I’m spending 2019 traveling, but committed to continue to design tabletop games while doing so, with the thought that constraints might lead to some good systematization and process habits. The first thing I felt I needed in order to keepRead more → Designing from the Road: The Box of Bits
Category: board games
Component Studio is Dope
I have many weaknesses when it comes to game design, but perhaps most severe among them is an allergy to making cards. They’re such an incredibly powerful component… an arbitrary-odds randomizer, plus hidden information, plus ‘multiple use’ item, plus… plus… plus…Read more → Component Studio is Dope
Harris Hawk Designer Diary
I think often about an older post I wrote called ‘getting out of the game room‘, and the value that comes along with doing so for a tabletop game, in order to gather experiences from the real world to drawRead more → Harris Hawk Designer Diary
Radiolab episode about finding inspiration
I recently heard an episode of Radiolab where one of their producers interviewed their top reporter on how he finds some of the more ‘out there’ stories they broadcast, and, of course, (everything seems to…) got me thinking about boardRead more → Radiolab episode about finding inspiration
The Big Move
On the first of the year, Andrea and I are packing up for a year abroad — we’re going to check out a few places we’ve enjoyed visiting and see what it’s like to ‘live there’ for a bit (6Read more → The Big Move
Thingvalley Designer Diary #1
I’m working on a game I came up with on a trip to Iceland (it’s getting to the point that I can’t even leave Boulder without coming up with some kind of game concept. If you need some ideas, hmu),Read more → Thingvalley Designer Diary #1
Origins Game Fair: A first-timer’s strategy guide
Origins Game Fair is a really great convention, especially for designers and aspiring designers — nearly every publisher you can think of has a presence there, and many (most!) are willing to talk to just about anyone about their publishingRead more → Origins Game Fair: A first-timer’s strategy guide
FarkleBot: An experiment in tabletop game AI
A favorite activity for my partner and I is visiting brewery taprooms; often, we’ll combine a trip with some kind of casual game, (usually Odin’s Ravens 2e) but we don’t always haul that out with us. A few years agoRead more → FarkleBot: An experiment in tabletop game AI
Potemkin Empire Designer Dairy #3
I finished a round of edits and cleanup on the Potemkin Empire rules last night — it’s still testing really well; every group to play it ends up getting into the sarcastic tone, and preposterousness of the theme, though I mustRead more → Potemkin Empire Designer Dairy #3
“Award Winning” Game Designer
Once, in a group of other game designers working to get our first designs signed by publishers (i.e.: unpublished designers), someone asked “what do you all call yourselves, since you’re not published? I’m struggling with what to call myself when peopleRead more → “Award Winning” Game Designer