Marcel Perro
Today we are featuring Marcel Perro. Marcel lives in Vancouver, BC with his wife, Nikki, and their two cats and one dog. He has been playing modern board games since 2006 and co-designed his first game the following year. Since then Marcel has designed two other games on his own, and is hoping to find a publisher for all 3 games. He is an apprentice member of the Games Artisans of Canada, a nationwide group of designers that offer design advice and more. He currently works for thee BC government and Service’s Employee’s Union, where he has been since 2016. This will be Marcel’s first time joining us at Stumptown Game Summit!
THREE RANDOM FACTS ABOUT MARCEL:
On a date where Nikki was introducing Marcel to her work family, he accidentally threw a piece of meat he was eating at a former BC politician after she left Marcel on his own for a few minutes.
Marcel has lived on 2 of Canada's 3 Coasts
He had a role in a short film that was chosen by George A. Romero as the Grand Prize Winner of a local filmmaking competition.
Questions by Kimberly Revia (KR), answers by Marcel Perro (MP).
THREE BOARD GAME RELATED QUESTIONS:
KR: What aspect of a game do you usually start with when designing?
MP: I usually start with the theme and then try to find mechanics that would work well to bring out that theme. My first (co)design. For Greed or Glory, camet o us after playing a favourite of game of mine from the 80s (Poleconomy) and my friends and I declaring that we could make something better and the ensuing discussion about world politics. The design I'm bringing to Stumptown, Battle at Duck Pond, was originally inspired by the Ladybug's Picnic song from Sesame Street but has since changed theme.
KR: In designing games what have you found to be more difficult than you expected?
MP: The hardest part I've found with game design is when you feel you've nearly reached the end of the design but there are still some, usually small, details you are trying to iron out. Often times, this is a sign you need to take a step away from that design for a bit so you can approach it again with fresh eyes and hopefully get that spark that brings it to a point you feel confident in pitching the game to publishers.
KR: Is there any other designer, publisher or artist you would really love to work with one day?
MP: I would love to have a game with artwork from Kwanchai Moriya. All of the games he's worked on feel like works of art and are very eye-catching.
THREE QUESTIONS JUST FOR FUN:
KR: What does your ideal game day look like?
MP: It would be a game day with Nikki where we played Scrabble, Patchwork, Ghost Blitz and Carcassonne.
KR: What hobbies do you enjoy outside of board gaming?
MP: Acting, photography, craft beer tastings. Nikki wishes that woodworking was one of my hobbies, but despite her many attempts to get me into it, she has not been successful.
KR: If you could play any one game with any person, living or dead, what game would it be and with whom?
MP: Scrabble with Nikki. It's our traditional go to game on holidays and one we've yet to tire of.
