Diary #52 – Someone Else’s Problem

Today I’m going to answer a question you may have been asking for nine months: what on earth has happened to Test of Time? Sadly, none of the publishers I met at UKGE followed up (click here). On my return home I searched through back issues of magazines (click here) for more likely targets to…

Diary #51 – Magpie

The art of designing a game about art when you are unable to produce said art. “It’s Codenames meets Dixit but it’s a dungeon crawler.” I was worried I would have to commit an act of sacrilege and chop up cards from existing games. Instead I used magazines with previews of published games in them.…

Diary #50 – What We Found on the Beach

Beachhead 2022: though battered by wind, waves and the pandemic this young convention was back at the Bournemouth International Centre over the weekend. It was organised by the team at Entoyment, a local “wargaming and hobby centre”, and on top of their usual miniatures games there were board games, nerd merchandise and cosplayers. I was…

Diary #49 – Seat of Power

Westminster. A gathering of game designers. My cousins hired a bike and pointed me in the direction of the Thames; getting there involved dodging Battersea Park’s go-kart riders, e-unicyclists and skiers (yes, seriously). I arrived at the pub within the 30 minute timeframe and prepared for some playtesting. This was the monthly meeting of the…

Diary #48 – Host with the Most

Here’s a picture of me in my new job: Front of House at a posh restaurant. The challenge is to make people feel welcome and ease them towards an enjoyable experience (I find the trick is to talk about the weather). I’ve come to realise that “hosting” has its place in tabletop gaming too. When…

Diary #47 – Out of the Euro Tunnel

“YOU WANT PLAYER INTERACTION, DO YOU?”, I screamed silently at a playtester at the UK Games Expo, “THEN YOU’LL HAVE IT. SO THERE.” We were coming to the end of our playtest and I had enjoyed it immensely: the meet and greet, the uncertain rules explanation, the lightbulb moments, the bottlenecks, the frowns, the smiles.…

Diary #46 – How Did That Happen?

“Oh yes, Master of Olympus,” said Jim a few weeks ago, “A game I’ve still not played”. This was an oversight on my part: as Test of Time’s longest-serving playtester, his views on the game would be very useful. A chance trip down south gave us the opportunity we needed; Jim hoped that, in this…

Diary #45 – The Not-so-virtual Playtesters

“Meet by the entrance to Hall 3, 6pm” is not something you typically associate with a Discord channel. Once again the gaming went on late and we cast our critical (if that’s the right word) over some published games as well as prototypes. Under it all was a sense of moving the hobby and industry…

Diary #44 – Playtest Zone and Speed Dating

Not the most original title but standards change when you’re slumped in a chair with a McDonald’s. The gaming is still going back at the NEC but, after 12 hours, a lift back now was a better bet than two buses later. UKGE was easier when I lived in Birmingham. Two shifts with Playtest UK…

Diary #43 – Branching Out

Why, if I believe games are about peer-to-peer interactions, have I been designing a solo mode for Test of Time? And why, if I have so little interest in the board game industry, have I been looking at vast publisher databases? The answer is simple: publication. Designing the solo mode has also pushed me out…