Keeping up with Shelby Cinca is exhausting. Multiple music projects (one of which we recently covered), a successful graphic design career, as well as a well-received iPad game called Tri-Tri-Triobelisk and no signs of slowing down. I sat down to chat with Shelby about Zoneplex, a board game he created, and the risks and joys of being creatively challenged again.
The board game is currently undertaking a Kickstarter campaign which FPM highly recommends checking out.
John Sant: How has the reception been so far when you tell people you’ve created a board game? I know you’ve got that core group of Lovecraftian nerd types (ie., me) that are into it, but I have to imagine you’ve got a decent population that followed Frodus that are kind of unsure what to make of it.
Shelby Cinca: Most people are way into it, but I’m not sure if everyone understands!
John Sant: Like “You’re doing a board game? Why?”
Shelby Cinca: Yeah, I think I have already successfully bummed out many of the Frodus fans with The Cassettes and now this! But I think there are three sets of Frodus fans… #1. Post-Weapons Thriceans, #2. Conglomerate-era and back to 1993 Frodians. And #3. Frodians that love it all!
John Sant: Wait, you really got feedback that people were bummed you were doing The Cassettes?
Shelby Cinca: My gosh, my cat does not want me to do this interview, got tapped on my leg and loud meows!
John Sant: “It’s not Frodus. Bring that back!”?
Shelby Cinca: Yeah, basically. People stuck in time… or TYME, if you will.
John Sant: Is there a part of you that took on the board game as a way of continuing to resist a specific mold? You inhabited the punk scene for so long and you seem like the type that can get bored if you stay in one place for too long.
Shelby Cinca: No, it’s something that I always have been a fan of. Back before I discovered punk I loved Role Playing Games and would modify the games I had and build expansions to them. That took a pause as I got older and then went full-on into Frodus and the 90s punk (and garage/surf) world. But, oddly in 1997 I got fed up with the indie/hardcore world for a moment and didn’t go to shows and started gaming with some pals.
We ended up finding the best designed flyers at game stores and calling the numbers and we ended up gaming with the greatest DM ever, a man by the name of Travis Sivart (his true name!) and he had created a huge world and mythology behind it all… in fact when we visited his house that had a basement converted into an Inn he unfurled the map of his world and had to keep it from rolling back up with two swords. No joke! However, after a few months of gaming touring picked up again.
I don’t think my bandmates could handle it at the time. Haha! So anyway, fast forward to me in Sweden the past 2 years- I didn’t vibe with the indie music community there and fell into the gaming world initially through my friend Heather Rasley whom introduced me to Erik Svedäng who’s a game designer. Erik and I made the Triobelisk shooter (Tri-Tri-Triobelisk) and he introduced me to the indie gaming community in GBG. It was a true renaissance, it reminded me of the 90s punk scene, people meeting, showing their apps and stuff they made and keeping an active community. It’s something I thought that the music scene in Sweden didn’t have since most of the bands didn’t even see each other play and seemed concerned with perception and other small town type issues.
Then alongside all this my buddy, Claudio, who is a Machete-lookalike basically saved me from the social isolation I felt in Sweden and introduced me to his bandmate Kenny whom I found out was a graduate of game design. After gaming with him I had an idea and he was down to help me realize it since the most important thing to making a game is testing it and making sure it works right so we delved deep. It is like being in a band and practicing songs, really! (On a side note Claudio stars in the Tri-Tri-Triobelisk trailer)
John Sant: Ah, so it was that vitality you missed? I’m guessing since you didn’t seem to be too happy with the indie/hardcore world.
Shelby Cinca: Yeah, I missed the vitality and the enthusiasm. When I was in Gothenburg I felt like I was a weirdo and didn’t fit into the drinking club of the indie Illuminati. I mean it’s like that everywhere I’m sure, but I guess I have high standards coming from Washington, DC which always has cultivated community in its music scene.
John Sant: What was the initial idea that you approached Kenny with?
Shelby Cinca: I had an idea of Zoneplex- a bunch of paper triangles cut out and some simple math scribbled out in a sketchbook! We played it and then both started thinking about it and it grew from there.
John Sant: So you arrived at the ruleset first and then the mythology/lore elements were incorporated in?
Shelby Cinca: Yeah, though I had a theme in my head pretty early on of Daft Punk meets Egyptian inspired monsters. The first prototype with graphics just used found Egyptian symbols and art.
John Sant: Now that you’re full swing into the Kickstarter campaign, how does the feeling of investment feel stacked up against, say, Frodus or the Cassettes. You’ve created something, you’re putting it out there in an attempt to get it off the ground, but for as vital as the gaming world is, it’s still unknown territory for you.
Shelby Cinca: Yeah, true. Though I feel like I now am beginning to know how the gaming world works and am learning things as we have begun our campaign as far as how informed a segment of gamers want to be about a game before they purchase it, which may be a challenge to us since we didn’t send preview copies before the Kickstarter and are presenting the game in its near ready state. Oddly, that isn’t a problem for iPad Apps or video games like ThunderBeam (that I backed and can’t wait to see) which present their inspirations and their goal. But I just see it as we are doing our Kickstarter our way because that’s where we are in this stage of the project. It’s a boutique game, we believe in it, if you believe in it then follow your gut. Like how I followed my gut when I bought the Forgotten Realms AD&D campaign set in the 80s just because the cover art blew my mind. We have put a lot into it, so I think if it doesn’t make it I will lay on my floor staring at the ceiling for a week listening to Tom Waits records.
And now that I think of it the gaming world is like anything in the creative sphere these days… the right blog/writer writes about you then it influences a lot of people- people go to your band’s show, buy your game, buy your album, buy your shirt, Kickstart your yurt… Same game, different format.
John Sant: How important was it to instill a strong sense of mythology to the game as opposed to just laying out a set of rules and objectives? Your game has it in spades versus other games I’ve seen and played that are just “roll this, go there, try to get this.”
Shelby Cinca: I think it’s highly important! It creates the world and helps the players visualize what is happening. Sets the mood and it’s what makes the game special. Like when playing the game Chaos In The Old World which is based on the mythologies of the Warhammer universe which has been around since around 1986. My gaming pals in Sweden always augmented that and put on a FinnTroll record when the demon lords battled to help aid us imagine in our heads the most insane battle sequences. Haha! Anyway it was important for us with Zoneplex to have the mythology that you don’t even experience but somehow feel in the game, similar to the work done behind the movie The Dark Crystal. So much was behind that movie as far as stories and myths which I feel helps the viewer fall into that world even if it isn’t explained, it’s felt. Oddly NOW there is a graphic novel adaptation of those stories 30 years later!
John Sant: It seems like that’s kind of lost on this generation of board gamers, putting an emphasis on immersion into the world.
Shelby Cinca: I think there are some modern games that totally nail an intense theme, then there are some that are really chill and you just kind of farm and sell some resources to traders at a port, but I like those games too!
John Sant: Something I’ve been dying to know. You’ve lived with this game, you’ve put in countless hours refining it, testing it, etc. Have you found yourself wanting to play it just to play it, even after all those hours? Obviously, you need to play it to work out bugs and kinks.
Shelby Cinca: Yeah, actually! I think its a fun game to play since it is a crazy mashup of a lot of different games that we like. It’s a social game and when played with the right group of friends you can get some fun interactions. In fact it is even metalhead approved, we have a rule in there just because Claudio, my A.D.D. metalhead pal made us realize an issue we had with it while we were testing.
John Sant: Oh?
Shelby Cinca: We have of course also tested with hardcore gamers, etc.. and even guys who are hardcore poker players and don’t even care about theme, just play to win. That was fascinating.
John Sant: What was the issue/metalhead rule?
Shelby Cinca: The rule that limits the game length to one hour by the Action cards being used up. Metalhead must drink and headbang, can NOT game for too long! Ooga booga!
John Sant: Ha! One more question…
Shelby Cinca: Yeah?
John Sant: I’ve tried explaining the game to friends that have get-togethers and play games and it’s been tough summarizing what the game is/the goal precisely because there are a few terms specific to it (action cards versus relic cards)… how would you sell the game to someone if you just ran into them on the street and told them you had a board game? Basically, if you didn’t have the Kickstarter page there to show them.
Shelby Cinca: Zoneplex is a board game adventure in an Alien Pyramid where one attempts to control areas, negotiate and deceive to become the winner! The game is about managing risk while maintaining control.
John Sant: Thanks man
Shelby Cinca: Of course!
View Zoneplex’s Kickstarter page here.
