I created my first game in the seventh grade. I was living overseas and attending a one-classroom American school with about thirty students, first through eighth grades. We had many tournaments, including Go, Chess, and Checkers, but something was missing from these games: a wider variety of tactical options (probably not the way I would have worded it then), and the element of chance or luck.
My first game used a Go board, with the black and white stones representing opposing infantry. I gathered small spiral seashells from the beach to represent armored units. Results were randomized by writing them on (empty) Juicy Fruit gum wrappers and pulling them out of a hat. I’ve been hooked since.
When I moved back to the U.S. in eighth grade, a new friend introduced me to a game by Avalon Hill called 1776. It was like discovering the Holy Grail: an extensive set of rules, varied units, combat tables, etc., all done by professional developers, writers, and artists.
To give you an idea of the depth of my game design psychosis, early on I created a baseball game using the players' existing statistics. Any action came down to a percentage roll (or rolls). Juicy Fruit wrappers had been replaced with six-sided dice. I hand-calculated all the different combinations of dice rolls to achieve the various odds, recording them in a notebook I still have around (somewhere) today. In hindsight, there were easier ways to do it, but why use brains when brute force will work? In college I wrote campaign rules for Avalon Hill’s Advanced Squad Leader, which already had an extensive rulebook. Of course some “needed” rules were added, like command and control, supply and maintenance, and changes to artillery.
Like I said, it’s a sickness.
I love playing games, building games for myself and my friends, and world building in all its forms. Creating a self-contained, consistent, immersive world is a big challenge, but a fun one!