The first game from Cili Padi Games, Dancing Queen, was released at the end of 2022. I started getting into game design in 2019. I got into the boardgaming hobby in 2003. When I was just a player (and buyer), I never paid much attention to Malaysian made games. Firstly, there weren't many in the first place. Secondly, they were not very good. Sorry, I know that's not being very patriotic. Now I am no longer just a player. I'm also a designer and publisher. I now see games a little differently. Sometimes I buy a game not because I think I will like it. I buy it because I want to see how other people make games. I want to learn from how other people design products.
This is how I see Malaysian games: They are still at an early, infant stage. The market is small. Most gamers prefer to play non-Malaysian games. To be honest, that's me too. Malaysian games are not well known internationally. In Asia, countries which have established some reputation in the boardgame world are firstly Japan, followed by Korea and Taiwan. From our neighbour Singapore we have Daryl Chow who now has international presence. Malaysia still needs to work hard. Now I'm part of that need-to-work-hard group myself.
How does the world see Malaysian-made games? If I were outside looking in, I would see that most Malaysian games are simple non-gamer games, and they look like they are made by non-gamers too. Outsiders. Now I have this view partly because I am a veteran gamer. I'm probably a little snobbish because of that. I imagine if I were a gamer outside of Malaysia seeing so many games made by non-gamers, I wouldn't be very interested. Now I don't mean to say making games for non-gamers is wrong. In Malaysia, gamers are a small minority. Non-gamers are the majority. It makes sense to make products that have a bigger audience. In other Asian countries which have a wider acceptance of boardgames, there are many more casual and light gamers than there are heavy strategy gamers. Love Letter is from Japan. It certainly is a light game. Most Malaysian games are light, but they are not yet at the level of quality as games like Love Letter.
In Malaysia, those who can make a sustainable living from boardgames are retailers and boardgame cafes. There are online retailers and also physical store retailers. Not many, but it's good news for gamers that we do have local retailers now. 20 years ago I had to order games in bulk from USA or Canada and have them literally shipped (i.e. sent by ship). Anyone still remember Starlit Citadel? We don't have game designers or publishers who can make a living from boardgames yet. That said, anywhere in the world, doing this is not easy. In Malaysia, the market is small. To make a living from designing or publishing games, it's either we grow the market significantly (which won't happen overnight), or we go global. We are working on them.
Philharmonix by Faris Suhaimi found an experienced publisher in Archona Games. Their Kickstarter campaign funded successfully. Leaping Lions by Darryl Tan won the 2023 ButtonShy Games competition. Melaka by Effendy Norzaman made it through to the final round of the Zenobia Awards. These are all very encouraging and inspiring.
TTGDMY (Table Top Game Designers of Malaysia) is the most active community of boardgame designers in Malaysia. We have playtest sessions regularly. We exchange ideas and news. We often meet at events, having booths near one another and exchanging war stories. Our Facebook group was established in 2015, and we have 1800 members now. It is good to have a community of designers who learn together and encourage one another. We motivate one another to do better and go further. To better Malaysian games, one way may be to create a brand and identity for ourselves. It is not easy to do. We are all individuals, with different full-time jobs and personal backgrounds. We have different values and ideas about game design. It's not easy pulling so many different people together to agree on something, let alone to get something so challenging done.
LUMA (publisher of Kaki Lima and Bansan) lead by Choon Ean is getting involved more in the game publishing business. They will focus on games with Malaysian cultural elements. This is exciting for local game designers. Most game designers want to have their games picked up by publishers. Doing publishing by yourself is a monumental undertaking. You need to take care of product design, art, printing, logistics, marketing, fulfilment. It's a lot to handle, and a lot to learn.
At Cili Padi Games, although I have published two games, in the long run I don't actually plan to be a game publisher. I envision Cili Padi Games to be a game design studio. Until I can consistently find publishers who want to publish my game designs, I'm doing the publishing myself so that I can gain experience and learn about the industry. Yes, it takes a lot of time and effort. That's what you need to be willing to do if you want to get good at something. Cili Padi Games wants to specialise in small box card games that deliver something a little different. I am an old timer and a gamer. I cannot make myself create cookie cutter games. I cannot bring myself to create another shallow take-that game. I can say I'm an artist and I have standards. However from another perspective I'm being stubborn and impractical. Many people who buy small and cheap games are looking for brainless time wasters. They don't care about how artsy or innovative your game is. They just want something they can have fun with for a while. Now I know when I go into game design and publishing, I should be treating it as a proper business. It should be profitable and sustainable. But let's be honest, I can keep doing this only because of the passion and how it is also a hobby. So I allow myself to stand firm on some of my principles. Even if they make life a little harder for me. Got to stick to what you believe in.
I picked Dancing Queen as my first game because it won the competition on BoardGameGeek. That would help in marketing the game. The game also fulfils my criteria in terms of what kind of games I should publish. However Dancing Queen is not an easy game for non-gamers to learn by themselves. Also since it is a purely 2-player game, the target audience and use case for the game become smaller. From a publisher perspective, I am making this tough for myself. My second game Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs is a game for 7 to 18 players. It goes to the other extreme. This is an unusual player count. Snow White is not exactly a game I myself seek out to play. I chose it because when I playtested it, almost all the groups I showed it to were deeply engaged. The response surprised me. I play games to make me happy, but I create games to make other people happy. So that's why Snow White. Compared to Dancing Queen, it is much easier for casual gamers to understand and to be able to play competently.
My third game, which I am working on now, is Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. This time, finally, the player range is more normal. It is for 2 to 6 players. This is a game I have been working on and fine-tuning for a long time. It is also a title which is easier for casual players.
I aim to publish an average of one game a year for five years. I want to build up the Cili Padi Games brand, and also my own presence as a game designer. Let's see where I am at after my fifth game. That will be around 2027. I will take stock and decide what's next.
Dancing Queen has found a publisher which will give it an international release. This international edition will probably be out in 2025, if all goes according to plan. Being able to find a publisher for it was a huge encouragement for me. It will be a big help. An established publisher is much more experienced than I am. They have the connections and the resources to better market and distribute the game. I'm very much looking forward to what they will do with Dancing Queen. I will continue to look for publishers for my other games. I'm looking for Asian publishers which will do editions in languages other than English. If you have tried my other games and know any publisher who may be interested, please let me know.
I hope to make more interesting and innovative games which bring joy to people. Many Malaysian designers spend a lot energy and make many sacrifices to create games, because they believe in the value of play and in bringing happiness to people.
Go Malaysia!
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