InQuest 16 - 38 - Unmasking "The X-Files": X-Files CCG Feature
Suppose you've successfully inves-
tigated Lake Okobogee; you put the
completed site in your bureau pile and
get to ask a question about the affili-
ation of your oppo-
nent's X-File. You
might ask, "Is
your X-File's
affiliation
alien?" If the
answer is yes,
you've eliminated all the government,
occult, primordial and evolutionary X-
Files. A glance at your printed list of X-
Files shows you've narrowed the
possibilities down to eight.
Successful investigation of another
site allows you to ask, "Is your motive
knowledge?" If the answer is yes,
then the list is further narrowed to
Alien Abductors or Brother Martin.
Another question pins it down to
Alien Abductors. After that, the next
time you successfully investigate a
site, you simply ask, "Are you Alien
Abductors?," and you win. Multi-
player versions of The X-Files run along
the same lines.
tigated Lake Okobogee; you put the
completed site in your bureau pile and
get to ask a question about the affili-
ation of your oppo-
nent's X-File. You
might ask, "Is
your X-File's
affiliation
alien?" If the
answer is yes,
you've eliminated all the government,
occult, primordial and evolutionary X-
Files. A glance at your printed list of X-
Files shows you've narrowed the
possibilities down to eight.
Successful investigation of another
site allows you to ask, "Is your motive
knowledge?" If the answer is yes,
then the list is further narrowed to
Alien Abductors or Brother Martin.
Another question pins it down to
Alien Abductors. After that, the next
time you successfully investigate a
site, you simply ask, "Are you Alien
Abductors?," and you win. Multi-
player versions of The X-Files run along
the same lines.
"The more intelligently you can
ask questions, the faster you'll be,"
Macdonell says. "There are intelligent
follow-up questions and there are
less-intelligent follow-up questions."
Learning to play intelligently will
take practice, but simply learning the
game won't be difficult, Macdonell
says. "You should be able to grab
your deck, fly through the basic rules
and start playing right away." Even
the advanced game, he states, while
more complex than, say, OverPower,
is less complicated than Magic or Mid-
dle-earth.
The design team worked to create
several valid deck-building strategies,
Macdonell says. Each agent has skills
that helps him uncover two of an X-
File's four characteristics. For exam-
ple, an agent's skill in alien
investigation would help you deduce
affiliation and motive but wouldn't
help with method or result. Building
a deck means selecting a proper mix
of agent and bureau cards to nail
down three characteristics.
ask questions, the faster you'll be,"
Macdonell says. "There are intelligent
follow-up questions and there are
less-intelligent follow-up questions."
Learning to play intelligently will
take practice, but simply learning the
game won't be difficult, Macdonell
says. "You should be able to grab
your deck, fly through the basic rules
and start playing right away." Even
the advanced game, he states, while
more complex than, say, OverPower,
is less complicated than Magic or Mid-
dle-earth.
The design team worked to create
several valid deck-building strategies,
Macdonell says. Each agent has skills
that helps him uncover two of an X-
File's four characteristics. For exam-
ple, an agent's skill in alien
investigation would help you deduce
affiliation and motive but wouldn't
help with method or result. Building
a deck means selecting a proper mix
of agent and bureau cards to nail
down three characteristics.
Defensively, "you're going to tar-
get either things that prevent him
from asking about certain charac-
teristics or the skills that go
after those characteristics,"
Macdonell says.
Being an "X-Files" fan
isn't necessary, Mac-
donell adds, because the
game doesn't require a
knowledge of trivia.
Whoever puts the most
time into learning the game,
not the TV show, will have
the advantage.
"[X-Files is] somewhat like Clue, some-
what like 20 Questions. Both of those
games derive from deductive reasoning,
and that's something that's common to
every investigation."
Testing the Game
get either things that prevent him
from asking about certain charac-
teristics or the skills that go
after those characteristics,"
Macdonell says.
Being an "X-Files" fan
isn't necessary, Mac-
donell adds, because the
game doesn't require a
knowledge of trivia.
Whoever puts the most
time into learning the game,
not the TV show, will have
the advantage.
"[X-Files is] somewhat like Clue, some-
what like 20 Questions. Both of those
games derive from deductive reasoning,
and that's something that's common to
every investigation."
Testing the Game
The process of testing and tweaking
The X-Files began with its designers,
included customers at San Diego
game stores and eventually involved
more than 50 play-test cells of varying
sizes in the U.S., Australia, and Europe.
Beta testers received black-and-
white cards created with ordinary
computer equipment. "We can throw
'em away or we can write directly on
the card," Macdonell notes.
Once people started playing the
game, it quickly became apparent that
creature cards were way too powerful.
"Certainly there are a number of
occasions when Fox or Dana or Skin-
ner or whoever have gone to the hos-
pital because they've been beaten up,"
Macdonell states. "On the other hand,
we didn't want it to be a combat
game, so we had to tweak combat to
where it was flavorful but not where
the agents were blasting in all direc-
tions on every turn."
After the first effort to correct the
The X-Files began with its designers,
included customers at San Diego
game stores and eventually involved
more than 50 play-test cells of varying
sizes in the U.S., Australia, and Europe.
Beta testers received black-and-
white cards created with ordinary
computer equipment. "We can throw
'em away or we can write directly on
the card," Macdonell notes.
Once people started playing the
game, it quickly became apparent that
creature cards were way too powerful.
"Certainly there are a number of
occasions when Fox or Dana or Skin-
ner or whoever have gone to the hos-
pital because they've been beaten up,"
Macdonell states. "On the other hand,
we didn't want it to be a combat
game, so we had to tweak combat to
where it was flavorful but not where
the agents were blasting in all direc-
tions on every turn."
After the first effort to correct the
problem, creatures became "com-
pletely useless." Now Macdonell
thinks they've got the balance just
about right.
Responses from play-testers can
range from the brilliant to the...odd.
On the brilliant side, one play-tester
noted that in the original version of
the game, the cards players were try-
ing to identify were called "adver-
saries." "He wrote up and said, 'How
come you don't call them X-Files?'"
Macdonell recalls with a laugh. "We
kind of looked around and said, 'Okay,
let's call them X-Files.'"
On the other hand, another play-
tester wrote in and "completely
trashed" the game, then offered to
redo it from scratch, fixing everything
he thought was wrong with it, and
send it in to them by the next week-
end. NXT appreciated the offer but
decided to stick with what it had.
One thing the designers expect to
find out through the beta testing pro-
pletely useless." Now Macdonell
thinks they've got the balance just
about right.
Responses from play-testers can
range from the brilliant to the...odd.
On the brilliant side, one play-tester
noted that in the original version of
the game, the cards players were try-
ing to identify were called "adver-
saries." "He wrote up and said, 'How
come you don't call them X-Files?'"
Macdonell recalls with a laugh. "We
kind of looked around and said, 'Okay,
let's call them X-Files.'"
On the other hand, another play-
tester wrote in and "completely
trashed" the game, then offered to
redo it from scratch, fixing everything
he thought was wrong with it, and
send it in to them by the next week-
end. NXT appreciated the offer but
decided to stick with what it had.
One thing the designers expect to
find out through the beta testing pro-
cess is just how long a hand will last.
Their best guess is that a basic game
will take 30 to 45 minutes; an
advanced game could go longer
depending on what kind of decks
players use.
Origins
Both Macdonell and Kent are long-
time gamers. Macdonell says he
started playing Dungeons & Dragons
when he was only 8, in 1974, when
the first three-book game set came
out, and claims to have bought "every
game since." In fact, he says, between
them he and Kent probably have
3,000 to 5,000 games.
NXT Games grew out of an idea
Macdonell had for a sports-based card
game one day in August 1994 when
he was folding laundry. "I recruited
a bunch of my friends with a lot of
game talent and started building an
NFL card game and a Major League
Baseball card game, play-testing it in
Ron's store."
In February 1995 Macdonell con-
