Geek of the Week: Mike Doyle

Profile: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/mikedoyle

Geek of the week is an open forum focussed on getting to know our Geek of the Week. Join in by asking our world-travelling Geek of the Week for some tips for the travel of life or some stories of his journey thus far.

Mike says this about himself:

"I’m an artist, graphic designer and boardgame enthusiast working out of NYC for a branding firm where I’ve been for 11 years. Here, I’ve designed corporate identities and packaging for such companies as Con Edison, Pepsi, Masterfoods, Davidoff Cigars, Cuervo, Lipton, Gateway Computers, Kmart and Sun Microsystems.

I live in north New Jersey with my wife and 3 1/2 year old son.

I've been playing games since I was a kid with Stratego, Masterpiece and Monopoly as some of my childhood favorites. These games were replaced with Risk and various AH wargames as a teenager. In college and early career, I dropped gaming altogether. After seeing the incredible products in the Euro category three years ago, I’ve reentered this world of games more passionate than ever.

I tend to gravitate to the heavier type games like Reef Encounter, Caylus, Goa, Das Zepter von Zavandor as those that I really love. I'm not a big card player or sports fan, so games of these are intially less attractive to me, though some German style cards games I do like."

I happened across Mike's excellent re-surfacing work for Samurai a few months back and I for one would like to know more about what he does, why, how he goes about it, and what drives his interpretations of game images. To explain further, Mike takes an existing game and re-works the graphics, often entirely, to represent his take on the game. The results are, to my mind, stunning - have a look at Age of Mythology in a different light. You can find examples at his website:

http://www.michaeldoyle.com/gameKultur.html

It's a pleasure to begin this week's inquisition with a series of 20 (or so) questions.

Who are your inspirations for design or artwork? Is there an artist or designer that has made a significant impact on the way you work? Any mentor or teacher that has featured, and what they did for you?

Do you work with computer graphics or traditional media, or a mixture of both? What packages or media do you use?

What is your favourite artist's colour?

Are you involved with 3d software and do you see this as a good or bad thing in the look of games?

What do you paint for relaxation? Subject and media.

Among the many graphic artists working in the games field today, who are your favourites? Through which games do they visibly shine?

I like the smell of negativity in the morning: what is the worst game art you have ever seen? Name several if it gets it off your chest.

Can you describe how you might go about re-surfacing an existing game, or designing one from scratch? Is there a lengthy process of assessment and contemplation, or do you have an instant feel for what is needed?

What are the criteria for choosing a game to re-do? Are they just lining up? Or are they very few?

Outside of games, what are your other hobbies? One of my favourite questions last week was, if gaming disappeared completely, what would replace it? Are there any new hobbies you want to do?

What was your 'gateway' game into Eurogaming?

Isometric or Top Down?

Can you explain modern art? (the movement, not the game)

Tell us about use of colour on game pieces/meeples/dobbers. If you need six different colours, what should they be?

Do you have a colour preference when playing?

I see Caylus has gone straight in at Number 1 on your Top 10. What appeals? Is the game length workable for your group?

What is your favourite movie?

Do you play a musical instrument? Sing? In short, have you got a decent note in your body, unlike me?

What happened to Adventure League?

Will there ever be another issue of gameKultur?

Photoshop: good or bad?

Settlers: good or bad?

Do you play any other type of games? Computer games? Online? RPGs? LARPs? Chess? Bridge?

Podcasts, blogs, videocasts, live house calls by Mike Siggins. What is the future of gaming commentary? Is there enough to read and listen to already, or can we take yet more?

I love tiles. In games, on the wall, and especially in books. Do you have any similar strange attractors?

A theme for the last seven days has been where gaming is, and where it could get to if it really tried. Do you see German Games making it into the mass market any time soon? Will we ever have a culture where families and game groups meet weekly as commonly as going to the cinema or entertaining guests? If not, why not?

Which term do you prefer: Euro, German or Designer?

You are at a dinner party. Taboo is brought out after the coffee. What alternatives can you quickly suggest to avoid suffering?

I want to start listening to Latin music with a fairly funky sound, but I didn't like Buena Vista Social Club too much. What should I try next?

I see you are a New Jersey resident. What do you think of The Sopranos?

What was your favourite Avalon Hill wargame?

Recent (probably entirely made up) figures indicate a quarter of the British population is gambling online, often playing Poker. Is there a similar take-up in the US and why do you think this may be?

Time was that games would run six to twelve hours and you would be grateful for the experience. What is your ideal game length? At what point do you just say no?

What do you think happened in your youth to make you a gamer? Is it experience or genetic? (!)

Are you a traveller? Which is your favourite country visited and which one do you most want to see?

You must win a game to save your house and game collection. Which one would it be?

Michael, congratulations on becoming Geek of the Week. You are truly an inspired choice. I thought GameKulture was one of the most interesting game sites I've ever encountered. I very much enjoy your aesthetic sense.

However, I can't let that admiration inhibit me from asking obnoxious questions.

1) Are there any games you rate highly just because you enjoy the look of them?

2) A lot of your alternate covers de-emphasize the title of the game. Is this good marketing practice in a retail context?

3) How could we re-brand gamers to make them cool?

4) Besides question number 3, what's the most difficult marketing assignment you have ever been given?

5) Are wargame graphics an affront to art, or mankind more generally?

6) You have rated 73 games. You have awarded 10 "10s", but no "1s" and only 1 "2". Are you easy to please as a gamer? Very selective in what you play, or insufficiently exposed to the wealth of schlock out there?

7) New Jersey is called the Garden State, do you have one?

8) The Boss or The Chairman of the Board?

9) Your six degrees of separation experiment on GameKulture was very innovative. Did it prove that no one in gaming knows anyone else?

10) Twilight Struggle http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/12333 needs some official music to game by, what do you recommend?

Oh snap! I think Mike warned me about his evil twin Brian! He once stabbed a man for taking away his monument, you know...

What's your favourite food? What's your most embarrassing moment since you became a pop star? Has being famous changed you? When is your new album coming out?

Okay, a real question. Why are there so few female artist's (painters/sculptors) even today? Is it nature or nuture that keeps women out, or are they there but simply excluded from the marketplace or public recognition?

What do you think about the move towards licensing art instead of the buyer owning the artwork outright? Do you think painters should continue to receive royalties after a work is sold?

The internet has been around for some time, and certainly in the last decade has taken a major role in people's lives. Why is it still so shitty in design options? Even print magazines have better design. You can't have vertical text in normal html, it is all flat and 2 dimensional and you can only be creative with java or flash. Do you ache to have the internet become a full medium, instead of merely aping the existing media (internet radio, internet tv, internet magazines). When will the internet give us internet internet?

Sumo asked about modern art as a movement. Do you think the current pop culture is so removed from art history that the ideas in modern art are totally subsumed? Is there any point in trying to be a modern artist if nobody understands the context any more?

You obviously think that design matters (duh, it's your job!). Do you think that commercial packaging is over-designed? Is it worth going that extra distance, or is the limit to its effect reached quite early in a design process?

Pepsi was ridiculed for spending millions on a make-over which essentially made the can blue. I recognise it as money well spent, but why is design not understood or appreciated? And why does Coke outsell Pepsi if people really prefer the taste of Pepsi?

Sorry. Huge faux pas. Worse, I have no idea where that came from.

In my defence, it was 4am.

Mike

Congratulations Mike D on being the Geek of the Week and congratulations Mike H on choosing a GotW with a very original focus on Game Art.
I have read previous GotW questions asking whether it would be better to be blind or deaf (I'm sure most people would choose neither). I am guessing your focus is particularly visual. On the other hand, do you have any music that you find inspirational? Do you listen to music while you work? What style of music do you listen to or does that depend on your mood?
Has your artistic talent ever ventured into sculpting or other forms of 3D art? Have you found other avenues of expressing yourself in performance art or poetry for example? Artists as a generalisation tend to be right brained- uninhibited, spontaneous, outgoing, atemporal etc. What characteristics would that fit the generalisation of an artist would you attribute to yourself and what general artist characteristics do you see as opposite to your own?
Is there any form of artistic expression that you have little regard for/appreciation of? You did not like modern art at first, are there artforms you still don't like?
Your minimalist artwork shown on gamekultur, particularly the alternative cover for Samurai with the stones and the drop of blood, appealed to me as having strong and clear expression. Do you think less is more in general or does it depend on what you are trying to convey? Have you ever tried a complex, busy approach to cover art or does it put you off?
In general do you find photomosaics kitsch or a powerful way of expressing a whole made up of many parts?
I'd like to hear your thoughts on M.C.Escher and Salvador Dali and their works. To me it seems like some of Escher's work is game box art waiting to happen.
Thanks for sharing with us Mike and Happy Geek of the Week week geek.

Has anyone besides Quest Machine approached you for doing the art to a game?

Looking carefully at the Adventure League board, as well as the Puerto Rico revamp, there is a LOT of very small detail, text, and overall texture faintly "woven" into the layout. It is a familiar graphic style, but I never see it used in games...Do you have any idea where the inspiration is from?

Moo,
Frank

Mike,

while licensing and other markets are becoming increasingly important for German game publishers, much of their turnover is still made in the German market, which has a different consumer and retail structure than America's special interest niche. I'd say a pretty high percentage of games are sold in department stores over here. Getting and staying on those shelves is essential. The mainstream consumer is looking for a family-friendly game. Your wonderful Puerto Rico cover might be judged too threatening in that context. Or not be stocked by Karstadt & Co.

That said, game publishers are trying to get their games more often onto bookshop shelves - while bookshops are expanding their range way beyond books. The big book department stores in Berlin certainly have some boardgames on display and Dussmann recently had a gaming day event. In the context of a bookshop your bookcover-style approach might indeed work very nicely.

Perhaps a game like Puerto Rico could be marketed in a family-friendly and adult-oriented fashion - much like Harry Potter.

Oh yeah, what's so bad about Tabu/Taboo? We always have fun and it's a game you can play with die-hard nongamers. Though those boygroup and soap opera questions are become so quickly dated (at least in my German edition).

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your contibution to the hobby. I can say that your reinterpretation of AoM made me go out and buy the game (Eagle, give the man some money already!).

Some questions:

1) Do game companies have issues with you 'reworking' their artwork?

2) Other than Modern Art and the Adventure League, are you working on anything else?

3) Some of my friends thought that the PR reinterpretation was lovely but the text wasn't intuitive or easily readable. Do you think that your designs sacrfice 'user-friendliness' (I have some gaming buddies who are short sighted) for the art/graphic aspect?

4) Are you reissuing corrections for your Single Player PR files? I've been waiting for them!

5) Let's do the hook.

Favourite:
2
3
4
5 player games.
6+ player which can be a Party Game (we know it's not taboo!)

6) Are you planning on going into game design?

Hi Mike,

I try to remember to ask each Geek of the Week these gaming related questions so to start with, here's the ever so slightly modified GeekSpeak BoardGameSpeak Hook questions for you:
Update: Shawn has already asked 2-6, so I will ditch them
Favourite game for players
Favourite game for players
Favourite game for players
Favourite game for players
Favourite game for players
Favourite game for or more players (and you may choose a Party Game here although I wouldn't - my other confession is that I would be hard pressed to list just one game for most of the above)

Also Word Association Football , I will list a word and you list a game or games that you associate with it. If you like you can expand and tell us if you like it/them or hate it/them and possibly why. Mostly, if not exactly, the same list as before.

Space ships
Witches
Trains
Transport (may include trains)
Workers (paid or otherwise)
Trading
Building
Pink
Theme
Ships
Money
Purple
Government
Vampires
Infrastructure
Dice
Dinosaurs
Gemstones
Dragons
Beer
Wands

And last but not least, what are the last five games that you have played?

Hi Mike,

Three questions for you:

1) Do you go to gaming conventions? Which ones? Which ones do you like the best? Which do you like the least?

2) What is your all-time favorite gaming related story -- can be a funny anecdote or 'great play/hall-of-fame' moment from a game or anything else that you consider your favorite.

and, in a moment of blatant self-promotion:

3) Do you read INDEPTH? If not, why not?

Congrats on being named "Geek of the Week!"

Chris

Hi Mike, and Brian

I wondered if you were familiar with the work of Craig Grando? I very much like it.

http://www.craiggrando.com/

http://www.atomagazine.com/game_15-m.html

I know Gil (at least, I know WHO he is - he posts on the nerdnyc board quite a bit).

I've never been to Ubercon, but I do visit one local con on Long Island. I did have the same 'apprehension' you had when I first visited WBC (at the time, Avaloncon) but those fears were QUICKLY dismissed.



We're out of Long Island, yes...I'd LIKE to think the content has improved over time I'm also planning a redesign for the next issue (although my plans don't always have a way of coming through).

I'm happy you enjoyed it -- that truly is the goal!

When you get a chance to answer my question #2, please do -- I normally find those answers to be the most interesting/humorous, etc...

Chris

Yes, I can't think of a single instance where such interesting graphical design deserved a better game. I found myself rooting for the Huns, in hopes of ending my pain more quickly. I didn't realize he'll be doing Cactus Throne for ATO, so maybe things will work out better this time.

I just "met" Mike on BrettSpielWelt last week. It was one of the first times for me on BSW and he was kind and patient enough to give me some pointers on the BSW experience. He also kicked my ass at Ingenious.

I found out he was a graphic designer and I mentioned that my wife also worked at a logo/packaging firm in NYC (although my wife is a photographer, not a graphic designer). Anyway, my question is:

How successful have you been in getting fellow artists to play Euro games? I found that my wife's colleagues were either far too sceptical to try them or very enthusiastic. But what I found singular was that when they latched on to a game it tended to be for surprising reasons. For example, a couple of them loved NY Chase (the Scotland Yard variant) almost exclusively because they got a big kick out of the little visor that Mr. X wears.

Come on, Mike. Winning isn't why we game (or perhaps I should just speak for myself?)... And if you're so hopeless, make sure you team up with the best Tabooist round your table.

BTW, it's also a marvelous language learning tool. Add that to its non-gamer appeal and I think there's no question about Taboo being a winner.

So Mike... I'm curious to know more about your day job. I saw on your resume page at one point that your company has some big clients (M&Ms, and so forth). What kind of atmosphere is it? Do you meet bigwigs and get crazy perks? Probably not, but one can hope. With all the artists there, do you work with people who have an *ahem* artistic temperament?



Hey Lemur, I'll be running games at I-Con if you want to say hi.

And finally, Mike may not have attended Ubercon, but his copy of Caylus did (which I am very grateful for). Unfortunately for him, the ransom price has increased to two bags of M&Ms and one microwaved Snickers bar for Heather.

Hi Michael, congrats on GOTW!

My (rather obnoxious) question for you is - any plans to update the 6 degrees, or did the absolutely monstrous list I sent you burn you out on the project (I'm sure my list could be even longer now since I've been to several more conventions since I sent you the list!)

Just wanted to say I enjoy your site (online magazine?). I had your wall paper on my computer for a few months, and your comments on gaming music mirrored my thoughts and added some new ideas. I appreciate your fantastic art and your article on gaming covers. I myself display my favorite covers prominently in my living room, on a wall mounted book shelf.

Looking forward to enjoying more of your art! I have held off on buying Modern Art because I dislike the graphics. Something tells me I'm going to like your version!

My favorite gaming artist is Angus McBride. The work he did for ICE MECCG was excellent. Perhaps with your products you might surpass him in my eyes!

Of the Cremaster Cycle?

I hope that has little to no relationship with the Cremaster muscle.

Who else but?

I believe he also answers to "Mr. Bjork."

I only saw one Cremaster movie; I was helping someone with the sound mix. (It was the one where Dave Lombardo plays drums covered in bees. I think there's a bit about a serial killer murdering someone at a gas station.) Visually beautiful, but too creepy for me. Also, just reading the reviews pointing out which is supposed to represent what made my head spin.

GIPF fans will be pleased to know that the Cremaster movies were also filmed and released in a different order than their supposed "sequential" order.

I just backed up the ProTools session. And maybe copied data from one hard drive to another. Nothing specatcular.



Bingo.

Oh Bollocks!