Pretty wild week — forgot to post but Dungeon Crawler Carl Unstoppable is live and I am so proud of our team's development on this game. As a HUGE nerd about this series it was very fulfilling creatively to get to play in this world. And the game is a banger. www.backerkit.com/c/projects/r...

We're celebrating Radiant Black Friday with 40% of the Massive-Verse Bundle! Plus, older Pocket Paragons sets are only $5 each, and you can take advantage of free US shipping on orders over $59! Shop now at store.solisgamestudio.com

Finally sharing my sizzle reel! If you're in need of video production work (or pretty much anything creative), hit me up, esp. at #PAXU! I don't ask for this much, but if you're in the #boardgames industry and like what I do, consider sharing this! I'm looking to book up 2026! linktr.ee/jcw.gay

Dungeon Crawler Carl - Unstoppable is coming! It's a rad 1-2p deckbuilder designed by John D. Clair and we're doing the development. Can follow along here: www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...

I want an animation this good for everyone one of the board games I work on from here on out. Can't wait to show everyone what we've been cooking with Quality Beast and Allplay on Towers of the Sun. www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5-2...

Returned from Germany last night exhausted but reinvigorated. It is nice to be reminded that there is joy and enthusiasm in games.

Come say hi at Essen (and/or do business)!

I'm doing some dev work on Flintlock!, the new game in the Blitzkrieg series of 20-minute 2-player wargames. I'm coordinating some digital playtesting that's happening over the next few weeks. Any mutuals interested in helping out for the promise of a free copy of the game when it's released?

This is the best product listing copy I’ve ever read

Hey indie publisher friends: this is your reminder that GAMA fellowship applications close JULY 31 for the 2026 Horizons fellowship www.gama.org/page/Horizons It comes with travel & lodging for GAMA trade show, $1000 grant, and more!

🎲✂️ Tonight at 9PM EDT (UTC -5), @senfoonglim.bsky.social and @drayerink.bsky.social talk to @gamesbymondo.bsky.social and @johnbrieger.bsky.social in a Developer Round Table, looking at freelance and in house roles! Join us live in the chat at facebook.com/MeepleSyrup or youtube.com/MeepleSyrup!

New York Based Game Designers: You have a week left to apply for a $60,000 artist grant with the NYS artist fellowship. At least one of these grants would be great for a TTRPG

Board Game Media friends – @solisgamestudio.bsky.social is getting ready to send out some copies of our summer release: a complete 2 player game in a booster pack! Super-powered duels in just 5 minutes. If you're interested, fill this out: forms.gle/eDoJ9L9nJc8g...

If you're looking to get into a new RPG show, can't recommend Chaos Protocol enough. Tonight is a great time to jump into it!

I’m at KublaCon this weekend, splitting time between the @solisgamestudio.bsky.social booth and the Protospiel room. Come say hi!

Just saw @fertessa.bsky.social and @rf-seattle.bsky.social were nominated for a KinderSpiel des Jahres! Congratulations! www.spiel-des-jahres.de/aktuelle-pre...

Deep in the con preparation hole this week but feeling really productive! Trying to clear my backlog, export some fresh prototypes, and go into KublaCon with a fresh slate of things to try

it's time for another reminder that if you're working on a game, want to talk about the process of game dev, or teaching game design, I'm always looking for guests for my podcast series, as we can spend hours talking about design forms.gle/59Ji39m9Md8u... #indiegamedev

Tariffs on China are temporarily lowered to 30% for 90 days, which is still a huge increase from our previous costs, though not an existential threat in the same way. It's still a devastating blow to the board game industry. I worry about the effect this pause in supply chains will have on shipping.

Please meet “Bong Sedlus”, our new road trip mascot, most known for his catchphrase “outside bad”

Today at 10am pacific, I’ll be joining @kqedforum.bsky.social to discuss the impact of tariffs on hobbies in America. My board game publishing business @solisgamestudio.bsky.social has 8500 games on the water, due to the port of LA May 15th. We’re expecting a devastating 145% tariff bill.

FRI at 10AM: @theatlantic.com staff writer Tyler Austin Harper, KQED's Jasmine Garnett and board game developer @johnbrieger.bsky.social join to talk about what we lose when we can no longer afford our hobbies. ❓ Is there a hobby that you’ve struggled to maintain due to rising costs?

High Tide walk midday. Getting a lot done on moving projects forward.

Days since a new boardgame publisher decides to publish the world's most asinine take on world history: 0. Like "Colonize: the New World" is so ridiculous of a title that part of me wonders if it's intentional trolling effort.

Nothing like running a blind test of a game's rules and seeing that the "really clean" text you thought you had has holes you could drive a truck through. This is why you test though!

Trying my best to be proactive about things I can control. Still going to be making games this year. Still even going to be releasing a few where margins work under tariffs. But there’s definitely just an overwhelming sense of dread.

How can anyone see mass deportations and foreign incarcerations without due process as anything but a fundamental threat to liberty in our nation? Auschwitz wasn't inside the borders of Germany. Making people stateless to facilitate denial of their rights is repugnant. #neveragain

Oh cool the Trump Administration is openly defying orders from the Supreme Court now, not just lesser courts. Good thing our country has a system of checks and balances…

In related news, nearly 1 in 4 board game publishers say they won't be very soon.

It is becoming unbelievably difficult to stay both informed and sane

The tariffs are a heavy blow to Solis Game Studio. In order to survive, we are running a sale to offset the sudden thousands in additional costs we need to bear for our current inbound shipment... Tariff Impact Sale: store.solisgamestudio.com/c...

I spoke to several board game creators and retailers here in the Bay Area of California about the impact of tariffs. It's grim news for hobby games. www.solisgamestudio.com/blog/the-gro...

You want to Make America Wealthy? Let’s try focusing on the 13.5% of our citizens who experienced food insecurity last year - not knowing where their next meal was coming from. Let’s focus on the 65% of Americans who report living paycheck to paycheck. Tariffs don’t help these people.

The actual chats happening in @solisgamestudio.bsky.social right now

Me any time I need to do paperwork

Hope all my friends at #Unpub are having a great time!

The Game of Spaghett is played as follows: • Gather 11 people. Divide into 5 pairs. The 11th person takes on the role of The Spaghett. • Prep: full servings of spaghetti and meat sauce for 10, an extra 2.5 pounds of partially cooked noodles, and enough non-meat sauce to coat the bodies of 5 people.

Paprikash is played as follows: First, 12 of us gather and the room is sealed into total darkness. One player is the Paprikash, who takes the sack of paprika.

it's time for another #indiegamedev reminder that I'm always looking for games to cover on my channel and I interview developers regularly about their games and game dev with sign ups open now forms.gle/qe11xeenqGuj...

Leaf blowers are a plague on humanity. Why do we tolerate them in our residential neighborhoods? Genuinely wonder. They can’t be THAT much more efficient than other tools right? Someone with garden knowledge enlighten me.

Must read: Mahmoud Khalil speaks out for the first time since his arrest by the Trump administration in an exclusive letter, dictated over the phone to his family, from ICE detention in Louisiana.

Old and Busted: Space Marines New Hotness: Sloth Marines back Space Lion 2 on Backerkit: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...

Goals: have a game I make be banned for its “sinister magnetism”

Diary: On BGG News, designer John D. Clair talks about the development of Unstoppable, a solitaire game newly released on the U.S. market by Renegade Game Studios: boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogp... —WEM

Playtest round 3 kicking off for Weird Little Guys: a folio filled with oddballs for you to use in your campaigns. It's system neutral #TTRPG supplement focused on non-combat encounters. We cannot WAIT for people to play with these characters! Signup: briegercreative.com/weirdlittleg...

Tiny Laser Heist AP when?

There is a formation of 5+ very large drones flying a loose net 300m ish from my apt (Sunnyvale/Cupertino area) anyone know what this is?

Still thinking about this song Warren Zevon wrote 2 years before he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He died just one year after his diagnosis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbhY...

Had a great time at OrcaCon and meeting about [redacted] this weekend. Highlight of the show for published games was playing River of Gold. Greatly enjoyed both my plays this weekend and I am buying a copy!

Called an audible and am headed to OrcaCon this weekend! hope to see some of y'all there!