randylubin

We'll be tweaking the rules a little and adding clarifications, but the game should feel pretty similar to the original. The games original designer at the CIA, David Clopper, did a great job of designing, playtesting, and balancing it.

One big change is that we're removing the Manager Challenge cards that force players to defend why the tactics they're using would plausibly work. Those cards are perfect for a training game but less practical for casual players without an intelligence background.

We're also designing a storytelling variant that will be significantly different from the original game, but completely optional.

As far as we can tell, the CIA used the game to get recruits familiar with the various types of intelligence techniques and to think critically about how techniques might be assembled into a coherent strategy for understanding a crisis.

We've been so focused on the Kickstarter and production that we haven't looked further out. We'll think about it!

Younger me would have been very excited by this – both the game and the crowdsourcing!

Back then, I was much more interested in video games than the board games and storytelling games I love now. Maybe this would inspire me to get into the hobby (or to start designing) way earlier!

Mike and I have been chatting about games for a while now – we initially met because he was designing a card game and a mutual friend thought we'd enjoy brainstorming together. Since them we've collaborated on several games, simulations, and adjacent experiences.

The CIA games have been on our radar for a while, since they was announced at the SXSW panel last year. Almost as soon as the files were shared through FOIA, Mike reached out about the game and we've sprinted to make the Kickstarter happen.

We chose this game, in particular, for a few factors:

• It looked fun! (first and most important)
• It was easy to produce (compared to the board game)
• It has a compelling backstory, though all the CIA games do
• It had the broadest appeal, especially compared to the Kingpin game (which looks amazing but complex)

The whole team is collaborating to tweak the gameplay. The game was throughly playtested by the CIA so it's already in great shape – our tweaks are focused on making the game more accessible to a player who isn't in the intelligence community.

I'm also taking lead on the storytelling variant, which is much closer to the types of storytelling games I usually design. That said, Mike and Leigh will certainly be helping with that part too – this whole project is a team effort!