Larry Levy: 2008 Designer of the Year

Belated greetings from the snowy DotY bunker!  As both of my loyal fans know, I usually post my annual Designer of the Year article in the first week of the new year.  I decided to delay it this time around because there were so many notable games released at the end of 2008 and I wanted some time to pass to let their ratings settle down.  Most of that has happened, so it’s time to make with the awards.

For those of you who haven’t read my previous articles on this subject, a few years ago I decided to present a Designer of the Year award to the games designer who, in my opinion, had the best body of work for the previous calendar year.  I know very little about hardcore wargames, so I deliberately exclude those from consideration.  But everything else, be they euros, Ameritrash, card games, dexterity games, whatever, goes into the pot.  My determinations are based on how I think the designs are viewed by the gaming world at large and how they will be viewed in years to come – as much as possible, I try to leave my own feelings out of it.

Before I get to last year’s games, let me take one final look (and this time, I do mean final) at last year’s contentious award.  Originally, I made it a three-way tie between Stefan Feld, Tom Lehmann, and the FFG team of Christian Petersen and Corey Konieczka.  Then, a few months later, I decided that the reception for Feld’s and Lehmann’s designs were considerably outstripping the FFG duo’s, so I reduced it to a two-way tie.  At the time, I said that the major gaming awards could force yet another restructuring, including the possibility of a clean sweep by Agricola.

Well, as I’m sure you all know by now, that clean sweep is exactly what occurred.  In fact, Agricola probably did better than any but the most fervent fan of the game could have expected.  It won the DSP, IGA, Meeples Choice, Golden Geek, and Tric Trac awards, as well as earning an SdJ Special Award.  It figured to be a favorite for most of those, but it was far from a given that it would win them all.  There was also the small matter of it taking over the prized #1 spot on the Geek from Puerto Rico, a remarkable achievement.  Single game designers hardly ever receive consideration for the DotY, but Agricola was no ordinary game.  Given that both Feld and Lehmann only had two designs in ’07 (and that Agricola beat out Race for the Galaxy in every single one of their head-to-head matchups), room has got to be made to acknowledge this remarkable domination.  So now and forever, the winners of the 2007 Designer of the Year are Stefan Feld, Tom Lehmann, and Uwe Rosenberg.  Congratulations to all three.

Okay, enough of that; let’s shift our focus to last year’s designers.  We have a number of interesting nominees to discuss, so let me consider each one in alphabetical order.  For each designer, I’ve listed their significant releases and used the following shorthand to show the awards and nominations these games have received (at least, the few that were eligible for the awards made last year).  S, D, and I shows an SdJ, DSP, and IGA winner, respectively; s, d, and i shows a nomination for each of these awards (in the case of the DSP, it shows a top ten finish); and g and G signify, respectively, Golden Geek category winners and the GG Game of the Year.  Finally, games in italics are redesigns or expanded versions of titles that were released in earlier years.  That’s the fine print – let’s start.

Rob Daviau – Clue:  Discover the Secrets; Clue:  Harry Potter Edition; Risk (Revised Edition)

Daviau isn’t a serious candidate, since all of his games were based on earlier titles.  But it isn’t every year that a single designer gets the chance to come up with the new official version of not one, but two all-time classic games, and I thought some sort of recognition of that was appropriate.  It’s also nice to be able to shine a spotlight on one of mainstream gaming’s most talented designers.

Rüdiger Dorn – Cartagena:  Die Goldinsel; Diamonds Club; Journey to the Center of the Earth; Zooloretto Expansion:  Mission Cards

A busy year for Herr Dorn, who has moved more to lighter designs in the last few years.  Diamonds Club is the heaviest of this year’s crop and has gotten good ratings; it could very well get some mentions in next year’s award season.  Journey is family fare and, despite mixed ratings, seems to have found an audience.  His entry in the Cartagena franchise, though (which has nothing to do with the original Cartagena design by Colovini) has been pretty well skewered.  A pretty good year overall, but probably not good enough to get much consideration for the big prize.

Friedemann Friese – Fauna; Fast Flowing Forest Fellers; Tadaaam!; The 3 Commandments

The Man in Green placed some games with other publishers last year, increasing his usual output.  Fauna is a trivia game that is well rated.  Fellers has been overshadowed a bit by the large number of well regarded race games that came out at Essen; it and Commandments, another light design, have decent ratings so far.  Tadaaam! is a remake of 2006’s Monstermaler.  Like Dorn, Friese’s year won’t qualify him for the award, but it’s nice to see him getting more games published.

Reiner Knizia – Battleship Express; Black Sheep; Cthulhu Rising; Ilium; Keltis (Sd); Looting London; Los Banditos; Municipium; Robot Master; Strozzi; Sushizock im Gockelwok

After a miserable 2007, the Good Doctor was back in form last year.  The big news, of course, was his finally receiving the SdJ for Keltis (which I’ve lumped together with Lost Cities: The Board Game, as they’re so similar).  But there were other solid games amidst his usual full plate of releases.  These include Municipium, Strozzi, Sushizock, and Ilium, all of which are getting decent to good ratings.  The big problem, Keltis notwithstanding, is the lack of a strongly rated game.  The question is, will quantity with only decent quality be sufficient to capture the DotY?

Corey Konieczka –Battlestar Galactica; World of Warcraft:  The Adventure Game

After coming so close to the prize last year, Konieczka is competitive once again.  The big entry, of course, is BSG, which takes a popular license and a popular genre (cooperative games) and combines them (along with the traitorous Cylons) into a top 25 rating on the Geek.  WoW isn’t nearly as popular as this runaway hit, but it still maintains a decent rating.  Konieczka continues to impress, but will this one-two punch be enough to win this year?

Wolfgang Kramer – Blox(s); Cavum; Der Schwarm; Master Builder; Ochs & Esel

Another nice group of titles from gaming’s most active sexagenarian, who shows no signs of slowing down.  The four original games are all collaborations, including two (Cavum and Der Schwarm) with longtime partner Michael Kiesling.  Ochs & Esel is a remake of 2004’s Who’s the Ass?  Blox was a surprise SdJ nominee, but the others don’t figure to garner any mention in the awards.  Cavum’s ratings have been quite good, Blox and Der Schwarm’s are decent, and Master Builder’s below par, but none of the games have gotten too many ratings or inspired too much buzz.  It all adds up to a solid, but quiet year for Herr Kramer.

Michael Schacht – Aquaretto; Boss Kito; Shanghaien

A nice collection of games from former DotY Schacht.  Aquaretto, Zooloretto’s sequel, seems to have been well received, with a higher rating (at least on the Geek) than the SdJ winner.  Shanghaien has also done well and gotten some glowing reviews; an IGA nomination for best two-player game wouldn’t shock me.  Boss Kito, on the other hand, hasn’t proven to be the 500 pound gorilla.  So some good quality, but not enough to earn consideration for a repeat trip to the winner’s circle.

Donald X. Vaccarino – Dominion

Vaccarino is unquestionably 2008’s Rookie of the Year, as the man literally came out of nowhere to design the big hit of the year.  Dominion is firmly in the Geek’s top 10 and may very well wind up the recipient of a boatload of awards.  A single game, no matter how honored, usually isn’t enough to get the attention of the DotY Jury.  However, Uwe Rosenberg showed that with enough awards bling, it is possible.  In any event, Dominion’s dominion has been sufficiently great that Donald X has at least pushed himself into the Designer of the Year discussion.

Martin Wallace – After the Flood; Steel Driver; Tinners’ Trail(i); Toledo

Despite the Age of Steam controversy, 2008 was a great year for Martin Wallace.  The now fulltime designer introduced the Treefrog line of games and the first three titles were very well received.  Tinners’ Trail got an IGA nomination and was one of the best rated games of the year, while After the Flood and Steel Driver were both well rated.  Toledo, a middleweight design for Kosmos, got a cooler reception, but also received some positive reviews claiming the game to be underrated.

On the negative side, none of the games were blockbuster hits and both Steel Driver and After the Flood’s ratings are a bit lower than might have been expected by their pre-release buzz.  A major award is probably out of the question, but there’s a good chance that at least one of the two remaining Treefrog games will garner another IGA nomination and it’s not clear how many of Wallace’s competitors will top that.  It’s an impressive portfolio, but will it be enough to be Top Frog?

Kevin Wilson – Android; Cosmic Encounter

Wilson was the first of the FFG in-house designers to really make a name for himself, but the last two years have been quiet ones for him.  He broke the silence in a big way in December of last year, with the release of the very polarizing, but nevertheless extraordinary Android and his development work on one of the most celebrated designs of all time, Cosmic.  Even though the FFG credits don’t list him alongside the Eon trio as a co-designer, the new features, which include over a dozen new aliens, a streamlined timeline for when actions take place (hopefully reducing the number of in-game arguments), and new mechanics like Technology, sound like some pretty impressive contributions to me.  So I’ll go along with the Geek and consider this to be design work.  Both games are very well rated, with Cosmic on the verge of entering the Geek 100.  Wilson doesn’t get full credit for CE, since he was beginning with a pretty strong game, but this is still a nice parlay and continues the recent acclaim accorded FFG’s designers.

”Harry Wu” – Age of Scheme:  Routes to Riches; Chicago Express; Preußische Ostbahn

The reason for the quotes around Mr. Wu’s name is that there are some who question his existence.  Regardless of whether the credited designer of last year’s hit Wabash Cannonball is a living, breathing entity or, as some suspect, a pseudonym for Winsome owner John Bohrer, he produced an impressive line of games last year.  Chicago Express is the prettified version of Wabash (from Queen) and continues to be rated well.  Preußische features a controversial turn order mechanism, but the small number who have rated it really seem to like it.  Age of Scheme’s reception can’t really be easily determined, due to the firestorm over its extremely unfortunate name, but again, there are mostly positive reviews.  Even by Winsome’s standards, these games have only gotten a tiny number of ratings, so it’s hard to assign much impact to the collection.  But, controversy aside, the games have raised considerable interest and the output of this designer, whoever he or she may be, is certainly worth noting.

That’s the list.  I also want to point out that Matt Leacock came this close to joining them.  Unfortunately, Roll Through the Ages, slated to be released at Essen, didn’t get published until this January.  Had it met its original debut date, that, along with the cooperative hit Pandemic, would have certainly put Leacock strongly in the running for the award.  As it is, he joins others, like Uwe Rosenberg, who didn’t make the cut because their portfolio included only one game, however well received.

So how many winners will I let share the award this year?  Three?  Four?  More?  Thankfully, I don’t have to deal with charges of indecisiveness this time around.  The winner of the 2008 Designer of the Year Award is…

MARTIN WALLACE!

After a couple of years of extremely close results, it’s a bit of a relief to have a year with a clear-cut winner.  Wallace produced three hit games and one underrated one; no one else’s output is particularly close.  It all adds up to a second DotY award for the man from Manchester (he shared 2001’s award with the team of Moon and Weissblum).

The scary thing is, this could be the start of a small dynasty.  Wallace’s predicted 2009 output already includes four new Treefrog games, some of which are getting impressive previews, plus an intriguing new game of conquest called Rise of Empires, plus the much awaited new version of Age of Steam from Mayfair, now simply called Steam.  Talk about putting a stake in the ground!  Ah, but it’s way too early to start giving away next year’s award yet; early predictions tend not to be too reliable in the world of gaming.

As for 2008, second place goes to Reiner Knizia, for his SdJ winner and large crop of titles.  Third goes to Dominion’s Donald Vaccarino, with fourth and fifth going to FFG’s Corey Konieczka and Kevin Wilson.  Interestingly, the top five all live in English speaking nations.

Will the Germans make a comeback next year?  Will Wallace be a repeat winner?  Or will a dark horse come out of nowhere to grab the award?  For the answers to these and other questions, you’ll have to wait until this same time next year, grasshopper.

Comments: