For 21 years, Doug Kaufman has been designing games. He tried to do other things. He went to school to be an actor and even spent some time in New York pursuing that particular career. But even while in college, the allure of the game-design seductress drew his attention from his classes. Doug published his first game while in college, a tabletop war game called Ace of AcesT which simulates WWI air combat.

At some point prior to making it big in Hollywood (or New York), Doug's fate came knocking and he joined the team at West End Games. There, he designed or developed roleplaying games such as Star Wars®: Star WarriorsT, Arabian NightsT, Kings & ThingsT, and one of my personal all-time favorite tabletop RPGs: ParanoiaT. As I'm sure you know, these games occupy special places on every dedicated gamer's shelves.

From there, Doug immediately moved from designing paper games to designing electronic ones. He made the transition through Microprose, contributing to such games as Command HQT, DarklandsT, DragonsphereT, Colonization® and Civilization II®. After a few other odd jobs, he has finally landed at Big Huge Games. He's home. And, he's making great games, like Rise of Nations, just for us.

Hi, Doug! You have a varied background! How do you feel that your experience in acting and in designing tabletop games has fed into your success as a computer game designer?

Doug: Acting has actually been quite useful to my career as a computer game designer. First of all, it drew me into the business, strange as it may seem: when I was struggling to make it as an actor, I looked for any kind of job that would put food on the table. I found out that West End was offering free pizza in exchange for game testing, and since I had plenty of boardgaming background, that sounded like a great way to get a free meal to me. I really had no plans to become a game designer professionally, at that point.

Also, theater taught me to work in a team environment, especially one that's full of high-tempered, creative people who aren't used to a "9-to-5 corporate environment." I can't think of a better description of most game companies. There's a lot about putting together a show that's similar to putting together a complicated computer game design, including such oft-overlooked concepts as "The show must go on!" (i.e., the game must ship on such-and-such a date regardless), and "Everyone is important to the show!" (i.e., aspects of art, programming, and design all have to be integrated).

As for board games, they obviously help teach principles of game design, and hone many skills that will be useful in all aspects of gaming. As mentioned above, the environment is similar (assuming you work for a company, as I did, and are not a freelancer), and the education in elementary business (budget, deadlines) is useful along with the more difficult-to-teach creative aspects.

And finally, if it weren't for my experience in board games, I don't know how easy it would have been to get a computer job in the first place.

What are the basic differences in how you approach the design of a tabletop game versus the design of a computer game?

Doug: The most striking difference is pretty simple: the design of a boardgame is most often done alone, or with a very small group of people. Computer games (for me at least) have been much more of a collaborative effort. This means that the design of a boardgame is more like painting a picture or writing a novel, and computer games are more of a group-think, like putting on a show.

As for the design principles involved, many are similar...but the effect of them is different. With a boardgame, you can make a prototype and fiddle with specific aspects; it's very modular. I find computer games to be much more "of a piece;" that is, the design has to be more cohesive. Yes, you can tweak systems, but the repercussions are more grand than with a board game, and that's one reason why the design of a computer game can easily take two years where the design of a boardgame typically takes 6 months.

Finally, most tabletop games are designed to be for 2 players, or more. The systems and concepts used have to take into account the "human factor" of personal interrelationships. Most computer games are single-player experiences, or need to have excellent single-player modes, and this of course informs all sorts of different design concepts.

Rise of Nations is a history-based strategy game, but you also seem to have deep roots in science fiction and fantasy. Do you have a favorite genre?

Doug: That's hard to say. Typically my favorite genre is the one I'm currently working on, but I guess fantasy is my most favorite of all. There are pros and cons to all genres, but I find the cons of fantasy (difficulty in creating cohesive, creative fantasy worlds that are internally consistent and compelling) to be fun and something I'm good at, whereas the cons of other genres (like History: must at least *feel* historically accurate; or Science Fiction: must at least *feel* scientifically plausible) are a little more difficult for me.

You've partnered with Brian Reynolds on numerous games. How does that design process work exactly?

Doug: Damned if we know.

I guess it's a good back-and-forth of concepts, execution in prototype, and refinement. We have many similar skills, but also fill in each other's blind spots to a certain degree. We usually start by making a list of what we hope to accomplish, focusing especially on the parts we think are the most risky or difficult. Brian is the one who makes things actually happen on screen...and then we go back and forth as to how fun a thing is, how close something is to fulfilling its original purpose, and what, if any, fundamental concepts we need to re-think. Typically a lot of the basic beginning ideas survive to the end product, but in highly mutated form.

Once we have the basics, we just keep playing and playing and playing, and ask ourselves each time "what did we learn from that?" We also do a lot of random brainstorming to solve various small issues that crop up.

Can you give us a description of what it's been like to design Rise of Nations?

Doug: Highly satisfying! We started with our concept paper-what we wanted this game to accomplish within the genre in which we'd chosen to work. That involved a lot of "We like this type of game, but not these aspects of this type of game. How can we change it and make it better?" We prototyped it...and quickly found those aspects that weren't working out, and those that seemed to be especially fun. With a LOT of back and forth from art, programming, and design, we (I hope) shed all the baggage and kept only the cool, fun aspects of the original design. As I said above, many of the initial ideas (attrition and supply, commerce caps, city centers, population levels, national borders, support costs) survived, but in highly mutated form.

It's been tiring, sometimes frustrating, and lots of fun. All through the project, we had one exciting thing going for us: we were creating something that wasn't quite like anything else. And it was a game WE wanted to play.

What's your next project?

Doug: Our next project is figuring out what our next project will be. Actually, we're still in the throes of the finishing touches to RoN, and thinking about any add-on packs we might want to do. The next major game is still just in the "here's a thought" stage.