Today's featured designer on Toylike is Seth S. Scott, creator of digital and physical games. Read on to learn more about his latest project and how he approaches game design.
Tell us about your latest game “Cardinal Cards”. Where did the idea come from?
Cardinal was inspired by growing up as an only child in the 80s/90s and playing a TON of single player puzzle and logic games--Where's Waldo, Sherlock, Incredible Machine and Minesweeper to name a few. This game originally came about as a want to make a simple yet creatively engaging puzzle game. I knew two things going in: 1) I wanted the art and theming of the game to be abstract and eye-catching and then 2) I wanted to create a puzzle creation algorithm that allowed for creative deduction of each round of the game. I didn't want to have a single path or "lock & key" type solution for any of the puzzles.
Sell us on the game. Why should it exist? Why should it be in my game collection?
So playing off what I mentioned before I think my favorite aspect of the design is the creative deduction found inherently in the moment to moment puzzle solving. You and I might both get the exact same clues and hints for a round of the game, but the paths we personally take throughout all the clues might vastly differ. It creates a really fun dynamic between players who end up feeling like their strategy is unique and inherent to them. I'm also incredibly happy with how the final physical product came out. I just received my final final final revision on the tabletop prototype for the game this week and I'm so happy with how it came out. The art on the cards looks great and they feel awesome to the touch. I'm hoping people see the game as much as a piece of art as they do a game.....something I know fans of Gladden Design products know a lot about. (One of the Kickstarter rewards available is a really nice lil framed art print of your favorite card so if that really is your fancy I've got you covered)
Give us some background on you as a designer. What initially made you want to make games? What keeps you going today?
So I was born in 1983 to a dad that was painting album covers for Blue Oyster Cult and a mom that was on tour with Joe Cocker. My household was full of art, music and creativity. I personally went more down the artistic route--although I was in a couple mediocre bands in the local music scene in Albuquerque, NM back in the mid aughts. But along with my interest in quote-unquote art I've spent my entire life as a fan of all things games and play. As I mentioned before, growing up in the 80s/90s allowed me to witness the golden era of 8 and 16 bit console gaming and because of that was able to fulfill a dream when releasing my first console game Membrane on Nintendo Switch, back in 2018. Outside of the digital realm I've played multiple sports--starting with baseball as a 6 year old, then collegiate racquetball champ, terrible weekday afternoon golfer and still now playing pickup basketball twice a week in a middle-aged mens league in NYC. My goals as a designer are to create unique and creative games, ones that are playable and engaging to 10 year olds as well as 70 year olds. I want to focus on beautiful design, fun and creative gameplay, and most of all what I always tell my students "we are here to expand and explore the definition and perception of what games are". It's getting better, but so often games (especially video games) are put in such a small small box. I strive to explore games of all shapes, sizes and colors and hopefully can add a couple of my own to the discussion.
Cardinal Cards is currently on Kickstarter (links below). Thanks for being on Toylike, Seth!
Link to download mobile versions: linktr.ee/perfect_hat