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 Dee |
|---|---|
| Email: | tinstargames@gmail.com |
| Location: | Sydney, Australia |
| Day Job: | Day job is the wrong way to think about life! We are here to make art. Gaming is my life and my passion. |
| Designing: | Over ten years! |
| Webpage: | www.tinstargames.com |
| Blog: | www.tinstargames.com/latest-news |
| Facebook: | Tin Star Games |
| Twitter: | @tinstargames1 |
| YouTube: | Tin Star Games |
| Instagram: | @tinstargames |
| Other: | I'm on BGDF and have games sold through the IGA! I've been to an Unpub online. Gosh, I'm learning about so many new sites I need to be on! Crikey! |
| Find my games at: | The Game Crafter for now but we're hoping to expand! |
Steve Dee
Interviewed on: 11/22/2021
This week we meet Steve Dee, who runs Tin Star Games. Steve has been designing games for quite a while and has credits in a number of role playing games and board games, including Relics: A Game of Angels, There's Been a Murder, and Betrayal at House on the Hill scenarios! Steve runs Tin Star Games full time, so keep an eye out for him in the board game design spaces online.
Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.
How long have you been designing tabletop games?
Over ten years!
Why did you start designing tabletop games?
We were too poor to afford them as a kid, so I decided I would make my own! I must have started about eight years old. My first attempt was to make Trivial Pursuit because it was the new hotness.
What game or games are you currently working on?
Like most career designers I have a hundred things on the boil, but right now we're expanding the world of Relics: A Game of Angels. That's our deluxe 300 page roleplaying game of modern religious horror and urban fantasy, where players take the role of fallen angels, trapped on earth and abandoned by God. We tried to get enough in a KS to launch some supplements but unfortunately fell short of our goal despite making over eight thousand dollars. Instead, we're going to release them bit by bit over the coming year, with the hope that each one can help fund the art for the next. And with the hope that patreon backers can help us along as well, because they'll get access to everything we release! Sign up, and for a small monthly free you'll get six adventures and six sourcebooks in the next twelve months. You can sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/tinstargames and read about Relics at www.tinstargames.com/relics/
Have you designed any games that have been published?
I've had a few things published or been involved along the way but the thing I'm most proud of and excited by is There's Been A Murder. I describe this as a "cooperative Love Letter": using just 24 cards players have to work together to solve a murder mystery. This was picked up by Goliath and you can watch a how to play here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neAqN68SPUo&t=14s
What is your day job?
Day job is the wrong way to think about life! We are here to make art. Gaming is my life and my passion.
Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.
Where do you prefer to play games?
Around a table in a comfy setting. I like a place where I can get food or drink like a cosy pub.
Who do you normally game with?
Some friends, some strangers.
If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
Pandemic or Detective: City of Angels
And what snacks would you eat?
Cheese!
Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
On theme is great. For Detective: City of Angels we could put on some lounge music from the 1950s
What’s your favorite FLGS?
Games Paradise in Pitt Street.
What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
I just picked up Innovation and every time I play it, it is unique and a total blast. Yet there's strategy to it, despite the chaos. My least favourite that I still enjoy is probably Twilight Imperium. If you're playing with friends and drinking and enjoying the roleplaying, it makes up for how long it takes. I've played a lot of bad bad games but I tend to forget them. I think Fog of Love is absolute garbage, for the controversial take!
What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
Nothing beats drawing cards. So much excitement, the thrill of the unknown, and new goodies that belong to you! My least favourite is bluffing and deception. I'm a bad liar and can't tell if anyone is lying.
What’s your favorite game that you just can’t ever seem to get to the table?
I adore Holding On, but nobody wants to play it!
What styles of games do you play?
I like to play
Board Games, Card Games, Miniatures Games, RPG Games, Video Games, Other Games?
Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design
Board Games, Card Games, Miniatures Games, RPG Games, Other 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?
Mostly I start with some rough idea of a mechanic, but there's also a ghost of a theme there. Generally if I get a ways along with just one, the game isn't going to work. It works when they come together. For example, I'm designing a racing game so I knew it would involve cars moving on a map, so I went for hex maps, and then I figured out movement mechanics. With There's Been A Murder I wanted a puzzle to solve where you couldn't discuss things so I went for a murder mystery. They usually arrive very close together!
Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
Entered a lot, won or placed a few times. One of my big breaks was writing some haunts for the second edition of Betrayal at House on the Hill, which wasn't a "contest" but they were selected from fan submissions.
Do you have a current favorite game designer?
Based on how many of his games I own, Bauza is probably my favourite. Matt Leacock is probably the one I admire the most though. Mostly I chop and change. If Matt Leacock made a really complicated Euro it probably wouldn't be my thing, but if Uwe Rosenberg made a co-op legacy game I'd want to take a look!
Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
As an artist I'm always trying to challenge myself so it usually starts with "can I do this?" I made Baby Dragon Bedtime because I wanted to see if I could add real time to deck building. I made There's Been A Murder because I wanted to see if I could make Love Letter co-operative. Im currently working on a co-op game that uses heavy push your luck elements because mostly you try NOT to push your luck in coop! I want to see what I can do. I want to push the edges.
How do you go about playtesting your games?
Lots of solo stuff sitting on my bed, then game nights, then I try to do go to playtest events. Sadly we had very few of those last ones for the last two years. I think the important thing though is try EVERYONE YOU CAN FIND. Get your mum and dad to play, strangers at the pub...you want everyone to look at it.
Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
I used to work on my own but now I have an incredible artist who makes all my games look INCREDIBLE. It's the best thing ever.
What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
Obviously it's money. I mean I'm not great at complex mechanical designs, but money controls everything. Without money, no food, no shelter, no health, no free time, and then on top of that you have to afford playtest materials, and travel, and everythign else. First time I bought a guillotine I didn't eat for the next few days to cover the cost!
If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
I'd love to get a big mystery or pulp licence. Maybe Knives Out. That'd be amazing.
What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
It gets easier the more you do it. The first game is a million times harder to design than your hundredth game.
What advice would you like to share about designing games?
Make a hundred games! I don't mean rush, or not finish them, I mean finish a hundred games. Obviously a good game takes a long time to develop, sometimes years, but make sure you're moving forward. Don't spend ten years making one game because you need it to be perfect. Finish a game, or at least get it through playtesting. You need to be able to do every part of the cycle, so you can cycle around over and over.
Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
Published games, I have:
I've already mentioned Relics but I'll mention it again: Relics: A Game of Angels is our flagship RPG and is a unique storytelling experience. https://www.tinstargames.com/relics.html
This year we've also released Partners, another unique RPG experience designed for just two players! https://www.tinstargames.com/partners.html It also has seven supplements already!
We can't list all our RPGs and micro games as there's too many so we'll just point people towards tinstargames.com or our itch.io page tinstargames.itch.io to have a look!
Games that will soon be published are:
We're trying to build excitement for Relics supplements! Our recent kickstarter didn't fund but we're putting together a series of five adventures and three books of lore to support the game. These will go out to patreon backers for free as they come out too! Folks can sign up and get tons of our stuff for free already at www.patreon.com/tinstargames
Currently looking for a publisher I have:
We've got a brilliant party game we'd love to get to a publisher called Identity Crisis. Draw three cards that give descriptors of fictional characters like Fast as Lightning, Wears a Cool Coat or Ugly as Sin - who does that sound like? The best answer wins! Every time we run this it leads to hours of laughter and we'd love to get it out to the world.
Games I feel are in the final development and tweaking stage are:
We're working on a new RPG we might call THE SCORE which models the heist genre and uses just 18 cards! Look out for that next year!
Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker’s Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
Both of those! And Australian groups like the TGDA.
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?
Trek, Coke, Betamax! Yeah Beta!
What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
I play guitar and I fly drones and I love all sorts of puzzles...crosswords and sudokus and so on!
What is something you learned in the last week?
I recently learned about the meat riots in 1908 in the US, when beef trusts were doing price fixing. An amazing example of direct action against capitalist abuse.
Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
I love folk music like Bob Dylan and such. My favourite books and movies are mysteries - because they are puzzles too!
What was the last book you read?
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, by Alexander McCall Smith - a gentle mystery series about a detective in South Africa.
Do you play any musical instruments?
I play guitar.
Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
I train dogs and all sorts of animals - I trained my two cats to sit, beg and spin in a circle, and to press a button to go outside.
Tell us about something crazy that you once did.
When I was in Norway I thought I'd walk up to the top of a nearby mountain. It was a LOT farther than I thought from the peak beside it. And it started snowing and I had no phone and I was like "nobody on earth knows where I am, and these rocks are very slippery..." Luckily I made it back alive.
Who is your idol or hero?
Phil Ochs, always.
What would you do if you had a time machine?
Go back in time and tell me how I made it!
Are you an extrovert or introvert?
An introvert but I come alive around the right people!
If you could be any superhero, which one would you be and why?
Oooh, Batman because he's got the cool car!
Have any pets?
No, but I walk and sit dogs and cats so I see pets all the time!
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?
Dogs will survive with us because we can't survive without dogs! And they will keep us sane!
Just a Bit More
Thanks for answering all my crazy questions!
Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?
Everyone can make games! And I love chatting about game design if you find me on FB and twitter, just ask me things!
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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