The Making of Opera V

By Hans van Tol
October 18, 2009

Designer: Hans van Tol
Publisher: The Game Master

Players: 2-4
Ages: 12+
Playing time: 90-150 minutes
Release date: October 2009
Languages: English, German and Dutch
Price: €40
Links:

[Editor’s note: Part 1 of this series covered the inspiration for Opera, part II detailed a sidetrack in the realm of family games, part III examined an overload of strategic possibilities and part IV started pulling everything together.]

Finally! I am so happy to have the first copy of the game in my hands. This morning at nine o’clock I was called by the driver. He brought the first four pallets of Opera to our regional warehouse in Capelle aan den IJssel. Thank god! Everything is exactly as it was supposed to be. The colour of the cover is perfect – deep red, almost a bit brownish, which gives it a classic and luxurious look. When opening the box, the rules look good. And there’s the exciting fragrance of glue and the fresh paint of the print of the game. Punched out all the materials, nothing wrong. Checked the colours of the wooden materials. All fine! Yes. Now the game is resting on the sideboard… This weekend I will be playing my first game with the final version of the Opera board game, perhaps even tonight!

Prototype V: the Final Phase

Here is prototype number five – the European map is back! And the game is near to completion.

Testing, Testing and Testing Again

After the presentation of the prototype at Spiel 08 to Christian Hildebrand at HUCH! we were working hard to make this game perfect. At that time in October, I thought that the basics were perfect and that the game was through 90% of development. Since then we worked hard on balancing out the game, which took an awful lot of time and is essential since such tests can make or break a game. Ruud and I did not want to take the risk that the game would have any weakness which the real gamers would surely discover. Therefore we tested it a dozen times in the period from October until December.

As for what changed over that time, here’s an overview:

• One gameboard instead of several pieces

  For practical purposes we had split the board into pieces in prototype IV, and the game really matured in that period. But since we were now sure that all the elements were in and we needed only to balance the rules, the numbers, the quantities, etc., we combined all elements of the game into one board.

• The map of Europe from prototype I is back

  Since the circular set-up of the gameboard was integrated into the game overview on top, and since nobody shared the same opera houses anymore, the spaces in the centre of the board were no longer vital to game play. Thus, the map of Europe from the first prototype returned as it helps give players a good idea of what they are doing: where they’re building opera houses, where they’re performing operas, and where the effects of the three Characters take place.

• The budget table decreased from 20 to 12, and finally to 10

  To balance a game, you must make sure that each player has a good chance of coming back. This “power management” is highly dependent on the positions of the players on the budget table – the amount of money available to be spent – as position on the budget table determines the order of play.

  When this table was first created (prototype III) the top level was level 20. We have been struggling with the top level since then, initially bringing it down to level 12 and finally on prototype IV to level 10. Even for two players we were able to keep it on this level, although we had to make a smart adjustment in the rules to do so (a detail I will point out in part VI, the final preview). Now with this lower high, all players have a good chance of getting back into the game, even if they have made some stupid decisions in the beginning. That said, when making the wrong decisions is structural and the other players are smarter, of course you will definitely lose this game.

• Nine rounds of play instead of six

  For this prototype the game length was extended from six to nine rounds, which gives players the opportunity for a slow build up. Opera is “growing” while you play it as at first you have only three cities to care about, only three where you can build and perform. The complexity of the game is limited at the start, but the number of choices and the consequences of thosee choices increase progressively during the game.

  This expansion is reflected in the build-up of victory points. After the first three rounds (and the counting round), for example, the players could be between 15-25 VP; after the second Episode (after game round six), the players might be between 50-70 VP; and at the end of the game the players would be in the range between 100-130. The exact VPs won depends on the game flow, the kind of players, the distribution of the music pieces, and the prices, of course, but if you make a few minor mistakes in the first part of the game, you still have a good chance of coming back. Just another balance build in.

• Three counting rounds arrive

  This new element gives players a chance to score with an expansion strategy. In the counting rounds, with one after every three game rounds, for each city in which a player owns an opera house, he receives victory points equal to the fame of the composer whose music is performed in that building’s main hall. This addition contributes to much higher possible scores.

• New rules for characters

  The Characters – Maestro, Critico and Esperto – can move from one city to another, and they must be moved when a player hires a character. Now the Critico can adjust the fame of a composer only when he is in a city where this composer performs.

• The Lady in Waiting enters the scene

  Where did she come from? It was a woman who introduced her. Originally, this Character was the “Master of the Court” (Hofmeester), and “Hofmeester” is quite similar to the Maestro’s name, “Koormeester.” Arenea, our graphic designer on the team, came up with the solution: Why are there only men in the game? Thus the Hofmeester became the Hofdame, which is translated into “Lady-in-Waiting” in English. In the end, I am very happy that we chose Italian names because Signora sounds a lot better.

• The Palazzo (the court) shrinks to four places

  We decreased the number of places in the Palazzo, also known as the court, so that it will be emptied earlier and in this way keep this element of the game dynamic.

Who would be fit for the job? During Spiel I had noticed the cover of Der Name der Rose from Ravensburger as the monk looked very realistic and it caught my eye. When we returned from Spiel, I asked whether anybody had seen this painting of the monk – and everybody on the team had noticed it!

So now our search for the artist began. Amazingly we couldn’t find any information on the Internet, but when we finally found a small picture of the bottom of the box, we could read his name: Volkan Baga. We contacted him, and we were very happy that he wanted to do this project with us. We did not even realize at that moment that we were really blessed with such a great artist. He was really fit to do the job! I hope you all agree when you have seen some of the pictures of the final game.

The Winning Strategy

On January 5, 2009 we tested this prototype thoroughly with eight real gamers. We asked them to look for the borders of the game and play extreme strategies to find out what was possible. And what we found out was that there was one winner of the day! Erik, who had figured out in just a half-hour what we had not yet noticed until then. He found the winning strategy – a “money strategy.”

Although the difference between the players was not huge, we were sure that we had to break this strategy. I am sorry for the gamers who would like to discover the winning strategy here, but we tackled this one. Erik did not score many victory points during the first six game rounds, but he built a big money machine, and in the last three rounds he used this extra money to buy new buildings before others could, bought the most expensive music pieces, and was able to control the Esperto, bringing him additional VPs.

Part VI: Breaking the Money Strategy

Tomorrow – I hope – I will show how we broke the winning strategy and made some final balancing rules. Also we will introduce the Composer of the Century, which made the ladder of fame even more dynamic and fun!

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