Z-Man Games Press Release - Essen Game Previews - BLUEPRINTS - Designer Diary

From the Z-Man Games Website

Structural Integrity: The Blueprints Designer Diary - by Yves Tourigny

Blueprints is a quick, simple drafting game in which dice do double-duty as building materials and randomizing elements. Each round, players draft six dice to erect a building. On their turn, the players draft one die from the dice pool, place it on his personal blueprint card (hidden from other players), then add a die randomly drawn from the bag to the dice pool by rolling it.

The placement rules for the dice are equally simple. A die can only be placed on the blank spaces of the blueprint card, or on top of another die with lower or equal value. That is, a ‘5’ can be placed on a ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’, ‘4’, and ‘5’, but not on a ‘6’.

Since this prototype version, the value of the Recycled dice has changed to 2-5-10-15-20-30

The different colours of dice, representing different materials, score in different ways. “Glass” dice score their pip value. “Recycled” dice score as a set. “Wood” dice score for each adjacent die. “Stone” dice score based on their height in the building. Bonus points are awarded to players who conformed to their blueprint. The highest scoring building is given the Gold Award (worth 3 victory points), the next highest scoring building is given the Silver Award (worth 2 victory points), and the third is given the Bronze Award (1 victory point).

The prototype look of the Award cards and Prize cards

The buildings can also win Prizes, each worth 2 victory points, if they meet certain criteria. A building with a height of five or more is given the Skyscraper Prize. A building with four or more dice with the same value receives the Structural Integrity Prize. The Geometer’s Prize goes to a building that includes all values 1 through 6. Finally, the Materials Prize is awarded to a building which uses five or more dice of the same colour. One of each Prize is given out each round, if any buildings qualify. “In-Demand Materials”, drawn at the start of each round, are used to resolve ties.

After three rounds, the player with the most victory points from Awards and Prizes wins.


DEVELOPMENT
The development process was very rapid. The idea was hatched during a long car ride back from a convention with fellow Game Artisan of Canada Al Leduc. Al had many prototypes which used dice drafted from a common pool as a mechanism. We have differing approaches to game design, and those perspectives enrich our conversations and collaborations.

I was interested in finding a concrete, theme-driven way of using a dice drafting mechanism. This would naturally involve using the dice as physical components rather than as abstract markers for some other resource. The main idea presented itself fully-formed all at once: the dice should be used as building components in an architectural game. The second principal idea, that the players should feel torn between the sometimes conflicting goals of conforming to their Blueprint, winning Awards, and earning Prizes, was also born in that discussion. The details worked themselves out rather quickly, and were rather insistent that they should be given shape in cardboard and plastic as soon as possible.

Due to its quick playing time and simple rules, it was easy to playtest the game frequently with my weekly design group, friends, local game groups, conventions, and my children. Adjustments were made mainly to the point values of the different materials, to the drafting process itself, and to the two-player game.

The second prototype for the player screens

GETTING THE GAME PUBLISHED
The differences in gameplay between the first prototype and the game published by Z-Man are negligible. Due to its quick playing time and simple rules, it was easy to playtest the game frequently with my weekly design group, friends, local game groups, and with my children. Adjustments were made mainly to the point values of the different materials, to the drafting process itself, and to the two-player game.

Within a few months, the game felt sufficiently stable and polished to present it to publishers. As this requires a completely different set of skills than those required to design games, and as I much prefer spending time on the latter than the former, the game was first submitted to my agents, ForgeNext. They presented the game to many publishers at Essen, and several of those were interested in receiving a prototype. One publisher, Z-MAN Games, had recently been purchased by some Canadian neighbours of mine (relatively speaking), Filosofia. It was only natural that I present it to them in person, seeing as my agents reside in France. At least, this was the argument used to convince me to pitch my game to them in person. With great relief, I found that the game was able to sell itself, and the capable folks at Z-MAN offered to license it.

(You will be happy to note that they did not retain my first idea for the prototype player screens.)

As a member of the Game Artisans of Canada, I’m proud that it is a Canadian publisher who is bringing the game to market. That being said, I can boldly assert that players of all nations will find it agreeable. There is something universally pleasing about stacking blocks and rolling dice, and Blueprints is one of the rare games that encourages you to do just that.

- YVES TOURIGNY