I’m deep in Game Chef (and excited about my idea, which is all weepy-jeepy), and I was thinking about Game Chef’s past. So I dug up my very first, nascent first-weekend-didn’t-know-what-I-was-doing notes on The Roach from 2005.
It started out as a very different game! It’s interesting to see which bits survived through every edit and made it into the published game.
I’ve got this insane semi-secret project going on that may have an equally insane set of milestones, or it may not happen at all, or who knows – deadlines have shifted, things are up in the air, we’re waiting for The Word, I’m OK with that. I’ve got another project, Business Solutions, which is like 95% done. Needs a little refining, a little playtesting and it is good to go. So what am I working on?
Medical Hospital.
Probably the best place to go if you have a disorder, right? Anyway, I must share the love – I haven’t touched this game since October but I had a flash of insight that solved pretty much all of the game’s problems. I was trying to be way too clever, and by paring away all the preciousness I think I’ve got something really functional and fun.
The core conceit of Medical Hospital – the weird thing that makes it fun – is the tactile procedure. You’re playing a trauma surgeon, or a thoracic surgeon, and you, the player, get to perform these operations. If you are all thumbs with post-its and scissors, your doctor is all thumbs with sutures and a scalpel. The procedures are timed so you are under pressure. In one way it’s completely ludicrous and blurs the player/character divide in a stupid way, but in another, better way it is pure fun. So last year I had the notion that the game would be composed of modules you’d choose from – romance plus trauma! Diagnosis plus drama! Comedy, romance, and drama! And there were playing cards and a lot of nonsense. I stepped back and tried to find the fun. People can set the tone themselves. I realized you’ve got a stopwatch at the table already, so (thanks, Steffan O’Sullivan) there’s your randomizer, and the cards are gone. And then I realized that stress is your currency (this somehow escaped me previously), and suddenly the game is pretty much in the can. I just need to write it down.
Anybody want to playtest? Also: Take my survey!