December was dark and grey; with January came snow. Great time of year for playing and creating boardgames! Not only do I have the luxury of not stressing about a day job, but I also have kids that are now old enough to play the kind of games I enjoy. So I’ve had lots of good crunchy fun developing my games-in-progress further.
Over Christmas I participated in a playtest day with a Danish publisher, showcasing three of my designs. While none of them align with the type of games the company is currently pursuing, it was a fun opportunity to pitch and play my games and talk with other game designers. And who knows, maybe a future project will be a perfect match.
Cards for Gotlandia and Draw Stranger arrived after New Year. They had arrived to Sweden before Christmas, but Swedish postal service closed down due to snow and public holidays so it took a little while. But they finally arrived at my doorstep and the printer had once again done a great job. So the last two weeks have been busy with playtesting.
Gotlandia
For Gotlandia, I had done a major rehaul of the visual design. I needed players new to the game to asses what worked and what needed further work. Things also always look different on a screen and even a printout at home, so I could also easily come up with a long list of issues to fix.
One player was thinking out loud as she played the game which was very helpful to pick out terms that was hard to remember or easy to mix up. Another player I gave feedback on the written rules. From fellow game designers I got lots of detailed feedback on the visual design and the feel and flow of the game. The game is already fun to play and easy to learn so it’s nitpicking towards making the greatest version of the game that I can do.
The detailed and constructive feedback gave lots of inspiration to further tweak and test the game. So next up is to do another revision of the cards for a next print run. Next deadline is to have a version ready for LinCon in May (and hopefully a part of the SAGA event).
Draw Stranger!
Draw Stranger is a 17 card micro game that I came up with while driving home from Denmark last summer. Gunslingers duel it out in the Old West. Who draws first? Who hits? Who brought a knife to a gunfight? Play the game and find out!
It’s easy to pitch, you can play it with a stranger on the bus or on a first date. There is enough luck that anyone can win on their first play. There is enough skill that you know you can do better next time you play now you know the cards. And it plays fast.
I’ve pitched and played Draw Stranger with lots of people over the last many weeks. I’m happy with how the game plays.
The latest version improves readability. I might do further visual updates, but the next major thing is to revise the rules. While it’s easy to teach the game in person, it is hard to write the rules so that people can learn to play just from reading. I have handed out copies to get feedback on the rules but also just as a fun and unique present.
My son has one copy and plays it in school. He played it with his new math teacher which turned out also to be into games. So it definitely works as a fast and fun ice breaker.
Draw stranger is my second candidate for the SAGA event.
Churches of Gotland
I was inspired to take out Churches of Gotland from the drawer and playtest a few variants after playing Sushi Go. Sushi Go was the almond gift for our Christmas dinner and we got it to the table during the holidays. It’s a great set collection game that is easy to learn and fun to play and with good anticipation and indirect interaction with the other players.
Churches of Gotland is a set collection card game I did to create a fun family game that is also a great souvenir. In this case, a souvenir from the Swedish island of Gotland, but the game mechanics are generic so you can do games for any holiday destination. The design is from 2024 and I had shelved it for a while as there was some issues when playing four players. It could happen that one player didn’t get to put down even a single set during the game. Even if you don’t win, you should feel that you accomplished something in the game. So I wanted to fix that.
I increased the likelihood of completing the larger sets. I also have all players draw one card before then passing a card left, a little bit more like drafting. So far the changes feel good. Ready for more playtesting!
Ad Astra per Aspera
That’s it for now. I hope you had a great boardgame season so far. Games are best when played in person with other people!
If you know any publisher who is looking for cool games to publish, send them my way! Creating games is so fun that I would love to do it for a living. Except for all the boring parts. Like distribution and sales.