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The year is 1917. The place is Cottingly, England. Two cousins, Elsie and Frances, surprise and awe the world with five pictures of honest-to-goodness fairies. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the great detective Sherlock Holmes, publishes an article about the Cottingly Fairies in 1920 and uses these five photos in the article. This begins a period when the world is fascinated by cryptozoology and hungers to see more photos of these fascinating and fantastical creatures. Not to be outdone, tabloids in America scramble to find photographic evidence of mythical creatures to sell papers. The year is now 1932; you are a photographer in the United States hired to build a portfolio of photos of mystical creatures roaming the countryside. You have eight days to crisscross the country, gather tips, snap photos, and put together your portfolio. Will your portfolio gain you fame and fortune? Play ShutterBug and find out!
Back in 2015, when putting the Titans of Gaming series together, Ray Wehrs (President, Calliope Games) was contemplating designers for the project. Having already worked with Mike Elliott on another Calliope design, Wehrs asked him if he would be interested in working on the Titan Series. “I’m not generally known for light play games . . . most of the games I create are fairly complicated,” said Elliott. But, that didn’t prevent him from thinking outside his wheelhouse. “A few years back I had the thought that I should try to do an entry level game like Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride.” “Mike was excited to be a part of the project, along with Richard [Garfield] and Paul [Peterson],” said Wehrs. The initial design Elliott presented was strong, but ultimately too complex for the project. “We were very fortunate that Mike was willing to work with us and massage the game into a Calliope Games title,” remarked Wehrs. “I asked him, ‘What are the core elements of this design that are most important to you?” Once defined, Elliott got to work refining the game while maintaining his central concept: “The idea that I thought would be interesting is of something being generated and you had to go out and collect it.”
Victory was switched from a set-point total to a fixed number of rounds, the number of player pieces was reduced from two to one, and the creature types were streamlined. The repopulation of the board after every player turn was tweaked to heighten the ever-changing feel of the board. The original theme cast players as pairs of Zookeepers, one who rescued animals and the other who transported them to the Zoos. The trading mechanic evolved, left the game, and then returned. “Overall, most of the changes were to make the game less complicated and I think it hit my original goal from years ago of being a nice entry level game to introduce new players to the core hobby market,” mused Elliott. “Mike did his game in his typical elaborate style and challenges,” notes Wehrs. “Together, we made the core mechanics into a Calliope Game!”
As the development work was completed, Andrew Hepworth, Art Director for Calliope Games, began the art design process. He identified Char Reed as the artist for the project. “The process of finding an artist is never an easy one,” admitted Hepworth. “With ShutterBug, the one name that everyone agreed was perfect for the job was Char Reed. Her creature creation skills immediately caught our collective eye and we were extremely happy when Char signed on to produce the art for ShutterBug. She put her heart and soul into the imagery and rose to every challenge we could dream up. The results speak for themselves and help make ShutterBug the incredible game experience that it is.”
ShutterBug features a unique combination of set collection, card management, and exploration. The game is played over eight rounds. At the beginning of the game, each player receives a Secret Assignment card; it contains two competing requests for photos from rival tabloids. Each turn, the active player populates the board by drawing photo tiles from the bag and adding them until seven spaces contain creature photo tiles. The player now moves their photographer pawn around the board, drawing Tip cards, trading them with other players, and discarding specific ones to take photo tiles from spaces to add to their portfolio. Side Jobs may be completed by collecting specific sets of photos. At the end of the eighth round, each player chooses which tabloid from their Secret Assignment card to use, and gains points for completed requests. The player with the most points (Portfolio + Side Jobs + bonus points for ending the game in a City) wins!
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