Board Game Designers Forum

I lurked for a while... then posted a couple of times... then have lurked on and off from time to time... I like the idea of an introduction section so thought I'd kick off in earnest in order to encourage others to do the same.

I started to get into BG designing when my wife was pregnant with my son about 3 years ago. Being a (hopefully recovering) computer game addict I wanted to come up with something we could do as a family encouraging a social interaction in a way that computer games don't.

I have about 10 amazing but top secret games in various stages of production... (for that probably read: not so good and probably not very original and nowhere near close to being finished!)

I suppose that I'm better at the idea of the game creation and initial stages of design/rules prototyping rather than the dotting the I's and crossing the T's part of finishing it... but my son was only 2 yesterday so I figure I have a few years to go before I have to get one completed.

Finally the 3 mains design areas that I'm interested in are:

1) Designing a game that is equally good as a single player and multi player by having a game run "itself" in order for the single player. (Not the best example off the top of my head - Imagine a set of rules for monopoly/risk so that 1 or more players could enjoy playing against the game itself)

2) Having a game be re-playable but with a player having "experience" the second time round weighted into the game... without it adversely affecting new players joining the second game (maybe even having a dynamic world that the players can dip in and out of)

3) How much a game can be modelled / simulated / playtested / "balanced" / predicted etc with SIMPLE maths/probability before its actually up and running

I hope I will try and make more of an effort in the forums... but I do wonder how much I can contribute at times when there are some seriously strong designers giving good answers to the questions!

YAH! So glad we have this. THANKS sedj.

nine! Welcome out into the light again!
I'm excited to talk with you about your ideas, at least 1 of the 10 surely has some gold in it.

BUT

I forsee a small problem.
If all of our introductions are as full and glorious as nine's, this will quickly turn into a heavy discussion thread.

sedjtroll has given us a whole forum for introducing and identifying ourselves. As he proposed, let's do our in-depth introductions as separate new threads. We could then use this sticky'd thread for quick-style stuff:

"Hi! I'm sounde (BGG:rootbierz). I'm super excited to find this site, and hope I can give as much help as I am sure to receive. My full intro is here."
and subsequent
"Welcome excited sounde, we're excited to have you!"

I think that's something like what sedj was going for and I think it could work :)

Well, hello. I generally use the handle Auroch in various online settings. I'm a college student (Math/CS) and avid tabletop gamer with aspirations toward design.

I play a lot of Magic and deck-building games; my current favorite in-box game is Eminent Domain, closely followed by Dominion and 7 Wonders. When I can find a large enough chunk of time, it will almost certainly be devoted to Twilight Imperium, but since a proper game (6+ players) takes 12-16 hours, this is rare.

I registered so I could enter the GDS (I have a submission in the November contest); I tend to not talk about ideas until they're just so, so a time-limited design competition with intelligent critique seemed like a good way to push myself to design more.

My current project (for some time) has been a drafting-based area control game initially conceived of as a rework of SmallWorld, which my playgroup found to be dominated by the first player; this has not seen the light of day because integrating an initial draft with gradual deployment of forces without adding overwhelming rules or on-board complexity is taking careful thought to plan.

Folks - been here a while, in and out depending on 'real job/kids/other stuff' but very into the games I am designing. The team has been going hard lately on some hybrid game styles that could make for beauty or bust. We'll just have to wait and see. We're hoping to show our first game in beta-test form at some cons this Summer. I'm not quite comfortable sharing a game journal yet (funny how paranoid we can be) but very soon hope to have your attention.

In the meantime, my #1 goal on the site is to network with other designers, playtesters and self-publishers. Recently getting active in North Coast Gamers club in the Cleveland, OH area and would like to network there as well. I'm happy to provide my insights to general forum questions here as I've done in the past. Good luck to ALL of you and the best for success in 2012!

Dom DeCaria

I'm quite new to this site, being here for about 3 days, approximately. Currently, I'm working on two board game projects, which are still quite early in the stages of development. My first game, about ship wars, is currently called Navy Wars, but the name is unfinished. The second game, whose name is also unfinished is Ancient Battles, which takes place in a fantasy world. Now, I don't want to reveal too much about my board games, but I feel they'll be quite fun to play. Recently, for my board games, I've been looking for large cardboard pieces that are 60cm x 60cm in perimeter. I also would like to obtain another cardboard piece that is 50cm x 50cm. So, that's it about me. Also, if your wondering, I decided to make a board game while I was setting up a simple game of Risk with my friend. So, here I am, making my board game.

Sincerely,

AlduinSlayer (Yes, I play Skyrim)

I've been a gamer/game designer for as long as I can remember. As a child--with three younger siblings--I tinkered with the few games our family could afford (e.g. chess and checkers, snakes and ladders, go, dominoes), creating new variants and "house" rules to add challenge and keep the experience fresh. The advent of digital gaming did not appeal to me as I was not in a position to tinker with their guts or programming. On the other hand, the emergence of pencil-and-paper role-playing games radically expanded my horizons; I was a "dungeon master" for various game groups for more than thirty years, creating and using all manner of diabolical schemes to entertain my charges. In my professional life as a language teacher, I began to accumulate my now-mammoth collection of activities and games for students. My personal catalogue now includes nearly 1200 items (not including variations), and many--if not most--of these are games. A common shortcoming I discovered with most games in a learning context is that the activity typically responds to a limited range of objectives, is limited in terms of player numbers, often results in the exclusion of players as the game progresses, and can take much more time to determine winners than is available in the classroom. To eliminate or mitigate these issues, I embarked on a mission to create the ultimate language game. I believe I have succeeded, and I'm currently in the process of moving from prototype development into the production and marketing phases. Overall, I would admit that my intellectual life with games has been immeasurably enriched, and it's this benefit which I now seek to share with learners--and gamers--everywhere.