Eric Zimmerman (@zimmermaneric) joins the Ludology podcast to discuss the phenomenon of emergence in games–complex behavior emerging from simple rules–and how to achieve it in your designs:
The Game Crafter’s Map Builder Design Challenge
Deadline: March 1, 2013
Prizes: Game Crafter points, credit, etc.
http://news.thegamecrafter.com/post/37402374169/map-builder-design-challenge
The horror of card game design:
http://exampleofplay.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/the-horror-of-card-game-design/
Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources – November 2012
/Here’s our regular roundup of the most valuable tips and resources for board game designers that we’ve found over the past month.
This month’s list features advice for the design process, playtesting, game design theory, publishing and more. Enjoy!
- “I advise new game designers not to play a lot of games, but to design a lot of games. If all you ever do is see what other people have wound up with, you can never really understand what they started with and how they got there.” – James Ernest (@cheapassjames)
- “Focus. The designer should pick a goal they want to accomplish. Everything in the game should focus towards that point. It’s easier to do one or two things incredibly well than fifty things.” – Grant Rodiek (@HerrohGrant)
- “Theme matters but is mutable. Don’t let your mechanics suffer for your theme. Iterate toward symbiosis.” – Jay Treat (@jtreat3)
- “Your game begins as a rough rock. Submerge it in playtesting. It will be smoothed into its final shape.” – Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis)
- “If you test with only gamers, don’t expect it to ever go to mass market – expect it to be beloved by gamers, and that’s where you’re going to sell it. So you have to figure out ahead of time who the market is that you’re aiming for, and that’s where you test it.” – Dominic Crapuchettes (@DCrapuchettes) of North Star Games (@NorthStarGames)
The virtues (and sins) of using dice in games, by Lewis Pulsipher (@lewpuls):
http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-virtues-and-sins-of-using-dice-in.html
Alan R. Moon on redesigning a previously published game:
When I redesign a game, my objective is for the new version to be both familiar and different at the same time. I want the players who liked the original to like the new game as much or more, but I want them to have a different experience too.
http://meepletown.com/2012/12/game-designer-interview-alan-r-moon/
Paul Owen (@PaulOwenGames) discusses forging relationships with publishers, setting the players’ “decision space,” using social media and more:
http://bellwethergames.com/featureddesigners/201-paul-owen-interview.html
A brainstorming exercise for game designers: Using Wikipedia to generate novel game themes:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/892541/just-come-up-with-a-new-theme-already-fun-exercise
Where are the new game mechanisms?
http://goforthandgame.com/2012/11/29/question-of-the-month-where-are-the-new-game-mechanisms/
An open offer to write flavor text for your game or edit its rules:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/890995/flavour-text-writer-rules-reader
Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis) visits the G*M*S Magazine podcast (@gmsmagazine) to discuss open design, observing playtesters, art vs. craft and more:
http://www.gmsmagazine.com/podcasts/the-gms-magazine-podcast-episode-70-with-daniel-solis
Advice about playtesting, prototyping and pitching from The Game Crafter’s latest Hall of Fame inductee:
http://news.thegamecrafter.com/post/36668744129/chris-leder-inducted-into-hall-of-fame
