Second Chances

For those of us who got our starts in digital games in the age of the internet, there’s something strangely final about printing a board game. With digital games, if you make a mistake or there’s a little bug you missed, you update the code and assets, submit a patch, and pretend like nothing ever […]

Board Game Design Basics: Playtesting! Part III

Almost three years ago I wrote a two part article on playtesting. (Read Part I and Part II.) Today I turn the series into a trilogy. Why? Well, one of my patrons asked about playtesting. But when it comes to playtesting, there’s a lot to talk about. As a game designer, playtesting is how you […]

Robot Invasion

It will be a surprise to absolutely no one that technology is slowly creeping into the world of tabletop games, just as it has in every other facet of life. What might actually be surprising is how slowly the creep is. Especially considering the wild success of mobile games and the ubiquity of smart phones, […]

Graphic Design in Tabletop Games

Today I’m going to discuss an often misunderstood topic, graphic design. I’ll get into more details below, but very quickly: Graphic design is the conveying of information visually. Given that tabletop games are almost completely visual, it shouldn’t be surprising that graphic design is essential to a successful game. But graphic design is a subtle […]

Broken Mechanics

Today I’d like to address an issue brought up by one of my patrons: what do you do when a mechanic doesn’t work out? Do you have to scrap the whole project, or are there measures you can take to salvage some of it? All designers are familiar with this topic, often with sad associations. […]

To Publish or Not to Publish

Those who have followed Nothing Sacred Games for its nearly four year existence know it’s been in the murky world between design studio and publisher that many small game companies find themselves in. With crowdfunding money alleviating risk, more accessible manufacturers willing to work on small projects, and a plethora of useful information to help […]

The Strange Story of Second Age

Today I thought I’d share a little bit about one of my main current projects, The Second Age of Sorcery. It has quite the meandering story, and still might take me places I’ve never been. So pull up a chair and get ready for story time!

Relative Numbers

Today I’m going to discuss some very mathy game design theory. If that’s not your thing, it’s probably best to steer clear now. Working on Shadow Throne and some other prototypes, I realized I was making use of something I’ll call relative numbers in my games. After giving it a little thought, I realized that […]

Solitaire Time Management

I find myself doing a lot of different things these days. Making games requires many different activities, from design, to playtesting, to balancing, to managing art and graphic design, to writing rules, to promotion, fund raising, and sales. And I’m not just making games–I’m also writing articles, running an online store, and always looking for […]

Birds of a Feather Design Decisions

The Birds of a Feather Kickstarter is right around the corner (March 10th!), so I decided it’s time to share some stories from the game’s development. If you haven’t already checked out the free print and play, you might want to do that before diving into some of the details below. Birds of a Feather […]