I wish to keep some kind of memory of how Firewall was designed, what lead me to decisions of how it should all work, and what tools I used to do it. This post is the beginning of a series of posts in which I’ll describe the “making of” process of Firewall.

I’d like to say it was very ordered, with a plan and a gantt and whatever. But no - It seemed to me, a few years ago, that the best way to get a good idea for a game is to keep a little black notebook in your bag, a small pen, and to go out and have some fun. Anything else just prevents the flow of ideas.

I also play a lot of games. I am not very good at them - I’ll never finish Half Life in Crazy Mode, and Starcraft 2 requires too much attention - but I love to introspect as I play them. Why do I enjoy these games and not others? Why some games are fun to watch as a bystander and some aren’t? What’s the tipping point between a difficult puzzle I’ll try to solve for hours and a puzzle that I will put down after a few minutes?

I guess all these things sound reasonable, but I just think it’s important enough to tell: to be creative you need to be attentive. To look around. To find things to explore, and explore them. And then, do the same with games.

With Firewall, I believe the influence came from some games which change according to player-induced rules. The grandest example for it is probably seen in games like Magic: The Gathering. At any point a player can call a spell that would change the balance of power in the game, be it a circle of protection or a creature enhancement. What I was interested in doing was taking this approach to a classical board game; and choosing the XianQi board was an easy pick as it allows for the fastest clash between the players.

On the next post I’ll try to capture the path I went from this concept, that has been on my mind and notebook for a few weeks, to a game design document and what it involved.