominion base set. It was one of my first digital paintings and I've improved greatly since then, but that illustration has probably been seen by more people than anything else I've done. Whenever I tell people that I illustrate games, it's fairly likely they remember seeing that card.

[Ryan Laukat]

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

18. I would say definitely yes. Eight-Minute Empire supports 2-5 players, while Eight-Minute Empire: Legends is for 2-4. Also, at least to me, the games feel pretty different. I have planned expansions for Eight-Minute Empire that take the game in a different direction, focusing more on the civilization aspect (and they won't be compatible with Eight-Minute Empire: Legends). Eight-Minute Empire: Legends will have its own line of expansions.

[Ryan Laukat]

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?

19. I love playing all kinds of games. My favorite board/card games include Race for the Galaxy, Twilight Struggle, Tales of the Arabian Nights, and Tigris and Euphrates.

20. Now that I run Red Raven Games and have two small children, I'm finding it very difficult to play games other than ones I'm designing. I do occasionally get time to play other new games, but most of the time it's my own designs.

[Ryan Laukat]

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?

Thank you!

21. I think I enjoy the process of creating artwork more, but I find myself constantly thinking about game design. I probably spend more time on design than art.
22. I have a few favorites (although some of these might not exactly be called "artists", they influence me quite a bit): Paul Kidby, Hayao Miyazaki, Bill Waterson, and Khang Le.
23. Thomas Lehmann.
24. Science fiction that isn't about space.

[Ryan Laukat]

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?

Thanks! And thank you for backing the games.

25. I work almost completely digitally. I paint on a Wacom Cintiq using Photoshop. I used to sketch things on paper, scan them, and paint over the sketches, but now I sketch right in Photoshop.

26. It was a card game of battling monsters. I used colored pencils to draw fantasy creatures and then taped them to poker cards. I actually can't remember how to play, but I've still got the cards in a box somewhere. I think I've kept almost every game I've ever designed (which explains why I've got tons of boxes in storage).

27. Yes, the Eight-Minute Empire digital app is in development. I have an iPad and like to play a lot of the games that come out for it. My favorites are Tigris and Euphrates and Agricola. The apps for these games actually gave me a greater appreciation for the board games.

28. I love Terry Pratchett's books. Designing a game in the Discworld setting sounds extremely daunting to me, so I'd probably focus on one set of characters. My favorite books are about the City Watch, so I'd probably try there first. I think a game about catching Ankh Morpork criminals would be fun.

29. I'm pretty far along in the design for The Ancient World. It's set in a mythological time when giant titans roam the world, terrorizing mankind. Players take on the challenge of confronting these monsters and building up powerful city-states to create a safe haven for as many people as possible. Mechanically, the game is a worker-placement card game. I hope to release more info on it soon.

30. This is one of the many prototypes that I decided wasn't working. It needs some revision, but it may come out some day. It's a hexagon tile-laying game.

31. http://www.cannonballmusic.co.uk/images/seadog.jpg

[pleunie.william]

Hi again.

38. Have you ever been to Europe?

39. Is this your first Q&A?

40. Do you think you will ever design a game about trumpets?

[Ryan Laukat]

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!

32. At least for me, designing a game outside the BGG top 500 is more profitable. The thing about illustration is that most of the time there are no royalties, so you get paid the same whether the game sells fifty or five million.

Thank you!

[Ryan Laukat]

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

33. Yes, I have lots of ideas for spin-offs and expansions. I've got an expansion for basic Eight-Minute Empire in the works that adds technology cards. I hope to produce it next year.

[WTULTC]

Hi Ryan,

41. Dominion has a lot of expansions. Have you design also the cards of the expansions?

42. Will you design also the cards of new Dominion expansions in the future if there will be new expansions of course?