I think and write a lot about accessibility of strategy games. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, I love them and want more people to play them. I think strategy gaming scratches an intellectual itch (the desire to see a plan come together, the balancing of timing and resources, the original narrative [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Design'
House Rules
November 30th, 2011 · 4 Comments · Board Games, Design, Modding
I think most of us encountered our first house rule without even knowing it was one. We’d be playing Monopoly with friends or families, because we were too young to have good taste in games or friends, and we all used the Free Parking rule – taxes and Chance/Community chest money went into the center [...]
Tags:
Stories within Systems: Why Randomness Matters
November 24th, 2011 · 15 Comments · Design
This post is mostly thinking out loud. So please fill the comments with your own insights. Though the idea Chick Parabola predated Tom Chick’s eloquent discussion of early in Three Moves Ahead history, the core idea speaks to a hardcore understanding of what strategy games are all about. Like chess or Go or Little Wars, [...]
Tags:
Hey There, Little Buddy: The Sphere of Influence
October 23rd, 2011 · 6 Comments · Design
Spheres of Influence are one of those diplomatic conceits that strategy games try to recognize but have trouble really bringing to life, and there’s a good reason for this. A sphere of influence isn’t “real” in the sense that an alliance or a vassal status is, though it supersedes both of those. A sphere of [...]
Tags:
Road to Enlightenment, Gateway to Learning
October 13th, 2011 · 3 Comments · Board Games, Design, History
I am playing quite a few betas right now, but I don’t want to talk about them. Mostly because I can’t, they are connected to work and clients and there are real serious beta testers doing their jobs and anything I say would muck up the whole thing. I will say that I am privileged [...]
Tags:
One If By Sea. And Maybe Another Later.
September 21st, 2011 · 2 Comments · Design, Firaxis
Unlike Champ over here, I don’t have F1 2011 yet. So, I decompressed last night with Civilization V, a game I haven’t really spent a lot of time with lately because its tactical military issues were never quite resolved to my satisfaction. Re-reading Todd Brakke’s thoughtful (and frustrating) game diaries over at No High Scores [...]
Tags:
