When people hear that I’m retired, they invariably ask what I do with my days. Many also ask if I have any new hobbies now that I have more free time. To date, I haven’t really picked up any new hobbies, although I’ve been fortunate to spend more time on some existing ones.
Until today.
Today I started the hobby of game design. I happen to like board and card games. A lot. I play them whenever I get a chance, which generally means whenever I can find someone willing to sit down with me for a few hours. It was a ton of fun to play with Kari’s kids last week in Missouri, and I’m working on gathering a gaming group here in the Bigfork area.
So I figured with all my game experience, I’d try my hand at designing one of my own. I thought about the concept, made up some cards and rules, and sat down to play.
As I’ve read a bit about game design, a common caution is that the first few times you play your own game, it’s going to suck. Yep. Mine did. There were several things that simply didn’t work. In addition, it didn’t feel very compelling… it was fairly deterministic, which would inevitably lead to optimal strategies which would win every time. So I need to introduce an element of chance, spice up the theme a bit, and so on.
I’m back to the proverbial drawing board, and I guess time will tell whether I’m any good at this hobby…