Creating a Game Playtest Journal

Chris RowlandsGame Design Comments

A while back I posted a video on YouTube which mentioned that Scout Books notebooks were one of my favorite game design tools! The folks at Scout Books took note (no pun intended) and reached out to us about doing a custom book designed specifically for game design. How could we say no?! I am really impressed with the way … Read More

The Horror of Crypticon – Board Game Inspiration

Chris RowlandsGame Design Comments

The synthetic smell of stage blood permeated the fang filled halls of the convention. Smiling rotted corpses shambled with excitement from booth to booth, meeting their favorite artists and actors. Oh Crypticon, how I adore you. Here in the greater Seattle area, Crypticon is a yearly convention that features various celebrities and artists from the horror genre. It has everything … Read More

Hacking is the best way to begin designing games.

Chris RowlandsGame Design Comments

We’ve been super busy around here, and our Kickstarter campaign for The Last Garden is in it’s final 24 hours. It’s been a wonderful experience, and we’ve been floored by all of the support we’ve received as we’ve unlocked a ton of stretch goals. Today I wanted to talk about some stretch goals that are very important to us, and … Read More

Using Trello For Game Design

Chris RowlandsGame Design Comments

I recently made a YouTube video where I revealed my Top 3 Game Design tools. When I did, a bunch of folks reached out to me to ask how I set up my Trello page. So here we are! One of the biggest hurdles I encountered when I was beginning to design games was that I had too many ideas! … Read More

3 Questions to Ask When Stuck On A Game Design

Chris RowlandsGame Design Comments

It happens to me on almost every game I design, and I find it’s one of the things that will stall my creativity more often than anything else: a fork in my design path. By fork, I mean those pivotal moments in the design of a game where I must decide which path to head towards, and ultimately what my … Read More

Stealing Game Mechanics

Chris RowlandsGame Design Comments

Popular views of creative pursuits will openly laud those who “innovate” or “invent” certain styles or ways of thinking. However, creative people tend to realize that the basis of their creation, and nearly every invention man has ever made, has been the result of observation and subsequent curiosity. Naturally, we are influenced by the world around us, remixing our experiences … Read More

Board Game Design Tools – Laminator

Chris RowlandsGame Design Comments

I’m always on the lookout for gadgets that help me streamline the prototyping process and I have a good one for you this week! I was at playtest a few weeks back and my friends Daniel and Beth had laminated the cards for their game and when I inquired I was shocked to find out how cheap these bad boys … Read More