Game Project:

I’ve been designing board games with a friend for about a year now. He introduced me to modern board games, and things got out of hand. I still haven’t played Magic or Catan, but I think I’ve had a thorough introduction to games. For some time, I could not get enough of Netrunner; then Dominion, then Undaunted (my first war game!), and now, Lisboa and Obsession.

Our current project is a tiny game that fits in a mint tin. There’s a few contests for these mini-games, and we’ve got one ready next time a contest opens. I think it’s very thematic, i.e., it’s difficult, even frustrating at times, just like my beekeeping experience has been.

Here’s a pic of one of the cards. I spent some time researching sources of nectar; what time of year they produced nectar, and what color honey their nectar produced. Some of this research made it into the game.

My prototyping skills are improving each time I work on a new game. My partner has better skills at mechanics and rule creation, and he seems to be leaving more of the design part to me. We are both big fans of complex Euro games but our design abilities aren’t there yet.