Old Board Gamers Blog: Richard Berg Interview

Monday, March 28, 2011

Richard Berg Interview

11:41 AM |

Posted by Dan

Godzilla: Kaiju World Wars is an upcoming game from Toy Vault. When we first spotted the title it caught our interest because of the theme. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say in my younger years a long time ago I use to create little towns and cities and then destory them with monsters. To date there have really been no good games that capture that feeling.

When I saw Richard Berg was the designer my interest doubled. Mr. Berg has created some really great game, most in the heavy strategy genre. One look at his profile and I'm sure you'll find at least one game you've played and enjoyed.

Mr. Berg was gracious enough to take the time to answer some of my questions about this upcoming game.

OBGB: So a Godzilla game? Not just a Godzilla game but a battle between some great classic monsters. Where did the idea come from for a game like this?

RHB: I was approached by the publishers, Toy Vault, who asked me to design this game.

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OBGB: Your portfolio consists of a lot of great strategy titles, would you consider Godzilla a strategy game or more of a fun filled miniatures battle game?

RHB: A fun-filled miniatures battle game

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OBGB: In Godzilla it’s assumed the player(s) take on the control of one of the great Kaiju’. Is the game just a free for all battle between players or are there different game types?

RHB: Some scenarios require the player’s kaiju to destroy certain parts of the city before he can be stopped by the other kaiju. The scenarios pretty much stick to the type of actions found in the Godzilla movies.

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OBGB: I’ve seen you mention the basic and advanced game, what would be the difference between the two?

RHB: The basic game is designed to be easy and fast, lots of crash and bash . . . easy to get young kidsto play . . .very little to learn. The advanced game adds special abilities of kaiju, special outside events, and gives the players a lot more decisions to make.

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OBGB: The games information page suggest scenarios. How does this tie into game play and how many scenarios are included?

RHB: I think there are 3 scenarios . . . they all take place in different cities, and the gameboard is built thereby – using the custom-made building pieces, including parks, lakes, etc – to do so. There may also be more scenarios available on the Toy Vault website after the game comes out.

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OBGB: Will it be easy for users to generate their own scenarios?

RHB: Yes.

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OBGB: The geek pages says 1-4 players. I see you’ve commented on this in some threads the game can be played single player, but it won’t be as fun and it’s not superficially designed with a solitaire option.

Can you clarify how you can play solo?

RHB: The same way you play chess solo . . .you play each side when it is that turn. The game isn’t/wasn’t intended to be like a computer shoot-em-up – games I truly dislike – but playing GODZILLA by yourself is a good way to learn the mechanics, see what tactics work, etc. if you’re playing against yourself to win you have more problems than playing games can assuage.

Solitaire play will definitely be doable, and there will eventually be official rules regarding this. It will specifically be a Kaiju versus only military units, with the player attempting to reach a high
destruction score before being defeated by the military, with the military response increasing as the player's score increases.

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OBGB: The play time suggest a game can be played in 60 minutes. Is this for all game types?

RHB: Pretty much so. Basic game probably a bit shorter. We played two games (advanced) at my recent convention, both played out in about an hour

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OBGB: What’s a typical player turn like, why kind of decisions are they making?

RHB: Typically, the player decides what to do with his kaijiu., each of which gets 10 Activation Points to spend each turn. Move somewhere in the city, perhaps recover from his wounds (for which each kaiju is rated differently), decide to destroy buildings or attack an enemy kaiju, and, if the latter, which of his abilities should the kaiju use and, if it has them, perhaps some special, unusual capabilities.

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There are also event cards that happen once per round, although players have no direct control over which ones appear - except to purchase "power-up" and similar cards.

OBGB: Assuming the Kaiju have special abilities in the game how are those represented?

RHB: Each kaiju has the unique abilities given to him in the movies. They are listed on his Kaiju Card and accessed when he gets to buy a “Power Up” card that allows him such usage.

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OBGB: A game like this must involve combat between the Kaiju and also the poor military units. How is combat resolved? Is it quick? Is there a strategy element to it?

RHB: Combat, in the Advanced game, is resolved between kaiju by comparing (in a rather unique manner) their different abilities as displayed on their Kaiju Card, each kaiju choosing the power he wishes to use (the decision strategy) at that instant, depending on whether the players are going for more damage, status effects, or escape.

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OBGB: What went into selecting the Kaiju that are included with Godzilla himself? Are there licensing issues involved?

RHB: The games is licensed by Toho and uses only those kaiju in that frame. Within that parameter we chose the kaiju we felt would be most interesting to play with, each of which had different abilities.

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OBGB: The page suggest there are planned expansions, will these just included new Kaiju or will they have more scenarios?

RHB: While this is pretty much up in the air – and very dependent on consumer reception – the expansions would include new kaiju and new scenarios (and hopefully gameboards).

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OBGB: If you could describe this game in a few short sentences what would they be?

RHB: A fun, quick game of famous monsters smashing buildings and gnashing and crashing each other.

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We want to thank Mr. Berg for his time and if you like this interview please link back to it instead of copy and pasting.