Interview
Brent Crutchfield
Designer Interview
What is your name?
Brent Critchfield
Where are you located in the world?
Austin, Texas
How long have you been designing tabletop games?
I have been making games for the last 14 years, but a lot of that time I was working on video games like League of Legends and Darksiders 2. Back in 2011 I began working on my own table top game called “Gruff” which has been a passion for me ever since!
What game(s) are you currently working on?
I am currently focused on a game called “Gruff: Stuff of Nightmares” which is a tactical combat card game about plushy Nightmare goats! This game adds depth to the universe of Gruff (There are 3 other “Gruff” games) but each of our games is designed to also be functional as a stand-alone experience designed with the first-time player in mind.
Have you designed any games that have been published?
I have worked on over a dozen video games, though for many of those projects I was an artist that dabbled in level design. I currently have 3 published board games. Gruff, Gruff: Clash of the Battle Goats, and Gruff: Rage of the Trolls.
What do you do for a living outside of game design?
I actually design games for a living right now, but prior to changing my focus to running my company, I was an environment artist for video-games. Basically I would build trees and rocks and arrange them in cool ways for players to walk around.
What type of games do you prefer to play?
I am definitely a fan of competitive card games. Gruff is an outgrowth of both my love for Magic the Gathering as well as my frustrations with the CCG genre. I often tell people that Gruff is a mixture of old-school Final Fantasy games and MTG. I like anything with Strategic and tactical components. I have been enjoying Blood Rage and Kingdom Death: Monster.
What is the name of your favorite game store?
I love all my Austin FLGS equally :)
What is (currently) your favorite game? Least favorite?
I am actually having a blast with my DnD 5e campaign. I am DMing a setting called tomb of Annihilation, which is an absolutely brutal adventure. Whenever one of the characters dies I take their character sheets then tear them up and burn them in a tin that I call the “Urn of Inevitability”. As far as least favorite games, I have a 9 year old daughter and a 6 year old son so I am always trying to get them to play more interesting games like Ice Cool and Mythe and getting away from Candyland and Sorry.
Is your game design different than the type of games you enjoy playing? How?
Gruff is definitely a labor of love for me. I treat the game as if I am my own focus group. It has been in development for a long time, and I still look forward to playing it every day. I think I am really lucky in that regard.
Do you like to work alone or as a team?
I think that design works best with a single point of decision with lots of consultation. I aggressively seek out playtest partners and people that I can trust to give me brutally honest feedback, but at the end of the day I need to be the one that makes the final call. In my experience “Design by Committee” typically results in very risk averse and boring decisions. I try to avoid that.
What does your playtest process look like?
Right now I have a regular playtest meeting the first thing in the morning each day. I am lucky that Gruff is easy to test via Skype. I spend a good chunk of the remainder of the day iterating on the ideas that came up in the morning playtest. Balance is really crucial to this type of game so we playtest a ton.
What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
The biggest challenges don’t come from design, but from all of the entrepreneur skills that I have had to develop in order to be an indie developer. Things like accounting and marketing don’t come naturally to me, so I have had to invest a lot of time in trying to develop those attributes.
What do you wish someone had told you about game design?
How importance it is to keep a wide vision on the entire project, not getting too narrow with a single mechanic. There is a phrase “Don’t let your favorite part ruin your art.” that applies really well to the game design process.
Do you have any advice you’d like to share with budding designers?
Share your idea, test and prototype often. Be comfortable with throwing things away, but do not be comfortable with undermining your core idea. Ideas are cheap, the valuable thing is execution. Do not be afraid to show someone your project out of the fear that it might be stolen.
Anything else you’d like to tell our readers?
Gruff : Stuff of Nightmares will be heading to Kickstarter on April 3rd! It is a crazy world where you get to battle with your custom herd of monster goats across the Dreamscape! I hope see you during the campaign!
