design

The SPQF Rules Demo

Grant Rodiek | March 06, 2018

This weekend, March 9-11, I'll be at Game Kastle Mountain View for my favorite event: Protospiel San Jose. It's an event where local Bay Area designers test their new designs with hundreds of volunteer testers.

Why I think Rising Sun really matters.

Grant Rodiek | February 25, 2018

I played my copy of Rising Sun for the first time this weekend and I was very pleasantly surprised. Last year I played the much lauded Blood Rage at long last and hated it. I hated it almost immediately and spent my entire play of it wanting to leave the table.

The First Two Tests

Grant Rodiek | January 06, 2018

I am slowly going through my growing pile of emails from designers taking me up on my offer for assistance in 2018. It's very cool, a bit stressful, and a bit of work. With that in mind, folks commonly ask about testing, how to evolve a game, what to look for.

2018 Design Resolution

Grant Rodiek | December 26, 2017

I'm not huge on New Year's Resolutions, mostly. The thing is, I'm always trying to lose weight, I'm cool with the amount of alcohol I consume, and I'm doing my best to be more positive.

My 2018 Design Priorities

Grant Rodiek | December 24, 2017

Today is a bit of a slow day, so I'm going through my folders for active designs, in stasis designs, and old designs to have a heart to heart with my creations. Some active games are getting lopped off and killed.

Designing for Special

Grant Rodiek | December 03, 2017

I discovered a new PC game this week that has completely captured my imagination. This doesn't happen very often these days. About five years ago I more or less stopped playing video games as a typical hobby, opting instead to read, go for a walk, and most commonly, design tabletop games.

The Design Bug

Grant Rodiek | November 05, 2017

In addition to growing mustaches, ostensibly for charity, many folks dedicate November to writing a novel or designing a game. I think it's easy to be all for it, or poo poo it, for a variety of reasons.

The Cards of Five Ravens

Grant Rodiek | September 21, 2017

This is the fourth part of a designer diary series on Five Ravens. You can read the rules here. You can download the Print and Play here. The soul of a card game is in its cards, the combinations they create, the grins they provide players when they figure out something devious, and the secrets held in your hand.

The Origin of Five Ravens

Grant Rodiek | September 18, 2017

This is the first part of a designer diary series on Five Ravens. You can read the rules here. You can download the Print and Play here. At the conclusion of Solstice I knew I wanted to create a new card game that sidestepped some of the issues that made Solstice such a difficult game to design.

Next Gen: Me

Grant Rodiek | July 06, 2017

The current me has had a good run.For about seven years I've been exploring card games inspired by Magic: The Gathering and experimenting with many flavors of multi-use cards. Sometimes more overtly (Five Ravens, where cards have two explicit functions), and others more subtlely (Solstice, where you can draft cards to help you or hinder an opponent with blocking plays).

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