Reviews & Previews of Indie and Kickstarted Games
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.
Fairway recently started a new job. So what better way to celebrate that by taking a look at a game about shirking work! Today, Fairway picks up Work Days by Graviti Entertainment and available from The Game Crafter.
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.
Wanting to relive his more athletic days, Fairway takes a look at Flag Dash, a team v. team board game implementation of the classic, outdoor game capture the flag. See if the game captures Fairway’s heart.
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.
In episode 65, we travel to Oaxaca City and play the part of a crafter, trying to sell handicrafts in the marketplace in the game Oaxaca: Crafts of a Culture.
It’s the perpetual creator question: how much of the art really has to be done before I launch my campaign? In today’s lesson, Dan takes a stab at answering that very question: how much art is enough?
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.
Back when Fairway was younger and Survivor was “new,” he wondered how long he’d last out in the wild. Well, lucky for him, he can now find out. Today, Fairway takes a look at Stranded!, a survival, card game. See if he can outwit/outlast everyone else.
Contributor, Benny Sperling, takes a look at Tasty Minstrel Games’ recent Kickstarter delivery: Yokohama.