Interview with Runaway Parade

A couple of weeks ago, I got to play a few games at ITTD, and I sought out the game designers for a few of the games to ask some more questions. First up is Runaway Parade Games, and their recently successful Kickstarted game, Fire Tower!

How did you to get into game design? Both of us have always loved board games and have been designing games since we were young. We always worked on projects together and designing a game together seemed obvious. Once we had the idea for Fire Tower we were excited develop it and see it made.

Was this your first attempt at designing a game? No, both of us have always designed games. But this is the first game that we have taken to this level. This is the first game that is more than just hand drawn cards and recycled game pieces as components. We've had to do a lot of research to understand the process of development and all that is involved.

How many iterations and tweaks did you make between conception and Kickstarter? Too many to count! There is always room for improvement and we've gone to countless conventions and events and received a ton of feedback from players that have strongly influenced the game. A lot of times it is just a very small change that most people wouldn't even notice, but to us it makes a world of difference.

What games influence your design or inspire you? We want to harken back to some older games while bringing in innovative mechanics that give the game a more modern feel. The deck is strongly influenced by a standard deck of cards, with a set number of each type of card in each category that allows for some level of card counting. The growing fire is similar to a lot of cooperative games, where the game has forward movement regardless of the players actions, but the competitive nature of the game adds more player interaction. We are inspired by so many games, but at the end of the day the mechanics of Fire Tower are unique.

How have people received the game at playtests? What can you say to prospective players about it? We've been thrilled with the response from players overall. Our favorite thing to hear is that the game doesn't seem like any other game they've ever played before. Also, watching people's reaction to the fire growing and the moves by other players never gets old. It's a really interactive game and that's part of the reason it's so fun.

With the success of the Kickstarter, are you thinking about the future? More games! We can't wait to start working on some of those prototypes that are gathering dust on the shelf. But right now our main concern is the production and fulfillment of Fire Tower. We want to produce a high quality game and get it out to backers as quickly as possible.