Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers. Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before. If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples.
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| Name: | Steve Ng |
|---|---|
| Email: | steve.ng@capitalgainsgroup.com |
| Location: | Singapore |
| Day Job: | I am working full time as a Board Game Designer |
| Designing: | One to two years. |
| Webpage: | capitalgainsgroup.com |
| BGG: | StevenNgWX |
| Facebook: | Capital Gains Studio |
| Instagram: | @steve.cgs |
| Find my games at: | The webpage stated above, or one of my FLGS in Singapore. |
Steve Ng
Interviewed on: 1/11/2019
Steve Ng is the designer of Cryptocurrency: The Board Game, which was successfully Kickstarted last September. He's currently working as a full time game designer for Capital Gains Studio, so keep your eye out for new projects from Steve coming soon, including Kaiju Exchange, a game about extracting and trading precious materials from behemoths!
Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.
How long have you been designing tabletop games?
One to two years.
Why did you start designing tabletop games?
December 2017
What game or games are you currently working on?
I'm currently working on a City Building game for the family crowd that involves tile laying and resource management.
Have you designed any games that have been published?
Cryptocurrency: the board game, published 2018 by Capital Gains Studio
What is your day job?
I am working full time as a Board Game Designer
Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.
Where do you prefer to play games?
Home, Friends' Homes, FLGS, anywhere with a good bunch of people and great games really.
Who do you normally game with?
Friends, strangers whom I meet at public board game sessions
If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
Depending on the friends I invited, usually we'd start with something light and work our way up.
And what snacks would you eat?
No snacks
Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
No music
What’s your favorite FLGS?
Team Board Games
What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
My current favorite is Night Clan, a small area control japanese card game. Least favorite I still enjoy is Sushi Go! The worst game I ever played was Rats to Riches.
What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
Favorite: Engine Building, Least Favorite: Stacking
What’s your favorite game that you just can’t ever seem to get to the table?
Don't really have one, but a game that I find difficult to get to the table is Minute Realms.
What styles of games do you play?
I like to play
Board Games, Card Games, RPG Games, Video Games
Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design
Board Games, Card Games, Video Games
OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
No
You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.
When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
I usually take a single mechanic that suits the overall theme that I'm working on and expand on it.
Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
Once entered a 48 Hour Game Jam in 2014
Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
Current favorite game designer: Eric Lang, for all his really cool dudes on a map games
Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
I usually get ideas when my mind wanders during long bus rides.
How do you go about playtesting your games?
I usually playtest with friends or interested parties that are of the target audience group
Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
I usually do game design alone, but would prefer a few artists to help me with the illustrations and graphic designs in the game.
What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
I feel that the biggest challenge is making a game for the crowd instead of making a game for myself.
If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
I would design a game using the Monster Hunter IP
What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
Less is More
What advice would you like to share about designing games?
Have fun, but always keep your goal in mind.
Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
Published games, I have:
Cryptocurrency: The Board Game
Games I feel are in the final development and tweaking stage are:
Kaiju Exchange: A game about extracting precious materials from behemoths and its trade.
Games that are in the early stages of development and beta testing are:
A couple of early game designs that have been shelved while I work on more pressing projects
And games that are still in the very early idea phase are:
A City Building game with Resource Management and Tile Laying
Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker’s Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
Card & Board Game Designers Guild
And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I’m sure are on everyone’s minds!
Star Trek or Star Wars? Coke or Pepsi? VHS or Betamax?
Star Wars, Coke, VHS
What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
Watching comedy sitcoms, reading fantasy books.
What is something you learned in the last week?
Sometimes, Less is More
Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
I like any song that has a good beat. Books with alternate fantastical universes. Current favorite movie is King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
What was the last book you read?
If rulebooks count, it would be the rulebook of Night Clan.
Do you play any musical instruments?
Sadly, no. I'd like to learn the saxophone though.
Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
I used to be a really good pop and lock dancer
Tell us about something crazy that you once did.
A bunch of guys and I dumped one of our friends into a trash can and he was basically a turtle with the trash can as a shell.
Biggest accident that turned out awesome?
Can't think of anything
Who is your idol?
Jackie Chan
What would you do if you had a time machine?
I would go back and guide myself to be more socially active in my childhood
Are you an extrovert or introvert?
introvert
If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
Anyone who could turn invisible
Have any pets?
None
When the next asteroid hits Earth, causing the Yellowstone caldera to explode, California to fall into the ocean, the sea levels to rise, and the next ice age to set in, what current games or other pastimes do you think (or hope) will survive into the next era of human civilization? What do you hope is underneath that asteroid to be wiped out of the human consciousness forever?
I would hope for good cooperative games to survive. Monopoly being wiped out of the human consciousness would be great.
If you’d like to send a shout out to anyone, anyone at all, here’s your chance (I can’t guarantee they’ll read this though):
Nah
Just a Bit More
Thanks for answering all my crazy questions! Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?
Keep working on your passion, you'll never know when it pays off
Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html
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