Ben Shanks Interview - 3AM Games

3AM Games, a relatively new company, have recently released their first board game – Monkey Arena. Monkey Arena is a fast, fun game of warring primates for up to 8 players and will be reviewed next week. Ben Shanks is the designer of Monkey Arena as well as 3AM’s first card game, Robot Rampage: Rise of the Appliance.

Hi Ben. Firstly, can you tell me a bit about yourself - how you got involved in designing games and what kind of interests you have outside of games, for example?

I live in South Carolina with my wonderful wife and daughter. I am a technical buyer for a large corporation and a freelance game designer. I have been in school for the last several years working on my Computer Science degree. I originally got involved in game design because I have an aversion to boredom. Many of my first games (ones that will never see the light of day without a complete overhaul) were developed as entertainment while in class.

The thing that first got me involved in gaming was my love of Tolkien. I played a bunch of D&D growing up (usually as the GM) and really became a rabid gamer playing the Middle Earth CCG. Basically I have always made modifications to just about any game I played since I was a kid. My first fully fleshed out game was a chess variant played on multiple hex boards with a 3D aspect. Outside of gaming I have an addiction to Sci-fi, reading books and playing with my daughter. I do a bit of programming and learning graphic design on the side.

Can you tell me a bit about 3AM Games - when was the company started? What is the main focus of the company? Is there a certain style of game that 3AM is aiming to produce, a 'house style' of some kind?

3AM games now just over a year old. 3AM started out as a D20 game publisher. The owner of the company, Don Bessinger, writes and develops the World of Ordûn line. 3AM is adding a couple of other RPG lines to the schedule for 2006. The board game portion of 3AM is developing more toward the Family Strategy line starting with Nazca in the Winter/Spring of 06. We decided to cut our teeth on the less serious style of games, Monkey Arena and Robot Rampage, first. We are planning on releasing 3-4 board games a year varying between humorous and serious games. We want to keep all the games family friendly.

Who do you see as your main audience for your board and card games?

I tend to design games in threes. I make similarly themed games with completely different mechanics. I try to make the first playable with children and have enough strategy/tactics to keep parents entertained. The second game I try to make enjoyable for non-gamers: simple rules, close games, no elimination. The third game is gamer oriented generally with a Euro-game feel.

A chicken and egg question for you now - with regards to Monkey Arena specifically, which came first, the concept or the game mechanics? How much of a challenge was it to fit the theme to the mechanics or vice versa? How long did it take to finish the game, from concept to publication?

Monkey Arena was initially a pure card game of gladiatorial combat. I was meeting with my playtest group when I showed it off and we had a good time with it. We started bouncing ideas until I saw the light bulb appear above one of my tester's head. Usually this means that it is time for him to go off topic about whatever just occurred to him but...he suggested I should get rid of the Romans and replace them with Monkeys and so Monkey Arena was born. I spent the next few weeks trying to figure out what to do with the cards and rules. We spent the next few months playtesting it along with other games. The game was pretty much complete when 3AM saw it for the first time and it went directly into design at that point. The artist is local and the artwork was finished in about 2 weeks.

Speaking of the art, the presentation of the game is superb - the graphic design brings a real sense of anarchic fun to the proceedings. Who was responsible for the look of the product, and how hard was it to find someone who brought the right 'feel' to the game?

Charlie Schultz and Don were completely responsible for the look. My prototypes are generally clip art so they do little to influence look of the game. Don basically told Charlie to give it a bit of a mad look and I think she was completely successful. We were lucky since she is a local artist and had worked with Don on roleplaying projects in the past.

How has the response to Monkey Arena been so far? Have you demonstrated it at any conventions or trade shows?

We premiered the game at Origins. Our booth was slammed pretty much the entire weekend. We had a lot of fun and met many great people there. We're a new company and we are picking up pretty quickly. We are hitting small cons for the rest of the year but plan on hitting 2-3 of the larger cons in the states next year.

Monkey Arena seems to me to be a game that could support numerous expansions - extra monkeys, different sets of attacks/items/events, different arenas - is that something you are considering?

We have started play testing an expansion for the game. We plan on releasing is as a stand alone that can be merged with the original. My favourite monkey in the new set so far is the "Swarm of Finger Monkeys." We are working on giving a more 3D feel to the new game board.

Who would you say are your main influences with regards to game designers? Or are there specific games, not necessarily designers, that have influenced you? Do you have any influences outside of board/card games that you can identify? For instance, what are your interests outside of board/card games, and do these have any impact on your game designs?

I tend to like Euro games and RPGs. Themes generally interest me before mechanics. I like games with mechanics worked into a theme rather then a theme applied to the mechanics. I tend to like games with simple rules and tactical decisions. I usually turn to 2 places for inspiration. I record about 3-5 shows a week off the History International channel. Usually I get a few ideas a week from there, often distantly related to the show I watched. The other is random searching on the Internet especially on wikipedia.

What are your favourite games aside from your own designs or 3AM products?How often do you play games?

Some of my favourite games are Betrayal at House [on the Hill], Union Pacific, Web of Power, Puerto Rico, and Ticket to Ride. I usually get to play games 2 nights a week. I meet with my play test group every Monday. Wednesday night I meet with a group calling itself the Greenville Mafia.

Finally, do you have any games in the pipeline that you can tell us about? Is there anything that fans of your current games can look forward to?

The next game in production is Nazca. It's based on the Nazca Indians from ancient Peru. They drew giant lined pictographs in the desert that are still visible today. Players get to run a small village winning tiles that allow them to build the pictographs on the game board. The more complex the design the more points its worth. There are several other games in the pipeline but still in development so I can't release any details on them yet.

Ben, many thanks for your time.

Thanks for the opportunity!

Interview by Jason M. Brown