An Interview with Manny Vega

What is Tea Witches? What’s the pitch you give people for the game?

Tea Witches is The Great Food Truck Race if it were held in a fantasy world with magic and adorable animated teapots. It started off as some drawings Sandara made for fun featuring the Teapups, but quickly developed a unique story as we fleshed out the world. We were thinking of the walking brooms in Fantasia at first, but the more I started thinking about it the more it felt like society would drastically change if objects could move. As I fell in love with the idea of a more modern fantasy world with mobile chicken huts, scry ball streaming and celebrity endorsements, the concept of a festival/game show brought all of the elements together.

Who would you say Tea Witches is for? Who do you think will love this game?

Fans of Flamecraft might be surprised to learn that behind the beautiful art, cute characters and silly names, Tea Witches has quite a bit more complexity to the gameplay. With this game, I wanted to stretch my design muscles a little bit further and give players a bunch of new levers and cranks to pull on. Flamecraft is a very cute and friendly game which meant I needed it to appeal to a wider audience so families and new gaming friends could join in the fun. Witches in general have a little more thematic maturity to them and the game is centered on a competition so it lends itself to players being crafty with every turn (pun intended). I think anyone can enjoy summoning cool witchy characters, collecting tea with their adorable Teapups and buying magical contraptions for their cart, but only the smartest tea witches can impress the judges with a perfectly prepared hut and a long line of loyal customers.

It’s always so cool to see a game come to life! What part of the final design are you most proud of?

My favorite part of any game design is seeing how it registers with players. It sounds cheesy, but when I finally get to see people playing the game, really understanding the best move and feeling super proud when they complete it, that's what makes game design special. Up until then, even with playtesters, it's a little bit mechanical as we are all looking for bugs and quirks or even... shudder... math. Once that is all said and done, and I get to watch people just play for fun, or discuss strategies online, it gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment.

In more physical terms, watching the fountain develop has been an amazing process. The whole idea originally revolved around this rotating fountain, but getting it to work in a prototype or the digital tabletop was challenging to say the least. On several occasions I was tempted to just remove it and make a new system, but it really just tied everything together. Luckily Pat Marino also saw the amazing potential for this beautiful fountain full of colorful teas and really pushed to have it be fully rendered and still fit in every box. I'm looking forward to seeing if people decide to paint their fountains in unique ways to show off their talents.

But as we all know, making a game like Tea Witches isn’t an easy process. What was the most challenging part of the game’s development?

There were two big issues, one visual and one gameplay. Visually, this game has a LOT of colors, and they are pretty important to the gameplay and readability. Every tea has to be recognizable, matching covens as well, plus you don't want the covens being tied to only one tea, etc. I thought I had come up with some good solutions for that, but when it got to the art department we ran into some real color blindness issues. It was somewhat two-fold, because we really wanted most of the teas to resemble... tea. There was a lot of back and forth on viable colors, and shifting things back and forth to get to the most visible and beautiful colors possible. The iconography was worked over a few times on the tea and witches to get them to be easily recognizable, and in the end I think we landed on some amazing tokens and coven symbols.

The main issue with the gameplay was the push-your-luck mechanic. It's a fun element for some players who throw caution to the wind, but is a difficult sell for some of the more pragmatic gamers. Early on in the design I knew this would be an issue, so I built in the Hex Wards so that players had some kind of safety net and if they were concerned they could just buy more. The game started with only one Hex Ward though, so early in the game luck was still a major factor. I know we seriously considered removing the mechanic completely, but we kept seeing how some people just really, really loved the rush of summoning a huge line with all sorts of bonuses. The answer came during development for two reasons. One, the basic Hex Ward used to give you a little bonus, but that was confusing when adding new Hex Wards because people often didn't want to cover them. So when it came to physically placing the new Hex Wards, we saw that any basic ones should look plain and give no reward so the shiny new ones were always better. This led to the realization that we could just place three basic Hex Wards to give the players early luck mitigation with room to grow. Once we tested this, it really ramped up the enjoyment for everyone and it became the standard. Luckily we have two sides to the player boards, so you can still try the single Hex Ward layout if you want a more challenging and risky game.

Player interaction can be a tricky thing in worker-placement games. How do players engage with each other in Tea Witches?

Players have a love/hate relationship with sharing while playing boardgames. Mainly they love it when someone does something that helps them and hate it when they end up helping another player. I see it as my game design duty to try and include something that players can share in every one of my games, and to make it something that everyone can enjoy. In Tea Witches the main driver of this idea are the To-Go orders. Since these can be delivered at the end of every player's turn, by any player, it leads to some really interactive moments in the game. I also really wanted players to get something for having their Teapups involved so it wasn't all one sided, heck everyone could be involved in theory. This turned out to be one of my favorite things about the game, with people shouting out the names on their orders and doling out the loyalty rewards to other players for their assistance with a sly wink.

Your game design plus Sandara Tang’s art is becoming a pretty iconic combination! What is it about Sandara and her work that keeps you coming back to her as a collaborator?

Sandara and I have a bit of a unique relationship in that we are actual partners when we sign a game. So when you see a game with both of our names, she is as involved in its creation and success as I am. She has this wild imagination and just keeps creating wonderful pieces of art and sharing them on social media. It's then up to me to come up with an interesting story and game idea to pitch to her and see if she is interested in pursuing the game. If we both think it has potential, we start adding to the world with ideas for locations, characters, creatures, etc. I think this partnership is what resonates with people when they play our games and has them fully invest in the world and gameplay.

Do you have any advice for new designers who are inspired by your work?

Every game is not for everyone. If you try to make your game work for everyone, you likely will end with a game that works for no one. For me, theme is the driving force behind my gameplay decisions but that doesn't mean that gameplay is secondary. On the contrary, gameplay that evolves to support the theme feels more natural to a player and is more easily absorbed and learned. I know there are great games out there completely devoid of theme, or loosely attached, but that is just not for me. Know what you want from your game and who you want to enjoy your game, and the design will lead you there.

About Usaopoly (aka The Op Games)
The Op, also known as Usaopoly, is a family entertainment company and leading publisher and manufacturer of board games and puzzles for over 25 years! Our diverse portfolio includes award-winning and best-selling titles such as TELESTRATIONS®, BLANK SLATE™, HUES & CUES™, TAPPLE and HARRY POTTER™ HOGWARTS BATTLE™ as well as licensed versions of MONOPOLY®, CLUE®, MUNCHKIN®, TRIVIAL PURSUIT®, DICE THRONE, SMASH UP, and more. The Op continues to partner with marquee brands and licensors such as Hasbro, Disney, Marvel, Nintendo, Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. The Op is passionate about bringing family, friends, and fans together to create memorable experiences through play! Learn more at www.TheOp.games.