“We could do with a virus day,” I joked at work a few weeks ago, “We haven’t had any snow, and it’d be nice to have a day off.” Be careful what you wish for. The past week has been dominated by a gathering cloud of uncertainty. When it finally broke, it flooded us all… Continue reading Diary #35 – The Silver Lining
Diary #34 – Into the Woods
Today we’re going to talk about playtesting: a process which, for designers, is like being lost in a dark and scary wood. You can only find the exit and finish your game with the guidance of your playtesters. Between them, your playtesters know of many different paths to many different exits, so a single project… Continue reading Diary #34 – Into the Woods
Diary #33 – Protospiel
A convention for designers and playtesters: it may sound like the work of the Birmingham Game Designers, but the UK’s first Protospiel was actually the brain child of Chris Kingsnorth. As dawn broke on a cold November morning I hopped in car with the Dranda Boys and sped off to Nottingham’s Hilton Hotel (interiors the image of… Continue reading Diary #33 – Protospiel
Diary #32 – Voices
A year ago I decided to temporarily shelve Master of Olympus and use its best bits to create Dawn of Gnome. This, I reasoned, would be a good business move: Gnome is more accessible and, therefore, more likely to sell. But a scary thing happened the other day: I realised I could shelve Gnome, extract its best bits and make something… Continue reading Diary #32 – Voices
Diary #31 – Enter the Spreadsheet
Important: the Mystery Box Game Jam will take place at Meeple Mayhem on Saturday 28th September. Have a go at designing your first tabletop game with the help of the Birmingham Game Designers. Organising the Game Jam and board game bashes (next one September 14th) has left me with little time to work on Dawn of Gnome.… Continue reading Diary #31 – Enter the Spreadsheet
Diary #30 – Indieboy
UKGE is the largest gathering of indie (independent) board game designers in the country – I know this because it was my job to fold the hundreds of raffle tickets left by their playtesters. Rob’s container was too small to hold them all, so we had to borrow Andy Hopwood’s hat. I’m pleased to… Continue reading Diary #30 – Indieboy
