Introduction: Out the Bathroom Window is not a game for the cautious optimist. Every play you make has the potential to backfire right then and there if you’re not very careful. Players play cards on their opponents hoping to shift the weight of their hands away, but watch out! Play the wrong card and a [...]
The other day I enjoyed this one with my friends from high school, all back in town for the holidays. While not quite as avid about games as I, they were all stalwart members of our LAN group back then, and all certainly formidable gamers and strategic minds. It was my first time at the [...]
Recently, I had the pleasure to play the now-famous art game Passage (at Brenda’s suggestion, as usual). I found my reactions to be very similar to hers: I felt compelled to travel with the woman, I tended to disregard my score, and when my wife died, I was struck dumb and lost all interest in [...]
From an article on Wired a couple days ago:
Hans Jørgen Olsen, a 12-year-old Norwegian boy, recently survived a moose attack by feigning death, “just like you learn at level 30 in World of Warcraft.”
Seriously. Go read the article. I was stunned. With all the bad press video games receive regarding their harm to children–their “inherent [...]
Introduction: Ice Dice may appear to be a simple game of “get to the other side,” but it’s a bit more slippery than normal. Stategic planning, timing, and a little bit of luck will decide the winner as players attempt to navigate the game grid while wrestling with their unpredictable and often adversarial movement rolls.
Players: [...]
In an effort to populate this blog with a little more than just simple game ideas, I thought I’d start a freeform series of reviews and critiques of games both digital and traditional that have notably elegant or innovative concepts or solutions. I recently followed a link from Brenda’s blog to an article on Yehuda [...]
Introduction: Diced is a simple game of attack and defense that blends all the conventional playing pieces of a traditional table game into one–just dice. Dice are your health, your tactics, and your attack and defense power. Use them wisely as you battle your opponents until only one remains.
Players: 3+
Materials: Six-sided dice–at minimum two per [...]
Introduction: Celebrating the 4th of July is tradition… as is the picnic, the family reunion, and baking all day in a crowded city park waiting for darkness so you can see the fireworks. And when you’ve got little kids, keeping them entertained and out of trouble can be a real chore. It’s easier to reign [...]
After much impetus from respected game designers and developers, my peers, and my professors, I’m creating this game design blog to catalogue my thoughts on game design, game development, and the state of the games industry. I figure it’ll be fairly free-form, like the majority of blogs maintained by working game designers–thoughts on game design [...]