Interview with Bruno Faidutti, board game designer
Posted by Michael Mindes on September 25, 2011
Welcome, to the second of what should become a long series of interviews with successful and creative people. There will be interviews with board game designers, game artists, game publishers, and successful entrepreneurs. I hope you enjoy it.
This first interview is with Bruno Faidutti, which if you are a serious gamer, then would need no introduction. However, we are all not serious gamers. Bruno has credits as a designer on over 60 games, and he is continually designing more and more games. He is often credited with saying, "I get more royalties for my game Citadels then all of my other games combined." I personally think that Mystery of the Abbey should be more popular, but to each their own.
Let's move on to the interview!
What accomplishments so far are you the most proud of?
If it’s about my personal life, better not tell about it. If it’s about games, my opinion can vary and I’m usually quite proud of my last offerings. However, at the moment, I’d say Isla Dorada is probably my best game, because it feels fresh and original, it’s highly interactive – which is what games are about – and, above all, it’s fun to play.
How did you become a published game designer? Please tell us about your first time.
It was in the early eighties, while I was still a student. I happened to be in one of the first groups who started to play role playing games in France, and so I got to know many of the people who started the first RPG companies here, and they also wanted some boardgames. Since I was also playing Cosmic Encounter and some other boardgames, I was asked to contribute and, together with Pierre Cléquin, we designed Baston, a simulation game about a bar brawl.
What do you think it takes to be creative? Where do you get flashes of brilliance from?
I’d say one needs to be both modest enough and bold enough. Modest enough to look at what everybody else is doing, and to learn from others, and to stay interested in what other creators are doing. And bold enough to think that you can do better – or at least that the odds are good enough to try.
What is the single toughest problem you’ve had to face, and how did you get through it?
The worse problem I faced, and it occurred two or three times, was discussing with a publisher who wanted to change some feature of one of my games. I especially dislike when publishers want to change the theme of a game, and it happens quite often. It’s very hard to discuss with the publisher when you are not the one putting money in the game – and when you are quite confident you are right and they are wrong.
The publisher insisted on changing the themes of Isla Dorada, Smiley Face, Red November, Hollywood, Knock Knock and Vabanque. The change was probably for the best with Isla Dorada and Red November, I’m still sure it was an error for the four other ones, but it was hard to say no – and I wanted the game published.
What is the future of the board game industry?
I’d like to know in the long run, but I’ve no idea.
I think that, in the short run, it’s probably better than of many other industries, because boardgames are a cheap, traditional and reassuring activity, the kind of thing that sells well in times of crisis. On the other hand, many people in neighboring industries, such as video games, comics and role playing games, see this as well, and it’s becoming a bit overcrowded.
Do you think anything particular about your past helps you as a game designer?
I think that the fact that I’m a great reader, and like to analyze and dissect novels when I read them, was of a great help. Designing a game is very much like writing a novel – except that it needs far less time and actual work. The fact that I was not bad at maths in high school, even when I didn’t learn more maths afterwards, might be of some help here and there, for reckoning odds of dice or cards, but I think it’s far less useful.
Most people tend to think that designing games requires a logical and mathematical thought, I think they are wrong and a strong literary feel and culture is much more useful.
What are your greatest strengths?
Hard to say ! May be that I’m still always curious of other designers’ games and trying to play them – even when I do it far less now than a few years ago.
What is the best advice that you apply to your life? Please share some of the positive results of following that advice.
Wannabee game designers tend to be paranoid and hide their designs, afraid that someone will steal them. I won’t say it never happens – it sometimes does – but I nevertheless think the best way is to go in the open with your design as soon as possible show it to everyone, bring it to game fairs, and listen to the gamers comments and critics.
One of the biggest problem for creative people is spreading too thin working on too many projects. How do you prioritize projects?
I don’t, and that’s probably my greatest weakness.
What have you been up to recently? What projects are you working on?
I’ve decided to spend less times designing games, in part because I took up studies again. At the moment, I’ve just finalized a fun and light racing game together with Brazilian designers André Zatz and Sergio Halaban, and we’ve started showing it to publishers. I’m also thinking on two or three other games, but these are all very light designs, and none is advanced enough to make a prototype.
What excites you about these new projects?
I’ve decided to give up complex games, and I try to focus on very light, family designs, mostly card games. That’s not really new to me, but trying systematically to find game projects that won’t need much time to be balanced and tested is quite exciting.
What blogs, podcasts, or other sites that you still find yourself consuming religiously?
I visit regularly the Boardgamegeek, and I like a lot the way it is organized – may be because I followed it from the beginning and I’m now used to it. I also follow what’s happening on Tric Trac, the French equivalent of the BGG, but I don’t feel at ease on Tric Trac like I do on the BGG, and this is mostly as “professional necessity I look from time to time at Fortress Ameritrash site, which I find refreshing, and I love Matt Drake’s reviews on Drake’s Flames, probably the best game reviews blog around.
Do you have a Twitter account, Blog, or Facebook “Like” page?
I have a website, at faidutti.com, which attracts more or less 5.000 vistors a day, which is a lot. It’s devoted half to my own games, half to game reviews of games I like, in the ideal game library. I also have a Facebook profile, where I post infos about my games.]]>
