JuniorQuest (first project)

[TallTales]

Hey everybody, I just want to share my first real project here. I’ve been doing some fan-made stuff on games such as SoB but with “JuniorQuest” it will be a real project going into production. As many of us here our brain is filled with ideas to create games, some small, some bigger and ambitious so it also makes it a bit overwhelming when you start looking into all the aspects of production. How does crowdfunding like Kickstarter work, which channels to reach out to the target audience, etc. And you only get one first impression of course to get a ‘hook’… That is why I chose to use a small, safe project to get a first experience in all the steps from idea to finished product. This project is called “JuniorQuest”.

As the name already suggests, it is an adaptation on HeroQuest but for the young children aged from 4, 5… depending on the individual skills/progression of each child. HeroQuest is a fairly simple game but it still contains a lot of text on cards and you need to keep several conditions in mind. In noticed when playing with my 5y old son he is visually fascinated by the game and he likes to play board games with throwing dice and doing basic movement or perform basic actions. Referring back to HeroQuest it is difficult to understand for children if there is a trap although they do not see it visually, not to mention the types of traps and outcome when disarming them. This is just one example.

I also noticed when watching other people playing HeroQuest with their children that the parent is mainly telling them what to do so the interaction is missing and thus interest, focus is dropping very fast. To be cruel… some parents “use” their children as an extension of their solo-play

So I have been working on a simplified version of the game, adapted to the level of explaining & understanding for that age, keeping in mind things they already learn at kindergarden such as most<>less, higher<>lower, comparing symbols,… All required cards in this version are understandable for children, no text, recognisable symbols, easy to understand how combat works using dice placed on a specific card, etc.

More detailed information on the progression and pictures will be posted here very soon, still working on the prototypes. But I noticed there is some respons in the community after posting the following in a few FB-groups:

“Welcome young brave heroes… to JuniorQuest”
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Recognise this?! You as a loving parent & board game enthousiast waiting eagerly for your child(ren) to be old enough to be introduced into the hobby and more specific into HeroQuest?? If so, do continue reading, you’ll be interested in this!
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As a parent myself, I’ve been introducing my 5y old son to board gaming in general; teasing his curiosity, imagination and challenging his creativity, intellect & cleverness. The visual attraction of HeroQuest, the toy factor of its miniatures & furniture and the fantasy theme of brave heroes & monsters makes the game a wonderful introduction to dungeon crawlers… but even though it is a fairly ‘simple’ game, it still required a lot of aid and involvement of me as a parent during every step. To get him more involved into the action, the physical handling & interaction with game elements and decision making I started working on an adaptation focussing on those key elements to augment his personal and our joint game experience. Taking into account what the abilities and restrictions are of our children… JuniorQuest was born and coming to life soon!
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JuniorQuest consists of:
new card decks replacing all the original included card decks making them more understandable for your brave heroes.
a short rulebook describing the modifications to the core rules simplifying it to the level of your young heroes.
a basic system to generate random dungeons quick & easy for one-shot dungeon delves or campaigns.
language independent cards
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If you are interested and like to get an update, do place a comment below and we’ll get in touch.

The positive respons and interest in buying this adaptation is a motivation to make progress in the project. I’m still on the scale of launching a kickstarter or not, making it also available as digital purchase for people in the US (thanks to Trump) since it will most likely be cheaper to get the digital content and let some card manufacturer make a set for you and some other minor concerns like shipping costs.

Keep you all posted, thanks for reading through this.

[MattBarker]

Sounds interesting. In my experience of playing with 5 year olds:

They interpret the Morcar role as competitive, which leads to toddler rage when somebody loses. Playing with a parent as Morcar is the one time that I like the one Vs many design, I can emphasise the story telling role of a GM.

It took a while for them to understand the adventurers are a team and the need to cooperate to succeed.

Everybody wants to be the barbarian, so let them.

The game needs equal male / female models and character cards. This also applies to any game IMHO.

[TallTales]

Hi Matt, thanks for you feedback.

The equal male/female models is def. something I will take into consideration.
Yes, the barbarian is the most popular character of them all, again the visual aspect of it draws their attention immediately to it, they recognise the ‘strong hero’ at once while an elf does not trigger them as much.

And true about the raging toddlers

[TallTales]

I shared a first update to the people who are interested and following this project. I only posted it on a few HQ specific FB-groups and the response is very positive which boosts my motivation of course

The update can be viewed here:

JQ Update 1.pdf

[MattBarker]

Hi. I’ve been thinking about a couple of things related to this:

Is the intention that the children read and understand the instructions themselves? If so, that is the hardest part in my experience, but worth it as children want to play independently, including not having to refer to parents for rulings

The cards do not have text, but the flavour text is something that my children really enjoy. They like challenging themselves to learn new words, and don’t mind if they misunderstood some things so long as it is only fluff and doesn’t affect gameplay. Could fluff be added that is optional to read?

The more gruesome the fluff the better. But maybe my kids are weird!

[TallTales]

hahaha I will have no opinion on the mental state of your children

and thx for giving feedback to this project!

The overall rules cannot be explained with symbols alone so there is a rulebook and an adult has to explain the game of course. All cards used in the game are textless, once they know how the game works the symbols speak for themselves with a one time explanation where necessary.

My son just got 6 and plays the game almost by himself using my prototype cards. The fluff text can give more theme to it but in my experience at home he has his own imagination on what is happening and tells out loud what he is doing and what is occurring when drawing cards, setting up a new room, etc. Kind of entertaining for a parent to watch this

[TallTales]

Update 2

This is the second update btw…