Tout a commencé avec une discussion lancée par Yaourth sur le forum, à propos d'une idée de jeu intitulée "Pour qui sonne le Troll?". L'idée m'a plu, je l'ai saisi au vol, prenant de vitesse Bruno Cathala, et Yaourth et moi-même avons commencé à travailler ensemble sur ce jeu, échangeant force emails et testant moultes versions. Il y eut vite un village, avec des maisons, et des personnages - troll, guerrier, prêtre, facteur, assistante sociale - qui arpentaient les rues et rendaient aux habitants des visites plus ou moins bienvenues. Après quelques semaines de tests, et malgré des progrès notables, nous avons dû admettre que nous étions dans une voie sans issue et que notre jeu, bien que basé sur un principe assez simple, devenait une usine à gaz à la fois complexe et incontrôlable.

Nous avons alors mis de côté ce projet, qui resortira peut-être un jour, mais l'idée du troll qui frappe à la porte me trottait toujours dans la tête, j'étais certain qu'il y avait la matière à un bon jeu. Quand j'ai réalisé que, entendant un toc toc ! à la porte, on avait le choix d'ouvrir ou non, un nouveau jeu était né. Les échanges d'emails ont alors repris, mais le jeu n'avait plus guère de commun avec le projet initial que l'idée du troll qui frappe à la porte. Dans le nouveau Toc Toc Toc!, les joueurs étaient des taverniers ayant chacun une auberge dans la forêt, au croisement des routes fréquentées par les voyageurs et aventuriers de tous poils. Chacun veut donc ouvrir sa porte aux bons clients, tout en évitant les importuns que sont les trolls, qui font peur aux clients, les ogres, qui ont la mauvaise habitude de les dévorer, et les vamps envoyées par les aubergistes rivaux pour attirer chez eux les meilleurs clients.

Rapidement mise au point, cette version du jeu, qui avait l'avantage annexe de ne demander que 56 cartes, est partie chez quelques éditeurs, dont Asmodée, qui cherchait quelques jeux dynamiques pour relancer sa collection de petites boites carrées, les kangourous, dans laquelle ont été notamment publiés Fantasy et Les Loups Garous de Thiercelieux. Un peu lassés des trolls et des guerriers, les gens d'Asmodée ont néanmoins voulu changer le thème du jeu. C'est ainsi que nains, elfes et humains sont devenus fantômes, monstres et vampires. J'étais plutôt défavorable au changement de thème, mais je me suis laissé convaincre, et je ne le regrette pas, car le résultat est très mignon, et le thème Halloween fonctionne très bien. Cela dit, avec la disparition du troll, devenu un gentil petit garçon, le jeu n'a vraiment plus rien de commun avec le projet initial ! Quand Jim Dietz, de Jolly Roger games, a décidé sur l'insistance de ses enfants de publier ce jeu aux États-Unis, nous lui avons laissé le choix entre les deux thèmes, il a lui aussi préféré Halloween, mais a refait les graphismes dans un style moins européen.

Pour terminer, je ne résite pas au plaisir de citer la réponse reçue d'un éditeur américain auquel j'avais proposé ce jeu :
" The basic game idea is just wonderful...........however, all of the different attributes for the various characters was overwhelming, and really dragged down the game. I believe the basic idea of knocking at the door of the various taverns is great. But in the U.S. game players are less inclined to have patience to deal with all of the different options you have designed into the game. So, I am returning the prototype via air mail. However, I would like you to consider simplifying the system so more casual game players can pick up the game and play. If you do that, we will certainly give knock knock a second look."
J'ai bien essayé de simplifier le système, mais ce jeu est déjà tellement simple que si j'en enlève quoi que ce soit, il ne reste rien !

It started with a topic launched by Yaourth on our forum, dealing with his idea for game called "For whom the Troll bells?". I liked the idea, and jumped at it a few minutes before Bruno Cathala. Yaourth and I exchanged emails for a while, developing the game and testing many different versions. Soon, there was a village, with various buildings, and strange people - troll, warrior, priest, mailman, social worker - who were more or less welcome in the inhabitants houses. After a few weeks, and tough there had been some good ideas, it appeared that we were stalled and that, though the basic idea was simple, the game was becoming too complex and too uncontrollable.

We set the project aside, but the image of a troll knocking at the door was still in my head, and I was sure there was a good game to design from it. Then I realized that the real choice was after the knock - open or not - and a new game was here. I came back to yaourth, and we finalized in a few days a game that had very little in common with the original project - mostly the troll knocking at the door. In the new game, Knock Knock !, the players are innkeepers. Each players has a tavern in the forest, near the road crossing, where travellers and adventurers use to stop for the night. Each player tries to open his door to the best guests - dwarves, elves, musicians - and to avoid trolls, who use to frighten other guests, ogres, who eat them, and vamps send by gis competitors to lure his richest guests.

The new version of the game had only 56 cards, and was immediately sent to some publishers who use to publish such small cad games. Asmodée was looking for some light and dynamic games for their line of small square boxes, called Kangaroos, to go along with fantasy or the Werewolves of Miller's Hollow, and they immediately wanted the game. Tired of trolls and the like, they also wanted to change the setting and rethemed the game in a Halloween night, changing dwarves, eleves and humans into vampires, ghosts and monsters. I first didnd't like the new setting, but they managed to convince me, and in the end the Halloween theme works well and the game looks really nice. Since the troll is now a young kid, the actual game has absolutely nothing in common with the original idea ! When Jim Dietz, at Joly Roger games, decided, upon his kids' insistence, to publish this game in the USA, we let him choose between the original fantasy setting and the halloween one, and he also preferred Halloween - though he opted for new and less european-style graphics.

Last but not least, and just for fun, here is the answer I got from an emarican publisher to which this game was submitted :
" The basic game idea is just wonderful...........however, all of the different attributes for the various characters was overwhelming, and really dragged down the game. I believe the basic idea of knocking at the door of the various taverns is great. But in the U.S. game players are less inclined to have patience to deal with all of the different options you have designed into the game. So, I am returning the prototype via air mail. However, I would like you to consider simplifying the system so more casual game players can pick up the game and play. If you do that, we will certainly give knock knock a second look."
Well, I tried to simplify the system, but it's already so simple that if I remove a single element from this game, there's nothing left !