scritto da Fabio (Pinco11)
Ogni appassionato di giochi è, dentro di se, come dicevamo nei nostri articoli autoironici dedicati alle ‘facce da gioco’, un pochetto sommelier e la cosa porta con sé anche il gusto estremo di andare a pescare, di volta in volta, anche i titoli dei quali la massa poco sa o che farà una fatica bestia a trovare. Lì risiede il gusto di avere tra le mani o da dire qualcosa di ‘esclusivo’.
Vi rispondo che oramai in tutto il mondo, grazie ad Internet, ogni passione si è diffusa senza barriere ed il nostro hobby non fa eccezione (un blog che ogni tanto leggo, è scritto da un giocatore di Kuala Lampur, in Malaysia).
Ora come ora il nostro nuovo amico degli antipodi sta lavorando, appunto, al titolo di cui al titolo, ossia Shipwrights of the North Sea, che vede come protagonisti dei simpatici vichinghi in competizione tra loro nel settore della cantieristica, con tutto ciò che la cosa comporta, a partire dalla gestione delle risorse, del personale (che gente gira da quelle parti …!!) e del ‘mercato’ fluttuante.
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| Primi prototipi |
Per ora le informazioni trapelate non erano moltissime, per cui mi sono deciso a contattare Shem dagli antipodi ed a rivolgere direttamente a lui una serie di domande, utili ad approfondire la storia sua e di Shipwrights.
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| Shem al lavoro sui prototipi |
Per chi masticasse poco dell’inglese (gli altri saltino queste righe, a mo’ di spoiler), anticipo che nel gioco vi sarà consegnata una scheda giocatore, nella quale immagazzinare le risorse ed intorno alla quale collocherete le varie carte che vi procurerete nel corso della partita, al ritmo di 3 a turno, tramite un meccanismo di drafting (alla 7 Wonders). Le carte raffigurano edifici, attrezzi, personaggi, navi ed altro ed attribuiscono bonus e/o punti vittoria. Il gioco termina alla costruzione della quarta nave da parte di qualcuno e si calcolano i punti ottenuti. Il titolo, in fase di realizzazione, sarà alla fine distribuito tramite Kickstarter!
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| L’ultima uscita di Shem, prima del futuro Shipwrights |
company, founded to produce Shem’s games), who lives in New
Zealand, hardly the first place you think to if you wonder a
boardgame’s author whereabouts … Hi Shem, first of all I’ll let you introduce yourself to our
readers: I begin saying that you’re the most known kiwi boardgame
designer (you’re the only one I know …) and that you’re
already author of at least seven published games, one of them
(Saqqara) by a foreign well known publisher, White Goblin Games,
but I leave you to explain how you began to create boardgames and
your designer’s and publisher’s history.
– Thanks
Fabio. I have been designing and publishing my games for almost 5 years
now. I was born into a very creative family. So it’s just in my bones to
create! Actually, both my mother and brother’s artwork feature in a few
of my games. Publishing games all started for me when I started
designing my first game, Linwood. At that stage I had no plans for
future releases, but the ideas just keep on coming! So now I am just
enjoying working on each project as they develop.
How did you manage to be published by a so far (from you) editor
as White Goblin? Can you talk about Saqqara’s history (of the
boardgame’s, naturally)? It seems that it was not fully understood
by BGG players: can you imagine what did happen?
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| Un altro precedente lavoro di Shem |
–
White Goblin saw one of my early prototypes of the game on BGG. Their
interest was peaked mainly by the theme. At that stage I had only just
began developing the game from my first ideas. So they picked it up very
early on. They made a lot of changes from my original design – some
good, some not. But overall, it was a great learning experience for me.
Ok, thanks to internet, nowadays every idea is shared worldwide,
so I had news about your upcoming game, whose former name was
Selandia and now is Shipwrights of the North Sea. I read that it’s
about trading and hand management, with Vikings, but I’d like to
know more about how the game works. The first images seem to be
really terrific, so it went fast in the BGG hot list. Can you tell
something more about its rules?
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| L’evoluzione grafica delle navi dal prototipo in poi |
is all about building ships. The aim to build the most glorious fleet on
the North Sea. It’s a victory points based game – there are 9 ships and
5 buildings which all offer various points and ways to increase those
points. Each day (or round), players receive 3 cards through a card
drafting process. Each player must use or discard all cards on their
turn.
Tools. On their turn, players can also purchase goods and build ships.
There is a lot of player interaction and reading into what others may be
planning. At the end of each day, players receive gold and additional
workers for the following day (based on the current day). This continues
for a few weeks (not actually weeks!), till one or more players builds
their 4th ship. Players finish the current round and add up their points
to determine the winner.
You’ve been working on this game since 2011, so it seems to be
your upcoming masterpiece: can you write us in a few lines your
“designer’s diary”?
long time in the making for me. I definitely feel it is my best game to
date.
character cards, mixed into the same deck as building cards. So players
would have to choose from a whole range of card types each round. The
idea to make it about building ships came quite early on, and the
decision to go with the Viking theme seemed like a logical move.
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| Partita in corso sul prototipo |
What kind of productive problems has to solve a game editor to
publish a game like Shipwrights?
– Production
is always a challenge, especially being all the way down in New Zealand.
This heavily increases costs.
possible to my customers. The other big challenge is reaching the
market. I don’t have a lot of money to fly over to the big game fairs in
Europe and America, so a lot of my marketing is done online. But I am
slowly building a reputation for myself.
When do you plan to have it ready to sell? Do you have agreements
for a foreign distribution?
– My aim is early
this year. Box art is currently underway, and the rulebook is almost
complete. I will be releasing the game through Kickstarter. Customers
outside of New Zealand can expect to see some very generous shipping
options and rewards for their support.
Do you have other ongoing projects ?
currently working on a game to be released with my band’s (Swifts and
Sparrows) full length album later this year. Without giving too much
away, both the game and album will feature the same artwork and theme.
Can you name us your 2013 favorites boardgames? What kind of games
do you like to play the most?
– Last year I
became a Dad, so I didn’t have too much time for gaming! However, I did
play a lot of Love Letter, Asara, and of course, Shipwrights of the
North Sea!
Thx for your time and hear you soon, hopefully, with updates about
the publication of Shipwrigths of the North Seas 😉
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