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Wooooosh! That’s the sound of a joke flying right over your head. We’ve all heard that sound and had that happen, but fret not friends, I am here to let you in on a few inside jokes that we managed to include on a few cards. Some of them may be a bit more obvious, while others will most likely be brand new to you!
Pugg – Anyone who plays the MMO knows that PUGs (Pick Up Groups) generally don’t work out all that well, and the term is now also used to reference a player who you randomly picked up for the group. PUGs kill your party in dungeons and raids, so what better way to represent this than to have Pugg hurt your own Allies. BRILLIANT!
Nyn’jah, Ghank, Greefer – All three of these Horde Allies are super awesome representations of their respective events in the land of MMOs. Ninjas steal items from their groups that drop in raids or dungeons; Gankers pick on low health players who were just resurrected or who are trying to regain health/mana out of combat to get some easy kills; Griefers are those people who constantly kill quest NPCs to disrupt the leveling of another player.
Mordotz – A tribute to the raid leader of that Onyxia raid in the MMO that has now become a World of Warcraft popstar along with others like Leeroy Jenkins.
Fat’afi – Named after our former commander Danny Mandel’s fat dog Afi.
Webster – I just wanted to throw this in there because it’s so simple and yet so brilliant. He’s a spider, spiders make webs. It would be funny if Danny told you about it, honest.
Leeroy Jenkins - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU
Hopefully I have enlightened a few people with this quick look at some of our inside jokes. Check back later this week or early next week for another riveting entry into the TCG Designer’s Blog!
The Heavy.
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I’m sure that just about everyone wonders how we come up with some of the crazy/interesting names that we come up with for a large number of cards for the WoW TCG. Most cards in the WoW TCG have some sort of story behind how each one got its final name ranging from inside jokes, to NPC or Player names, to friends and family names.
Anyone who has played the MMO or even Warcraft 3 will know some of the well known Warcraft lore players like Warchief Thrall, Jaina Proudmore, Varimathras, and Lady Vashj. There are only so many Warcraft characters that we can include, however, so for all of the other Heroes and Allies we all dig deep to come up with interesting names. Let’s take a peek at a few of the cards that have vanity names:
Bhenn Checks-the-Sky – This interestingly named Instant Tauren Druid comes from our own R&D member Ben Cichoski because his last name pretty much sounds like “Checks the Sky”.
Elder Moorf – For those who don’t know who Moorf is yet, he is one of the characters of our rules dude Paul Ross. Elder was added to his name to make him sound more distinguished (i.e. old).
Kena Shadowbrand – Originally named Keno, this little Gnome was supposed to be head developer Ken Ho’s vanity character, but in the end we found that the Gnome was actually a girl so we changed the name to Kena.
Meekway Humzinger – Named after the fearless leader of R&D, somehow this Gnome’s name is supposed to sound like Mike Hummel.
Shem Reznict – This nifty name came about as an anagram of Blizzard’s VP of Creative Development Chris Metzen.
So there you have five vanity or vanity related names and how they came about. Stay tuned next time for a peek at some of the inside jokes, WoW jokes, and general TCG jokes that have made their way onto some other cards as names.
Peace out.
The Heavy.
Email us your questions and comments at WOW_R&D@upperdeck.com.
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I’m not sure how many of you know the whole R&D at this point, but I have the distinct honor of being “the new guy”. That said, I’m fairly sure that my blog will receive more hits than any blog in the history of WoW R&D simply because I’m the most recent hire for the team. Don’t worry, I promise not to start my story saying “I used to play cards back in college/high school”.
My story starts back when I was about 6 years old on a wonderful Christmas Day that will forever be remembered by parents as the day their children became zombies. My brother and I were lucky enough to receive a shiny new Nintendo Entertainment System with a Power Pad. Needless to say our house quickly became THE house to spend time at as our Duck Hunt and World Class Track Meet marathons drove my parents crazy. My brother and I found ourselves at the mercy of this 8-bit god, and we were hooked. The 20 years following that first foray into the land of Mario has seen countless systems sit on the floor of my various rooms and piles upon piles of games have had their credits scroll across my television.
Now you may be wondering what any of that little back story has to do with my current position with the TCG. Suffice it to say that my early Goomba stomping action eventually lead me to the world of MMORPGs during my freshman year of college. EverQuest started as just a time-filler while I was injured during football season, but it quickly turned into the fuel for my competitive side. After four years of EQing, World of Warcraft was finally coming out and it was time for me to move from EQ into the land of Azeroth.
In elementary school I had begun to develop a craving for fantasy, specifically of the swords and sorcery style, and MMORPGs helped to satiate the thirst. I continued my competitive streak into WoW where I was lucky enough to have Jeff Donais as a member of my guild. Once I graduated college with my ultra-awesome degree in Psychology, I took some time off to live in Costa Rica and learn Spanish while I was there. Jeff Donais looked after the guild while I was off eating sweet-tasting ketchup and having my laptop stolen, and upon my return he mentioned a job opening that Upper Deck had as a Game Support Representative. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life yet, but this was an opportunity to not only get a job in the Entertainment business, and also a chance to live in the San Diego area. At the time I didn’t know much about TCGs, but my wealth of knowledge about WoW and my gamer background gave me enough to work with. Thankfully I had no responsibilities outside of myself, so I hastily accepted the position and packed up my car to drive cross country.
The first couple of days at Upper Deck were very interesting for me. My most notable interaction with R&D at the time was a talk I had with Danny Mandel as he attempted to explain “The Chain” to me. I was deadset in making him understand that if I play the card Execute, something should be destroyed; none of this responding nonsense. My video gamer mentality stuck its nose where it doesn’t belong and I’m pretty sure Danny thought I was just the most ridiculous person that could ever be employed to work with TCGs. Over the next two years I found myself enjoying TCGs more and more, and as each set of the WoW TCG was released, I couldn’t get enough of it and I tried to play as much as I could. I was tutored (i.e. he beat the snot out of me repeatedly) by Russell Pippin early on in my career and I tried to play as many games as I could against Ken Ho. Once the position for R&D opened up, I didn’t know if I was ready to apply for it or if I was what they were looking for, but I figured I had nothing to lose and that I would go for it.
Now here I sit, in the same room as the great minds that have created and maintained the WoW TCG. All of them are probably better TCGers than I will ever be, but my skillset as a video gamer and a lore junky, I believe, is much different than a majority of the other R&D members.
Long story short, all three categories that Mike Hummel first mentioned were a part of my hiring experience. Who you know, what you know, and what you’ve done are all extremely important and I would not be in the position that I am in today without any of those categories. However, when all is said and done, you have to be willing to take a chance and sometimes make a sacrifice to do what you love to do. The people you know and the things you know could open up all of the doors in the world for you, but until you have the courage to push yourself through those doors, everything remains a pipe dream.
Stay Frosty.
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Hello there wonderful World of Warcraft Trading Card Game fans. My name is Ben Cichoski and I am a member of the R and D team here at Upper Deck for the World of Warcraft TCG. I was the lead designer for the Hunt for Illidan expansion (I hope you like Sextuple Wield). I have worked on each WoW product since Through the Dark Portal.
As you know, if you have read the other Roll Call blogs, we have been asked to describe our journey to R and D. So here it goes. (A word of warning, this is a bit of a love story.)
I have been making games, either on my own or professionally, for the last 18 years. I made my first game when I was 14 and haven’t really stopped since. For many years, games were the first thing I thought of in the morning and the last thing I thought of at night. I just couldn’t get enough. I made, bought, and played as many games as I could and even studied the history of games. Then I met my wife, Gwenn.
Although games still played a part in my life, my priorities changed. I moved to Vermont, started thinking about marriage, children, buying a house, you know – adult stuff. I still tried to play games as much as possible, but they became more of a hobby than a passion. Then at a mutual friend’s wedding, my college buddy Danny Mandel (you know him as the Godfather of the World of Warcraft TCG) gave me some very early VS demo decks. He explained the rules, we shuffled up and played.
Now, I had played lots of other TCGs before. But this was different. This was a game a good friend of mine had made. This was real. Seeing those cards and holding them reignited the passion.
I dusted off some game ideas and got back into the groove. Now the first thing I thought about when I woke up was Gwenn. But the last thing I thought about as I went to sleep was games again.
I am not sure Gwenn knew what was happening. She was aware I had this cute thing about games, but she had never seen it like this. I started working at 2 different game stores to try to immerse myself in games as much as possible. There were half-finished prototypes, game boards, decks of cards scattered throughout our apartment. I worked on concepts late into the night and tried many of them out on her the next morning. Or on my parents, my brother, my friends.
Eventually we got married. After a wonderful honeymoon, we returned home. About a year or so later, we started talking seriously about kids. Gwenn got pregnant somehow and we were expecting our first child to arrive in March 2006.
This was in July 2005 or so and it was perhaps the critical moment in my career. You see, Danny and I had always talked about me coming to work at Upper Deck but just in a pie-in-the-sky, wouldn’t-it-be-nice sort of way. I started wondering if this was my last chance to make it more than that. Then I brought it up with Gwenn. She said, “This is your dream. I will go anywhere you need to go.” This is how lucky I am.
So I called Danny and asked how it would work. I had to convince him I was serious. After I did, he told me he couldn’t just snap his fingers and get me a job, that I would have to earn a full-time position. That was just fine with me.
Needless to say, this was a very intense time in my life. I moved to California, leaving my pregnant wife behind for four months. She did visit me and I went back home as much as I could, but I was also trying to make the best impression possible at Upper Deck. I worked on a variety of games; including the Pirates of the Caribbean TCG (my first credit), then a game called Kiba (it launched in Japan), then the Wow TCG. Somewhere in there, I had a little boy, and we all moved to San Diego. And here we are.
To sum up; yes, it’s important who you know, but it’s also crucial that you love games, have a family that is amazingly supportive and you must be willing to take a chance.
By the way, I still have those laser-printed VS cards Danny gave me. Every once in a while I take them out, shuffle them, and deal myself a hand.
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Hi All,
My name is Paul Ross and, for those of you who don't spend a lot of time hanging out in the rules forum (although I can't understand why you wouldn't - it's a non-stop party :)), I am Moorf, the "rules guy" for the WoW TCG.
What does that mean?
* Early in a set's design, the lead designer gives me a heads-up about anything crazy they'd like to try. It may surprise some of you to learn that my job is actually to say "yes, let's figure out how to make the rules work with that" rather than "no, the rules can't handle that" as much as possible (say hi to Lady Katrana Prestor!)
* Late in a set's development, my awesome rules team (Edwin "slowmail" Teh and Dave "doesnotpostontheforums" DeLaney) and I compile the FAQ and update the comprehensive rules with all the New Hotness.
* In between, I spend as much time as I can building decks and playtesting with the developers. This is both fun (because it's cool playing with some of the best in the world) and beneficial (because I get to hear all the questions that come up, which results in better card templates and FAQ entries).
How did I get here?
Our journey begins in a faraway land called Sydney, Australia, where I was a TCG fan from way back.
Vs. System came to town and my friends were hooked. Not too long after, our first $10K tournament was announced in September 2004, and Australian players were so excited that... nobody wanted to judge :) So I called Chris Zantides to volunteer, and met Alex Charsky when he flew over to head judge.
Chris and Alex liked the cut of my jib (so to speak) and invited me to the next Pro Circuit in California, and then the next one after that in Amsterdam, and then... I just held on for the ride with a big smile on my face. Along the way, I offered to help out with the evolving rules of the game, and started compiling FAQs starting with the Green Lantern expansion.
Over the following months, rules and judging became increasingly important parts of my life. It was voluntary work, but it was exciting to be involved behind-the-scenes with such a major game, working with some of the smartest and most talented people I had ever met.
It was also, unbeknownst to me, raising my profile within the company, which led to a call from Danny Mandel one fateful day to ask for help writing the rules for a little project he was kicking around called the World of Warcraft TCG.
The final piece of the puzzle is something that Mike Hummel mentioned in his recent blog. Each time I volunteered at a tournament, I tried to arrange a little face time with any senior Upper Deck staff in the house. (Funnily enough, it was none other than Mike Hummel himself who proved to be the most cunning quarry I stalked, but I wore him down in the end :))
At first, these meetings were short - just a few minutes to introduce myself and put a face to the name. But over time, these short meetings evolved into longer discussions that ultimately led to my current position. When Jeff Donais told me that playing the World of Warcraft MMO was a non-negotiable prerequisite for my employment, I knew I had found the right company :)
For you TLDR types, here's the executive summary:
* Most people I know in the gaming industry started out by spending a ton of time doing what they do for little or no payment (because it was, ya know, fun!)
* The good news is that there are infinite ways to demonstrate that you've been doing this sort of thing, whether it's articles you've written, forum posts you've made, cards you've designed, tournaments you've organized, or results you've posted. The bad news is that if you're not motivated to do any of the above, you're going to be waiting in line behind those who are.
* Don't be shy about letting prospective employers know what you're capable of, but do be respectful of their time.
Thanks for reading, and please feel free to say hi the next time you see me at a tournament :)
PR
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My name is Jeff Liu. You might know me, but if you do, I’d guess you were someone in my family or something. Unlike some of my co-workers, I haven’t done as well at other card tournaments or won the tournaments they have. Instead, I was, and am, relatively unknown in the hobby gaming community. How then, would someone like me end up in R&D? Could you be the next me?
I’ve been playing games my entire life. When I hit college, there were some people in my dorm that played card games competitively. I started playing tournaments and was hooked. Eventually, college ended and I moved out to San Diego for work. I continued playing tournaments and met some of the people from Upper Deck in my travels. Upper Deck Entertainment was making strides with VS at the time and hiring consistently.
The first person at UDE I starting hanging out consistently with was Antonino DeRosa. He had just moved to the area to work at UDE and asked around at local card shops to see who might be qualified for an upcoming “Pro Tour” so that he could find playtest partners. Someone gave him my number and that was that. Fast forward almost a year and UDE was once again hiring to work on a new project. You may have heard of this one, but I’ll use the secret acronym so that it’ll still be a secret between us. The project was WoW TCG.
Now I can’t condone moving to the San Diego area so that you can apply for future job openings here, but we live in a realistic world and I’m sure it helped me quite a bit that I already lived in the area and was friends with a handful of the people already working at UDE. Like Mike Hummel said in his post, knowing people and making contacts is HUGE. Of course, competency is also important. Having already honed the skill-set to properly playtest, and having the background of gaming is a must for every applicant into R&D. But as I found out after getting the job, this is just the beginning and I had much to learn.
When being interviewed, I didn’t even realize what Danny Mandel (the main person interviewing me) was even looking for from my answers. Now, I’m going to arm many of you with the knowledge of what people may be looking for while interviewing. First off, they’ll always try to figure out how much you already know. Understanding game systems and being in touch with the average player are two of the most important aspects for this job in particular. You have to be able to recognize which things a majority will enjoy, while also knowing what will and will not play well in the game rules. Complexity, fun, and pure power are often all tugging against each other in every card. Secondly, they’ll see if you can be taught and how easily you can evolve. And lastly, they’ll try to understand how you analyze things. Figuring out why something occurs is much more important than knowing the results of actions.
So why me? Other than knowing the people already, I fill certain roles on the team. We all specialize in certain areas. Everyone does everything, but not everyone has their strengths in the same areas. Some guys on the team specialize in making the most powerful decks and testing for broken cards. That’s the obvious role everyone thinks of when they think of R&D. There are people who design cards also. These are the people who are often keeping their eye on the complexity and “fun-ness” of cards. These 2, however, are obviously very different. There are developers (testers) that also break up into groups of being better at testing for complexity and others at fun. Knowing what you find fun and what you think other various types of players would find fun is a back-breaking task of erasing your preconceptions.
So again I ask, why me? Even though I wasn’t anywhere near ready to design when I first arrived, I’ve learned much. I’ve shown that figuring out why things happen rather then what happens is actually something I can excel at. That all led up to the third set in next year’s block, which I’m lead-designing. This must mean I have shown at least some aptitude for creativity also, apparently.
I’ve been primarily a developer up until this point. The thing I do more than others is to recognize and build the “combo” decks. Things like the Wondervolt or Galway infinite combos, along with many non-infinite combos originated here. Yes, we knew about Wondervolt before it came out and yes, we tested it plenty and believed the environment could handle it. We as a group felt adding combos to the game livens it up and there are plenty of players out there who really enjoy trying to build up crazy contraptions. So that’s what I do. I help to make sure there are card interactions that build up for more effects then each of the single cards alone, while at the same time making sure it stays interactive and within the correct band of power.
So with Set 9 more then a year away and still very early in development, I’m sitting here wondering what I can and can’t reveal. Maybe just some hints, then… Mages may be making people turtles… Shadowfiend may be getting a brighter brother… and Paladins may be cut from the game. Now you get to decide if I’m lying to you.
To recap… connections and convenience help. Making things easier for people makes it more likely they’ll do what you want. This is applicable in every aspect of life and is a good lesson not just for getting a job. Practice, learn, and always think about the big picture behind cards, rather than individual results from testing. Hone your skills to impress others with the few chances you have. There’s nothing worse than to be given a chance to prove yourself and then to not being prepared. You never know how many chances like that you’ll get. That’s about it. If you have questions, WoW_R&D@upperdeck.com is always open.
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JUST KIDDING
Being a Game Designer is all about gaming the system whenever possible. When me and my friends decided to write the “Roll Call” blogs we talked about who was going to get the most views. What better way to get people to click on a web page? Advertise a preview card.
I am the least smart member of R&D, some might be convinced that it’s just an act but in reality I work with some of the smartest people I have ever met and coming to work every day to such a huge well of intelligence is a great pleasure.
As my first paragraph shows you guys I am also a spike. I do whatever it takes to win. The bad news is that I will never be as good at this game as Ken Ho, so to win I have to take weird and unconventional paths.
Antonino why are you good for the WOW R&D team? What are the skills that you have that others lack? Everyone on the team in my mind plays a different role. You will learn from these blogs that some of us designers and others are developers. But to be frank, everyone is talented enough to do both jobs if needed. I am more of a developer type. I am not really an idea man, but I can challenge and improve most ideas that get brought up to development. Every set that comes to development I spend most my day to day playing with all the cards. A few of the things I look for are: Is this card fun to play and play against? How good is this card? How good do we want to make this play pattern? What classes need help? Is this thematic to the video game? Is there enough build around cards? What commonality should these cards be?
My second best attribute I have, is that I am the most organized member of R&D. Being organized definitely helped me get the lead of projects like Servants of the Betrayers, Drums of War, and Black Temple Raid.
Antonino, Antonino, Stop tuning your own horn! You still haven’t answered how you got this job?
As you guys can probably tell English is my second language. I grew up in Sicily (Island in southern Italy where there inst much to do in the non summer months). I come from a very poor family that loved to play cards. I don’t mean play cards professionally but play cards among themselves to keep them occupied without spending any money. I remember playing daily with my grandmother after I was done with my homework. Every time I beat her she would give me money to go buy an ice cream. I like ice cream more than winning and I like to win a lot. During my teenage years I moved to the states for school. I didn’t really know English or other people. So I would try to get engaged in any activity I could. My high school had a TCG club. That’s were I first learned how to play TCGs.
My senior year in high school I won a trip to London to compete at a pro level event. I got crushed. I remember flying home, I wasn’t disappointed, I wasn’t sad, I was determined. Determined to re-qualify and get better. I wasn’t able to re-qualify until 2001. In 2001 when I went to the tournament I had a different mentality. I had the mentality that I was going to win and no one was going to stop me. Unlike London were my mentality was “I am so happy to be here, and this should be so much fun”.
7 years later I still play competitively and I haven’t missed a pro level event, 41 in a row. Maybe one day I will be honored enough to stand right next to greats like Dave Humpherys in the gaming Hall of Fame.
In 2004 Upperdeck was coming out with this great game called VS. Not only was the game fun, but they were also giving out millions of dollars at their pro circuit. I played VS competitively for one year. I think I was the first person to top 8 two pro circuits. I rub it in TBS face every time I see himJ. While I was attending a Pro Circuit I heard Justin Gary inquiring with some players about a job opening at Upperdeck. I tough to myself “I am pretty good at games, why doesn’t he ask me?” I waited two days hoping he would ask me. Needless to say he never did. Instead of forgetting about it, or being offended because he did not ask me, I walked up right to him and said “I overheard you talking about an open position at UDE for a game designer, I am interested”. That night I went out to dinner with six upperdeck employees. They drilled me. Questions from game theory, to game development, to game design, even pop culture questions. A week later I got that magical phone call from Mike Hummel extending an invitation to join the team.
September 1st 2005 is when I finally reached sunny Carlsbad CA, with all my possessions in my trusty 2001 Hyundai Elantra. Couldn’t ask for more or be any happier since.
Thanks for reading this far, sorry for the trick to get you to click on my link.
Antonino De Rosa
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Hello everyone and welcome to the R&D blog. I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. My name is Ken Ho and I'm a member of the Wow R&D team. I am often called a spike and that isn’t because of my spiky hair, it’s because I like to win. When building decks, I usually lean towards building slow, control decks. I like to play cards that control the board and giant monsters that eat my opponents. Today, I am going to share my story of how I was able to become a glamorous game designer.
It all started when I learned how to play Chinese chess as a kid. This game really caught my interest. Both players had the same pieces, but I would always lose to whoever I played. One day, I got frustrated because I hated losing and couldn't understand why. I went to parents and asked them for some advice. They told me that there were reasons for everything and I should try to figure out what those reasons were.
They told me ask myself questions like: Why do I lose? Why does my opponent win? What causes me to lose? What are my goals? What are my opponents trying to accomplish? What gives me the best odds to reach my goals? I tried to answer these questions by looking for patterns. I started noticing when people would get happy and what others were trying to do. I tried to mimic others to see what they were doing.
In grade school, I discovered TCG's and was smitten. This quickly became my universe. It had elements from chess and card games that I really loved. I applied the theories and lessons that I learned from previous games I played, to the new games I picked up. I took the time to get better with my friends and fellow shop-mates.
Some of the people I knew started playing in competitive local tournaments and had success. I decided to give it a chance. As a really competitive person, I loved it and couldn't get enough. All I wanted to do is show that I could out-play older, smarter and more mature people. I started going to the local card shop more and more. It was soon like a second home to me. All my friends were card players and all I wanted to do was game.
Years later, I made it to the big leagues and after some big tournament finishes people started to recognize me as a decent player. One day, one of my friends, who thought pretty highly of me, asked me if I wanted a job at Upper Deck. I said ''heck yea'' and started going through the process of getting hired. I submitted an application and my resume and waited for a phone call. After a nerve-wracking interview, I was given a chance to make games for a living. I was told that after 3 months the company would evaluate my performance and see if they wanted to continue contracting me.
Hooray! It was my time to shine. I had 3 months to show that I wasn't worthless. I was added to the project that needed the most help. The game was Avatar. Avatar, on the surface, was pretty easy to learn. But, I quickly learned that there was much more underneath. I spent everyday building decks and playing games trying to understand the game. For the first week, I spent 14 hours a day, dreaming, living, breathing, Avatar. I even took two decks and played both sides when I couldn't find an opponent. I was told that I picked up the game really fast and received some high praise from the guys who made the game, Brian Hacker and Dave Smith. I was really relieved.
The next week, my manager, and good man, Danny Mandel, told me that I could continue contracting after 3 months if I desired. I told him that I wasn't going anywhere as long as the company was happy with my performance. Two and a half years later, things are still going well and I’m working on one of the best-selling TCGs on the market.
So the advice I would give people that want a job as a game designer is, know your stuff, impress the right people, and work hard.
I leave you with some advice that I use everyday...
‘‘When in doubt, always go beatdowns.'' – Ken’s Mom
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Hello and welcome to the second WoW TCG Designers’ Blog. Danny mentioned in the first blog that one of the topics we will frequently be covering is player submitted questions. Even though it’s only been a few days, we’ve already received an astounding number of emails. Please keep them coming! You can send them to WoW_R&D@upperdeck.com.
Pouring over the first wave of submissions the following question caught our attention.
How can I get in to R&D for the WoW TCG? Or any TCG for that matter?
-From Carl Norman
This is a great question and one I found myself asking nine and half years ago when I first got into the industry. The R&D team thought this question would be a great opportunity to write a series of blog entries that would let each team member introduce themselves, recount how they first got into the industry and provide players with useful advice on how to get a job working with TCGs.
Reviewing everything that I wanted to cover on this topic, I decided to write the first and last blog in this series. With this first entry, I’ll cover some of the elements that I felt were important as I was first trying to get into the industry. In the final blog, I’ll approach the same topic from my current position as R&D Departmental Manager who is responsible for hiring new R&D staff.
Let’s begin by pulling back from the specific job of an R&D TCG Game Designer and review the 3 broad categories that can apply to acquiring any job. Generally these include what you know (talent), what you’ve done (experience) and who you know (connections). Our parents, professors and employers stress the first two categories, while real life typically teaches us the value of the final category.
Since I’m wearing the hat of a guy trying to break into the industry for this article, I’m going to focus on who you know and leave the other two for the final article. Hopefully I haven’t depressed any up-and-coming TCG designer by stressing the importance of connections while my reader realizes he currently knows nobody in the industry.
Here’s the secret—it’s much easier to get connections than some might think and I’ll show you how. Before I begin let me also point out to Mr. Charisma that connections alone without the other 2 categories will probably not get you a job. Let’s look at my experiences and see how connections helped me break into the Hobby Gaming Industry.
Trading Card Games were the new thing when I was in college and they were a perfect fit for the college life style. I was surrounded by other gamers at Penn State (Go Lions!) and my daily schedule allowed for quick pick-up games. Trading Card Games revolutionized the Hobby Gaming market because of their accessibility. They allowed for spontaneous social interaction without significant set-up time or play space requirements.
I learned my first Trading Card Game with a group of friends and we started as kitchen-table players. Shortly thereafter we discovered the joys of the local gaming shop which introduced us to new games and more players. Within three months my personal network of TCG players went from 3 to over 50.
From my local hobby store I traveled to regional conventions and tournaments to play and trade and soon 50 became hundreds. Most dedicated card floppers share a similar experience. It is at this point, however, that many gamers plateau. They see and interact with industry staffers at tournaments and conventions but don’t take the time to properly introduce themselves.
After being a hard core regional player for four years I saved up my pennies and attended an Open Worlds Tournament for one my favorite TCGs. I ended up scrubbing out of the main event and entered another championship tournament. Using talent and experience (OK and luck), I won the tournament. That night I attended a dinner with the staff that ran the event. We talked about the game, I introduced myself to as many people as possible and snagged every business card I could get my hands on.
At one of the tables, some of the R&D staff were talking to some of the established players and judges about an upcoming set. It turned out that R&D maintained a playtester forum to solicit feedback on upcoming designs. “Is it possible to get on that forum?” I asked, holding my trophy in a very visible way. The answer was yes, and I had made my first industry connection.
Over the next year I took every opportunity I could to provide helpful feedback to the R&D team. I organized a playtest group, submitted reports and every time there was a problem card on the forum, I submitted 10 alternate designs. I want to point out here that the key to successful communication was not volume but rather the quality of the responses. I attempted to anticipate what the designers needed and provided relevant testing data and useful feedback. Simply posting more or talking louder then everyone else can actually be counter productive in some cases.
Shortly thereafter, the company posted an open position on their website. I immediately submitted a resume and politely and professionally contacted the people I knew about my interest in the position. I got the job. Later I learned that a number of other applicants had similar talent and experience and the deciding factor that tipped things in my favor was that the staff knew me personally. The other candidates were just names on a nice looking resume.
As you can see, my initial play experiences probably mimics your own. Taking the time to talk to staffers at conventions and tournaments and volunteering your time and resources (I can’t stress this enough) can go a long way in getting a job in the TCG industry. However, that’s just one part of the puzzle. Be sure to check back to become –connected- to the other members of the WoW R&D team and read about what worked for them.
Peace,
Mike “Papa” Hummel |
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Hi everyone and welcome to the first entry of the WoW TCG R&D Blog (which means the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game Research and Development Blog if you’re not so acronymically inclined.)
My name is Danny Mandel. I’m the head designer of the WoW TCG as well as the lead designer of the upcoming Drums of War expansion. My fellow WoW R&D teammates and I will be posting here to fill you in on a wide variety of topics including but not limited to…
Design Stories
Like how we came up with Dual Shield on Netherwing Protector’s Shield. Answer: It rhymes with “Dual Wield.” This realization also inspired the cards Double Barrel and Titan’s Grip.
Development Stories
Like how we decided to bump up Azeloth’s original stats of 47/47. Actually, I’ll save that one for later.
Interesting or funny things that happened at work that day
Like how today developers Ken Ho and Jeff Liu almost, ALMOST had a contest to see who could eat more animal crackers. Maybe tomorrow...
Cool and/or Wacky Decks
Like Hunt for Illidan Lead Designer Ben Cichoski’s Xiri + Footsteps of Illidan deck that took our Thursday Interdepartmental League by storm a few weeks ago.
Sneak Peeks at upcoming cards
Like what you’ll find below if you keep reading.
And possibly most importantly—
Answering Questions from You.
Each week we’re going to dive into our mailbag (which you can find your way into if you send your questions to WoW_R&D@upperdeck.com), and we’ll answer questions you have about designing the game and try to satisfy any other curiosities you might have about the crazy life we lead.
Okay, that’s enough of an intro. Let’s get to the meat of today’s post.
As many of you know this weekend is the Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational. To celebrate the event we’re giving out a shiny new card from the Drums of War expansion to attendees.
While it’s certainly a little early to start talking about the next big set (we’ve only just had the Hunt for Illidan Sneak Preview) I figure you guys won’t mind if I give you a quick look.
But first, here’s a little lead in.
In each of the last three expansions (collectively known as The Burning Crusade Block) we’ve asked you to make a choice between sides.
In March of the Legion it was Aldor or Scryer.
In Sevants of the Betrayer it was Loyal or Traitor.
In Hunt for Illidan it’s Demon or, well, not a Demon.
Looking down the road, in Drums of War we’ve decided to take a break from Outland and look at the original conflict of the World of Warcraft: Horde vs Alliance. One of the ways we explore their differences is by focusing on the strengths of the races of each faction. Way back in the Through the Dark Portal expansion we designed mechanics to give the heroes of each race different powers. In Drums of War we’re doing the same only this time it’s mostly about your allies. Take a look.
I hope you enjoyed today’s blog entry and I look forward to hearing your feedback, questions, and anything else you’d like to share with R+D.
Take care,
Danny
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