#boardgamedesign — Public Fediverse posts

One design issue I’m working on in 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝟭𝟴𝟭𝟰: 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘇 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, my board game about the Congress of Vienna:
If an action is always worth taking, it stops being a meaningful choice.
So the entertainment 🍷💃 phase is changing — less repetitive token placement, more tension, more interaction 😳, and a stronger reason to quit early.

#BoardGameDesign #GameDesign #TabletopGames #HistoricalGames

I decided to freeze the action phase changes for iteration 3.5.

The structure is cleaner now: unified locations, fewer exceptions, and up to 3 actions per move.

I’m currently solo-testing it as five players, while shifting design work to the entertainment phase.
Goal: more tactical competition for characters, more player interaction, and better tempo.

#BoardGameDesign #GameDesign #TabletopGames #HistoricalGames #WIP

Small Congress scandal: at the opening ball of the Congress of Vienna, rumour had it that a quarter of the 10,000 silver teaspoons bearing the imperial crest quietly disappeared into the crowd.

I would treat this more as a perfect Congress anecdote than a precise inventory report — but honestly, that makes it even better.
Diplomacy, spectacle, gossip… and apparently a few unofficial souvenirs.

#History #CongressOfVienna #Vienna1814 #HistoricalGames #BoardGameDesign #WanderingPine

Small Congress scandal: at the opening ball of the Congress of Vienna, rumour had it that a quarter of the 10,000 silver teaspoons bearing the imperial crest quietly disappeared into the crowd.

I would treat this more as a perfect Congress anecdote than a precise inventory report — but honestly, that makes it even better.
Diplomacy, spectacle, gossip… and apparently a few unofficial souvenirs.

#History #CongressOfVienna #Vienna1814 #HistoricalGames #BoardGameDesign #WanderingPine

Small Congress scandal: at the opening ball of the Congress of Vienna, rumour had it that a quarter of the 10,000 silver teaspoons bearing the imperial crest quietly disappeared into the crowd.

I would treat this more as a perfect Congress anecdote than a precise inventory report — but honestly, that makes it even better.
Diplomacy, spectacle, gossip… and apparently a few unofficial souvenirs.

#History #CongressOfVienna #Vienna1814 #HistoricalGames #BoardGameDesign #WanderingPine

Small Congress scandal: at the opening ball of the Congress of Vienna, rumour had it that a quarter of the 10,000 silver teaspoons bearing the imperial crest quietly disappeared into the crowd.

I would treat this more as a perfect Congress anecdote than a precise inventory report — but honestly, that makes it even better.
Diplomacy, spectacle, gossip… and apparently a few unofficial souvenirs.

#History #CongressOfVienna #Vienna1814 #HistoricalGames #BoardGameDesign #WanderingPine

Small Congress scandal: at the opening ball of the Congress of Vienna, rumour had it that a quarter of the 10,000 silver teaspoons bearing the imperial crest quietly disappeared into the crowd.

I would treat this more as a perfect Congress anecdote than a precise inventory report — but honestly, that makes it even better.
Diplomacy, spectacle, gossip… and apparently a few unofficial souvenirs.

#History #CongressOfVienna #Vienna1814 #HistoricalGames #BoardGameDesign #WanderingPine

Everybody, please stop naming European countries. I beg you. The magic die list is finally complete 🎲
Number 6 is Romania — specifically Transylvania 🧛‍♂️

Tomorrow the die decides which country gets the next deep dive into a real person connected to the Congress of Vienna.

Final list:
1 — Andorra
2 — Finland
3 — Austria
4 — Serbia
5 — Greece
6 — Romania / Transylvania

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #History #CongressOfVienna #HistoricalGames

Everybody, please stop naming European countries. I beg you. The magic die list is finally complete 🎲
Number 6 is Romania — specifically Transylvania 🧛‍♂️

Tomorrow the die decides which country gets the next deep dive into a real person connected to the Congress of Vienna.

Final list:
1 — Andorra
2 — Finland
3 — Austria
4 — Serbia
5 — Greece
6 — Romania / Transylvania

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #History #CongressOfVienna #HistoricalGames

Everybody, please stop naming European countries. I beg you. The magic die list is finally complete 🎲
Number 6 is Romania — specifically Transylvania 🧛‍♂️

Tomorrow the die decides which country gets the next deep dive into a real person connected to the Congress of Vienna.

Final list:
1 — Andorra
2 — Finland
3 — Austria
4 — Serbia
5 — Greece
6 — Romania / Transylvania

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #History #CongressOfVienna #HistoricalGames

Everybody, please stop naming European countries. I beg you. The magic die list is finally complete 🎲
Number 6 is Romania — specifically Transylvania 🧛‍♂️

Tomorrow the die decides which country gets the next deep dive into a real person connected to the Congress of Vienna.

Final list:
1 — Andorra
2 — Finland
3 — Austria
4 — Serbia
5 — Greece
6 — Romania / Transylvania

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #History #CongressOfVienna #HistoricalGames

Everybody, please stop naming European countries. I beg you. The magic die list is finally complete 🎲
Number 6 is Romania — specifically Transylvania 🧛‍♂️

Tomorrow the die decides which country gets the next deep dive into a real person connected to the Congress of Vienna.

Final list:
1 — Andorra
2 — Finland
3 — Austria
4 — Serbia
5 — Greece
6 — Romania / Transylvania

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #History #CongressOfVienna #HistoricalGames

One thing I learned from more experienced board game designers that I really wish I knew sooner:

You can — and probably should — work on multiple games at the same time. Apparently most designers do. 😅
Sometimes the best way to fix a mechanic is to stop staring at it for two weeks and work on something completely different.

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #GameDev #TabletopGames #IndieDev

One thing I learned from more experienced board game designers that I really wish I knew sooner:

You can — and probably should — work on multiple games at the same time. Apparently most designers do. 😅
Sometimes the best way to fix a mechanic is to stop staring at it for two weeks and work on something completely different.

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #GameDev #TabletopGames #IndieDev

One thing I learned from more experienced board game designers that I really wish I knew sooner:

You can — and probably should — work on multiple games at the same time. Apparently most designers do. 😅
Sometimes the best way to fix a mechanic is to stop staring at it for two weeks and work on something completely different.

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #GameDev #TabletopGames #IndieDev

Most recent change in gossip mechanics: this time you don’t always control gossip directly.
It moves whenever you engage in public social actions. You don’t have to do it publicly, though — you can use the post office and send a letter, but only if you prepared one earlier.
And if you feel particularly cunning, you can still spread your own rumours. Because Vienna, obviously.

#BoardGameDesign #IndieBoardGames #TabletopGames #HistoricalGames #CongressOfVienna #GameDev #WanderingPine

And I just finished testing the new pipeline for action phases.

I define them in a spreadsheet, export to CSV, then one Python script turns it into YAML for the automatic action phase tester, and another turns it into JSON for the game logger.

This is what happens when a programmer becomes a board game designer.

#BoardGameDesign #GameDesign #IndieGameDev #Python #TabletopGames

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀… 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀.

A new weekly Sunday series of historical memes from the world of Vienna 1814.
The Congress of Vienna was meant to restore order in Europe. It also became a season of salons, receptions, rumours — and an impressive number of balls.

#CongressOfVienna #Vienna1814 #HistoryMeme #HistoricalGames #BoardGameDesign

Board game design meetup: Join us at ThinkTank Adelaide on 16 May 12:30-17:00 @ Dragon's Lair, Edwardstown.

#BoardGameDesign #Adelaide

Board game design meetup: Join us at ThinkTank Adelaide on 16 May 12:30-17:00 @ Dragon's Lair, Edwardstown.

#BoardGameDesign #Adelaide

Board game design meetup: Join us at ThinkTank Adelaide on 16 May 12:30-17:00 @ Dragon's Lair, Edwardstown.

#BoardGameDesign #Adelaide

Interesting thing about board game UX:
Removing even a few visual separations and regrouping actions differently can dramatically change how “heavy” a game feels before the first turn even begins.

Currently testing a streamlined 3.5 location structure for “Vienna 1814: Waltz of Nations”.

One of the key changes: each sphere now revolves around a single-action choice structure.

Comparison screenshots below.

#BoardGameDesign #Eurogames #HistoricalGames #TabletopGames

Hey - it's official. I have a new game on #BoardGameGeek ! My retro-future demolition derby game #VroomZoomBoom is scheduled to Kickstart in early 2027.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/469267/vroom-zoom-boom

#BoardGames #Kickstarter #BoardGameDesign #GameDesign

The joys of laser cut prototypes.

#boardGameDesign

Les Mécanicartes de Prismatik reviennent sous forme d'une application web :
https://app.mecanicartes.fr/cartes

Piochez dans la liste de ludèmes autour du matériel, des actions et des émotions pour analyser un jeu existant ou créer le votre.

#j2s #boardgamedesign

Board game design meetup: Join us at ThinkTank Adelaide on 18 April 12:30-17:00 @ Dragon's Lair, Edwardstown.

#BoardGameDesign #Adelaide

Interesting article looking at degenerate game states:

https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/degenerate-game

#boardGameDesign

Working on a new game design today. Appropriately with bunnies.

#boardGameDesign

#WritersCoffeeClub Mar. 23: What's the most you've worked on a WIP before deciding to scrap it? What happened?

I had a game I had worked on for four years. Card designs, graphics, art. Lots of changes and improvements but after constant tweaks it just… wasn’t clicking the way it needed to.

I scrapped the mechanics, rebuilt it into a brand new game, and I am much happier for having done so.

#boardgamedesign #boardgames #creativity

for anyone in need; here are the card values and tokens. ignore the * sign, they were flipped the wrong way inside my sleeves (it doesn't matter to the game itself, just me so i could go back and flip them the correct way).

#Scout #domino #boardgames #boardgamedesign #cardgames

When there is no local #boardgame store and only one #toystore, but your in laws get obsessed about #Scout and want a copy of the game.

#boardgamedesign #domino #dominoes

When there is no local #boardgame store and only one #toystore, but your in laws get obsessed about #Scout and want a copy of the game.

#boardgamedesign #domino #dominoes

When there is no local #boardgame store and only one #toystore, but your in laws get obsessed about #Scout and want a copy of the game.

#boardgamedesign #domino #dominoes

When there is no local #boardgame store and only one #toystore, but your in laws get obsessed about #Scout and want a copy of the game.

#boardgamedesign #domino #dominoes

When there is no local #boardgame store and only one #toystore, but your in laws get obsessed about #Scout and want a copy of the game.

#boardgamedesign #domino #dominoes

Board game design meetup: Join us at ThinkTank Adelaide on 21 March 12:30-17:00 @ Dragon's Lair, Edwardstown.

#BoardGameDesign #Adelaide

Board game design meetup: Join us at ThinkTank Adelaide on 21 Feb 12:30-17:00 @ Dragon's Lair, Edwardstown. :boost_ok:

#BoardGameDesign #Adelaide

Petite détente graphique pour un prototype en cours.
#j2s #boardgamedesign

Was at the local #boardgamedesign meetup last night. There were two new in faces there, who had already designed two successful games and were working on a third that looks very promising. Sort of a very mathy yathtzee tic-tac-toe hybrid with mean player interaction.

Shoutout to Gustav Skoglunds #PNP games! I've had a chance to try both at the meetup now and they were really cool! https://www.imaginaryworlds.se/print-and-play

As for my new game #Lumae, the review was, as always, "hold on! I have to think?" lol.

Our current interviewee, Agustín Lozano, lives and works in #Spain and is the author of Juego de Tonos, a card deck for many musical activities:
https://www.juegodetonos.com/

We're doing it "AMA"-style. If anything has your attention, like #boardGameDesign? #musicEducation? #jazz? then please consider replying with your question(s), a few on Juego de Tonos already await.

We're now in a follow-up round, Agustín's first answers can be read here:
http://musicgames.wikidot.com/source:agustin-lozano

#JuegosDeMesa #EducaciónMusical

Set your text free on our #wiki!

If you wrote about #music or #games before, you can give your old text new life by putting it on Games for Music and letting it evolve in the network with other topics.

Reviews, theories, lists, all welcome!

1/x

#writing #gameDesign #ttrpgDesign #boardGameDesign #contemporaryMusic #experimentalMusic #avantgarde #improvisation #improv #impro #musicEducation

Graphic Design is My Passion: Design Journal No 2

This is a long one. I dive into three playtest sessions of the game and share my insights and what to expect from the next iteration. #boardgames #boardgamedesign

http://mutantpizza.net/2025/11/13/graphic-design-is-my-passion-design-journal-2/

went to another #boardgamedesign meeup. mostly new faces.

had two testers for #crowns, one who sold 1500 copies of his own game #bauer and is waiting for his restock of another 3000 copies!

both players thought the game was good but said I need to make actual graphics for cards 11, 12, 13, and 14.

they all suggested i do 2 art versions. one that appeals to #chess players (keep current art), and one for mainstream audiences.

also, the game looks great on a white table! 😁

For anyone interested, the pre-alpha of digital #Crowns is now playable! With both multiplayer matchmaking and playing vs CPU. Much easier to try and learn the mechanics that way!

https://crowns.slashmad.com

Note: It's experiencing several updates a day (and bugs) while we're adding new functions and features, so sometimes it might not work for a few minutes or an hour or so.

#gamedev #52cards #playingcards #cardgame #boardgamedesign #indiegamedesign #gamedesign #boardgame #webdev

Majumu on yucata.de is doing some research for their #boardgame #boardgamedesign

Here's the second part of their survey

They say "Before it gets any longer, I've now published the second (and final) part of the survey. I would be delighted if as many people would like to participate as last time :)"

Here is the link to the survey:
https://forms.gle/qRWb6UYbi48Q3AKz6

Hi there, one of the people who plays on yucata.de - majamu - is looking to get into some #boardgamedesign To this end they're gathering some data about peoples' music knowledge.

This is what they say " Hello everyone, I'm currently trying my hand at being a game designer and need help with a music quiz. The idea is to find songs that as many people as possible know. I've created a survey (German/English) with 50 songs.
If anyone is interested and has the time, I would be delighted if they could take 10 minutes to click through and tell me how well they know the songs. Thank you so much!"

Here is the link: https://forms.gle/z5dcgbCtCStkpDts8

#boardgame #survey

#Crowns web version slowly getting functional. the queen is bugging out but once sorted we'll move on to adding multiplayer so we can do some actual live testing! 😁

#gamedev #boardgamedesign #cardgames #52cards #playingcards #cardgamedesign

omg!!! my first customer! someone just donated 5€ for Crowns!!! thank you Gregg!

So, things are getting pretty serious here 🤣

#Crowns #TinnyCrowns #52cards #playingcards #boardgames #boardgamedesign #cardgamedesign #cardgames

Designers!
When you run a playtest of your game, do you change rules in the middle of playing?

[example reasons are examples ;) ]

#boardgames #tabletopGames #ttrpg #ttrpgs #gameDesign #boardGameDesign #tabletopGameDesign