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My article The Essence of Euro-Style Games (it's another attempt at definition) has been published by Games Journal. Yes, Games Journal is alive again, though on a reduced/occasional basis rather than in a monthly format.
http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/Essence.shtml
I'm told that a European publisher will be co-publishing my boardgame Germania with an American publisher. But there is a long way between intent and actuality, so we'll see how it goes. It took three years for me to revise Britannia, find a publisher, and get it published (should be in stores in the next couple weeks), so I've learned to have patience.
This blog contains comments by Dr. Lewis Pulsipher about games he is designing or has designed in the past, as well as comments on game design in general. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LewisPulsipher
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3 comments:
1. I would put the time limit on Euro games as less than 2 hours, but compared to many games that is a quibble.
2. Defining the essence of Euro-style games or war games is like trying to define the essence of Literature. Literature has to be at least a few pages long, it has to have some conflict, it has to have certain elements, yadi yadi yada. It may be a useful tool for the classroom, but when it comes down to it literature is that which is widely accepted as literature.
Define it any way you want and there will still be a sizable percentage of the population that thinks Maya Angelou writes literature, and that Hammer of the Scots is a Euro game.
I found it odd that as you went along you contrasted Euro games specifically with war games. Was that how you started out?
How would you contrast Euro game with, say, party games, American games, classic games, and so on?
Yehuda
People on BGG have suggested 90 minutes to 2 hours. I suppose one way to determine this would be to survey a lot of folks who say they like Euro games and ask what the max lenfth ought to be.
Yes, someone once suggested that Britannia was a Euro-like game! Insofar as there's no player elimination and it is (like many Euro games) a point game, I suppose you could make a case... But I never think of it as Euro-like. My "Euroized" Brit is diceless, many fewer pieces and areas, much shorter.
Ultimately I'm trying to find a happy medium between wargames and Euro games, and that's why I compare with wargames. Moreover, that's what I know very well. I'm not much interested in party games or family games; what's an "American game"?
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