Interview with Mr. Rüdiger Dorn

JogoEu (JE) - When do you began playing? Do you remember the games that you played that time?

Rüdiger Dorn (RD) - I began playing games in my childhood when I was about 10 years old. There was exactly one day per year – the birthday of my dad - I played with my parents. The other days I must play alone or with my friends. My first games were “Europareise”, “Stratego” and “Halma”.

JE - What are the things that give you more pleasure in life? Why?

RD - The gift to live some time on earth, the proudness to made the right job-decision (against the will of my parents) after the bank-training, the luck to meet my wife, the wonder of the birth of our children, the chance to have the talent to create games.

JE - Which level of luck is acceptable for you, in a game?

RD - I play many games to have a feeling of actual game designing. If I play a game with some luck, it´s absolute ok. What I do not like are games without luck, because I often feel, that some guys must show how fantastic brainers they are. I also do not like games which pretend tactical moves, but at the end of the game it´s 90% luck if you win or loose. The best example recently of pretending is the game “café international” the game of year 1989, which I played 2 days ago.

JE - In the inventive process of a new game, what makes you most excited?

RD - To have the inventive idea, to connect the small first spark with other interesting sparks and to play that new game in my head, again and again. It´s a fantastic feeling ….

JE - What are the "ingredients" that you like the most in a game?

RD - First the ingredients I do not like – war and fighting.

I love to manage with resources to acquire advantages.

Agricola from Uwe Rosenberg is a perfect example of a constructive game, where people create their own little world with inhabitants, animals, houses, vegetables,…..

JE - What kind of mechanics do you prefer to focus on the development of your games?

RD - I have no special “mechanic”. I like a certain amount of clever resource-management-system. Actually I like the “mechanic” of “filling action fields”.

JE - Tell us which game you like the most. Why?

RD - My all-time favourite is Magic the Gathering. If you have invested some money J, you have a giant pool of intelligent combinations. It´s a very glorious feeling that every game takes a different course, if you do not play with a turnier deck.

JE - What’s your favourite creator? Why?

RD - I think it´s recently Martin Wallace. I love to explore new mechanism and Martin Wallaces` games have often these (hidden) inspiring ideas.

JE - Can you make a game using a pre-theme determined by a publisher?

RD - I tried two times to transcribe a theme into a game – the journey into the middle of the earth and cartagena-the gold island.

JE - From every moment that gives origin to a new game - creation, editing and publishing - which is the most pleasant? Why?

RD - Every step has exciting moments. The creation phase is fascinating because of the new sparks of ideas. The editing is interesting because of optimizing. The publishing is thrilling because of the equipment. At the moment i´m very curious of the new edition of “the traders of genoa” by filosofia games.

JE - What do you think about the use of boardgames with an educational purpose?

RD - I do not like games with an educational purpose. I´m very happy if my students or my colleages playing games and have fun. So I hope, I infect them and they play more times.

JE - Is the election of the new president of the USA a good theme for a game?

RD - Uargh! I hate policy, so never, never. If I want to play a political game, I would play “Die Macher”.

JE - How is a typical day of Rüdiger Dorn?

RD - Sleeping, drinking, working, playing, thinking, testing, music listening, eating, again sleeping, ….

JE - Your family participates in your adventure to create new games or are you a lonely creator?

RD - My wife is my one and only participate in the early phase. She is very critical, but I need an antipole, who demonstrate weakening things of games. In later phases i have some seasoned persons.

JE - What do you want to do but have not yet had an opportunity? (in general)

RD - It would be nice, if I have enough money (to be independent), to live by game designing.

JE - What kind of games do you use when you are facing inexperienced players?

RD - Games where people must not think too much, but have much fun.

e.g. “Was´n das” from ravensburger, “danger 13”, ubongo, einfach genial, bluff

JE - How did the idea to create Goa came up?

RD - I want to design a development game, where I must optimize my resources in a limited number of actions. Before that I was searching for an interesting system, where I get the resources.

JE - How do you define your newest game - Diamonds Club? Who is the target audience?

RD - Everybody could play this game, who is not unskilled in game playing, because it has an intuitive game play. I create a system where to get resources by placing coins. But the coins are only a means to an end. You transform coins into jewels and technical advances to create a profitable garden.

JE - Which games suit you the most in the last Essen 2008?

RD - Diamonds club – I know i´m prejudiced. I enjoyed the great feedback in essen 2008. Many gamers were surprised, that a game from ravensburger had such a high poll placement (fairplay).

Im Schutze der Burg, Der Hexer von Salem, Tinners Trail are ok. Dominion is a little bit hyped – for most if you play MTG. I look for the Princes of Manchu Picchu and Le Havre, which I haven´t played yet.

JE - Are you working in some new game? Can you tell us the theme of this new project? Is it a boardgame or a card game? Do you already have a release date?

RD - Unfortunately I can´t tell you something of releases. The next release is the new edition of the traders of genoa. Of course, i´m working on new games – board games. But no designer speaks about themes and mechanics before publishing.

JE - Leave a message for the readers of the JogoEu blog.

RD - Work with your heart, and let the money work for you.