Design Analysis: Corporate America

Between playtesting, promotion, and just hanging out with friends, I’ve seen and played Corporate America well over 200 times. Even after playing that many times, I’m happy to say still I enjoy the game. Corporate America really lets individual personalities shine, so each game feels like a new experience. But when you play a game […]

Reviewing Reviews

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m pretty lousy when it comes to marketing. It’s the sort of thing I never wanted to do, but is essential for making a game (or really any product) successful. So, reluctantly, I’ve put on my marketing hat many times for Corporate America, and have actually found it […]

Design Analysis: Diamant

It was a cool, dark March night in the financial district of San Francisco. The club was also dark, but it was anything but cool. I had come to the IGDA GDC party with a prototype of my own game, Corporate America, not quite realizing yet that playtesting it in party scenarios like this one […]

Design Analysis: King of Tokyo

After finishing a game of King of Tokyo recently, a friend pointed out that nothing about the game is actually described on the box. I was surprised to discover she was right. (Update: I was wrong about this. See the update at the bottom of the post for details.) Sure, there’s the usual basic stats: […]

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 […]

In Case You Live Under a Rock without Internet Access…

It’s official! Corporate America is now live on Kickstarter! Woooooo! First thing’s first, I want to thank all of you who have already pledged support for the project. I’ve been blown away by the generosity I’ve seen over the past few days. I really appreciate your vote of confidence. Kickstarter campaigns are exciting! I don’t […]

Design Analysis: 7 Wonders

Those of who know me know I’m a huge fan of the game Magic: the Gathering. Many, many game enthusiasts are huge fans of this game. And what’s not to like? (Other than the price…) Magic has been around for nearly 20 years, and for good reason. The game has more layers than I could […]

Design Analysis: Citadels

Today I thought I’d take a break from talking about progress on Corporate America and instead focus on a very cool game by another designer, Citadels. Citadels isn’t a new game–in fact, it was released over a decade ago, in 2000–but it is an elegant and very fun game, and there’s a lot to learn […]