So... Who Are You Guys?

[Generic Guy]

The game sounds cool, but who are the people behind it? :confused:

Who from the Pro Tour? Who from Magi-Nation? Who from elsewhere?

[SubtleThunder]

The game sounds cool, but who are the people behind it? :confused:

Who from the Pro Tour? Who from Magi-Nation? Who from elsewhere?

We'll have a proper Bio section of the website up soon with all that information. Briefly, in regards to The Spoils, here are 2 of the design team members:

Josh Lytle is the lead designer on the game. He primarily works on the rules, but of course is involved with all aspects. He was a lead designer on the Magi-Nation card game, as well as the tools guy and level designer for the Magi-Nation Game Boy Color game. Recently he was at Amaze Entertainment where we worked on several console and handheld games.
Dylan "ExoByte" Mayo is the lead set designer on the game. He primarily works on the card sets, but of course is involved with all aspects. On Magi-Nation, he was part of the design team of the card game and early sets. On the Magi-Nation Game Boy Color game he was a programmer working mainly on the battle engine. Recently he was at RealNetworks as a program manager on RealArcade.

[Generic Guy]

So I got a copy of the Magi-Nation rulebook, and I don't see you guys mentioned... :confused:

Also, who are the others?

[SubtleThunder]

So I got a copy of the Magi-Nation rulebook, and I don't see you guys mentioned... :confused:

Also, who are the others?

You need to get a rulebook from the first few sets, Josh and Dylan worked on creating the game. They weren't around when it ended.

[Generic Guy]

... werent around? Why not?

[plmrelm]

wow...does that make me old if i remember exobyte from magi-nation?

[SubtleThunder]

... werent around? Why not?

Thats when Josh was at Amaze and Dylan was at RealArcade.

[Generic Guy]

I'm just wondering why you guys left??? I mean, I remember when Magi-Nation came out, that's all anybody talked about. Why'd you guys jump ship??? :confused:

[Generic Guy]

Bumping the thread.

[PatrickMeehan]

Hey, Generic Guy:

This is Patrick Meehan. I developed the Magi Nation RPG for GBC (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/581122.asp) for 2i along with Dylan, Josh and a bunch of other talented folks. I was one of the founding employees of 2i, starting work on the video game even before the company was formed.

The original design of the TCG you know as Magi Nation was done entirely by Josh and his buddy Hayato. It had a lot of hands on it after that; Dylan contributed a lot, Phil Tavel made changes and Dan Tibbles made a lot more. After the first set released, several more people were brought in who had influence on the design of Magi-Nation, including Ed Bolme, Jimmer Sivertsen, and Steve McLaughlin. By this point the video game staff and the TCG staff were separated and didn’t have much contact.

That said, the original rules and card set were Josh’s. Due to some incredibly nasty internal politics (which often happen at small companies) Josh never got the credit he was due. In fact, it took a lot of effort to convince management just to give him credit at all, and that credit was removed on subsequent printings of the game. Was it fair? No. It was an outrage. But that’s life. After the company got going, Josh argued with management over design issues and paid the price. That’s what happens when you’re 19 and piss off your bosses.

Ironically, Josh and Dan were on the same page about a lot of stuff and Dan was able to push through many of the very changes that Josh had argued for. Dan was good at suggesting design changes without puncturing egos. Josh wasn’t.

But make no mistake, Generic Guy. If the credits in your manual (or any edition of the manual) were accurate, they would contain the line ‘Original Game Design by Josh Lytle and Hayato Sato.’

As for why most of the original TCG designers and the video game team didn’t stay at 2i after the completion of the first video game, see: incredibly nasty internal politics.

The rights to Magi Nation were recently sold to a Canadian company, and I’m sure they’ll do a great job with it. If you liked it, I hope you’ll continue to play. We don’t have any plans to do a game for tweens in the near future, but if we do it will be quite different from Magi Nation.

I don’t want anyone to get sidetracked. We’re mentioning Magi Nation only as a matter of fact. The Spoils is a different game. Magi Nation was intended to be whiz-bang fun for tweens, and it worked really well. The Spoils is a hard-core gamer’s game, developed specifically for mature players. The story is a lot darker and weirder, too. You’ll get to decide how well it works soon enough.

And in case you’re wondering, Josh has mellowed out a lot since our days at 2i … so maybe he’ll get to keep his credits this time. :D

[Tibbles]

Patrick’s post pretty much sums it up. Josh, Hayato, and Patrick created the initial game concept. Phil made a variety of changes before I became the lead designer. I then made changes to the first set and game rules before it released. It was an effort by a lot of people, both in brainstorming and refining the game system and the cards themselves. No one can claim sole credit, but everyone mentioned can certainly claim part of the credit for creating such a fun game that created joy for so many people. Designing those sets are something that I’ll never forget, and is an experience that I wouldn’t give up for anything.

I am looking forward to seeing The Spoils release. The guys at Tenacious have got a lot of experience and skill behind them, and from what I see of the game, they won’t let us down.

-Dan Tibbles
Front Porch Classics
Director of Product

[plmrelm]

What is it with Tibbles being around for all the games I like? *grin* Hey Dan, since its kinda in the same topic, can you compare and contrast The Spoils with Magi Nation (pre ND?)

[Great White Nothing]

Patrick’s post pretty much sums it up. Josh, Hayato, and Patrick created the initial game concept. Phil made a variety of changes before I became the lead designer. I then made changes to the first set and game rules before it released. It was an effort by a lot of people, both in brainstorming and refining the game system and the cards themselves. No one can claim sole credit, but everyone mentioned can certainly claim part of the credit for creating such a fun game that created joy for so many people. Designing those sets are something that I’ll never forget, and is an experience that I wouldn’t give up for anything.

I am looking forward to seeing The Spoils release. The guys at Tenacious have got a lot of experience and skill behind them, and from what I see of the game, they won’t let us down.

-Dan Tibbles
Front Porch Classics
Director of Product


You should proably get a title on this forum so people can identify you as being part of Tanacious Games, because right now, it just looks like you're a one post member to people who don't know who you are from previous TCGs.

[Century]

You should proably get a title on this forum so people can identify you as being part of Tanacious Games, because right now, it just looks like you're a one post member to people who don't know who you are from previous TCGs.

Dan isn't currently with Tenacious, that's why his signature says Front Porch Classics.

[Great White Nothing]

Oh, my mistake. I apologize.