DODO GAME DESIGN

I wrote the rules for Dodo (the original name) in 2021. I came up with the name Dodo before designing the game. I wanted the simplest game imaginable. It should be so simple that "even a dodo can play." My first thought was just to have opposing armies cascading through each other in a race to opposite ends of the board. Checkers should move directly or diagonally forward to an empty, neighboring cell. No jumping, no capturing, and no moves farther than one cell away. Super simple idea.

I soon realized that my initial concept didn't work because checkers of both armies could become inextricably jammed, with no possibility of reaching the opposite end of the board. So I changed the winning condition to: "If none of your checkers can move (either because they reached the opposite end of the board, or because they're blocked, or both) you win." Problem solved. Dodo isn't just MY simplest game. It's arguably THE simplest game.

DODO ONLINE

I programmed Dodo for online, human vs human play at Board Game Arena. There were concerns that Dodo was so simple that it would develop problems, such as a winning solution being discovered, or a strong first move advantage developing. But after tens of thousands of plays, Dodo has proven to be an extremely robust game.

DODO JAM APP

I wrote the Dodo Jam app in 2023. (I renamed the game from Dodo to Dodo Jam to distinguish it from other, similarly named games.) Of my 50 or so games, I selected Dodo Jam for the app because of its extreme simplicity. There's no learning curve. No need to study a rule sheet.

The Dodo Jam app is very flexible. You can play human vs human, or human vs app (with choice of first player), or app vs app (and watch the app play against itself). You can change the difficulty level at any time during play. You can back up through the move history and play it forward again. Having backed up to a point earlier in the game, you can play it out differently from there.

The Dodo Jam app is language independent. There's no text. No annoying "You won!" messages. You'll know when you won because a trophy with your color on it will appear.

ABOUT ME

I've been designing abstract games off and on since 1992. All of my games are naturally finite and decisive. There's no possibility of an endless cycle of moves, even if players cooperate to make it happen. There's no need for superko, the 50 move rule, or any other type of artifice for making an otherwise infinite game finite. And there can't be a tie. One player will win and one will lose, every time. I generally try to make my games as orignal as possible - different from what's out there and from what I've already done. There have been exceptions. I created Redstone, a naturally finite, decisive variant of Go in which captures are made with neutral, red stones.

When I first arrived on the design scene, I wasn't welcomed with open arms by other designers. I knew I was good*, and I expected to be recognized, acknowledged, and respected. None of this happened of course, partly because I was the FNG (******* new guy), and partly because I had no a no-nonsense attitude. I wasn't suffering fools, at all. For me it wasn't about sucking up to old guard, mediocre designers. It was about brass knuckles.

Now, all these years later, I'm finally getting some appreciation.

I've lived in Mongolia since 2019.

*WHAT AM I GOOD AT?

Am I good at being Kris Burm or Reiner Knizia? No. I'm good at being me. At that I'm the best in the world. I'm not designing with rings, balls, cones, and meeples. I'm not minimizing the amount of plastic to what's necessary for play by advanced beginners. I only use stones or checkers, but not both. I use standard, generic pieces and standard, generic boards, either square or hexagonal. I'm not licensing any of my games for manufacture. I would, but manufacturers prefer games with non-standard pieces. They don't want to put a lot of resources into producing a game, only to have you play it with a $5 checkers set.

I don't tweak. I don't slap together an arbitrary hodgepodge of stale game mechanisms, play the Frankensteinian abomination exhaustively, change it, play it exhaustively again, change it again... Sure, I'll run through a new game once or twice to see if it's robust. If there's a problem, I'll try to fix it. Most likely, I will not find a solution. Instead I'll toss the game onto the scrap heap and start over in a completely different direction.

How do I come up with ideas? It's 90% cerebral. I go into a trance and visualize gameplay - a lot like in "The Queen's Gambit," but not projected upside down onto the ceiling. The board and pieces are just "there". After getting an idea, I'll push pieces around on a board to see if works as a game. Usually it doesn't.

There's always an initial objective in my design process. I create a puzzle and try to solve it. What would be an unbelievably simple game (Dodo Jam), for example? Sometimes, along the way, I'll stumble onto a lovely mechanism that has nothing to do with the initial goal. In that case, I'll run with it.

Originality is paramount. With rare exception, I don't do variants. None of my games employ the knight move, though many use the king or queen move because these are sufficiently generic and don't reek of Chess.

I invent simple, unique mechanisms. For me, it's about the rule set as a thing of beauty. That's all. I'm not designing for quality of play. If a game turns out to have high quality play, awesome. But that's not what drives me.

Players have freaked out over my design approach. "How dare you make me try your game that you didn't playtest for months?" I didn't make you do anything. I publshed a set of rules for a game that you can play for free with equipment you already have. If you don't like it, **** off. By the grace of God, my appreciative fans vastly outnumber the whining, entitled ingrates.

Designers have freaked out over my insistence on naturally finite, drawless play. This is just what I do, in my designs. I'm not saying you have to do it. I appreciate other designers' games that don't follow my design rules (sometimes, rarely). Not everyone has to be me.

Many players don't mind the occasional draw. They even like it. That's fine for you, but not for me. I abhor draws and I won't knowingly release a game that has them. Draws tend to increase in frequency with advancing skill. A fellow designer reminded me that I once said that draws are like cancer. They eventually kill a game (LOL). I'd forgotten having said that, but yes, it's true.

Other than abstract game design, I don't have any notable skills. I barely managed to learn game programming by studying tutorials. When I inevitably run into a brick wall, I reach out to professionals. They've always offered to help me free of charge, except recently when I needed to install an in app purchase of a no ads version of Dodo Jam. In this case I had to hire someone for a few hours of work. Incidentally, the Google Play Store won't sell to Mongolians. So if you live here, you're stuck with the ads, unless you have a VPN to simulate not being in Mongolia.

REFERENCE

My design philosophy, an article in Abstract Games magazine.

List of my games.