![\"Raptor\"](\"https:\/\/faidutti.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/547103_10150969753829884_1975200425_n.jpg\")
<\/a>\nBruno Cathala testant Raptor \u00e0 Etourvy.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
En 2011, j’ai \u00e9t\u00e9 contact\u00e9 par les gens de Sophisticated games, d\u00e9tenteurs des droits de publications de jeux de soci\u00e9t\u00e9 inspir\u00e9s de l’\u0153uvre de Tolkien, qui souhaitaient profiter de la sortie prochaine du film inspir\u00e9 par The Hobbit pour publier deux ou trois jeux bas\u00e9s sur cette histoire. Ayant \u00e9t\u00e9 un grand fan de Tolkien dans mon adolescence, l’id\u00e9e m’a bien s\u00fbr s\u00e9duit, et je d\u00e9cidai aussit\u00f4t de r\u00e9pondre \u00e0 cet appel. Il \u00e9tait bien entendu que d’autres auteurs avaient \u00e9galement \u00e9t\u00e9 contact\u00e9s, et que mon jeu ne serait pas n\u00e9cessairement parmi les un ou deux s\u00e9lectionn\u00e9s, mais j’\u00e9tais pr\u00eat \u00e0 prendre le risque. Pour un auteur de jeu, travailler sur l’\u0153uvre de Tolkien est le genre d’occasion qui ne se pr\u00e9sente pas deux fois.<\/p>\n
Le lendemain, j’avais relu l’Histoire d’un aller et retour, et le surlendemain, j’avais choisi un \u00e9pisode, celui de Bilbo et les nains attaqu\u00e9s par les araign\u00e9es dans la for\u00eat de Mirkwood, qui me semblait pouvoir faire un int\u00e9ressant jeu tactique asym\u00e9trique, un joueur jouant le hobbit et les nains, un autre les arachnides. Les jeux \u00e0 deux n’\u00e9tant pas ce que j’ai le plus de facilit\u00e9 \u00e0 faire, je d\u00e9cidais de faire appel \u00e0 la collaboration d’un sp\u00e9cialiste du genre, accessoirement excellent ami, Bruno Cathala – qui n’avait jamais lu le hobbit mais s’empressa de r\u00e9parer cet oubli. Ce fut un sacr\u00e9 boulot, avec de multiples versions, des plateaux de diverses formes, et plusieurs fois j’eus l’impression que nous repartions de z\u00e9ro. Le r\u00e9sultat, je dois l’avouer, est surtout un jeu de Bruno Cathala – disons 25% de Bruno Faidutti, le th\u00e8me et l’id\u00e9e de d\u00e9part, et 75% de Bruno Cathala, les m\u00e9canismes et les centaines de parties tests et de r\u00e9glages. C’est en particulier Bruno (l’autre) qui eut l’id\u00e9e du syst\u00e8me de cartes action, dans lequel le joueur ayant jou\u00e9 la plus faible carte effectue l’action correspondante avant que son adversaire n’ait autant de points de d\u00e9placement que la diff\u00e9rence entre les valeurs des cartes. Oui, je sais, \u00e7a a l’air compliqu\u00e9 dit comme cela, mais c’est tr\u00e8s simple \u00e0 jouer et cela cr\u00e9e des choix tactiques et psychologiques redoutables.<\/p>\n
Nous \u00e9tions assez contents de nous. Nous avions un jeu tactique et strat\u00e9gique aux m\u00e9canismes originaux, plein de rebondissements, et au th\u00e8me tr\u00e8s bien rendu. Les araign\u00e9es s’effor\u00e7aient d’endormir les nains, puis de les envelopper dans leur toile, tandis que Bilbo, arm\u00e9 de sa dague, cherchait \u00e0 lib\u00e9rer ses amis. M\u00eame l’anneau avait sa place, permettant au hobbit de dispara\u00eetre pour resurgir en un autre endroit de la for\u00eat. Nous avions surtout choisi un th\u00e8me original, un \u00e9pisode du r\u00e9cit et non l’ensemble du voyage de Bilbo, d\u00e9ja cont\u00e9 dans quelques jeux.\u00a0 Je crois qu’il s’en est fallu d’assez peu, mais notre jeu, Mirkwood, ne fut pas s\u00e9lectionn\u00e9.<\/p>\n J’\u00e9tais d’autant plus d\u00e9\u00e7u qu’il me semblait \u00e9vident que ce jeu, con\u00e7u \u00e0 partir d’un r\u00e9cit tr\u00e8s pr\u00e9cis, et mettant en sc\u00e8ne les personnages du conte, ne pouvait pas \u00eatre adapt\u00e9 \u00e0 un autre th\u00e8me. Je pensais donc garder en souvenir dans un coin mon prototype de Mirkwood, et en rester l\u00e0. J’ai donc \u00e9t\u00e9 surpris et dubitatif lorsque, quelques mois plus tard, je re\u00e7us un coup de t\u00e9l\u00e9phone du Bruno des montagnes m’annon\u00e7ant qu’il avait r\u00e9alis\u00e9 une nouvelle version de notre jeu sur un th\u00e8me compl\u00e8tement diff\u00e9rent. Quelques jours plus tard, et apr\u00e8s une partie via Skype, je me rendis \u00e0 l’\u00e9vidence : le nouveau th\u00e8me, la chasse aux dinosaures, fonctionnait parfaitement. Le hobbit \u00e9tait devenu maman raptor, les nains des b\u00e9b\u00e9s raptors, et les araign\u00e9es des scientifiques cherchant \u00e0 capturer des dinosaures \u00e9chapp\u00e9s de quelque Jurassic Park. Bien s\u00fbr, le nouveau th\u00e8me imposait encore quelques petits bricolages, quelques adaptations, mais il \u00e9tait d\u00e9j\u00e0 \u00e9tonnant de coh\u00e9rence. L\u00e0 encore, ce fut l’autre Bruno, d\u00e9cid\u00e9ment plus consciencieux que moi, ou plus dou\u00e9 pour les r\u00e9glages fins, qui s’en chargea.<\/p>\n Pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 \u00e0 Matagot, le jeu plut beaucoup et le contrat fut rapidement sign\u00e9\u2026. mais les choses n\u2019allaient pas en finir l\u00e0. Le d\u00e9veloppement se poursuivit en effet apr\u00e8s la signature du contrat, et fut long et sem\u00e9 d\u2019embuches. Raptor est un jeu asym\u00e9trique, Bruno un auteur pointilleux et Matagot un \u00e9diteur exigeant. Un jour, c\u2019\u00e9tait le joueur raptor qui gagnait trop facilement. Quelques semaines plus tard, apr\u00e8s r\u00e9glages subtils et parfois d\u00e9couverte de nouvelles strat\u00e9gies possibles, c\u2019\u00e9tait le scientifique. Tout le monde semblait tr\u00e8s pr\u00e9occup\u00e9 par l\u2019\u00e9quilibre du jeu, et je regrette aujourd\u2019hui un peu de ne pas \u00eatre intervenu plus t\u00f4t pour dire que tout cela n\u2019avait gu\u00e8re d\u2019importance tant que chacun a plus ou moins sa chance et que les joueurs s\u2019amusent. Les r\u00e9glages successifs aboutirent surtout \u00e0 compliquer le jeu, et \u00e0 affaiblir l\u2019\u00e9vidence du th\u00e8me, et que le mieux est l’ennemi du bien. Pour je ne sais plus quelle raison, les incendies furent m\u00eame d\u00e9laiss\u00e9s pour \u00eatre remplac\u00e9s par des barri\u00e8res \u00e9lectrifi\u00e9es bien moins romantiques. Toutes les cartes avaient deux, parfois trois effets distincts. En voulant trop en faire, nous avions cass\u00e9 l\u2019\u00e9vidence originelle du jeu. Fort heureusement, tout le monde, plus ou moins en m\u00eame temps, se faisait la m\u00eame remarque, et nous d\u00e9cidantes donc d\u2019un commun accord de revenir \u00e0 la version Raptor initiale de Bruno. Nous y jou\u00e2mes, et tout le monde fut d\u2019accord pour dire que ce jeu \u00e9tait bien meilleur que celui qui avait \u00e9t\u00e9 obtenu apr\u00e8s deux ans de d\u00e9veloppement. Bruno refit encore quelques r\u00e9glages, mais en s\u2019interdisant toute nouvelle r\u00e8gle et toute carte un peu complexe avec plusieurs effets. C\u2019\u00e9tait la bonne d\u00e9marche, et en quelques semaines, le jeu \u00e9tait pr\u00eat.<\/p>\n Raptor arrive dans quelques mois, publi\u00e9 par Matagot et illustr\u00e9 par Vincent Dutrait. il y aura les noms des deux Bruno sur la boite, mais j\u2019ai parfois l’impression que mon seul r\u00f4le dans tout cela fut d’avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 un peu \u00e0 l’origine de cette histoire, avec un th\u00e8me qui n\u2019est m\u00eame plus pr\u00e9sent dans le jeu tel qu\u2019il va \u00eatre publi\u00e9. Bref, c\u2019est surtout un jeu de Bruno Cathala, dont je me sens plus testeur que v\u00e9ritablement auteur. Mais c\u2019est un jeu que j\u2019aime beaucoup.<\/p>\n Raptor<\/strong><\/span> In 2011, I was contacted by the people at Sophisticated games, who own the license right for games based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, asking if I would be interested in submitting a game design\u00a0 based on the Hobbit book, that they could publish when the movie will get out. Having been a Tolkien fan as a teenager, I was very excited at the prospect, and jumped on the occasion. It was clear from the beginning that they had asked several game designers to work on the idea, and that they would select only one or two of a dozen submissions, but I was willing to take the risk. Working on a game based on Tolkien’s books is the kind of opportunity a designer like me cannot let go by.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Two days later, i had found my old copy of There and Back Again, and read it again for the first time in about twenty years. I had also found the episode I wanted to describe in the game, the Mirkwood Forest, when Bilbo and the dwarves are attacked by giant spiders in a deep and dark forest. I thought it could make for an interesting asymetrical two players game, with one player moving the dwarves and hobbits, and the other playing the spiders trying to capture them in their web.<\/em> We were quite satisfied with our game, Mirkwood. We had designed an original two players tactical game, dynamic, challenging, and true to the book. The spiders had to capture the dwarves in their web and put them to sleep, while the hobbit tried to cut the web with his dagger, free his friends and escape from the forest. The ring allowed the hobbit to disappear for a while and reappear somewhere else in the forest. I liked the idea that we had chosen a specific episode from the book, and not designed one more game about the whole journey of Bilbo. Our game was seriously considered for publication, but in the end was not selected.<\/em><\/p>\n I was disappointed, and certain that our game, based on a very specific story and using the characters from the book, could not be adapted to another setting. I was ready to keep my prototype of Mirkwood as a souvenir, and play it once every other year. I was very surprised and skeptical when, a few months later, Bruno called me and proudly told me that he had made a new version of the game in a completely different setting. A few days later we played a game of the new Raptor game on Skype, and I had to admit that the n32 storyline, dinosaur hunt, was as consistent and convincing as the original Mirkwood forest episode. The hobbit was now mummy raptor, the dwarves were raptor eggs ready to hatch, and the spiders had become scientist trying to capture the mother who had just escaped from some Jurassic Park. Of course, there were some minor changes due to the new setting, mostly in the card effects, but nothing really critical. Once more, Bruno, who is much better than I am at fine tuning, or may be just less lazy, made most of the work.<\/em><\/p>\n We showed the new raptor prototype to Matagot. They liked it a lot, and we signed almost at once, but this was not the end yet. After the contract was signed, a long development process started, full of pitfalls and fires. Raptor is an asymmetrical game, Bruno is a persnickety designer, and Matagot a demanding publisher. They wanted the game to be perfectly balanced. On day, the raptor player was winning six games in ten. A few weeks later, after Bruno made some fine tuning and new strategies appeared, it was the scientist player. They were all obsessed with balance, and I regret that I didn\u2019t jump in earlier to say that this doesn\u2019t really matter as long as both players have some chance to win and the game is fun to play. Successful tunings and changes made the game carefully balanced, but they had two perverse effects – they made the game more complex and less thematic. At some time, the romantic fires were even replaced with ugly electric barriers. Most of the cards ended with two, or even three different effects. Fortunately, all the people involved finally realized that something was getting wrong, and we all decided to start again from Bruno\u2019s original Raptor design, the one we had when the contract was signed. We played it again, and we all agreed it was a much better game than the one we had come up with after two years of development. So Bruno started again from it, trying to balance it again but with strict limitations – no new rules, one effect per card. This time, it was a matter of weeks. <\/em><\/p>\n Raptor will be out in a few months, published by Matagot and illustrated by Vincent Dutrait. Both Bruno\u2019s will be credited on the game box, but I sometimes feel that my only part in this game was to come up with the original opportunity, and the original setting which wasn\u2019t even kept till the end. In short, it\u2019s mostly a game by Bruno Cathala, and I feel more like a playtester than like a co-designer – but it\u2019s a game I like a lot.<\/em><\/p>\n Raptor<\/strong><\/span><\/em> Bruno Cathala testant Raptor \u00e0 Etourvy. En 2011, j’ai \u00e9t\u00e9 contact\u00e9 par les gens de Sophisticated games, d\u00e9tenteurs des droits de publications de jeux de soci\u00e9t\u00e9 inspir\u00e9s de l’\u0153uvre de Tolkien, qui souhaitaient profiter de la sortie prochaine du film … Continue reading <\/a>
\nPrototype de Mirkwood, avec les araign\u00e9es de Descent.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nL’un des premiers prototypes de Raptor.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nMon prototype de Raptor<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nIllustrations de Vincent Dutrait.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n Un jeu de Bruno Faidutti & Bruno Cathala<\/span>
\nIllustr\u00e9 parVincent Dutrait<\/span>
\n 2 joueurs \u2013 30 minutes<\/span>
\n Publi\u00e9 par Matagot (2015)
\nLudovox<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Tric Trac<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Boardgamegeek<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/a>
\nBruno Cathala plays Raptor at Etourvy<\/span><\/p>\n
\nTwo players games are not my strong suit, so I also decided to ask Bruno Cathala for some help. Bruno is indeed\u00a0 both a very good friend and a specialist in strategic two players games. Bruno accepted at once, even though he had never read the Hobbit so far – but he did in the following days. <\/em>
\nIt was a long and hard work. We made a dozen different boards, with square or hexagonal spaces, or with movement lines, and several times I felt like we were starting all over again. I must admit that the result was mostly a Bruno Cathala game – let’s say 25% Bruno Faidutti, for the original idea and the storyline, and 75% Bruno Cathala, for the core game systems, hundreds of test games and lots of fine tuning. Bruno designed the action card system, in which the players select their card simultaneously, then the player who played the lowest value card can use its special effect, before the other player has as many action points as the difference between the two card values. It might sound complex, but it’s very simple and challenging when playing, and generates subtle tactical and bluffing opportunities.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/em>
\nMirkwood prototype, with Descent spiders
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/em>
\nAn early Raptor prototype<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/em>
\nMy Raptor prototype
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nGraphics by Vincent Dutrait.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n A game by Bruno Faidutti & Bruno Cathala<\/span><\/em>
\n Graphics by Vincent Dutrait<\/span><\/em>
\n 2 players \u2013 30 minutes<\/span><\/em>
\nPublished by Matagot (2015)
\nBoardgamegeek<\/a><\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"