Something Volusianus said in another thread reminded me that, of course, there would be more than a few aspiring game designers in a thing like this founders program. Since we are in between updates I thought I'd provide something interesting to read until there is more Star Control to talk about. So here is some more game history, this time the *real* reason that the old "hobbiest" board game industry died from the perspective of someone who was working in it when it happened. Almost everyone assumes that computer games killed it, but that isn't what happened. Computer games would have eventually killed the hobbiest board game industry 5-8 years later, but they didn't get a chance too because the hobbiest board game business inadvertently committed suicide before computer games got the chance.
First, we need to define what the "hobbiest games" were. Before the commercial computer game industry existed there were 3 basic categories of games. There were the "classic" (which you might also call "ancient") games such as Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, and most card games. Many of these games are so old that in most cases we don't even know who made them or where they actually came from. In the earliest days of the 20th century a new category of games emerged, these were the "family" games. These were games such as Monopoly, Risk, Life, Stratego and children's games like Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. Then in the late 1940's some WWII veterans wanting to make games about the war created the first "hobbiest" games, almost all of which were based on WWII, and created the game company Avalon Hill. For about 20 years Avalon Hill was a unique phenomena and were essentially the only people who made what would later become known as "hobbiest" games.
Then the generation raised on Avalon Hill games, a small but significant audience of what was then a somewhat rare hobby, began taking the basic idea of more complex games like Avalon Hill's and applying it other ideas that weren't necessarily the "counters on a hexmap" format of "their father's" generation of Avalon Hill games. It began in the mid-1960's and by the early 1970's there were many hobbiest games and game companies. This was the beginning of the "golden age" of the old hobbiest game industry which lasted from the early 1970's to the early 1990's. Three games quickly emerged during this early period that would dominate and the market and serve as the crutches that kept the entire industry alive. Some called them "The Big Three" which had a dual meaning. They were the most financially successful of the hobbiest games and, not coincidentally, they were also the largest of the hobbeist games in terms of volume... the number of products available for each.
"The Big Three" were Squad Leader/Advanced Squad Leader (Avalon Hill), Star Fleet Battles (Task Force Games), and Dungeons & Dragons (TSR). These three games were the basis of the retail success of the entire industry, and the industry could not exist without them. A typical hobbiest game store in the 1980's looked something like this. One entire wall of the store was D&D and TSRs other games. Another entire wall of the store was SFB and TFG's other games. In the middle floor area there were 4 isles, 3 of which were the games of Avalon Hill some of which dated back to the late 1940's. What little space was left in the story was devoted to "all other hobbiest games". This "balance of power" lasted for about 20 years, throughout an entire generation of gamers. Then, in the early 1990s two games came along that upset this long standing situation. Warhammer 40k (Games Workshop) and Magic: The Gathering (Wizards of the Coast).
There was a precursor of this... the Milton-Bradley Gamemaster Series. Axis & Allies, Fortress America, and Shogun. These games were hobbiest games, but at the same time were also family games in a way too. They sort of sit on the fence between the two... and, compared to the traditional "black & white" hobbiest games like The Big Three, these games had stunningly high production values. But these games, carried in stores like Sears and Target, were not really in direct competition with the hobbiest games like Warhammer and Magic would be and had little impact on the industry. Warhammer 40k and Magic: The Gathering, however, was an entirely different matter. They were sold in the same stores as the old school hobbiest games, and were therefore in direct competition with them. And the old "black & white" hobbiest gamers too which visuals and color were irrelevant too in a game were turning 30 and 40. The new generation of gamers who were looking for something more than Monopoly or Risk were drawn to the high production values and pretty colors of Warhammer 40k, and it began to steal the potential "Big Three" audience of new younger gamers away from the traditional, largely colorless, classics.
Then came the #2 blow of the 1-2 knockout punch that took down the hobbiest game industry. Magic: The Gathering. Remember that typical retail store of the 1980's that was largely filled by The Big Three and the other games of those companies? Well, they ordered the new phenomenon of Magic and put it on a tiny little shelf under the glass at the cash register... and it out-sold all of The Big Three combined. The new generation of potential Big Three players were all playing Warhammer now, few younger people took up any of the Big Three games anymore, not even D&D. The owners of these stores assessed the situation, and realized they would make a lot more money if the rest of their store space was devoted to things that sold more like Magic than Advanced Squad Leader. And, almost overnight, most of the hobbiest game stores became novelty stores that sold things like whoopy cushions, levatrons, and lava lamps. Many kept a limited selection of games, like Magic and high quality chess sets, but the retail distribution network of the hobbiest game industry was gone and the new generation demanded production values far exceeding what companies like Task Force Games and Avalon Hill knew how to meet. We were game designers, not artists, and saw no way to remain in businiess. It would simply cost too much to produce what this new generation demanded. And this was how the old hobbiest board game industry ended, with two self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head. Computer games had nothing to do with it, although they certainly would have had a similar effect 5-8 years or so down the road.
If you are interested in these old "hobbiest" games, here is a list of ones you might want to try. These are not what I consider to be the absolute best ever, or the most complex. These are the games of the old hobbiest game industry that I believe have best passed Sid Meier's test and have stood the test of time. These are the ones I think modern gamers, raised on modern games, might still appreciate. I'll say in advance, if you are looking for the most complex game you can possibly find there are only two real candidates... Advanced Squad Leader and Star Fleet Battles. Now on to the "popular" ones:-)
1. Axis & Allies (Milton-Bradley GameMaster Series) - This is the obvious #1 choice here considering that it's popularity has never waned and has remained consistant pretty much since it was first released. In fact, most of you have probably already played this game at least once when you were younger. It has achieved a status almost akin to Monopoly or Risk and most Americans have probably played this game at least once by the time they reach 20.
2. Acquire (Avalon Hill) - I talked about this game here before, it is a game design lesson in minamalism within game design. As a game... it is the only game of the modern era that belongs in the "classics" category.
3. Supremacy (Supremacy Games) - Very colorful, nice pieces... amazingly awesome gameplay. Similar to Milton-Bradley GameMaster Series games but created by a very small one-man-show company who only ever made this game. There are two versions. There original that I am recommending here which as a 2-page leaflet of rules, and far more complex version called "MegaSupremacy" that is one of my personal favorite games of all time and has a 100 page rulebook.
4. Shogun (Milton-Bradley GameMaster Series) - Have you ever played one of those games about feudal Japan and the era of the Shogunate? This is the original. Similar production values to Axis & Allies.
5. King's Bounty (Task Force Games) - King's Bounty makes the list on gameplay alone, it's production values are not of the same caliber of the other games on this list. TFG was, alongside Avalon Hill, the most "old school" of the old school game companies and never made a game that would be considered "pretty" by today's standards. However, if you like Hereo's of Might & Magic you will like this game in spite of it's "old school" look. There are significant differences between King's Bounty and HMoM, but much will be familiar as well and it is a very good game in it's own right.
StarControl Forums
Fortress America is actually one of my favorite boardgames of all time. Before I discovered my love for video game design and coding, I had aspired to create boardgames. (That's probably ultimately why I'm so drawn to things like X-Com and all things Firaxis.)
