Andrew (Shoe) Lee - Induction into The Game Crafter Hall of Fame
1. Tell us about yourself and how long you've been designing games.
Whew, I've been designing games casually for like solidly 32 years. In middle school I would draw out pen-and-paper side scroller games for my friends to play through but they sort of required me to be there to narrate how that even worked. Think a hybrid of Mario and D&D. But I've really only been SERIOUS about it for probably 15. I took about a 10 year break while my kids were little and got serious again this year, Elephant in the Room was phase one of me stepping back into serious game design.
2. Please tell us about Elephant in the Room.
So, Elephant in the Room is a game steeped in hidden puns. The game takes place in a china shop filled with elephants, most people's initial though is... "Isn't the saying 'BULL in a china shop'?" WELL, turns out a male elephant is a BULL elephant. Second, the elephant in the room (obvious or major problem nobody is dealing with) in Elephant in the Room (my game) is literally elephants in the room (problematic pachyderms) nobody is doing anything about, and a good game name goes a LONG way for me.
Anyway, the way the game works is fairly easy to learn and has a surprising amount of strategic depth. You have your elephants/"workers" and a board of 16 spaces.
And players take turns placing them to block out abilities they don't want anyone using. Then each player gets a shopping phase. During that phase you can basically go through each space one time. If it is elephant-free you just get to use the ability. If there is any elephant you gotta give it a peanut to pass by. China is the points system, there are variable player powers, but it's very easy to reshuffle, redistribute and move them around and also some action cards that convert resources and do some other neat little tricks to spice things up.
3. Where did the idea for this game come from?
When I design games, I always start from a point of "What makes this unique" or often "How can I take something we've all played 1000 versions of and flip it on it's head". I have a folder of hundreds of game designs in various stages, and one document is just "common mechanics but backwards" I was working with for a long time. I don't exactly remember what sparked me to do this, but it has stuff like deck-destroying, tableau-trimming...etc. Reverse worker placement came from there.
The title comes from a much more serpentine path. Back in the 2010s I was (and still am) an avid listener to the Building the Game podcast. On that show they had a segment for the longest time where every week one of the hosts would pitch a game, and when they didn't have an idea, they would jump to this random game idea generator (which sadly has been taken down). The name Elephant in the Room was generated by that site 10-15 years ago.
As far as I recall, making the association that reverse workers might be huge elephants getting in the way of doing the work comes from my own crazy. Haha!
4. What makes this game special/unique?
Elephant in the Room has two facets going for it that make it really stand out.
First of all, the reverse worker placement mechanic is a twist on something most gamers have experienced. And the way the game talks about it is both intriguing and comfortable. We all know what a worker placement game is, but REVERSE?! What does that look like.
Second is the wacky theme. This one is...layered. Elephants in a china shop is pretty far out there. Nobody is coming up with that because, well, it really makes no sense, but it DOES work well with the mechanics. The hidden puns are kind of a slow burn and may not even be something people find. But hey, how many games in your collection are about elephant fugitives trashing glassware?
5. Did you create a design journal for your game? If so, did you publish it somewhere we can link to?
I do have a couple posts extolling my journey, at my game design site:
https://doyoupunchtheguy.com/blog/
6. Did you already have the idea for Elephant in the Room in your head before the Fur, Feathers & Fun was announced?
Yeah, I've had this idea sitting around for over a decade, like I said. It was nowhere near ready for anyone to see though. It underwent a ton of playtesting, mediocre graphic design and OH, the rules. I spent the same amount of time writing and formatting the rulebook as I did on the graphic design of the ENTIRE rest of the game. I loathe confusing rules, and as a gamer and designer I pride myself of making my games easy to learn and unambiguous. Having to fight about a rule during play ruins the vibe on a game night.
7. What made you decide to enter your game into the contest?
My youngest child hit high school this year and my free time has increased a bit because my kids are older now. So I picked game design back up and decided this was the year I was going to get published. I needed motivation and entering a contest seemed like a good deadline to work towards. I've been printing with the Game Crafter since....well I think for as long as it has existed. And so I stumbled into the Fur, Feathers and Fun contest in late January. So I had a little bit of catch up to play, but thankfully, Elephant in the Room was just sitting around on my Google drive from a decade ago waiting to be picked back up, and here we are!
8. Would you have been motivated to work on the game as much as you did without the contest?
I was pretty motivated this year, but having a specific thing to focus on certainly helped. It's easy to get lost in endless new concepts. Its really fun to come up with shiny new toys, but having a goal and a deadline helps create focus.
9. Has winning inspired you to enter more contests or design more games?
I actually entered the Bad Comet Cozy Game design contest that just ended on June 31st, it had a LOT more entries and my design was much younger so I didn't get nearly as far, but I do like where that game is headed. I've also got a 3rd design nearing a stage where I'm planning to pitch it to publishers as well, and winning this contest has certainly lit a fire under me like nobody's business.
10. Could you describe any influence The Game Crafter has had on your success as a game designer?
In...2010 I printed 13 copies of my first game Mad Scientist! from the Game Crafter after pulling a marathon all-nighter to do the art and graphic design. My friends and family all helped out with the art and I slapped together something I was proud of at the time, but in retrospect was kind of laughable. Another friend had a booth at Dragonflight Game Con in Bellevue, WA that same month and in exchange for helping man the booth I also got to demo and sell my game. After all was said and done (and Family bought 3 or 4 of em) I sold all 13 copies, and even signed one. It was an awesome experience, and frankly one I could never afford without small batch printing like the Game Crafter. Without experiences like that, I'm not sure I would still feel as able to make it at this as I do today.
11. What's next for you?
PITCHING! I've been sending out tons of pitching emails to publishers for this game, I want to start doing the same for another game I've been working on as well where the entire setup to start playing is "dump the box".
12. Any last words of encouragement or advice to all of the designers reading this?
For me, the best games come from one small idea that is out of nowhere compared to everything else I've ever seen. If you can say in 1-3 words something that describes your game that makes the listener want to know more that's always going to at least be worth pursuing.
I always start from a place of, what aspect of games can I totally flip, invert, subvert or mess with this time. _______________ Thank you to the Game Crafter for holding the contest, the Judges for liking my game, and great job never stop making games to all the other entrants, the competition was stiff. Tons of great games in the mix!
