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Abstract University
Post by: Grant Rodiek I’ve been developing and testing an abstract strategy game for two players called Druids for months now. We’ve been testing it furiously, almost daily, due in large part to us...
View ArticleThree Development Sessions
Post by: Grant Rodiek I was just on a walk and I began thinking about the three types of sessions I have developing my game. Two of these are obvious, but one isn’t, so I thought it might be useful to...
View ArticleSolstice Beta Wave 1 Results
Post by: Grant Rodiek You can read the rules for Solstice here. You can watch a still mostly accurate rules video here. You can download a Print and Play with all changes here. The first testing wave...
View ArticleMy Proposed Design Curriculum
Post by: Grant Rodiek I was thinking about Game Design degrees the other day. To be honest, as a 10 year veteran of the digital industry, I don’t put much stock in them. As a degree holding business...
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The Evolution of Gaia
Post by: Grant Rodiek A few months ago I mailed copies of Project Gaia to four groups for testing. The game was only about 6 months old, but it had gone through several iterations, felt “okay,” and...
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The 54 Card Guild: #10
If this is the first time you’re seeing The 54 Card Guild, I recommend you begin with Guide #1. It will explain everything. All of the posts are tagged with 54 Card Guild. There is an active Slack...
View ArticleProving the Concept
Post by: Grant Rodiek There is a very important, and deeply satisfying milestone in a design, which is determining This Game is Worth Making. This step doesn’t mean the problems have been solved, that...
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The 54 Card Guild: #9
If this is the first time you’re seeing The 54 Card Guild, I recommend you begin with Guide #1. It will explain everything. All of the posts are tagged with 54 Card Guild. There is an active Slack...
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Rampaging Barbarians
Post by: Grant Rodiek Rules here. Print and Play is here. Today marks the 10th test of Barbarus, a game I’ve been testing for exactly a month. This is exciting, as I feel I can finally dig in. With...
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The 54 Card Guild #5
If this is the first time you’re seeing The 54 Card Guild, I recommend you begin with Guide #1. It will explain much. All of the posts are tagged with 54 Card Guild. There is an active Slack group,...
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The 54 Card Guild: #3
Posted by: Grant Rodiek This is the third entry in the 54 Card Guild, a loosely guided course for designers new and old interested in crafting a game consisting of at most 54 cards and nothing else....
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The Unnecessarily Huge Hocus Post Mortem
Post by: Joshua Buergel and Grant Rodiek Grant: The Kickstarter campaign for Hocus, the first published game by Hyperbole Games, designed by Grant Rodiek and Joshua Buergel, is now over. The campaign...
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The 54 Card Guild: #1
Post by: Grant Rodiek I want to invite you to join an elite and secretive organization. It is exclusive, difficult to find, and reserved for only top individuals. Actually, it’s none of these things....
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Revising Your Design Process
Post by: Grant Rodiek I’m obsessed with my game design process. My mind is my primary tool, but the way in which I exercise it, extract from it, and push it, must be constantly re-examined to ensure...
View ArticleFunny Games
Post by: Grant Rodiek I find myself greatly drawn to the notion of humorous games lately. More specifically, designing games that are legitimately funny for those playing them. I don’t mean games like...
View ArticleBalancing the Balance
Post by: Grant Rodiek Balancing a game is arguably the most difficult and time consuming phase of design. When refining the mechanisms and trying to reach an Alpha and Beta state, you can grab new...
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A Low Chance of Success
Post by: Grant Rodiek Earlier this week, I played Columbia Games’ Napoleon: The Waterloo Campaign, 1815. This is an old, classic war game design, with blocks to allow for fog of war, rather elegant...
View ArticleSayest Thou Poker?
Post by: Grant Rodiek I have some thoughts on branding, naming, and pitching your game to others that have been culminating for some time. Though this is a specific case study, I think what I’ve...
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Design Muscle Memory
This post sponsored by the Hocus Poker PNP! Download it from BGG (and give us a thumb!) or read the rules. Post by: Grant Rodiek Design should become easier the more you do it. No, conceiving a unique...
View ArticleDesigning for Alchemy
Post by: Grant Rodiek I am very much a combo driven designer and frankly, and probably not surprisingly, it’s something that I love as a player. I often say I design the games I want to play, which is...
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