Been playing Cryptmaster at the moment, really enjoying the unique range of letter based mechanisms, maybe one them could be expanded out into a board game!

What good is a roll and write without a great sheet to fill out! Some nice feature include: - A cute area to draw your ship's flag - An amazing map to track what port your tavern is docked at - A little box (or chest) to see how much gold you have Download for free below! #sologame #rollandwrite

Picked up a second hand book of games today. Originally printed in the 1940s (this one’s a reprint from the 80s), the interesting thing about this one as it also includes strategies alongside the rules of each game. #book #boardgame #secondhand

I'm looking for feedback on my storytelling games based on The Builders and The Butchers! Particularly around the examples of play docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Doing some play testing in the wild today. Putting a card game concept through its paces so I can see if it's viable. #gamedev #indiedev

Continuing the plays with some Spirit Island #boardgames

Starting off the new year with a few plays of the classics #boardgames

Happy new year! From us at City Square Studios we wish you amazing games, but more importantly, amazing people to play them with :)

Why not "sea" in the new year with a new solo roll & write! Tavern Ship is out now! Run a travelling tavern, chasing gold and reputation across dangerous seas before the Grand Festival. FREE download, link 👇 patreon.com/posts/52-pickup-issue-146944617 #sologame #indiegame #boardgame #tabletop

Tiny Tome: Gloom

With this one in particular I like to use the rule of threes. Using 3 as the max number of options by default unless there’s a really good reason.

Decision paralysis occurs when players can’t make a choice, usually because there are too many options or the outcomes are too complex. This slows the game down and often leads to frustration. There are a few design techniques you can use to reduce this (🧵1/6): 🎲✂️ #gamedesign #gamedev

Solo tabletop games are pretty cool I think

A little intro! We're City Square Studios, a duo based in New Zealand. We publish new tabletop games every month that use stuff you already own. Think playing cards, chess sets, and dice used to make modern board games, card games, TTRPGs, and more. #boardgame #ttrpg #promosky #tabletop

The sea never leaves a tab open… The next issue of 52 Pickup is coming very soon. #boardgame #tabletop #indiegame #teaser

Potion Explosion is much better with the plastic dispenser from the 6th student expansion, would recommend #boardgame

Good so far!

Late night xmas eve proof reading, yay. Maybe xmas day proof reading? Maybe I'll wrap it up and put it under the tree 😆

Looking for a last-minute gift for the gamer in your life? Check out the locally-designed games at your neighborhood book, comic, or game shop! Here in the DMV, @peoplesbooktakoma.com *just* restocked with indie zines after selling out earlier in the season -- come and get them!

We've just refreshed our free issue collection, which includes two holiday themed playing card games (great stocking stuffer if you need some ideas!), our beginner friendly TTRPG Escape The Farm!, and many more! patreon.com/collection/91203 #ttrpg #cardgame #boardgame #indiegame

Ahem. You heard me blabber on about GulaGula shrine. Well now you can read it and maybe play it using your favorite dungeon crawl ttrpg or OSR system. Submitted today for the Zungeon Jam by @idlecartulary.itch.io Now I can relax and see what others have made.

Are you chilling by yourself tonight or maybe a friend just arrived and are waiting for pizza to be delivered Get some Paladin action! #ttrpg @itch.io #roguelike noomue.itch.io/dig-dive-due...

Some days you have the idea for a game, the time to start, but you can’t make progress. Always tomorrow!

Been working on a rosehip syrup based mocktail, looking for the perfect board game pairing for it, any ideas? #boardgame #cocktail #tabletop

Anyone been using Patreon quips? Any good?

For a long time, I've seen games as the medium of systems, the best way to both convey and experience interacting forces that follow rules. Recently I've started to see the centrality of systems as a soft dividing line between two aspects of the tabletop hobby: 🎲✂️ 1/▶️

Guinea Pig Baseball is free for less than week! A 2-4 player dice and paper game full of chaotic casual fun. Download your copy here patreon.com/posts/144647797

You can really feel the step up in game design going from Forbidden Island to Forbidden Desert. My main critiques of Island, like the lack of interesting decisions in the early game, are completely solved in Desert. I've yet to play Forbidden Sky so I wonder if the trend continues... #boardgame

Got quite a number of firsts for upcoming game releases, including this month! Exciting...

We submitted our 52 Pickup zines to The Int'l Art of Zines MMXXV at the ANNO DOMINI Gallery, bringing some New Zealand representation to San Jose California! Great to see great zines, and our small contribution next to them.

Get an early present by finding the last remaining free memberships hiding in our game design blog posts! Each membership will give you 2 months of access to the full 52 Pickup back catalogue; 32 issues and counting! patreon.com/posts/membership-145963653 #boardgame #giveaway #tabletop

Come with us on a zine tour through our latest tabletop release, Guinea Pig Baseball! A chaotic 2–4 player dice-and-paper game where every guinea pig bats at the same time. It’s fast, silly, and full of veggie-flinging mayhem. #boardgame #guineapig #indiegame #tabletop #zine 🧵1/3

Special collaboration TTRPG between City Square Studios and Dougfest. A TTRPG where you form a band and try to get booked at New Zealand's hottest indie festival by tracking down Doug. Available now for purchase or our Patreon members. patreon.com/posts/52-pickup-booked-145737603 #ttrpg #rpg

We've been up to some exciting stuff this month: - Guinea Pig Baseball game release (free for a limited time) - Surprise bonus TTRPG release - Refreshed free game collection - 5 Patreon memberships giveaway! Read all about them here 👇 patreon.com/posts/city-square-town-145738945 #boardgame

Building some miniatures this evening, I have clumsy fingers. Definitely fall more into the camp of enjoying playing miniature games over the building/painting side

One of the great things about zine tabletop games is they are really easy to take camping or travelling. All of our games are played with standard components, like playing cards, dice, chess sets, and coins, so they're really easy to take with you on the go. #boardgame #cardgame #tabletop #zine

Things people take pictures of a lot and I do not care: food Things people take pictures of a lot and I am happy to see: animals Things people don't take enough pictures of that I want to see more: fully set up board games Board games are pretty. We are ready to play the Stardew Valley board game

When I'm doing the game design for the core rules of a game, I'm usually thinking about how to create the best game aligned with my selected design goals. When I'm designing bonus rules or content I'm often just thinking wouldn't be cool if I added that. #gamedev #indiedev

Guinea Pig Baseball is our latest release and is free for a limited time! It's a casual game with easy to learn rules, plays with just a few six sided dice, paper or tokens, and who doesn't love guinea pigs? Link below 🔗👇 #boardgame #tabletop #indiegame

Have your say on what standard components we use in our upcoming releases! From playing cards, dice, or something experimental, it is in your hands. 🔗 patreon.com/posts/poll-game-145173884 #tabletop #boardgames #ttrpg

It's funny how playtesting sometimes goes. A mechanism that I removed very early in testing, I've bought back now that everything else has been tightened up. It's made the game more interesting, but there's no way it could've achieved this within the original rules. #gamedev #indiedev

We often use ... unorthodox ... play testers here at City Square Studios for our tabletop games #cats #guineapig #boardgames #tabletop

What makes a good player? - attendance - attention - absorbance - adventurousness - allyship Attendance: communicate when you'll be there and when you won't. "I'm looking forward to the game!" helps your GMs morale and inspires other players. Be as easy to plan for as circumstance lets. 1/ #ttrpg

In this instalment of Designer Notes we take a deep dive into how to fix an issue with your game, with a real example from our latest release. patreon.com/posts/designer-notes-145175446 #indiedev #gamedesign 🎲✂️ #gamedev

I had a look back over the 12 month stats for the Patreon and we've grown more than 500 members this year which is pretty sweet. Hey you should join as well if you want monthly tabletop games! patreon.com/c/CitySquareStudios #boardgames #ttrpg #cardgame #indiegame

Guinea Pig Baseball is out now! A chaotic 2–4 player dice-and-paper game where every guinea pig bats at once. Outsmart the pitcher, sprint around the bases, and get six pigs back to the hutch to win. Free download, link below! ⚾️🥕👇 patreon.com/posts/52-pickup-issue-144647797 #boardgame #indiegame

I think one form of complexity is layered simplicity. For example one simple rule is simple, 10 simple rules on top of each other is complex. 🎲✂️ #indiedev

Me on the treadmill of releasing a new game every month for over 2 and a half years

Your reviews are so so important to indie games. 500 reviews may not seem like a lot, but to the vast majority of indies it's a ton. Your reviews largely make or break discoverability for a game.

A zine folding time lapse of issue 16 of 52 Pickup which contains 2 playing card games, Black Spot and Captain Seven's Doubloons. patreon.com/posts/52-pickup-issue-108587697 #zine #cardgame #boardgame #tabletop