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 (6 weeks in most places). I’ll still be working on game…
Tag: board games
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 publishing process, what kind of things they are looking for, and…
PX 6: Player Experience Beyond the Time Box
This is the sixth entry in a multi-part essay covering board game “Player Experience” or “PX”. We’ll reference a few earlier installments below, so maybe peek back at them before coming back here! During early research of this topic (the Player Experience / PX) I discovered an earlier research paper by a group out of…
PX 5: Determinism, Information, and Hedging Against the Future
This is the fifth topic in a multi-part essay covering board game “Player Experience” or “PX”. This entry references several key concepts from earlier installments, so you’ll either want to start at the beginning, or else drop back as they’re linked! Beyond all the things we’ve discussed so far, players will all be…
PX 4: Neuroscience and the Thinky Bits
This is part four in a multi-part essay covering board game “Player Experience” or “PX” The earlier posts aren’t prerequisites for this one, but I recommend checking them out anyway 🙂 This week, we’re going to tackle brain chemistry, neurotransmitter hormones, and some of the deeper psychological aspects of what’s going on…
Player Experience is Other People
This is the third topic in a multi-part essay covering board game “Player Experience” or “PX” You don’t have to read the others first, but it does reference several concepts from before, so I highly recommend it. [pullquote] “L’expérience, c’est les autres” — with apologies to Sartre[/pullquote]When designing a game, there is one major factor…
Player Experience (PX) Series #1: A Primer on User Experience and Interface Design
This is an installment in a multi-part essay covering board game “Player Experience” or “PX” feel free to start at the beginning, or just jump right in! To begin our exploration of Player Experience (PX), I feel it’s important to take a step back, and understand some underlying concepts. Luckily, there have…
Designing the Player Experience (PX)
When designing, it’s easy to get hung up on the details in front of us — the mechanics, the theme, the components. But ultimately, the point of designing games is for others to play them. And why do they play them? In my view, it’s to facilitate a rich human-human interaction,…
Lots of games this weekend!
Big weekend for gaming! I hit the trifecta on Sunday: Worked on my game, Valour; tried out a new game; taught an old favorite. Got all the components for Valour uploaded to The Game Crafter, so now I’m ready to start sending out blind test prototype copies to those far-flung…
Designing from First Principles
I’ve written before about different tools for running play-tests, ideating on designs, and interpreting feedback, but none of those have ever really covered how to develop a framework around implementing that feedback. After I sent my proto off for publisher review, I started mentally projecting myself into a future where I…