Sam Francis (Samphire Games)

I've got a few new followers and now that Poll & Write Clacton is complete, it's time to reintroduce myself! I'm a boardgame designer with four PnP games completed, and my first box game on the horizon: www.kickstarter.com/projects/sam...

So much of game design is shaped by the commercial and economic environment. Kickstarter and Meta ads are some of the latest versions of this. TV theme tunes replaced by vertical video ads... (Great thread below!)

Who knew the current teen boy cut was 16th-century Irish kern chic? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kern_(s...

Though I couldn’t attend Spiel, @thespiel.bsky.social made it possible to have our games demoed at the ongoing @spiel_messe The Hunt, Ubi, Oya One More and Land of Resistance are all on the table. If you are in Essen, please check out Booth: Hall 4, C-100 #Spiel #NIBCARDGames #TheSpielFoundation

At Essen? Post a pic of your favourite stand! Looking for inspiration for my exhibitions next year...

Interested in this. Did D&D get cool because the kids grew up and got old and were still playing it, and ttrpgs are fun? Or did the blossoming coolness of video games (which were uncool too in 1998?) bring D&D up with it?

We come back to the idea of Execs who really don't understand art or why people make art, in any way, finding ways to absolutely annihilate those that do, in a death of a thousand cuts and then one big 400-person cut. It's heartbreaking. The western games industry kills a NIntendo every year.

Everyone clock off now – today's internet is complete

I just backed Period Party: A Chaotic Trick-Taking Game on Kickstarter www.kickstarter.com/projects/thu...

Oo, new social deduction game idea. You're trying to be outrageous in a radical party, but some or all of you might be undercover reporters trying to get a story. (Not a far-right game where you're trying to out-racist each other though 🫪)

We need more resilient publishers in hobby boardgames. A huge number are private companies highly dependent on one entrepreneur. Most of the rest are small studios that exist at the whim of big owners, like Osprey was.

Always curious about the business models of board game cafes!

"lesbian" being a shadowbanned word on so many places is wild. I'm trying to promote my minis of lesbians defeating the nazis and THE ROBOTS DO NOT LIKE IT www.kickstarter.com/projects/bad...

Working at Osprey was, for the most part, truly excellent. The care and attention of some wonderful colleagues were driven by a love of games and the people we hoped would play them; combine that with the excellence and wonder that our dozens of designers and illustrators poured into... 1/2

I spoke with two members of @uwotc-official.bsky.social's newest unions just after the publisher declined voluntary recognition. The workers are confident in the election's outcome but describe a culture of crunch and empty promises where those billions in revenue are never reinvested in people.

We're Visai Games! 👋 We made Venba, an award winning narrative cooking game. As outsiders to the industry, we found our following in twitter but logging into it now means coming face to face with a lot of South Asian racism. If you like Venba, Follow us here so we don't have to login to twitter!

We missed our Kickstarter goal, but we’re determined to host AB Con X The African Boardgames Convention began in 2016, and this 10th anniversary could be our biggest impact yet. We need your help. Donate, share, and spread the word! Biko! 🙏🏾 Rewards await too: remoteworkready.selar.com/06lc7z888a

At the risk of spending all day just posting about games I think look and sound excellent - I think this game looks and sounds excellent:

Now THIS is how you get me interested in a board game crowdfunding campaign

Today I'm wincing in pain either from my back, or from authors using AI to make diagrams 😔

Students made their first minicomics in my intro making course - mostly standard format but this student, a first time maker(!), did something so off the charts I’m still reeling from it! & he made like 12 of them for his classmates! A paper engineering feat of flipbookery as well as killer drawing!

You love to see it

Absolutely. In my experience this is the number one reason why there's no definitive best format for a rulebook. It all depends on the kind of mental framework players need to construct before they can internalise the details of this particular game.

🎲✂️

"Duo Sunt Lupi"

More than two dozen workers at three major publishing houses—HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette—tell WIRED that LLMs are being used for publicity, cover art, back cover copy, and emails, as some execs push junior staff to champion the tech. Read the full story: buff.ly/p0ymGmN

What do you think this radical dwarven mine-dweller is up to?

What do you think this radical dwarven mine-dweller is up to?

If this is quoting a real conversation, at some point "wife" is surely going to ask "is this actually you speaking to me?"

I'm looking for a textbook for the Board Game Design class I'll be teaching this spring. The class will be a combo of both game design majors and students who presumably have no experience in game dev. The contenders are Building Blocks of Game Design & Game Design Workshop. Am I missing an option?