Six Questions with Doopy Games

There and Back Again

I had the pleasure of getting to review a copy of Fantasy Map Maker. This little roll-and-write caught me by surprise. I was expecting something that would be a good time but result in something that was less than practical (think Floorplan). What I found was a game that is not only a good time, but results in a map that could be used as the basis for a fantasy role-playing campaign. The maps the game generates actually work!

Flash forward a bit. Fantasy Map Maker is back, with an Improved Edition, and an expansion. The campaign for this game is on Kickstarter. I did a little digging and decided that it would be a good time to have a conversation with the creator, Harry Metcalf. So let’s dive into Six Questions with Doopy Games.

One Does Not Simply Walk Into…

Q1: The Doopy Games website describes you as “an independent tabletop game design studio and publisher.” This is an accurate description, to be sure, but I am sure that there are those who would like to know more. For example: Who are you guys? What is the design philosophy—the mission statement—for Doopy Games? Where does the name Doopy come from? When did you decide to do things entirely via PDF rather than print products? Why start your own studio as opposed to working for another studio?

At this stage, the “studio” is just me! I love everything about designing and developing games—except maybe writing the rulebooks—so I genuinely want to do as much as I can myself. That said, I also enjoy collaborating with other designers, developers, and artists, so one of the reasons behind publishing games under a studio name rather than just my own name is to pave the way for more collaboration in the future. Even with the Improved Edition of Fantasy Map Maker, I am receiving additional development support from designer Lutz Pietschker, who is also translating the game into German. Plus, a talented friend of mine, Taline Tosbath is translating the game into French, so what was once a one-man operation has become a little team for this project!

As for mission statements, I honestly don’t have a single sentence I can point to other than I believe tabletop games should be treated as an artform as much as a form of entertainment, and this core belief drives most of my design philosophy. With Doopy Games, I am trying to design games that leave the player with a sense that they have used their time wisely to play something that was interesting and engaging, but also meaningful. In Fantasy Map Maker, for example, the sense of meaning comes from the original map you create during the game.

Another thing I think about is that tabletop games have the potential to reach a much wider audience, so I am aiming for the games we produce to be as approachable as possible.

Finally, I find the design challenge of solitaire games really interesting, so I will always try to factor solo play into the games I make. I don’t think the perfect solitaire board game exists yet, so that’s the holy grail for me design-wise.

There is an origin of the word “Doopy” but I am going to be annoying and keep that a secret. However, what I can say is that part of the reason I settled on the name is a reaction to game studios giving themselves overly serious-sounding names like Soul Crusher Studios or Mighty Thunder Games…those are not real companies, but they could be! At the end of the day, we are trying to make games, so I felt it was good to include a sense of playfulness, which I think “Doopy” conveys.

I chose to launch the business for a few reasons; the worst of which is that I am impatient and just want to get things moving as quickly as possible. That said, I would love to collaborate on projects with other studios, as a designer or artist, because I think it’s a great way to learn new skills. Publishers, hit me up!

Q2: In addition to your Kickstarter for Fantasy Map Maker (which we will discuss in just a bit), your website lists a game in development: Demons on Roller Skates. First, the name certainly grabs my attention. The first thing I thought of were the street hockey-playing demons in the movie Dogma! At this stage of development, is there anything you can reveal about the game? I am assuming that this will also be a print-and-play offering, is that true?  What sort of game is it?

Oh no! I wasn’t aware of the demons in Dogma—I hope I am not stepping on any intellectual property there!

Demons on Roller Skates is a solo or 2-player game that has players draft a team of demons and then choose where to place tokens that then activate the demons’ skills, such as ramming into their opponent’s demons or strengthening their own balance. Despite the demonic nature of the game, there isn’t any actual gore or horror involved: it’s more of a light wacky tactical duel that can be played in about 15 minutes. This will be a physical game, and has the added bonus of being small enough to play on an airplane tray table!

The demons in Demons on Roller Skates aren’t playing street hockey though; they are taking part in an annual roller derby somewhere on Earth. Hopefully that keeps Kevin Smith off my back.

Q3: OK, back to Fantasy Map Maker! As you know, I received a playtest copy of the original edition and did a review for Meeple Mountain (I really like the game)! The Kickstarter is for an Improved Edition. Other than the expansions (which we will get into in later questions), what has improved?

Thanks again for playing the original edition! The Improved Edition contains a number of little tweaks that I hope will iron out some minor issues in the gameplay, such as:

1. Adding 2 or 3 “AI players” to the solo mode, which will essentially act as difficulty settings that give solo players a more defined score to aim towards. Each quest will have its own “AI score” based on the quest’s difficulty, and there will also be a negative “AI score” associated with each event, so the addition of events is more to add complexity to the game and map, rather than just difficulty. I am using quotation marks with “AI score/players” as that is just the placeholder name for the mechanism right now.
2. Revising the multiplayer game end trigger to avoid players finishing early and having to wait around for the other players to finish. In testing, I missed this issue as most players would simply continue to add details to their map if they finished early, however I do see how this could become a problem for those less inclined to want to doodle.
3. Changing the event system so that the events become a bit more unpredictable. Currently, players can pretty much plan out what they are going to do for each event before it happens, which goes against the intended game feel of a cataclysmic event suddenly occurring. The new system will still allow players some pre-planning, but should result in a more exciting time when using events in the game.
4. Redistribution of features within the feature wheel, including the addition of a fifth landmark, which will make Landmark quests more challenging (previously, that quest type was almost always the easiest).
5. Some minor changes to some of the current quests to make the quests a bit more diverse. Right now, some of the quests have a similar feel, which isn’t the worst thing, but there is more potential to add variety by making a few minor changes.

Along with these changes, the rulebook will receive a graphic design overhaul, and there will be some tweaks to the artwork to make the card art more consistent.

Note: some of these changes may be modified, and there are other changes/additions that may be included pending playtesting!

Q4: The Kickstarter speaks of an expansion, The Continent, described as “playing four simultaneous games” which result in a larger map. Given that this is an expansion and not just an optional rule thrown into the rulebook, I am certain that there is more to it than that. So spill the beans! What new and exciting things can we expect from this addition to the game?

The Continent involves four sessions of Fantasy Map Maker using special game sheets not used in the regular game. In The Continent, choices you make in one game sheet affect future game sheets, and there are “main quests” that involve the entire map, such as trying to create an archipelago or trying to trigger as many events as possible. The result is a much bigger map, and a much more involved experience.

Personally, I see The Continent as the best way to play the game.

Q5: The Map Pack add-on seems interesting. In my review of the game, I shared the first map I ever made with the game; it is my understanding that the maps in the Map Pack will have been generated via the game (very cool!). Will these be the raw maps people made while playing the game, or will they be enhanced in some way? Are these maps generated by regular players, or were these professional artists, cartographers, or something of that sort? Will any The Continent maps be included?

Initially, I am planning to draw the artworks in the Map Pack myself as I want there to be a level of consistency across the maps (even though I will be employing different styles and mediums to each map).

However, I would love to have some players’ maps in there too! Anyone can contact me if they have a Fantasy Map Maker map they want to offer up!

If you look at the BGG page for the game, there are lots of beautiful maps made when the game was in its prototype stage, so hopefully at some point we can get some more community input. Commissioning pieces for the Map Pack may be an option in the future, too. Like the game, the Map Pack will be made available to backers as a digital resource, so we have the ability to add more content to it in the future, which is nice.

Q6: Fantasy Map Maker is a great game. Demons on Roller Skates sounds like a lot of fun. So what does the future hold for Doopy Games? Are there any projects you are working on that you can hint about? Are there things you would like to do? Has some other company released a game where you thought “we should have done that”? In other words, is there anything else you would like to share?

For now, the priority is the Improved Edition of Fantasy Map Maker and the Map Pack. Beyond that, there has been some demand for a physical version of the game. Depending on how things go over the next month or so, that may be a possibility for next year. I also have some ideas about a sister game to Fantasy Map Maker, but I’ll keep that under wraps for now!

What else? I recently got addicted to the video game Inscryption, and wished I had thought of some of the ideas in that game that could work in a board game, too: players making their own death cards, for example!

If I have time, I really want to enter the BGG Solitaire Print-and-Play Contest this year! Fantasy Map Maker was created during that contest in 2023, and benefited immensely from the input of the design community there. Beyond that though, it’s always eye-opening and inspiring to play-test other games there to see the sheer variety of work people come up with.

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

I would like to thank Harry Metcalf for indulging me (and answering every part of that first multi-part question in which I allowed myself to actually ask him who, what, where, when, and why). I am a backer of his new improved edition and I am looking forward to getting it! I wish him all the luck in the world. But if this game is any indication, he will not need it.