First off, do you ever ask yourself if the world really needs one more game and, along those lines, why do you keep making games yourself?

Michael Schacht: Yes, I think the world needs more games. ;-) Otherwise I have to look for other things. Of course, there already are a lot of very good games, but games always reflect the actual times. So, the games do get "old". The older ones are still good, but feel old. On the one hand the exercise for the game designers is to make the ideas fresh so that games stay fascinated. On the other hand, the game designers should keep their eye open for new ideas. For me game desining still is a lot of fun. That’s the most important point for me.

What is the most important thing you keep in mind when designing a new game?

Michael Schacht: Keep the games simple. Even a four-hour game does not need to have endless rules.

Let's say you've got a game that's working well, but there is one clear problem that's still present. Either...

• the game is too dry.
• there is not enough player interaction.
• it's too long.
• or it's not making sense within the current framework of the theme.

Which one or two of these problems would you consider to be most crucial and how might you go about fixing it?

Michael Schacht: Length is not a problem - this can be changed easily. Same with the theme - it is always possible to create rules that do the same job but fit better to the theme. The other points are more important and much harder to solve. For that there are no general solutions. It will differ depending on the game, but if you know what exactly the problem of the game is, you know a lot. Now you can concentrate to improve this point.

Sometimes efforts toward balancing a game lead to uninteresting, nearly equal choices. Do you have any advice on keeping things fair, yet still offering the players interesting decisions?

Michael Schacht: There were a lot of games in previous times which were dominated by this equality thing. My impression as a "freak" is you should not sense the correction rules. Otherwise i lose interest. Then I even prefer a straight, not so fair game.

How do you decide upon and achieve a proper balance between randomness and pure strategy for a game?

Michael Schacht: Depends on the feeling. Just testing helps to decide.

The number or length of rules may be a factor when creating a game. How do you make the decisions of adding or removing rules during development?

Michael Schacht: Ok, if I make a gamers game I can keep some "luxury" rules to make the game more interesting. For a family game I would discard these but I would try to find an easy way to have the same result.

At what point in the game design process, if any, do you typically become bored or disinterested in a design and what methods do you use to help you push through to completion?

Michael Schacht: The first idea is very strong and fascinating but then ... :-) You have to have patience and discipline, Ithink.

If they haven't been addressed already, what types of design issues did you find yourself having the most difficulty with when you first started designing games? How did you overcome these design difficulties and what did you learn from them?

Michael Schacht: The easy games. In my opinion, it is easier to make a good gamer's game than to make a good easy game with just a few rules (please, don’t hit me :-)). I always try to keep things easy. That’s my aim, and there are always new and surprising solutions.

We're seeing a lot of new games these days, but not many are hailed as innovative. How new or different from other available games do you think a design should be to be considered worthy?

Michael Schacht: The most important point should be the fun. If the game has a lot of fun perhaps it is worth being published even it is not so innovative. But anyway, it is better to have even some small innovation in it.

It's often hard for new designers to find good playtesters. Do you recruit your best playtesters or in some way train them? Whichever the case may be, how do you go about it?

Michael Schacht: The longer you work with the same testers the less the result is worth. So, always changing the "team" is important. However, I have some long time testers I don’t want to miss.

If you have any other comments for aspiring game designers, we'd love to hear them.

Michael Schacht: For starters, be honest to yourself. Don’t just test with your best friends. They will always love your game designs. If you have the vague idea that there is still point that is not perfect in your view, then try to improve it before you show the game a publisher. Don’t be sad if you get a "no" from a publisher. That will happen most of the time.