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Category Archives: Board Games

Tension

Last night Ian and I had a discussion about tension in games. We wanted to figure out how to add more tension to a game, but first we need to define what exactly tension was. We decided to break it down.
First, we picked out some games that we felt had tension. I brought up Ticket [...]

The First Transport is Away!

I just sent out a prototype to a publisher this morning. It was kind of expensive shipping it overseas, but it was worth it.  The postal worker explained that if I didn’t use a flat-rate box and I didn’t care when it got there, I could have saved $20. Oh well, I’ll remember that next [...]

A Loss For Words

A LOSS FOR WORDS
Last night Ian, Toby, and I played my prototype for A Loss For Words, a party word game. The game involved getting your teammate to guess your randomly-chosen photo from an array of stock photos using only one word. That one word must start with a letter from a card in [...]

Stickers!

Ian got a shipment of professionally printed stickers from Frontier Label this week for his game Taktika. They look really nice and save Ian a whole lot of time printing out and cutting his own. On Tuesday, Jon and I helped Ian apply stickers to the discs to make a few sets. It seemed to [...]

BGG.CON Playtesting

At BGG.CON, both Ian and I participated in the Proto Alley, where designers tested their prototypes. Here are some snippets about my games:
Venture Forth
I taught Venture Forth to Patrick, Ben, and Gil. I was still a bit rough on the explanation of this game, but before you knew it we were up and playing. The [...]

Monkey Lab is Delayed!

I just received word that Monkey Lab will be delayed until Spring 2009. That is a real disappointment for me because I really was looking forward to having it be available for BGG.con and to a lesser extent Christmas. I’m not sure when “Spring 2009″ is, but in my experience anticipating boardgame releases it usually [...]

Monkey Lab is coming!

I am excited to announce that my game Monkey Lab is going to be published by AEG. I have been waiting on letting the general public know, but I think enough information has been let out already and it is a few months away from being released, so I figured it was time.
So, let me [...]

Underworld Updates

I was feeling a little concerned about my game prototype Stellar Underworld. This feeling came from some of the feedback from the guys from Oklahoma, and from a botched playtest with some “improved” rules based on that feedback. All of that, and I feel pressure to get this game ready for the Protocon design contest.Well, [...]

Highs and Lows of Game Development

There are two main states of game development:
Exhilaration – You have a list of some issues in your game that need to be addressed. You’ve come up with a solution to one of the problems on paper. You think it is so elegant and will solve all of your problems. You, sir, are a genius! [...]

Stellar Underworld Feedback

Today I received some feedback from Mike and the guys at the Royal Steamwork Society about Stellar Underworld. Here are some of the main points I pulled from it:
Rules Clarifications
Can contraband assets be delivered in multiples?
Yes. This will have to be explicitly stated in the rulebook. Contraband assets are different from other assets in that [...]