"Game designers will routinely fail at making something fun. When the game of making games is played right, it is always right outside the edge of what the designers know how to do." Incredible quote from an amazing article. Something I'm only beginning to understand 10+ years in to designing.

I moderated a panel discussion on how to approach board game publishers. Perhaps you want to listen omit afterwards? 🎲✂️ youtu.be/i1csZDlGVOo

I often get asked by indie designers/pubs about marketing. Mike demonstrates one approach so well. Start marketing early, share the process, connect with your potential buyers early and often via your outlet. Seeing Crownfell develop has been fun, shown the passion, and embedded it back-of-mind.

Let’s go! Very excited to share this with folks. If you like the idea of a duelling game like Magic or Flesh and Blood, but played with a standard poker deck, then I implore you to hit that get notified button.

We've just announced our latest Postmark Games release: 52 Duels! I'm really happy how this came together; an extremely tense and fun duelling game, only needing a sheet and deck of standard playing cards for each player. Follow on Kickstarter so you know when the project goes live in December!

I spent six years working on Nature and the past a month writing a designer diary. Check it out and let me know your thoughts! www.reddit.com/r/boardgames...

I'm constantly amazed how much more I like Figma than Illustrator for making prototypes. Most things in Figma take me less than half the time they used to in Illustrator (thanks to @marcelineleiman.bsky.social for showing me the light) Youtube tutorial on Figma Data Merge below. 🎲✂️(2/2)

Plenty of power cuts today, so what better way to start the day than being cosy in bed with a latte, and a round of Voyages ⛵ We love these single-sheet print and play games, makes it super easy to play in different settings! ( Not our best scores, but we had fun 😊 ) #BoardGames

Adam and I are going live with the second of our daily Essen Spiel vlogs in about 5 minutes, come and join us here: youtube.com/live/mmK-Gcs...

Had a fun chat with Adam Porter before heading into Essen today - were hoping to do a livestream each morning! Live at Spiel 2025! with special guest Adam Porter youtube.com/live/hF1VMdi...

10 ways to have happy playtesters Sharing what I learned about creating the best playtesting experience at a recent Harrisburg University public playtesting event. Getting inspired by student designers! www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/happy-play... #boardgames #ttrpg #gamedesign 🎲✂️

Waiting in the airport, about to fly from Prague to Düsseldorf on my way to Spiel! Looking forward to catching up with everyone there :) and say hi if you see me wandering the halls!

New BTC podcast! I talk to Ross Connell about the vital role of art and marketing in game design—from how visuals shape a game’s identity to what publishers expect when reviewing a pitch. Find out how art and marketing can make your games stand out. thegamedesignroundtable.com/episode/btc-...

In today's video I talk about ways to level up as a game designer - practices I have seen in other designers and myself as they become more experienced and improve their craft. Hopefully useful whether you're just starting out, or reflecting on how far you have come! youtu.be/qPWgQCNkRsM 🎲✂️

Waypoints Map 5 has a decidedly Scottish feel to it. There’s lochs to explore, mountains to climb and, of course, whisky distilleries to discover. Have you visited the North Alpine Foothills yet? www.postmarkgames.com/waypoints

Wulfhorn games, an indie pub from the NL area. They did the initial publishing run of Grachtenpand (which is being debuted worldwide at Gigamic this year), and for the first two mornings I'm doing demos of an upcoming Kickstarter of mine, Pact!

Who is going to be at Essen next week? Looking to catch up with folks :)

Lots of really big crowdfunding campaigns and preorders launching today. Here's to tossing in my little project! You can find RITE: A Midwinter Sacrament #TTRPG #zine below. You can grab it for $7 and receive it before the bleak midwinter. 7 day campaign. Thanks for sharing.

Hey #portfolioday I’m a graphic designer who makes analog games. Here are some fun illustrations I made for our chill diving game Aquamarine. www.postmarkgames.com

been having the music/games 'industry' parallel on the mind all the way through games week, and that always leads back to me thinking about steve albini being essentially my standard for the kind of person i want to be in a scene/community. heres a little something from a reddit ama he did ages ago

Just posted a lovely conversation with @trevormbenjamin.bsky.social, codesigner or @bitewinggames.bsky.social’s Moytura and Azure. Check it out on our podcast channel or you can watch the vid here now: youtu.be/aQJTCxGdeMY

Does anyone have good restaurant recommendations in Essen? Looking to try and find a new good place for Spiel this year ;)

This is such a clever idea on taking kids to museums/galleries www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

This presentation by Jonas Tyroller absolutely applies to boardgame pitching as well. 🎲✂️ Mechanisms aren’t what sell games. Focusing solely on “hooks” can distract you from what’s most important: making an appealing game that’s scoped appropriately (for its size/weight/gameplay, what have you)

Rillem is a one-player journaling game that uses cards as prompts for creating and solving puzzles, @ckunzelman.bsky.social writes. www.endlessmode.com/tabletop/ril...

Today's video was a hard one for me to make - I wanted to talk about my experiences going through burnout in the last year or so as a game designer, and aspects of the wider tabletop industry that contribute to that. youtu.be/D2rC_8F10R8 🎲✂️

Waypoints Map 5 is here, and we’re off to the North Alpine Foothills! Fill your whisky flask, venture into the great lochs, and grab your bike to make use of one of the many biking trails.

New Waypoints map! Waypoints is maybe the game I’m most proud of. I genuinely believe it does something different in the roll & write space and love making new stuff for it. If you like the sound of free form route planning then you should probably check it out.

Welcome to Saturday! You made it! It's time for this week's #connections #puzzle. It was a rather busy few days, so I didn't get a chance to do the early testing I usually do. I hope it's acceptable! connectionsplus.io/game/uy9Igs

The crowd sale for #Crownfell has been approved for November 18! Add-ons include a neoprene playmat and a solo expansion. This 2-player asymmetric chess-like has 17 cards unique movement and abilities. Sign up to be notified here (shares appreciated!) 🧡 www.thegamecrafter.com/crowdsale/cr...

my wife keeps telling me that if i want to sell more games i should “do marketing” but like…i don’t want to… so, like, tell your friends and stuff that i’ve got games to sell, yeah? newmillindustries.com

In today's video I go over things I learnt from designing 3 different narrative game systems in my design career, and how other designers can think about approaching new narrative games! Props to Dave Neale and @philwh.bsky.social for being awesome co-designers :) youtu.be/YJmJ1IALfGc 🎲✂️

Still noodling away at this 18 card space combat game. It’s a slow side project that I tinker with every now and then but I’m kind of ok with that.

For today's article, I'm just griping about why "fun" is a bad word for critics. spacebiff.com/2025/09/30/a...

Hoo boy. I'm anticipating listening to this one. 😂 Economics podcast @planetmoney.bsky.social visits Gen Con and tries to make a board game. Start of a series on the production and business of tabletop games. www.npr.org/2025/10/01/n... #boardgame

I just noticed this list is up to 988 games. Who wants to find the missing 12 that will get us to 1000? boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/297...

In today's video I go over my approach in designing print and play games for Postmark games, the lessons we've learnt and what we aim to do for all our future releases. Also useful ideas if you want to design your own roll and write games! youtu.be/JFcqzisgDao 🎲✂️

“There’s no shortage of creativity in Vietnam. What we lack are bridges”: Vietnam’s blossoming board game design scene goes global via first Road to Essen competition: boardgamewire.com/index.php/20... @rf-seattle.bsky.social @spielessen.bsky.social

Had a lovely few days with @rorymuldoon.bsky.social for the annual @postmarkgames.bsky.social AGM! 4 years on and we’re still going strong, and excited to share our new game with everyone later this year!

My latest video is all about common game design problems and how to fix them, from increasing interaction, reducing the feeling of overwhelm for players, and simply getting a game out of the 'middle-of-the-road' rut! youtu.be/XSaNKMjlHSM 🎲✂️

Any chance to read something from Richard Garfield (designer of Magic the Gathering and many more games) is a real treat - I would recommend you read his latest designer diary about the new edition of Magical Athlete - lots of great insights! boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogp...

Game Design Lessons from the Emmy Awards! gametek.substack.com/p/game-desig... 🎲✂️

It's a release! Drawing Dungeon is a roll-and-write dungeon crawl I've been working on for a few months now! Four maps and a playtime of 15-20 minutes per session, all for $3! Explore the dungeon, collect treasure, and defeat the boss (or die trying)!

This is I think one of the hardest aspects about being a full time game designer - all your work goes into intensely curating and nurturing these new game systems and experiences, which far too often fail to connect with players and die by the roadside.

I had a lot fun chatting to Ellie about all things designers can do in working with publishers in the board game industry - hopefully a lot of useful information for designers :)

Now that I have some distance from my GDC talk, I think if I were to boil down my game design advice into a single sentence, it might be something like: Focus less on adding stuff to your game, and more on developing connections between the stuff you already have.

When was the last time you encouraged a woman you know to design a board game?

I've lost count of how many attempts I had, but I have finally done it... I've beaten Gold stake on Black deck in Balatro!!!! And after that, I have a few thoughts about difficulty scaling in the game:

I put down some thoughts about game design, what it’s good for, and what it isn’t good for in this zine! Plus, a short guide to help get you started making a game if you’ve never done that before: gregisonthego.itch.io/rulebooks-fo... ✂️ 🎲 ✊ 🔥

Yeah, no. I'm a contractor, I write for games, and sometimes that means writing 100% of a game's text. I'm a valuable part of the team! Contractors aren't just "support", they deserve to be credited (and treated) better than this