Developing Rise of the Rock Star as a group

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

As apart of the 60 day long Rise of the Rock Star Kickstarter project we have been brining you a blog each weekday. Some are focused on the actual Kickstarter and some are random, According To Whim... if you will (just look to the left at the archive to see them all). Today's post is about my experience developing our board game: Rise of the Rock Star with a partner.

When I look at many Kickstarter projects I typically see one person in charge of a whole project. Someone came up with an idea for a game and saw it through development to crowd funding. My experience in this field has always been with my According To Whim co-conspirator: Chris McGinty.

Our group (names According To Whim after Chris' idea for an audio show) took off to become public access TV show and grew encompass anything we did (along with Miguel Cruz from time to time) from movie scripts to books to games.

I can't say its been a path of roses. We argue about stuff. Typically we have a big blowout once per major project and this board game is no exception. We usually get over our differences and find a middle ground and move along. For the most part it helps get things back on track.

Chris is the brains behind the game play in Rise of the Rock Star. He will ask for ideas for cards (because the game has a deep level of card customizability) and I will throw a bunch at him. He then studies them, revises them to fit better and then we play test them. Chris has an unhealthy obsession with Magic The Gathering and its creators and reads lots and lots of articles on game and card design. He is perfectly suited to working out all the details and getting the mechanics of a game right.

I am more focused on the design aspect (art design, not game design). I also focus on the business side of things as well. When we start working on a game I tend to be more interested in how it looks and how it will be presented as opposed to the mechanics. It's not like I don't enjoy doing the gaming side, I just know Chris is better at it.

In a team situation you have to find out who is good at doing what. I suggest you have all team members try all aspects of the project and I am sure you will quickly find out who is better at what tasks. In our situation the parts of game making are all covered by both of us which is useful and I hope will continue to create some great games.

Thanks so much and keep and eye out for the rest of the KickStarter's 60 day project because we will be posting many more blogs. Enjoy!