by Jaakko Kemppainen
Let’s Simplify! As a long-term digital games professional I have been designing more and more complex games for over a decade. At the same time I have always thought that a game is perfect when it has been simplified to the point where nothing else can be taken away. That is Trickle.
Trickle is a two or three player strategy game that has many similarities to classics such as Go and Chinese Checkers. There are no dedicated pieces for each player, but everyone can move any piece they want and it matters where the pieces end up. This principle of shared resources, combined with multiple target areas in different directions give players an unique mixture of strategic calculating and tactical maneuvering.
Trickle may sound simple. Move pieces to adjacent free hex or jump over another piece. Try to collect the glass beads on your own edge hexes. But after playing hundreds of games against very different opponents Trickle still hasn’t revealed all of its secrets. Usually people start with rather straightforward strategies, just moving pieces one by one towards an edge. But after a couple of games they figure out they need to play simultaneously towards all directions, start stealing, and making diversions. Then they try a three-player game and everything changes.
I also want to encourage people to be creative with their games. That’s why I have published some ideas for rule variants for Trickle. Go check the blog and get inspired: http://tricklegame.blogspot.fi/ Or, if you want to try it out, there is a web (Flash) version of the game at http://www.inapt.org/~blind/trickle/. Mobile is already on its way, but nothing can beat the look and feel of a real, tangible game.
Let’s Simplify! As a long-term digital games professional I have been designing more and more complex games for over a decade. At the same time I have always thought that a game is perfect when it has been simplified to the point where nothing else can be taken away. That is Trickle.
Trickle is a two or three player strategy game that has many similarities to classics such as Go and Chinese Checkers. There are no dedicated pieces for each player, but everyone can move any piece they want and it matters where the pieces end up. This principle of shared resources, combined with multiple target areas in different directions give players an unique mixture of strategic calculating and tactical maneuvering.
Trickle may sound simple. Move pieces to adjacent free hex or jump over another piece. Try to collect the glass beads on your own edge hexes. But after playing hundreds of games against very different opponents Trickle still hasn’t revealed all of its secrets. Usually people start with rather straightforward strategies, just moving pieces one by one towards an edge. But after a couple of games they figure out they need to play simultaneously towards all directions, start stealing, and making diversions. Then they try a three-player game and everything changes.
I also want to encourage people to be creative with their games. That’s why I have published some ideas for rule variants for Trickle. Go check the blog and get inspired: http://tricklegame.blogspot.fi/ Or, if you want to try it out, there is a web (Flash) version of the game at http://www.inapt.org/~blind/trickle/. Mobile is already on its way, but nothing can beat the look and feel of a real, tangible game.
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