Your games deserve more cats 😺🐾 Clowder Token Collection - cat-shaped tokens for ANY tabletop game. ✨ Any game, now with cats ✨ Launching soon on Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/tat...

Exciting news! I'm going to be releasing a *second* game next month, this one as part of @tatewu.bsky.social's upcoming Clowder Token Collection Kickstarter. Cat Paper Scissors is a little 18-card PnP that makes use of Ta-Te's cat tokens, where players engine build as they play rock paper scissors.

I knew even as a kid stuff would be forgotten as time passed, but I was not prepared for how *random* it would all feel. Like I would not have guessed Columbo would be more in the public consciousness than Futurama.

🎲✂️: 🛹😎♥️♠️♦️♣️ 🐱🪨📄✂️🐟 🌳🍓🍊🍋

Announcing Walkable City - a 2-4 player coop game published by Fowers Games and designed by me! Build out public infrastructure as different modes of transit - Waling, Biking, Bus & Light Rail - get denizens where they want to go. Follow the project below! www.kickstarter.com/projects/fow...

I have mixed feelings on Slay the Spire 2. Since the first one came out I've played a ton of cool indie deck builders, that have introduced had some amazing ideas and fixed a lot of problems that Slay the Spire had. And it's a little sad how effortlessly StS2 is going to crush them in sales.

Today I want to share that Ryan Dancey and AEG have parted ways. This is not an easy post to write. Ryan has been a significant part of AEG’s story, and I am personally grateful for the years of work, passion, and intensity he brought to the company. We have built a lot together.

Some of the cards from my upcoming game, Tricked Out! I'm not the best graphic designer, but I at least wanted the game to be colorful.

i don't have all the answers for how to look out for kids in the digital age but I strongly suspect completely isolating them entirely is not the solution. we're entering this bizarre as shit world where kids aren't allowed to be anywhere online, but there are no truly adult spaces either.

Eric Martin put up a preview for some of the games that'll be selling at Game Market Vegas, including my own Coupon Clipper and Tricked Out!

I'm happy to announce my next game, Tricked Out! Tricked Out is a card game you play simultaneously alongside an existing trick-taker, with tricks scoring you points in Tricked Out and giving you special abilities. I'll be selling it at Game Market Vegas at Dice Tower West, so come check it out!

As an interesting aside, I think alpha gaming tends to crop up when players are bored. If you've played a lot of games it's relatively easy to figure out the "perfect" move for everyone in Pandemic. So when players make a different move or take time to make a decision, it's frustrating.

Hey Game Designers! A major board game publisher is looking for new dice games! Contact Iello at [email protected]

I 100% agree with this. I think another part of the issue is in an RPG there's (generally) a GM who ultimately rules on everything. So people are okay thinking outside the box more. In a board game people expect rules to be thorough and unambiguous, so potential creativity gets stifled early on.

It is done. I've officially moved from Windows to Linux.

To new & aspiring designers - the best way to approach a new design is almost always whatever gets it to the table the fastest. Not sussing out every detail or balancing any of it ahead of time. Actually making & playing the game.

Got a chance to play @matthewdunstan.bsky.social's Happy Home last night! It's a sort of combination of a set collection game and a polyomino game, as you try to fill your house with the right pieces of furniture. It was fun, and felt very thematic. (Ignore the fact my bathroom has 2 toilets.)

New project coming.

Post a game you remember playing that nobody else remembers

i think i’m fully in on “the white house is run by thirtysomething chuds who think grand strategy games are real life”

The D.I.C.E. awards just announced their finalists. I hesitate to rag on video game awards too much but it is nuts to me how many of the nomination categories pull from the same 6-7 games, and just list them in a slightly different order.

I remember when Putin invaded Ukraine being blown away how a world leader would just treat geopolitics like a game of fucking Civilization, like a thing you "win". And boy it sucks to be thinking that for a second time.

Took some time to unpack a few thoughts on Expedition 33. Watching what I thought was a "pretty good" game get transformed into A Cultural Object has been disheartening. So I have some thoughts on glitz, glamour, and respectability... transgamerthoughts.com/post/8027631...

We got to play This is Not a Game About a Pipe at BGG.CON thanks to @wericmartin.bsky.social. Fell in love right away so we frantically texted friends who’d be at PAXU, where it was being sold. Thanks to @panda8ngel.bsky.social and Jon H for nabbing four copies for [email protected]

I remember in Dan's review he talked about how Superpowers often have alternative motives in helping smaller nations, and I'm really happy how Taylor's board took that idea and ran with it. The Oil giving Superpowers an alternative consideration really does a good job in mixing up the game.

In honor of the one year-ish anniversary of the IGNM, and by extension the one year anniversary of Propaganda, I've decided to release an expansion for Propaganda! If you didn't get a chance to grab a physical copy it also includes everything in the base version. chrislawrence.itch.io/propaganda

I had a great (but tiring) time at PAX Unplugged this past weekend! I pretty much spent all of Friday and Saturday running around, and then all of Saturday night at the IGNM. It was amazing seeing everything, and being able to meet so many cool people. Hopefully next year will be just as cool!

The Indie Games Night Market starts in an hour! Come grab a copy of Coupon Clipper and Fold & Fly from me and @drawnonward.bsky.social.

✨ Reminder!! ✨ Indie Games Night Market is tonight @ 7pm!! When the Expo Hall closes, come down to Hall C to buy the freshest indie games!! “More even than last year, these games seem like they’re pushing boundaries. They capture the spirit of what it means to be ‘indie.‘“ @danthurot.bsky.social

Pax Unplugged is right around the corner!! Looking back at all the IGNM coverage—I’m so proud and impressed at how much our community came together to promote these awesome indie works! There’s a game for everyone in this lot! Here’s a thread of all the incredible coverage of IGNM 2025: 🧵 🎲✂️

I've been doing a lot of printing.

Today I investigate three more indie games, all of which are ambitious and explorative of what games can accomplish. These are good'uns. spacebiff.com/2025/11/18/h...

I'm so glad Dan liked Coupon Clipper! (And I appreciate the six-year-old's sacrifice.) I've also played Fold & Fly! a bunch of times and can vouch for it, it's great silly fun. Both'll have copies sold at the IGNM this Saturday at PAXU. (And yes Coupon Clipper comes with scissors!)

Any rule in a board game can & will be missed or forgotten by someone. So increasingly when deciding whether to add a rule, I consider whether it "fails gracefully." If you forget that rule, does the whole game halt or break? Or does it continue functioning (albeit with a minor loss in quality)?

All of the scissors that are going to go into copies of Coupon Clipper! It's worth noting all of the blades are less than 4 inches, so all of the scissors are carry-on safe.

The more I think about it, I consider this a publisher’s mishandling of design process. From a product POV bad feelings make a bad product. Who wants to buy a banana filled with razor blades? Games are weird because if they don’t bind us or challenge us in some way, they aren’t doing good games.

Coupon Clipper is up on the PAX Unplugged Preview list! I was a bit late to the party, so if you have a chance give it some love. boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/...

Coupon Clipper is going to be at PAXU! Copies of it'll be sold at the Indie Games Night Market, alongside @drawnonward.bsky.social's Fold & Fly! The game has had a very rocky life, but I'm excited that at least a handful of copies will be able to reach people.

The Midnight Market is live. The night is for indie games. 🌖 lunarpunk.games/midnightmarket

I increasingly wonder if I should've made Propaganda a TTRPG. Every time I play it with new players everyone's laughing and having a great time, but it's mostly because of what the players themselves bring to the table. The rules help facilitate that, but don't really cause it directly.

Next up is local friend Mike Trias. His first game was Upstaged, and now he is crowdfunding DJ Icon. The turntable mechanism has always been a highlight and players can use real vinyl to play the game! www.kickstarter.com/projects/koa...

Playtesting in Santa Monica! We got 6 or 7 games to the table so it was a pretty successful afternoon.

I've had a drop in attendance for a couple playtesting groups I run, and I've been trying to figure out if it's part of a larger trend or just a natural rhythm (maybe the holiday season started early?).

I appreciate BlueSky getting rid of the algorithm, but it does feel like when you post now matters a lot.

I was always pretty happy with how the cover to Propaganda came out. I made it by taking a couple different photos and "rotoscoping" them together. My one regret is using toy pieces, since some people thought they were in the game. I could've probably found a different "model".

Ran a playtest of Propaganda on Saturday! This board has a zone that scores only to whoever has the highest sum of dice in it. (If it's a little off center it's because I was the superpower and had to close my eyes while they played lol.)

In one of my recent games there was a hard card to score - just 2 pts per set of A and B, but counting it was awful. I changed it to a table so now you just count the pairs and then check the table, and it feels so much better. I think a big part of design is psychology and how players see things.

If you're boycotting a company because of an action they took, you need to go back to supporting them if they then reverse course. A boycott is to make it clear they will get your money only when they do the right thing. But if you refuse to support them ever again, they have no reason to listen.

New boards for Propaganda! Including one designed by the lovely @neilk-design.bsky.social and one by @drawnonward.bsky.social. I'm trying out a few different things and playtesting to get things just right, but hopefully they'll be in peoples' hands soon.