🎲✂️ UPS says our preproduction copies will be here tomorrow, but given that they're still in new delhi right now, I think UPS is full of shit
Zach Hoekstra
@zhoekstra.bsky.social
Game designer living in Utrecht. Chief Idea Magpie of Restless Raven Games. He/Him
Me hearing the latest drama in some niche fandom subreddit I'd never heard of before (My artist for Pact is working on some promo card sketches and I'm having a lot of fun describing fun intrigue things for him to draw)
W40k fans: "The setting is a dark reflection of humanity's worst impulses and a tragic reminder that fanatisicm is a churning wheel of blood that goes nowhere... forever" Also W40k fans: "His name is Commander Legface because I ran out of heads and used a leg for his face. He's 40% of my points"
board game designers too - there is a special quality to games that are cheerfully handmade and bad. Don't make slop, make the board game equivalent of Halal Movie Night
⚔️🎀 𝔉𝔦𝔞𝔡𝔥 🎀⚔️@fiadh.bsky.social · 3w agoi am begging venues & bands to rediscover clipart
🎲✂️🧵 So let's imagine there's a game that's designed for 4 players, and is playable but not as good at 3 (Spoilers it's Pact) It's got a deck of 90 some cards and a board and tokens.
Now is the time for my solitaire Game of the Goose design to wow publishers and earn accolades
Haole Boy Games@haoleboygames.com · 3w agoThis would be a good time to slow down on your spin & move, memory, auction/bidding prototype. 😄 🎲✂️
*sigh* pretty much. With Pact I specifically designed the game with 4 personalities that bounce off of each other in interesting ways, but that means the game feels a bit lackluster at smaller player counts. 3 feels a bit weak, 2 feels rote, and a solo mode would feel like a different game
Jon Perry@perryjon.bsky.social · 3w agoThis is surely an exaggeration, but sometimes it really feels like at least 50 percent of board game design is navigating player count scaling.
I may look like a fluffy golden retriever on the outside but I'm a big fan of the morbid, the gothic, and the frightening. So this was my reaction on finding Danse Macabre at the Efteling this weekend. Haunted Mansion eat your heart out
🎲✂️, I want your opinion on how I organize information in this rulebook. It goes: 1️⃣ Components and Setup 2️⃣ Key Concepts 3️⃣ Round overview 4️⃣ Player Turn / Action overview 5️⃣ Keywords / special rules 6️⃣ Appendix docs.google.com/document/d/1... Let me explain my thoughts
PACT Rulebook
Set in the miniscule bug kingdom of Branchbourne, Pact is a game of Grand Politics in a Tiny World. Jenna Ermine the Sixth feels the weight of her mother's crown. Without any allies and far too youn...
docs.google.com
I made a thing. #boardgames 🎲✂️
Watch It Played@watchitplayed.bsky.social · 4w agoWhen you're growing two gardens at once, the power of the sun won't be enough - you're going to need to harness the light of the moon too! In Evenglow you'll all be shaping your mystical gardens during simultaneous turns, so join me here and let's learn how to play: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjLN...
Take a look at Council Of Serpents, a 30 min hidden goal intrigue game made by my good friend Joeri. It's like a little micro-Pact to brighten up your day! gamefound.com/en/projects/...
Council of Serpents by Wulfhorn Games - Gamefound
Three noble Houses are vying for power, but you are not one of them… You are a member of the Council of Serpents, and manipulate their attributes to ensure the Triumph or Collapse of a specific House....
gamefound.com
Bellevue version Parthenay! I love that the window signage actually goes up and down with the houses
🎲✂️ After close to a month of design, the pre-production files for Pact have been sent! I'm so excited to see what we made You can see a little sneak peek of what everything looks like put together in the screentop implementation. Check it out! screentop.gg/@zhoekstra/p...
🎲✂️ "Reeding" is the term for marking and channels made around the edge of a coin in order to make it harder to shave or counterfiet. But I've always called them greeblies
NANCY PELOSI: We must find the next generation of Democratic leadership. Young, charismatic and exciting candidates who can energize the party. People that voters love because they're not 80 years old and sold out to big capital. CHUCK SCHUMER (behind sniper rifle): Found one PELOSI: Take the shot
🎲✂️Wait I just wanted to design a game how did I turn into a product owner
YES they're not chess sets they're excuses to sell 64 plastic models and a board on which they will be arranged so that you can't tell any of them apart. There's a reason abstracts use simple pieces, they need to be readable, so you've ruined chess AND the models don't even look good.
Sarah Z@sarahz.bsky.social · last mo.My toxic trait is I hate custom chess sets where the pieces don't look anything like chess pieces
My toxic trait is I hate custom chess sets where the pieces don't look anything like chess pieces
In the middle of a Dutch heat wave and not regretting my decision at all.
Zach Hoekstra@zhoekstra.bsky.social · 2mo agoI think I did the most American thing I've done in years - I bought an icemaking machine for my countertop specifically so I can have ice cold water whenever I want to. All the ice, directly into my mouth.
I think I did the most American thing I've done in years - I bought an icemaking machine for my countertop specifically so I can have ice cold water whenever I want to. All the ice, directly into my mouth.
"I know game designers who use subtext and they are all cowards" Garth Marenghi boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/46...
🎲✂️ Hey a general cast out there, if you're one of them newfangled Instabooktube content creators and you've been following Pact with some interest, reach out to me, because we're starting planning for the media part of the publishing cycle.
🎲✂️ One thing I'm really appreciative of for Jason Gamber, my graphic designer for PACT, is that he does an amazing job at blending symbols to really communicate some subtle stuff about the world. See his coin notes here for example (www.jasongamberdesign.com, he's done a ton of great stuff)
There's a pratchett quote that does not translate well when quoted out of context that forms a large part of my larger framework of morality, and it's the concept of murder by degrees.
Robert Reich@rbreich.bsky.social · 2mo ago
Using niche subreddits to research shopping decisions is wild because they're 80% knowledgeable and practical consumer advice and 20% wild and insular opinions.
🎲✂️ More tokens for Pact! Convert tokens mark courtiers that have been converted to the Weaver faith, and serve as a conduit for Neith's strange Weavings. Loyalty marks courtiers that have a particular loyalty to Jenna, having been promoted by her in some way.
How dare they make a solo rpg specifically for me and my love of an obscure and sightly problematic Ghibli film
