Taylor Shuss

Playtesting!

Went to Medieval Times with the boyfriend recently, and while they claimed the show is historically accurate I'm not sure I believe them... Care to weigh in @danthurot.bsky.social @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social?

Me, when someone mentions a new game I've already heard of: Oh I saw that at/on [convention/website]. I hear about new releases because I go to cons and read gaming news. Me, when someone mentions a new game I haven't heard of: There are just so many releases these days, keeping up is impossible!

Taylor Shuss reposted

thedial.worldThe Lucrative World of Literary Scams — The DialWhy writers are the perfect target.

On one hand, I have a hard time believing this could work on game designers for a variety of reasons. On the other hand, believing we are immune is exactly how this happens. I know how hungry some fresh designers can be, so please be cautious out there and trust your gut!

Oisín McGann@oisinmcgann.bsky.social

If you’re an author who’s been receiving verbose AI scam emails on a daily basis, and you’re wondering how gullible and ego-driven people think you are, this article helps to explain them. Sadly, they are successful enough to have been built into a big business. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

thedial.worldThe Lucrative World of Literary Scams — The DialWhy writers are the perfect target.

Oisín McGann@oisinmcgann.bsky.social

store.steampowered.comSave 10% on Car Park Capital on SteamThe car industry needs you to design and build the greatest car parks that simple town life hasn't seen before. Introduce the need for car commuting and turn neighborhoods into car parks! Use propagan...

Got a few hours into @hilkojj.nl's brilliant Car Park Capital and I love what it's doing. Very tongue-in-cheek but it has so much fun pointing out the little ways car dependency can make our lives miserable. Take a look below! store.steampowered.com/app/3031880/...

Sticky Doodler ⏭️ These Games Are Not For Sale

Truth be told I am rubbish at these kinds of games, but having fun putting these cruel feedback loops into play to give myself untold profit There is an interesting question - is making this activity fun incentivizing people to not care? With how normalized it is, I feel like any spotlight is good.

Taylor Shuss reposted

@stickydoodler.bsky.social

It's the last week of the Color Jam Kickstarter: if you haven't pledged, now's the time! Just $8 for unlimited puzzley goodness: www.kickstarter.com/projects/lun...

kickstarter.comColor Jam: A Print-and-Puzzle Coloring GameEnjoy cozy and clever coloring at your next game night. Craft the story of each hand-illustrated picture with creative color choices!

kickstarter.comRune Rite Flip-and-Write GameSharpen your quill and unstopper your inkwell! In this flip-and-write game for 1-5 players, you'll conjure your own polyominoes to win.

Some cool new projects from friends dropped today. Let's take a look at a few? Rune Rite is a polyomino creating filp & write that uses it's components very cleverly. This one looks rad tho I may be biased, having signed a game with @amanpossessed.bsky.social. 🤭 www.kickstarter.com/projects/sea...

gamefound.comPACT by Wulfhorn Games - GamefoundA sudden death, a kingdom on the brink. You have a rare chance to make pacts with key groups and make the future of Branchbourne yours

Next up is @zhoekstra.bsky.social's PACT. This one has big time Root vibes and I am kind of digging it. The worldbuilding has me intrigued and I am itching to give this a try sometime. gamefound.com/en/projects/...

kickstarter.comPONDUS: An Analog Wizard GameYou're a wandering wizard on the hunt for the orbs of power in this domino magic battle royale adventure game.

And our last game is @hinokodo.com's Pondus. This domino-based game has a clean look to it I want to love. So stylish I wish I could wear the game! Not enough games use dominos gosh darnit! www.kickstarter.com/projects/mim...

When pitching to publishers, how different is pitching TTRPGs versus board games? And how much does more than just a book/extra components complicate things? Asking for a friend.

Just so people are aware - Godzilla Minus Zero tickets are live in the US for early November!

spacebiff.comAgain, Opium War, AgainWhen Cole Wehrle first unveiled An Infamous Traffic way back in 2016, it was a scrappy little devil. Not only was it Wehrle’s second design, it was also the earliest releases from Hollandspie…

That final paragraph is 👨‍🍳💋👌

Dan Thurot@danthurot.bsky.social

I'm relieved to report that the long-awaited second edition of An Infamous Traffic is even better than the original — in gameplay, in narrative, in clarity. My preview: spacebiff.com/2026/10/05/a...

This is rad as hell.

Leder Games@leder.games

We're big fans of local Saint Paul band Alligator Orchestra. After hearing songs they wrote about Root, we commissioned them to record a Kart theme song. They came back with "Don't Look Down!", two minutes of raucous pop-punk that's perfect for Kart's reckless downhill races.

After months of mostly playing with silly dexterity games, most of my new projects are on longer, more involved strategy games... Why does it already feel like a mistake? 😅🫠

Always Awake Games (Connor) 🔜 PaxU

oh man i have to make this game good don't I? 😬

Taylor Shuss reposted

@connor.alwaysawake.games

Only a few hours left to back Out of Sorts! www.kickstarter.com/projects/alw... And checkout the ks video! It’s got all of my favourite moments from the playthrough.

21 Sept

Far too many people write off dexterity games because they feel silly to play. While that is true (and great!), as a genre they allow for unparalleled skill expression. And their barrier to entry is so low it makes them supremely accessible too Don't sleep on dexterity games - they are such a joy!

youtube.comCan I get into the Top 100 of tiddlywinks in one day?YouTube video by Tom Scott

21 Sept

And of course here is the recent Tom Scott that inspired me saying this out loud: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQqV...

16 Sept

What an unusual IP to bring into tabletop. As a casual fan of this YouTube channel, it was not something I was expecting to pop up. But at least Max sounds knowledgeable about modern hobby games. And Michael has a ton of credits - so maybe it'll actually be good???

kickstarter.comKartCrash through the neighborhood with Kart, a new tabletop racing game for 2-4 players!

15 Sept

Big congrats on the day one funding to all the fine folks over at @leder.games! @alita-robertson.bsky.social's game looks fantastic and the production looks great - what an amazing debut for a designer! www.kickstarter.com/projects/led...

15 Sept

Just found a perplexing Kickstarter that: - I suspect is using AI on their campaign page - has a google doc at the bottom which shows their past campaign's numbers Why use AI for this? And why leave a raw link to your crowdfunding data? Nothing sensitive is present - but why is it there at all?

14 Sept

Anyone else getting the constant loading of BGG pages? Been several days and they seem to *keep* loading & reloading nonstop.

14 Sept

To those about to crowdfund tomorrow, I salute you. 🫡 I got up and saw 6+ emails all saying they are launching tomorrow.

Taylor Shuss reposted

13 Sept

a publisher just pulled a slick move on me me: so there's this game of mine i think would fit well in your catalog pub: looks cool me: so how about we meet at a con in 3 months? i could send it your way now, but it isn't urgent pub: well if the game is awesome then isn't it kinda urgent? 😏

@chris.eternalstudios.com

13 Sept

Taylor Shuss reposted

Chris Lawrence 🔜 PAXU

Now that I've attended every (in-person) indie game market at least once, I wanted to share my thoughts on each of them. I sold Propaganda, Coupon Clipper, and/or Tricked Out at each market. Coupon Clipper is a more typical game, while Propaganda and Tricked Out are more out there.

I want a political drama book/manga set in the world of G Gundam where it shows how they landed on the Gundam Fight versus the other potential alternatives to end war between nations. It'll never happen, but a man can dream.

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And finally - what kind of event could lead to something like the Gundam Fight starting in the first place? I'm guessing some WWI level event, maybe with more than a few nukes - which would also help explain the sorry state Earth is in Not quite congruent with MS development but it could get there!

Anyways those are my ramblings on why I think a manga or book set right before the inaugural Gundam Fights could be compelling. It has a surprising amount of the classic Gundam hallmarks and it's set in an existing Gundam AU. Imagine Shin Godzilla but for G Gundam! Bandai - feel free to reach out 😉

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It would also be a great place to add in an old school Shuffle Alliance - trying to help the world make progress. Perhaps they are even treated as villains, and our protagonist is being backed by big business since the regulations on Earth are super tight but in space it's still the wild west.

Seeing an early Gundam Fight would be a real treat. Early versions of the rules might tinker with lethality more casually so we can envision how they get to the ruleset for GF 13 in the show.

Always Awake Games (Connor) 🔜 PaxU

I can totally envision the many different paths to peace they would pitch, and our protagonist is there trying to pitch his bright idea of robots fighting on Earth. The colonies hadn't left for space yet, or had *just* gotten into space so maybe the class divide starts off less stark but gets wider

Taylor Shuss reposted

@connor.alwaysawake.games

8 Sept

Out of Sorts is live on Kickstarter! www.kickstarter.com/projects/alw...

kickstarter.comOut of Sorts - Second EditionWork together to sort the strange books in an alien's library

Taylor Shuss reposted

4 Sept

They announced a new PAX Unplugged - that's seems great to me. Shows growth in tabletop, and interesting they are branding it explicitly as another "Unplugged" event. But Texas? While closer to me (in SoCal), not high on my list. Wonder if PAX U will be rebranded to PAX U- Philly?

4 Sept

2 Sept

Been ages since I Rooted. This new faction was a good time, and having little idea how my opponent's factions worked was a fun surprise. Somehow I even took the W - not totally sure how but I'll take it!

1 Sept

This one is really shaping up. Turns out tricking people to play Candyland is easier than I would have guessed! 🤣

31 Aug

I figured filling out BGG news with new releases would be the easy part of WEM leaving, and then finding a voice with their blog would be harder. But somehow BGG is gradually finding their voice via blogging, and their news portion remains a shell of its former self.

20sided-gamified-llc.comPodcast | 20 Sided Gamified

31 Aug

Recently I was a guest on the 20 Sided Gamified podcast hosted by Jared Fishman. We talked about Stonewall, Walkable City, and more! www.20sided-gamified-llc.com/podcast/epis...

Taylor Shuss reposted

Johnny Chin

@gamemarketwest.bsky.social

25 Aug

ANNOUNCEMENT: Fall 2026 games are now available! I'm proud of the designers and their hard work to make these games come to life. www.gamemarketwest.com/fall-2026-ga... #boardgamesky #ttrpg

Taylor Shuss reposted

BoardGame Animal 🐕

@boardgameanimal.bsky.social

17 Aug

A long time coming, reshoots, & many other challenges later…it’s here! Revisiting the 2025 IGNM games… Here’s to 2026 🍻 youtu.be/9D2_2vfzN2w?... Ft games from @nickferris.bsky.social @fanfactories.bsky.social @cardboardedison.com @drawnonward.bsky.social & more~

Every time I mention a game design problem I am grappling with to non-designers, I always hear the same piece of advice. "Make a deck with random events!" How did this come to be such a widely known tool? Why do I hear it as a solution so often?

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Most non-designers don't have a rolodex of mechanisms on hand. And because of that they jump to the one game mechanic they know well - a deck of cards. Everybody understands how those work. Due to that, they can envision how that could maybe solve the desired problem.

Or at least that's why I think I hear it so often. For the record, I am not knocking Event decks - they can be great in the right context! But that context is key. And for advice I always hear that's a step or two higher than event decks? Asymmetric player powers... 😱

As far as I can recall, there really isn't a standout mass market game that highlights this mechanism. Monopoly, Clue, Operation, Battleship, Stratego - none of these have anything of the sort. I'm sure it's in some mass market titles but I suspect something different is at play here.

14 Aug

Thanks so much for playing! 💖 No idea how someone would get a pentagon, but that's just the magic of the game. 🛫✨

Magically Lazy (they/them)@magicallylazy.bsky.social

Got around to playing Fold & Fly by Taylor Shuss @drawnonward.bsky.social with a large group. Got this at last year's PAXU Indie Games Night Market. So excited to see what I get this year. Someone somehow made a pentagon shape out of their plane this time and I am uncertain how they even did that 🤣

12 Aug

100%ed Big Walk and it's stellar. Super well-done and never outstays its welcome - the confidence on display is fantastic to take in. Get some friends together & play it!

Taylor Shuss@drawnonward.bsky.social

Having hit credits I can say Big Walk is big fun. Easy recommend if you have some friends to chill & puzzle with.