Gunfight Royal is a move-and-shoot strategy board game that was inspired by a full-on tabletop miniatures game called Gunfighter's Ball. In a tabletop skirmish wargame, lots of things are ambiguous and a judge provides interpretation. In a board game, things like cover and movement penalties must be absolutely clear-cut so no interpretation is necessary.
On first instinct, we tried to make the board look like a top-down view of a miniatures game with lots of fancy painted objects and digital artwork, but it was far too messy and made the game hard to play. In the medium of board games, clear is better, and it's important to make art design take advantage of the medium where it exists. This "Winnie-the-Pooh" style of drawing provided that clarity (it's also a clue as to how seriously the combat is meant to be taken).
The board featured here shows where items can be picked up (? marks), where characters can spawn in certain scenarios (the numbers), where there are doors and which way they swing (doors are orange and arc is printed on the board), which terrain features cost an extra movement point to traverse (dotted lines), and which obstacles cost a full action to cross (swooping arrows).
The character figures themselves have octagonal bases so they are forced to choose which of 8 directions they face. A small arrow on one edge of the base indicates which way the character is pointed, and is the point from which line-of-sight is traced.
It took a long time to get to this point. Each playtest session brought new suggestions, and brought to light the need to let go of what works in a tabletop game and embrace what works in a board game. The result is game that plays quick as greased lightnin'.
Next subject: card design.
