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.

I thought about making a board game called "Monopoly On Violence" and then realized I might run into some trademark issues there. (Which would be a little funny given how unrelated the content would be.)

I'm loving the interconnectivity in Silksong so far. I feel like every area has at least 2 ways to reach it, and then a bunch more paths back to earlier areas.

Photos of Propaganda from playtesting this past weekend. There are new things in the works...

Played a lot of FlipToons last month. I enjoy the game and quite like the random "I hope I get lucky" feel from it, but it's hard to really give your deck an identity. Part of me wonders if it's best on BGA where you can probably just knock out 20 games in an hour.

Purging the ol' game collection a little bit. It's rough because I liked playing all these games but ultimately when choosing what to play I never looked at them and went "oh man I want to play this one".

I kinda wish I didn't ping-pong back and forth between "too tired to do anything" and "too excited to sit still" and actually had more of a middle period to get stuff done lol.

THIS. I'm already seeing comedy skits that are recycling anti-Black stereotypes and racism using robots/androids etc... as a poorly pallette swapped analogues. Rebranding racism in fictional scenarios/content only reinforces it in reality by normalizing the behaviour.

Just backed Wanted Wombats. I played the original Japanese version a couple years ago and really liked it. It reminds me a lot of Flip 7; it's a dead simple push-your-luck game that just works.

Interestingly Team Fortress 2 and one of the Left 4 Dead 2's were gift copies. If I included only games I purchased for myself Everquest (which I've played 10 minutes of) and Torchlight would be added. It's funny how much overlap people have. It really shows you how small Steam was back then.

I know board gaming bsky hasn't really been talking about what's going on with Steam/itch (for logical reasons), but holy shit it's getting bad out there.

Got a chance to play Nature last week. I really enjoyed it, which isn't surprising since I think Evolution's one of the best designed games out there. We played with Jungles and Disasters, and I like how the modules change how you should play each game. Like due to an event, Tusks were very good.

I would probably shrink the timespan, but lesson 1 is also really good for board game design.

I've always been a little sad over how while consoles have gotten plenty of games made in their style (like being solid green to mimic the Game Boy), you don't really see any games based on the old PC aesthetics. There's something about the bright colors and chunky pixel art I just really like.

I think mine would be: 2020: Hades 2021: Cruelty Squad 2022: Signalis 2023: Backpack Hero 2024: Path of Achra Though 2020 was rough, a lot of good games that year.

I’m really excited to announce a new live show I’m starting that mixes standup comedy with gaming! It will be one of the most unique nights of laughter out there. Our first one is Sunday, July 6th at the world famous Comedy Store in Hollywood! Tickets here: www.showclix.com/event/green-...

Yesterday I went to a new convention in LA called LFG Con, and played a bunch of games, including Hot Streak. Hot Streak was alotta fun, the chaos was great and there's a real reaction from players when someone is knocked down or squeaks over the finish line.

Recently during a playtest the designer was asked why the playtests in our group have all gone so differently compared to his other ones. Normally the game is much more adversarial but with us it often became group hug, as it is a multivictor game after all. He said that I was the anomalous player

Knowing where a ttrpg mechanics comes from is important for two reasons. One, history. It’s cool to know how things were built and how they’ve evolved. From this, design ideas can grow and not repeat mistakes. Second, credits. Acknowledging another designers work in a mark of respect.

Watching Magic the Gathering put out so many licensed sets is kinda funny because while the 5-colors work amazingly well when you build a world from scratch with them in mind, almost every other property has to awkwardly be shoehorned into them.

I've been coming across various clips of 90s-era animation on social media, and an interesting thing I've found is just how often things are set at night. Combined with that era of animation in general it creates a unique aesthetic you don't really see anymore, one that I quite appreciate.

Got a chance to play a bunch of board games at Strategicon this past weekend. My favorite that I hadn't played before was Wondrous Creatures. I could take or leave the worker placement aspect, but I really liked the card play. It reminded me of a slightly lighter Ark Nova or Everdell.

I always appreciate how the Spiel des Jahres puts a spotlight on lighter weight games. I feel like so much of the conversation at conventions and online centers around heavy euros.

Is it worth going to GenCon this year? In the past I've gone for a day just to pitch and see people, but with everything going on I'm wondering if now's the best time to take a year off.

I recently beat Chants of Sennaar and quite enjoyed it! I loved the terminal puzzles near the end in particular. It's interesting comparing it to Blue Prince, as Chants of Sennaar provides a much more guided experience vs Blue Prince's more "here's a few clues have fun".

Played Decorum yesterday and quite liked it. Interestingly, we did a little bit of roleplaying and while it made the game much more fun it was sometimes borderline cheating. It made me wonder if these silent co-op games kind of shoot themselves in the foot, so to speak.

On one hand I find Elan's creative spirit & storytelling compelling. On the other hand his 'don't accept no' philosophy gives me the ick. It's not a realistic approach to things, especially to other people. Should I have just *not accepted* when EK passed on a game I pitched them?

I've been playing Minecart Town lately and enjoying it. It's a tile laying game by the same studio who did Little Town and Little Factory, two games I adore. Minecart Town doesn't feel quite as unique but I really admire how streamlined and easy to learn Studio GG's rules are.

I got a chance to play Fú at Dice Tower West and quite liked it. Positive player interaction (where you're helping other players to help yourself) is rare in games and I appreciate how Fú successfully pulls it off. www.kickstarter.com/projects/121...

Chatted with Candice Harris about indie games and Game Market West on the BGG podcast boardgamegeek.com/blog/12153/b... #boardgames

Does anyone have recommendations for a good mapping program (for D&D/Pathfinder)? I used to use Inkarnate but I'd rather use something that's a one time purchase. (I know Inkarnate has a free version but there's not many assets included without paying.)

entire board game industry: I want to get off Mr Bones' Wild Ride.

Someone asked if I'm planning on making a PnP for Propaganda available, and I'm sort of torn on how to go about it. I'm tempted to offer it for free (the game already has a lot of outside component requirements), but I don't want to disregard people who've bought a copy. What're people's thoughts?

Someone asked if I'm planning on making a PnP for Propaganda available, and I'm sort of torn on how to go about it. I'm tempted to offer it for free (the game already has a lot of outside component requirements), but I don't want to disregard people who've bought a copy. What're people's thoughts?

I've been playing Blue Prince a bunch, and while I find the game inspiring (as in it gives me a lot of cool ideas) I do also find myself wondering - who is the game even for?

Thank you RJ (Board Game Casual) for the amazing coverage of Game Market West Spring 2025 designers and games! #boardgames

I was *just* positing to designer friend that if the turmoil isn't resolved very soon, it might just not be worth going to *any* conventions for the purposes of pitching. This level of chaos means that publishers, who are risk averse, might be unwilling to sign much of anything.

There's a theory in video games that team-based multiplayer video games do better than 1v1 games because you can blame your opponents when you lose. And I wonder if randomness in board games serves the same function. "I rolled poorly" or "I drew bad cards" lets you escape some of that feel bad.

Lately I've been increasingly thinking about what publishers actually want when starting or working on games. On one hand, I think it's good to be aware of trends and what people want. On the other it's made me very hesitant to try some ideas.

Holy shit, thank you. I know the argument is often "it's too much to keep track of" but for almost every other form of media I feel people either pay attention to only the genres they like or (more realistically) what's popular. The notion you have to play every game a dozen times is so weird.

A few in-game pictures of Propaganda that I took yesterday at Game Market West as part of me demoing. The strategy of taking a picture of an empty board to show how poorly you're doing (when of course you're scoring a bunch of points right out of shot) is always one of my favorites.

The biggest thing I learned as a designer was how to take feedback. The second biggest thing I learned was how to ignore feedback.

Excited for Game Market West tomorrow! It'll probably be the last time I sell Propaganda. I was content to sell it only at PAXU, but getting a second chance at both Game Market Vegas and Game Market West has been a great experience.

Empires of the Void II, one of the games I got to play at Dice Tower West. Ultimately I think I had the same problem with it that I had with Arcs. It felt like I was playing a game the majority of the time rather than the players, and when I did fight players it just screwed up my plans.

The Propaganda table from Game Market Vegas Thursday (ignore Steve in the background). There's another session at 6pm tonight in the same room in the front, and I'll have the remaining copies of Propaganda with me!

Game Market West Spotlight: Propaganda by @chris.eternalstudios.com In Propaganda, 2 players take photos of dice they've rolled onto the board and use those photos to try and convince the Superpowers (the other players) that they're the one losing and needs the most help. #boardgames

The Westgate reminds me of my grandmother's house, largely because of all the brown. I had assumed her house was so brown because of the cigarette smoke, but it now occurs to me brown was probably a common color *because* it couldn't stain.