Circle The Circus in the Grove – A Conversation With … Steven Aramini

  I’m BACK! And now a proud member of The Indie Game Report network. This time out I’m talking to Steven Aramini. Steven is the hot designer at the moment. He just had TWO successful Kickstarters (Barker’s Row and Circle The Wagons) and two more going on right now (Groves and Coin & Crown). Steven and I have a real nice talk about those games and some of his game design philosophy. I hope you enjoy it.

Therapeutic Meeples: Depression and Heroes

I was impacted by the news of Chris Cornell’s death. Soundgarden had been one of my favorite bands as a teenager, them and Pearl Jam. So a lot of my developmental history was framed by those bands, also by delving into DC hardcore bands like Fugazi, Bad Brains. In many ways these bands shaped who I am as a professional in mental health and also a board game designer.

Fairway Thoughts: Grove’s Bag Building

Today, Fairway reflects on the very clever “Bag Building” game mechanism used by co-contributors Steven Aramini and Dan Letzring in their upcoming Kickstarter game, Groves. This peculiar variation on the common deck-building or deck-optimization mechanisms results in some fantastic game play. So fantastic, it’s worth exploring in a bit more detail.

Fairway Thoughts: How to get the best possible review

Fairway regularly hangs out in the chat on The Game Crafter. A very common question from new designers is how to get your new game reviewed. It’s a common question on game design groups on Facebook too.  Those discussion often answer the “who” question, which quickly devolves to linking to this list of reviewers. What doesn’t really get answered is: how to get the “best” review of your new game or your upcoming, crowd-funded game.