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Belle of the Ball – Deconstructing a Card Deck
Posted on March 15, 2012 | Make a CommentYou saw my previous posts on organic distribution of information across card decks, right? Well, I took a slightly lazier route for Belle of the Ball, using a variety of online text and list tools.I knew there would be 96 basic guest cards, so I genera... -
Balancing Power and Rarity in Strategy Game Design
Posted on March 8, 2012 | Make a CommentI just wanted to give some real practical tips on how to use the wabi-sabi technique when designing game effects. Say you're making a deck of event cards or special powers that apply to different points in the game. There are two things happening here.... -
Wabi-Sabi in Card Game Design
Posted on March 6, 2012 | Make a CommentCameron asked a good question here, and the answer led into a subject I wanted to talk about anyway. Let's call it "wabi-sabi for card game design." Wabi-sabi is the aesthetic ideal of natural imperfection and asymmetry. It stands in contrast to the pe... -
Mismatched Theme and Mechanics: Future Plans for Belle of the Ball
Posted on February 28, 2012 | Make a CommentHey, you remember Belle of the Ball, right? Well, to be honest, I was never entirely satisfied with how the game turned out, but I couldn't pin down what my problem was exactly. Over time... a long time... I figured out that there was just a mismatch b... -
Affordable Success: Why I’m Postponing the Kickstarter for Utara Dice Game
Posted on February 15, 2012 | Make a CommentI've decided to postpone plans for kickstarting my dice game Utara. Here's why.Utara's biggest problem is that it calls for so many custom dice. I thought I could manage it as a small outfit thanks to new tools like Kickstarter. That opened up opportun... -
A LOST variant for Survive: Escape from Atlantis
Posted on January 19, 2012 | Make a CommentI played Survive: Escape from Atlantis for the first time the other day. It's a very fun game that feels much more modern than its actual age.I got some flashbacks to the official licensed LOST board game, which also used hexagonal tiles, but was very,... -
Stop SOPA and PIPA
Posted on January 18, 2012 | Make a CommentIs the best wayto fight piracyto destroy your own boats?I design tabletop games. You might think I wouldn't have a dog in the fight over internet censorship since my games are probably as analog as you can get. In fact, you'd think the nature of game p... -
Dead Inside, 2nd Edition
Posted on January 5, 2012 | Make a CommentHey, long time no LJ post! Anywho...For those of you who don't follow Twitter, I've started brainstorming ideas for a new edition of Dead Inside (my first RPG) with a group of folks I've dubbed "the Utter Bastards" because they finally convinced me, ki... -
Take a Sneak Peek at Race to Adventure’s cards
Posted on January 3, 2012 | Make a CommentWhen I heard that Evil Hat had brought in prolific game designer and art director Daniel Solis to create the look and feel of Race to Adventure’s cards, I was... -
Take a Sneak Peek at Race to Adventure’s cards
Posted on January 3, 2012 | Make a CommentDesigner Dan Solis provides a first glimpse of the RtA card layouts.
When I heard that Evil Hat had brought in prolific game designer and art director Daniel Solis to create the look and feel of Race to Adventure’s cards, I was tremendously excited. I had already observed Dan to be a thoughtful and [...]
