Posted by: Steve Walmsley
« on: September 19, 2007, 04:55:46 PM »Quote from: "jmelzer"
I was alway amused comparing how Marvin handled Starfire, and how Bruce Harper developed his update of 3rd Reich (The World at War). Bruce developed the whole game openly, with playtest groups, and a public message forum. The rules were (still are) downloadable on the internet ... and while I didn't agree with every design decision (e.g. I still think he exagerated the combat power of the German battlefleet), I understood the reasoning behind all of them (e.g. the designer was trying to simulate how the allies through about / treated the German warships -e.g. large # of British capital units picketing the Tirpitz late in the war.
Of coure, Bruce wasn't doing it "for the money". He's a lawyer, and probably could have made as much in 2 or 3 weeks on his "day job" as he ever did from the game. But the game was published by a serious games publisher (GMT Games) ... most expensive individual game I ever bought.
I can sympathise a lot with the Bruce Approach . Getting the feedback and suggestions from the players on this forum has made a huge difference to Aurora.
Steve