On today’s episode of the Ark Nova Design Teardown, Isaac goes through the turn structure of Ark Nova, discussing what works, what doesn’t, and how exactly to define what the game is. Runedk93’s “I analysed 10,000 games of Ark Nova”: https://www.reddit.com/r/ArkNova/comments/1e3t63c/i_analysed_10000_games_of_ark_nova/ Dori Adar’s “ABS – The Formula for Building Games”: https://medium.com/ironsource-levelup/abs-the-formula-for-building-games-about-building-9f4fb8ce6396 If you have any »more
-
We Got Played #4: Kingdom Builder!
Today on We Got Played, we take a look at one of two Spiel des Jahres winning board games from Donald X. Vaccarino, Kingdom Builder! Does it deserve the hype and awards? Tune in to find out!
-
Ark Nova Design Teardown #2: Scoring
On today’s episode of the Ark Nova design teardown, Isaac breaks down the game’s scoring system. He goes through the different types of points, how the game handles each one, and how they managed the transition from the physical prints of Ark Nova to the digital port. What works about the game’s scoring system? What »more
-
We Got Played #3: Duelosaur Island!
Today on We Got Played, we channel our inner Spielberg and play a game about making our very own dinosaur park: Duelosaur Isand! We’re big fans of the theme, so does the game live up to it? Tune in to find out!
-
Ark Nova Design Teardown #1: Introduction
Today on We Got Played, Isaac introduces you to a new series: The Ark Nova Design Teardown! In this lengthy series, Isaac goes through each element of Ark Nova’s design to gain some insight into how games are designed, and what makes those designs successful.
-
Drowning in Gold: The Kickstarter Menace
Welcome back! We’re going to cover the impacts of Kickstarter on the 3-tier system in this post. You can go back and read about the 3-tier system, and the impacts of online game stores and mass-market stores on the industry in our previous posts. Scaling Up When Kickstarter launched in 2009 nobody realized how much »more
-
Drowning In Gold: The Mass Market Strikes Back
In previous installments we covered the basics of the 3-tier system, and how online game stores (OLGS) began to disrupt the traditional model. This time we’ll take a look at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and Target, and how they’ve changed the industry. Amazon: Mass Market, or The Largest OLGS? In the early 2000s, Amazon »more
-
Drowning in Gold: The Rise of Online Game Stores
Welcome back. In our last post we covered the basics landscape of the three-tier system of retail distribution. This time, we’ll turn our attention to some of the early disruptions to this system. Online Game Stores (OLGS) In the early 2000s, brick-and-mortar (B&M) board game retailers everywhere started facing increasing competition from online stores. Various »more
-
Drowning in Gold: How Too Many Games Are Breaking The Three-Tier System
As we turn over from one year to the next, and perhaps from one decade to the next, depending one who you ask, I wanted to share reflections on the tabletop industry itself, and how that will impact consumers, designers, publishers, and everyone involved in making and playing board games. This is the first in »more
-
Design Patterns: Perpendicular Constraints
There’s a useful term in project management called the Critical Path, which is defined as the least amount of time needed to complete some multi-step operation. A project manager tries to figure out how to sequence tasks in a way that is most efficient and wastes the least amount of time. Eurogames offer a similar »more