Tuesday Q&A: John Tiller

This week's Tuesday Q&A is the prolific John Tiller, computer game designer extraordinaire.

If my plaque was to go in the Wargaming Hall of Fame next week, the 2-sentence bio on it would say this about me:
John Tiller has been a computer wargame designer and developer since 1995. During that time he published over 70 computer wargames ranging from the Renaissance and American Revolution to the Vietnam War and modern topics.

You would know me from my work in this corner of the wargaming world:
Since 2000, I have published wargames with HPS Simulations in several series notably Panzer Campaigns and Squad Battles as well as the American Civil War and Napoleonics.

I'm currently working on:
I have about 10 games series currently and in each one, I have at least one wargame under development. I also am working on two wargame contracts for the US Air Force on UAVs and Directed Energy.

What wargame made you want to be a designer?
I got hooked on board wargames starting with Avalon Hill D-Day and Panzer Leader, but definitely the game that made me want to develop computer wargames was SPI War in Europe. I realized that the only way that I could play this game was to put it on the computer and so started doing that. The First Blitzkrieg game series is the result of that years later.

When I mock up a game for playtesting, my general process is…
My process is to establish the basis for the game such as scale and scope, if it is the first game in a series, the game setting, and the game infrastructure using artwork by my artists Joe Amoral and Mark Adams. Then I turn it over to one of my scenario designers to start scenario development and playtesting. Glenn Saunders, together with Dave Blackburn, are my main Panzer Campaigns designers, Rich Hamilton leads several teams in Squad Battles and Musket and Pike as well as Naval Campaigns, Gary Morgan does the Modern Air Power series, Rich Walker is my main Civil War designer these days, Bill Peters does most Napoleonic design, and Ed Williams has started a new series on World War I.

What's the last good book you read?
Associated with wargaming, I would have to say it's the Wayne Hughes book "Fleet Tactics". I know of no other book that does such a great job of describing modern naval combat.

If you could be the filmographer at any one battle in history, which one would you view?
I think we tend to have a romanticized view of most battles and one reason I like wargaming is that it allows you to view the battle in time and space so that you can see the sequence of events and how they interacted. My idea of a film about a battle wouldn't just focus on the key events, it would actually run continuously for the entire duration of the battle (which might not make it that popular to be honest). But I think watching a battle from the American Revolution would be fascinating since they took place in such small areas with small numbers of men. Something like Guilford Court House would be astounding to view I think.

Thanks to John, and all our participants so far... much more to come!



By: Brant