For every art, it’s more valuable to try to improve than to try to be good, …because improvement can be operationalized more effectively. This includes game design. 🎲✂️

A difficulty of mass market game design: The Target and Walmart buyers’ tastes sometimes differ from the end customers’. In those cases, it’s like games have to pass through a filter that selects for the wrong thing. No shade though. It’s hard for anyone to grok customers unlike ourselves. 🎲✂️

When I go to GenCon, I feel torn. It forces me to face the fact that my job depends on a rah-rah consumerism I reject. That ache grows heavier each year. 🎲✂️

A common mistake in judging games: "The Enthusiast Bias" It happens when tests include an invested expert or enthusiast playing or teaching. Instead of testing the game, you end up testing their expertise, which masks what the actual experience will be for a normal group of players. 🎲✂️(1/8)

If you are interested in the story behind the design of the latest @postmarkgames.bsky.social title, Master of Coin, this week's video is for you! I go over the genesis of the game, and the different lessons I learnt about game design from it. youtu.be/XFcXpQWo8M4 🎲✂️

5 Design Lessons from making Master of Coin

YouTube video by Matthew Dunstan

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I'm the Director of Game Design at Taco Cat Games. I'll be at Gen Con Friday (July 31st) and Saturday (August 1st), taking pitches from game designers. Specifically in the Hyatt Regency Atrium. If you'd like to pitch, grab a half-hour time slot here: calendly.com/nickobento/g... 🎲✂️(1/2)

I keep seeing board game reviews that claim, 'Once you understand it, it’s easy.' For a tabletop game, that's practically a tautology. Comprehension isn't the preamble to the game's friction; it IS the friction. (I guess there are exceptions for bad games w/ other inadvertent friction?) 🎲✂️

Last August, I took a new job as Director of Game Design at Taco Cat Games. The first game we've made in which I had a heavy hand is now for sale. The original designers are Ken Gruhl and Jeremy Posner, two of the best mass market designers alive. 🎲✂️(1/7)

Almost exactly a year ago, I left my (stable!) job for full-time game design. Some reflections 1/ 🧵

Thinking more on this topic this morning Especially after seeing what a direct-to-retail success can look like with High Tide, I’m further unconvinced of the general crowdfunding / media pipeline connected to chasing hype and FOMO as a reflection of success or long term viability as a business

Taylor Shuss@drawnonward.bsky.social · last mo.

Would you describe the hobby board game industry as trend-based?

For a while I've been noodling on a taxonomy of decision types. I'm not convinced it's fully baked, but I already have been using it successfully in my design process, so I thought I might share it here in its current form. At the moment there's 5 types.

So much 🎲✂️ discourse is about the tactics of game design, e.g. clever ideas, weird techniques. But most of what you need to be successful at game design is strategy e.g. a schedule for iterations, a system for getting honest feedback, a commitment to not calling it done until it's actually great.

This is a key design principle of Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo designer who invented Super Mario and Zelda, and one of the greatest game designers ever. If someone that good advocates for a principle, it often pays to put serious focus on it. 🎲✂️(1/3)

All bad games are alike. Each good game is good in its own way. - Leo Tolstoy, probably 🎲✂️

If you want to be a full time game designer, your highest priority is to build a reliable playtest network. It’s a LOT of work. And there are infinite obstacles in your way. Individual and systemic. But it’s the price of success. You just gotta do it You can debate me on this, but I’m right.

Richard Garfield said something that matches my own experience: Too often, players call a game “imbalanced” because their first play blindsided them, or they didn't know how to counter something, and they lost. Instead of learning, they write the game off. 🎲✂️(1/3)

I love making player aids for my prototypes. They do several things for me at once: 1. The help me remember my rules. 2. They help the players understand the rules. 3. They force me to revisit and think once more about my turn structure. I think the third point is the most important part! 🎲✂️

We have an ancient, evolutionary instinct to acquire physical resources. For that reason, in games, players tend to feel more rewarded by physical objects than abstract quantities. Tabletop games are the perfect medium for this. 🎲✂️

New episode of Multiple Win Conditions! This time I’m chatting about how often you get told to “just stick to game design” if you ever mention self-publishing and how I don’t think the distinction is quite so clear. youtu.be/Tdzmkc4qQ7w?...

Just Stick to Design? - Multiple Win Conditions

YouTube video by Always Awake Games

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True depth, the kind that allows Chess to be played professionally, is rarely discussed in the board game world. But to me, it's the most astonishing thing about games: that a few bits of wood and cardboard can create something humans can play with the depth and commitment of a pro sport. 🎲✂️

Watching this video was *fun*! A very interesting analysis essay of what makes things fun to our brains! 🎲✂️ youtu.be/bMwfH8hJtRc?...

How to Make Anything Fun

YouTube video by Jonas Tyroller

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Forgettable rules degrade a game. They break flow and cause frustration. Four approaches to this kind of problem: 🎲✂️(1/6)

My definition of strategic depth: If 100 good players played a game full time and full throttle for years, and then spent a year writing a book about strategy, I’d want the book to be unusually fascinating. An intentionally subjective definition, as I believe games are experiences at root. 🎲✂️

Who’s working on their art today? 🙋‍♀️ Every day is better when you get to do the thing you want to do, more than the thing you have to do. Remember to prioritize yourself during your day. Cherish the things you want—using that to encourage yourself to fight every day for it.

I think a lot board gamers underestimate the depth of light games and overestimate the depth of heavy games. More moving parts does not necessarily mean a game has more strategy. It often just means there's more noisiness obscuring the impact of your decisions.

What is a game design advice you would tell your less experienced self? 🎲✂️

In this week's video, I explore some of the different techniques I use to reliably generate new ideas for board game design! youtu.be/uo-MAq_7YxI 🎲✂️

How can you reliably come up with good game ideas?

YouTube video by Matthew Dunstan

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If you dread having to explain a rule in your game, that is a giant blinking sign that reads: CHANGE OR REMOVE THIS RULE 🎲✂️

Taco Cat Games is now taking pitches from outside designers. We've sold over 13 million games, through all major US retailers. Read about what we're looking for and how to submit here: bit.ly/pitch-taco-cat This thread also covers it so you don't have to click through. 🎲✂️(1/19)

How to pitch games to Taco Cat Games and what we’re looking for | Notion

We’re thrilled you’re considering pitching to us! First we’ll describe what we’re looking for, then how to submit your game and what to expect after.

bit.ly