We’re pinning down the exact wording but “Creative Graphic Designer” is floating around. I’m basically an in-house art and graphics guy.
Art director by day and board game designer by any other time (Stalk Exchange, The Night Cage, Portents), let’s talk design and make our hobbies better, he/him, BLM
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We’re pinning down the exact wording but “Creative Graphic Designer” is floating around. I’m basically an in-house art and graphics guy.
It’s official! Today is my first day at Kids Table Board Gaming. We’re going to make so much cool stuff!
I’ve got those too!
It would dance and barf up cubes that eventually convert into honey.
Yeah! I like that.
Then maybe it wants to be different games about the same moment in history? The most interesting promise of an anthology is what its content has in common.
I like this concept a lot, but it feels like it would benefit from a flexible shared system (like COIN, etc) rather than a series of fully novel designs to thrive in an anthology format.
I just registered last week as well! See you there.
If I ever taught a game design course Dan’s critical theory on games would be required reading.
Yes! The way we use “Theme” to talk about how we style and set games frustrates the heck out of me because it mostly disregards what they are about and how we evoke that experience at the table. 🎲✂️
This is such a delightful homage!
I'm glad you liked it! I'm also tickled pink by you captured the art style in this strip.
#BlockCollective is a volunteer-run community with the united goal of sharing resources and information, disrupting bigoted spaces, and serious engagement on the topic of trans rights. Please join us as we help shape the boardgame industry into a safer and inclusive space. 🎲✂️ discord.gg/D7E6gqwrRF
I’m real glad I pre-ordered it!
Hey! Rad. I’m also relatively new to the Toronto scene. Hit me up for board game playtesting sometime.
The unwritten rules one was a hard lesson about incentives.
Literally, the entire card.
Congrats!
I’ve been working on this issue for a bit with a game of mine called Possums in a Trench Coat.
One of these days I will make a D100 work.
Of course when I was writing about fixing a rulebook I made a typo. “left out a problem…”
This is a great article. After reading it I fixed problem in a rulebook I hadn’t even realized was there. Fragile elements in a modern game rulebook do not need to be subtext, they are opportunities to set expectations about a game’s tone and intent.
Recently signed up and I really appreciate that you made this.
I’ll be there with a few prototypes. The main ones are Canal Street Awakening, a mahjong inspired game about the 1982 Chinatown garment worker strike, and Too Many Chrises, an I-cut-you-choose/sudoku game about seating a bunch of people easily confused people at a wedding.
Datamerge on InDesign is pretty critical for me any time I make cards.
Cabanga goes from pleasant to genuinely fun because of the rule that you must take a penalty card if you play on the same color that was just played.
I’m intrigued.
🎲✂️ Designers how well do you really know your game? We’re updating our pitch guidance and want to highlight the key questions a designer should be able to answer when submitting. Our working list attached : What would you add? #boardgames 🎲✂️
When you make your own garden veggie cream cheese you can put as many garden veggies into it as you want
Thanks! It was a little bit of both. The game is definitely more complex than my other stuff, but the biggest challenge was organizing the flow of a few key concepts.
Finally finished a complete draft of a rulebook I started 2 months ago. It's never taken me this long to put together rules for something I'd pitch but travel, iteration, and a lot of self-doubt really drew this one out. I'm going to have a root beer float or something to celebrate now. 🎲✂️
I’ll be there!
And this is how I end up with other LoTR game on my shelf. Congrats!
Yeah that part is harder.
Coming back to a game after a long break makes it a lot easier fix balance issues and to identify the stuff that was unnecessarily balanced. 🎲✂️
Check out our interview with @xopherchan.bsky.social from a few weeks ago: youtube.com/live/6soJZXz...
If your Self-Doubt asks, "Is 7 prototypes enough?" when you're packing for a convention the answer is always: "Yes, shut-up." 🎲✂️
Late w/my @unpub.bsky.social 2025 recap, but in the darkest timeline a little light is always relevant. Spending 4 days with this roving village of game designers is one of the most joyous events of the year for me. I’d trade all the spring/summer holidays for more. And it only works b/c of you.🎲✂️
📌
That makes me so happy!
We’ll find another time! It was really good feedback, but your perspective as an early tester at some point in the future would be incredibly valuable.
Hey Unpub goers! I’m set up at K6 with Threading the Needle (my mahjong garment worker game). I’ll be here until 6:30. Stop by! 🎲✂️
🎲✂️ Tonight at 9 PM ET on the Meeple Syrup Show, the triple threat @xopherchan.bsky.social talks about pitching via video. @drayerink.bsky.social is travelling, so it'll just be @senfoonglim.bsky.social at the helm! Join the chat at www.facebook.com/MeepleSyrup or www.youtube.com/MeepleSyrup
On the road to Unpub! Not saying I didn’t pack a rotary cutter and a bunch of hole punches but not saying I didn’t either.
After playing it at #Breakout with @xopherchan.bsky.social , my copy of #StalkExchange has arrived. I pulled out an old dice bag to make the greenhouse bag a little bigger.
So far, every single interaction I’ve had with the Canadian equivalent of the DMV has been much faster and easier than anything I ever had to do in the states.
Day 3 at Breakout was basically all demoes until the con was over. It was an honor to share my published stuff this so much the convention. On the prototyping side I only got 2 playtests of my own stuff in but I’m proud to report I played 6 other designers games. Looking forward to next year!
hey @xopherchan.bsky.social look what was on the front page of BoardGameArena today!
It was very good! Somebody should sign this game in the near future.
Day 2 at Breakout 2025 has been really busy for me. I did 2 panels and 2 demo sessions today. One where I moderated a discussion on games in education and one on game design 101. It’s been a delightful experience so far and, as usual, I forgot to take pictures at all today.
You're telling me I can play a @xopherchan.bsky.social game in my browser? Stalk Exchange on BGA!
It definitely doesn’t hurt! Just remember that 2 of the 4 scores we give relate to Originality.
Congrats! I didn’t get to judge yours, but to respond to your points, language independence is not one of the key metrics. It’s a bonus b/c clarity helps any submission in a big way, but the first 3 points you made are more important. Theme is an explicit metric supported by points 1 & 3.
Had my first meet up with a new playtest group in Toronto last night and got to try out a new investment game I’ve had in a drawer (yes, another one). I’m tentatively calling this one Witch Way. It’s loosely inspired by Trax and is basically a train game for people who don’t like trains or math. 🎲✂️
I’m working on a game about the 1982 NYC Chinatown garment worker strike that poses several definitions of victory including multi-victor. It’s rewarding but, it’s been one of the hardest elements to design the game towards.
I was cleaning out a folder and found this old board for Stalk Exchange and got all nostalgic. That game branched at least 4 times as I was figuring it out thanks to the most regular and frequent playtest schedule I’ve ever had. Community like that is truly special. Don’t take it for granted. 🎲✂️
I am here for Vibes and I am thrilled you’re putting it out there!
Finally back from GAMA after a spot of car trouble. I'm looking forward to doing follow-ups, and working through a big, inspiration fueld post-con to do. And I definitely, definitely will not put any of that off to watch every @cardboardedison.com finalist pitch video.
It uses a pick and pass these days so tiles are, unfortunately, impractical.
I have not, but I’ll put it on my reading list!
Is there a specific start time for your meetups? I will absolutely send him your way.
Well, you caught me.
One of my old teachers is getting into game design and needs to find a playtest group. Does anyone know of any groups I could direct them to in Rochester, NY? 🎲✂️
My first sighting of Stalk Exchange at Barnes & Noble! (It’s even right next to The Night Cage!) 🎲✂️
I think it’s being recorded.
A bit of obligatory self-promotion. Stop by and see me at GAMA next week if you want to learn a bit about pitch videos! 🎲✂️
I feel this in my gut. I had to cull a bunch of old protos when we moved out of Detroit. The worst part was the sleeved cards. Those are still mostly a disorganized mess in a box somewhere.
I’ve been reading a lot of job descriptions lately and just had this moment where I to wondered what the description for “freelance board game designer” would look like on a job board. I’d write one but it’s 1AM and I don’t feel like warding off imposter syndrome so how would you describe it? 🎲✂️
I snipped open my first bag of milk this morning! Am I Canadian now?
We should form a game designer book club just for this book.
Ha! I think we took almost the same picture of that book today.
Good luck!
Which one?
I think it’s going to take more than a tagline to solve this problem. If you aren’t open to changing the theme, a more lighthearted title would go a long way. “Mummy Tag”, for instance, is too on the nose, but at least indicates a family friendly intent.
Best mail I’ve gotten in a while! I’m so excited to dig into this one @amabel.bsky.social
InDesign is life. But also how are you not losing your mind doing body text editing in Illustrator? Vwry interested to hear about that workflow.
🔴Live now! I'll be unboxing, teaching, playing, and then reboxing Stalk Exchange by @xopherchan.bsky.social from @theop.games with @bookofnerds.bsky.social 📺 www.twitch.tv/panda8ngel
It’s a minimum of 15, but if you have the time/will you can do more. Last year I did 45.
Cardboard Edison judging has begun and I’m so excited to watch these pitches! If you entered, I hope you know you’re the fun thing I’m doing to put off the other less fun stuff I should be doing for the next couple weeks. 🎲✂️
Played a game of Spirit Island today and the friend I was playing it with pointed out that it pulls off a magic trick: you always feel like you’re going to lose but you mostly win. For a 2-3 hour co-op game, that’s a solid design goal. I’m fine w/losing, but winning invests me after that much time.
I’ll still be at plenty of cons!
This is all amazing! Thank you so much!
Yes please! Is there a discord or a site where those nights are listed?
Yep! And if you know any playtesting groups that could use another Chris, I’d be happy to check them out.
Today was the last day at my job AND the last week before I move to Canada. It's scary, but for the first time in 10 years I don't have a contract to prevent me from freelancing. Hit me up with your art direction, illustration, and/or game design gigs! www.chrischan.land 🎲✂️
I am entering my disco era. Send me your recommendations.
Hey, the first chapter is available as a preview on the website if you want an overview of the book's whole deal, and the vibe.
I am so here for this!
Hi, I continue to be a sucker.
I just bought some print ads I worked on years ago off of ebay. It's equal parts annoying that I never got a physical copy from the agency and cool that people would want to sell them.
I apply a bit of a job interview or first date mentality to it. You try to show the best side and make a good first impression. But you don’t let it get you down b/c more often than not, it’s a matter of personality/fit than some objective notion of quality.
Oh hi! I’ve got a little article in this year’s best practices and I hope you give it a read!
Ducks would try to install quacks into key positions. Ants would try to keep everyone in line. Centipedes would always be trying to get a leg up on their rivals. Sheep would bleet loudly about causes but always follow. Wolves would pretend to be sheep but extort them. Geese would be anarchists.
As someone who mostly takes notes on a phone, I’ve forced myself to keep my design journal for the garment workers game purely physical and to use cursive when I write in it. I don’t know if this is helping or hurting the process, but it is making it feel more personal and specific. 🎲✂️
Cardboard Edison is one of the finest awards in unpublished game design. Even if you don’t win you walk away with a lot of high quality feedback and bunch of pitch materials for your game. Do yourself a solid and submit a design this year!
I'm really terrible about posting anything during the holidays— and you can be, too! It's really ok. Spend time with your loved ones and tell the world about it later, or not at all!
I support this and am excited to see this game.
I only started using it in April this year! I also have historically avoided putting cards for no particular or related reason whatsoever.
Did you gag, too?
I made it to Philly. Let’s play some board games!