Manda Shafer

Conversation last night. Manda: Spends 30 min explaining the lore for a new board game. "...and then the robots -" Matt: "Okay, this is all good background. But what are the mechanics?" Manda: "Listen, the mechanics don't matter right now. The story is important."

Reposting because I don't know how to link.. A discussion about what a degree means and how it relates to game design after playtesting at Harrisubrg University mandashafer.substack.com/p/what-game-...

Caught Mama and one more baby!

Curled up on the couch, keeping warm, and writing down ideas for a new game. I like the paper stage. So nice not being on a computer.

New expansion for Community Cats. The annoying ear tipped elder who knows traps mean food and that he'll be let go. This bugger was a little troublesome this morning.

Many many sets of tokens bagged. Just a little more to go...

I love waking up in the morning with a game design in your head from dreaming.

Seven and a half glue sticks used to glue 600 colony tiles for 50 copies of the game.

I've fallen behind. I only have three sets left to glue, but I have exactly 50 so no room if anything get messed up. My goal was supposed to be to get the rulebook done this week and I have even opened the file.

I'm going to try to make this but not because I'm a publisher or have made a TTRPG yet, but I have aspirations!

Taking a break at making games so I can make Break My Game. About to play a fun battler, watch a hobbit game from afar, and wonder why salmon have so much trouble swimming up the river. Plus this frog blast from the past.

I firmly believe there needs to be more cat games in the world.

I had a lot of fun playtesting Rat King and would highly recommend it for any group looking for a fun, quick game where you try to guess others motives with a little push your luck. And also adorable rats. Looking forward to learning more about the others too!

Five months before the Declaration of Independence was approved, John Hancock purchased a two-year old boy named James.

And now my T-shirt is done! While not a part of the board game, I need it for PaxU to represent.

Got all the dice bags made! I bailed in screen printing to save on time, but the iron ons look cool too!

50+ wooden indicators cut, sanded , cleaned and banded together.

Love to see this. Maybe I'll have to do a western PA themed game now ....

Anyone interested in sharing a full table at Unpub festival next March? Tickets go on sale at noon (Kinda snuck up on me)

Check out my latest ramblings about how you turn real life situations into game mechanics in an educational focused game. www.mindmidden.com/p/real-life-...

Unpub Festival 2027 badges and tables go on-sale tomorrow (10/14) at noon eastern! More info: https://f.mtr.cool/uxzmhpd9mm

There are 237 posts in the Skeleton Code Machine archive. All for free. Nothing paywalled. Enjoy! Make weird games! www.skeletoncodemachine.com

Here's what 1,275 8mm cat cubes look like. Real black cat for scale.

Forgot to share this last week. I talk about blind playtesting Community Cats. www.mindmidden.com/p/blind-play...

This is the last colony location board I need to cut to have 50 games ! (Ignore the five under it. Those are money tokens. Focusing on small victories.)

We have learned of a website (which we are not linking to) that is charging people to pay to play knockoffs of popular board games like Catan, Wingspan, Agricola and more - different names, crappy art, same mechanics.

Today I picked up this girl from the clinic. She was the last cat in her colony to need spayed. She'll need a few days of recovery before going back. This is where I got my idea for the game Community Cats. Trying to help people understand the process and need for TNR.

Trying out all the scenarios again since some rules changed. Desperately trying to get this all settled so I can send some preview copies of Community Cats out. If you do reviews or previews or like to talk about solo games or indie game designers, I'd be happy to send you a copy. DM me.

My new 3D printer makes the sound of a mourning dove and I keep thinking they're nesting in my gutter again. Here's me printing a cat army.

How tall is it? Think you know? Prove it. Height Fight from Barn Boy Games is a family-friendly party game of “reckless confidence” where players arrange cards from shortest to tallest, and argue about it along the way. Congrats on funding! www.kickstarter.com/projects/bar...

I sent it out to clean a mess not make one... 😡

Had a great time repping the Harrisburg Board Game Alliance at the Stuff to Do Fair. Talked about our events, other game meet ups, what modern hobby games are, local designers, and played a round of Color Jam. So many people!

I'm selling my old Qidi X-pro 3d printer. It's in good shape. About 6 years old. It will need new nozzles. It started to be more maintenance than I wanted to handle. It's a dual extruder. Feel free to ask me anything. $250 obo. It's too heavy to ship so pick up in Harrisburg.

Just finished In Memoriam by Alice Winn audiobook. Haunting, but so good. I highly recommend it. (It ends as okay as it could. I had to look online for spoilers before I finished it.)

Current status of the game room. I guess it's not just for playing games now, but for making games too.

Help me settle an argument. Player 1 has a card in play that says if Player 2 plays an X card, Player 1 gets Y. Whose job is it to make sure that happens?

A Kelpien, a Bynar, and an Edosian walk into Ten Forward.....

Hey local folks, I'm trying to sell my scooter! If you know anyone looking for a great deal, let me know. Very low mileage.

Five. Count them five solo blind playtesting at one time. I think it's a record.

Everyone loves to color so there's no excuse not to back Color Jam: A Print-and-Puzzle Coloring Game on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/lun...

So I called the game Community Cats, then only put one cat on the box. So I went back to the artist and asked her to draw two more. The left is Six, who passed away a few months ago. We still have Luna (on right) at home. It's nice to see all my kitties together again.

Had a really good playtest at Break My Game tonight. I think mechanics are set, just need to work on balance and my teach.

Break My Game Wednesday or as I like to call it, the day I print way too many copies of a game then have to throw them all out for the next iteration.

Made the front page of the newspaper again. Nailed it!

Newest copy of Tumulus came in . Definitely going to dig this one. @exeunt.press let me know next time you need a photo of retro gaming stuff.

Got some sample boxes for Community Cats and I think these will work! Any feedback?