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A special book “review” of my book Game Design

Mon, 06/16/2025 - 19:16 — lewpuls

[ Note. This was submitted as a column for “Worlds of Design” on enworld.org. I’ve written more than 200 entries for that column starting in 2017. But this time things went awry, as I tried something with a “twist” halfway through.

It is, ostensibly, a review of my book “Game Design” (McFarland, 2012). The editor only read the first part and came back to say that guest authors needed to be paid, so this was not allowed. I asked if he’d read the whole thing. He came back again saying, oh, but the topic here (NOT the book) would be rejected by the readers, or start a flamewar!

My impression of enworld.org, dating from long before I started my column, is that the denizens are willing to argue at length about most anything RPG-related; in any case, flamewars are undesirable there, and the article was unusable.

I’ve tried not to give too much away. See what you think.]

What “Should” Be in an RPG Design Book

Fri, 11/08/2024 - 15:25 — lewpuls

I know this isn’t an RPG forum, but many board game designers are also RPG players, at least. I’ve posted this several places, and decided I may as well post it here.

Recently in my "Game Design" YT channel:

Mon, 08/28/2023 - 17:31 — lewpuls

Recent videos at my "Game Design" channel on YouTube (free).

“You’re Wrong”

Sat, 12/10/2022 - 13:46 — lewpuls

This is a brief version of why some people are inevitably going to disagree with you if you write a blog or column - or create a YouTube Channel.

Triptych 17 - Three Subjects in One Blog Post

Tue, 07/13/2021 - 15:14 — lewpuls

• Presentation

• Leadership

• Avalon Hill and Hasbro

Triptych 18 Three Subjects in One Blog Post

Tue, 06/15/2021 - 13:23 — lewpuls

• "What’s your most memorable board game experience?"

• Cheating (and diversity initiatives)

• "Intuitive" is a much smaller set than what people mean when they say a game is intuitive

A Lesson in Absolutes

Sat, 05/22/2021 - 19:38 — lewpuls

(Originally written in January 2021)

This comes from the pandemic but can be applied to game design as well. In the pandemic the general advice from medical people is that you need to wear a suitable mask and stay at least 6 feet away from other people, and that will go a long way to keeping you safe from the coronavirus. This is where the absolutes come in. People seem to think of these as absolute limits, but they're not.

My Responses to questions related to a book about the game Risk (end)

Mon, 04/26/2021 - 09:32 — lewpuls

In December 2012, Dave Shapiro contacted me to contribute to a book about Risk he was co-authoring.This took the form of answers to a series of questions. The book appeared recently, sans this material. This is part 5 of 5.

Recent free videos on my YouTube Game Design channel

Thu, 04/15/2021 - 09:13 — lewpuls

Recent free videos on my YouTube Game Design channel. Mar-Apr 2021

Logistics and game design (and history)
"Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics" (Napoleon and many others). But commercial historical games rarely reflect logistics. Why and how.
https://youtu.be/vA16jTeWM0I
Apr 15

21st century marketing: age of destinations not journeys
Another look at 21st century game marketing. It's the age of destinations, of bucket lists, not of enjoying the journey.
https://youtu.be/bd9sTFBFmVA
Apr 12

How much solo playtesting?

My responses to questions for a Risk book (part 4 of 5)

Fri, 04/09/2021 - 03:58 — lewpuls

In December 2012, Dave Shapiro contacted me to contribute to a book about Risk he was co-authoring.This took the form of answers to a series of questions. The book appeared recently, sans this material. This is part 4.

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