Speaking Too Soon

I’ve said some silly things in my day. It’s often the result of speaking before I think. Often times we say things without giving consideration to how it will sound in the minds of others.

In the very first first Team Frenemies podcast, I said something silly. I claimed to not really like board games. Given that is now the exact product I am producing and promoting, there is an obvious conflict and mixed message being sent to the viewers.

After having the opportunity to sleep on it and think more about the idea, what I would say now is that I do enjoy some board games, but simply haven’t played any ever since I got my first computer back in 1997. Computers changed everything. This also gives me the opportunity to expand more on how exactly Frenemies was conceived.

As stated in the podcast, Frenemies was originally just a card game. Boards were introduced to give the cards context, meaning, and usefulness. But before it was a board game, and before it was even a card game, Frenemies was an idea for a computer game. The original intent from day 1, was to create a computer game.

Anyone who has experience in coding can tell you that the margin for error is relatively small. You really need to know what the exact intention is. And you really need to know exactly, with as much specific detail as possible, what the desired outcome is to be. All computer code, programs, and algorithms can essentially be reduced to one big math equation. There is no room for intuition, subjectivity, or opinions.

When I sat down to write the code, my first problem was that I didn’t know how to code. So I set out to teach myself the process. After going through that process, I once again sat down to begin working on the game, and was faced with yet another problem - the rules.

What are the rules?

I had a good idea in my head for what I wanted the game to be and how I wanted it to play, but I hadn’t yet done the work necessary to translate that idea into something you can express in C++, C#, Java, Javascript, or any other programming language.

If you want to build a house, you have to learn the process, educate yourself on the tools involved, learn the vernacular, and integrate it into your speech patterns. If you want to be an internationally renowned, top rated chef, you must do the same thing for all things involved in that pursuit. And if I want to make a computer game that is worth playing, I have to learn the process, respect the process, get familiar with all the tools, and cultivate every skill necessary to use those tools, all so that I may ultimately, some day develop a quality product.

So what does any of this have to do with the Frenemies board game?

Once upon a time, while looking for YouTube videos that could offer me insight into the ways of programming, I stumbled upon a video by “The Happie Cat”. In one of her videos she discussed how aspiring game developers should strongly consider designing a board game first.

Her logic was that doing such a thing and going through that process, forces you to think about things in a new and different way than you normally do. And it is that new and different way of thinking which will ultimately lead to a much smoother programming experience.

Before I started working on Frenemies, all my ideas were very broad and general. Such things are impossible to program. After just one play test, it became clear just how specific I needed to get. Before I started play testing Frenemies, I left too many concepts open to interpretation. Such things are difficult to program, and extremely easy to screw up. After a year of working on Frenemies, I’ve become much more adept expressing ideas and concepts in exact and specific terms. Such things are actually quite easy to program.

If I understood her correctly, this way of thinking is what The Happie Cat was referring to. The input has to be clear, or the output will not compute. The cause has to be well defined, or the effect will not compute.

All I wanted was to learn how to program a silly little game. And somewhere along the way, we ended up with this beast of a board game. It really makes me wonder what else my team and I will come up with, as we continue down this path.