Board Game Design Basics: Engage

Alright, your latest design is a masterpiece. On each player’s turn, that player first allocates workers, then collects resources, then builds units and buildings, then advances on the tech tree, then secretly declares attacks against other players, then rolls to determine battle outcomes, then moves military units to conquered territories, then allocates experience points to […]

Board Game Design Basics: It’s about Time

I know what you’re thinking. You’re going to have three boards. One will contain the map of the world. This is where you’ll place your armies. One will have a detailed economic simulation. The last one will contain all the random information necessary for the game, like the weather simulation and the relative power of […]

A Year of Fun and Games

Has it really been a year since I left school to pursue an uncertain life as an independent game designer? My first blog post, where I discuss my thoughts on games as art, was posted a whole year ago, so I guess so! It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year. I have to […]

Design Analysis: Pandemic

Matt Leacock’s coop masterpiece Pandemic made its debut in 2008 and has quickly become a modern classic, even finding a place on the shelves of huge toy stores like Toys’R’Us. But how did Pandemic achieve this level of success so quickly? I believe it’s because Pandemic dove head first into the only lightly tested waters […]