A personal reflection on a year and change making games
As we’re getting into the final month of 2018, many of us are getting into reflective mode. It’s time for best of the year lists, and check-ins on New Year […]
Tag Archives: Game Design
Victory Pointers 017 – PAX Aus 2016 Interviews
We were at PAX Aus 2016 and had a chat with some local creators about their projects, with the organizers behind the TGDA, and chat about connecting with the local […]
Victory Pointers 016 – GenCon 2016 with Sean Carroll
We are joined by Sean Carroll of 93 Made Games to chat about Gen Con 2016 from the perspective of a publisher attending for the first time. Sean Carroll – […]
Victory Pointers 015 – Designing and Publishing with David Harding and Phil Walker-Harding
We are joined by guests Phil Walker-Harding and David Harding (in a rare back-to-back appearance) to chat about their different paths taken in designing and publishing games, getting your foot […]
Victory Pointers 014 – BorderCon with Joel Finch and David Harding
We were just in Albury for BorderCon, an annual board game convention that attracts plenty of board gamers from the surrounding states. While we were there, we caught up with […]
Victory Pointers 013 – Designing Experiences and Tabletopia Playtesting with Philip duBarry
We are joined by consummate game designer, Philip duBarry to talk about designing games around experiences, working with intellectual property, getting games published in the era of Kickstarter, playtesting on […]
Victory Pointers 012 – Designing for Kids and Networking with Peter C Hayward
Kim’s game, Monstrous, is now being shipped to backers! We also chat about shipping games, dexterity games and designing games with kids and families in mind. In the second half […]
Victory Pointers 011 – Game Industry Conventions
Kim and Sye have been busy attending some game industry conventions, GAMA in Las Vegas and the Australian Toy Hobby and Licensing Fair in Melbourne, so we catch up with […]
Victory Pointers 010 – Kickstarting Publishing with Allen Chang and Alistair Kearney
We are joined by Allen Chang and Alistair Kearney from Rule & Make to discuss collaborating on designs, focusing on the core of games, Kickstarting a publishing company, communicating with […]
Victory Pointers 009 – Design Philosophies and Collaboration with Matt Dunstan
We are joined by Matt Dunstan to discuss finding a community, collaborating on designs, how we come up with game ideas, working with publishers, and recognizing different philosophies of game […]
Victory Pointers 008 – CanCon, Looking Back at 2015 and Ahead to 2016
We are at yet another board game convention, recording at CanCon 2016. We take some time to take stock of what we’ve achieved in our game design journeys in 2015 […]
Victory Pointers 007 – Seeking Excellence with Jamey Stegmaier
We are joined by Jamey Stegmaier to discuss seeking excellence in board game design. We discuss setting expectations, blind playtesting, how our views on excellence have changed, and figuring out […]
Victory Pointers 006 – Designing Board Games in Malaysia at KotakCon Mini
One of the things we want to do on this podcast is examine what it’s like to make games outside the European and American hotbeds of the industry. I was […]
Victory Pointers 005 – MeepleCon 2015
One last convention related podcast to end the year. Sye and I checked out what was on at MeepleCon, and chatted with Mathew Utting (organizer of MeepleCon) and fellow game […]
Victory Pointers 004 – Convention Pointers from PAX Aus 2015
We close out the month with the last of our PAX-related podcast episodes. Join us as we share our experiences at the convention and also share tips on how to […]
Victory Pointers Episode 003 – Indie Board Game Designers at PAX Australia 2015
Aaron interviewed some indie board game designers, publishers and artists while he was at PAX Australia 2015. Listen on to find out what’s going on here in Australia. Episode link […]
Session Report: Incubator Meetup – October 2015
This last Incubator event was our second ever daytime one, and though we has slightly less people attending than the first one, we still saw a whole bunch of different […]
Victory Pointers Episode 002 – Growing Local Board Game Design Communities
This was a panel that Aaron organized at PAX Australia 2015, titled “Growing Local Board Game Design Communities”. Here’s the panel description: “No designer is an island. You’ll need people […]
Victory Pointers Episode 001 – Designing Board Games in Australia
Welcome to the first ever episode of the Victory Pointers podcast! In our inaugural show, we talk about what it’s like to be designing board games in Australia. The panel […]
Session Report: Incubator Meetup – September 2015
Initially, I wasn’t going to make it to September’s meetup as I would be/am still away in Sydney. Justin had other commitments as well, but Stefan was going to be […]
Session Report: Incubator Meetup – August 2015
I missed out on the bulk of July’s Incubator session as I flew off to Japan on that night, but I was very excited to be back in the swing […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 98: Getting CatTube Famous with Josh and Liam
In this episode: Aaron chats with the creators of CatTube Famous, Josh Harvey and Liam Alkamraikhi about their successfully funded Kickstarter project, game jams, cats, emus, game aesthetics, web addresses, […]
Session Report: Incubator Playtest Day – June 2015
What’s an Incubator Day? Apologies for this horrendously late session report for June’s Incubator event. The June event was actually a bigger affair than usual, as it was held in […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 91: Ale and Tall Tales with Dylan Shearer and Aaron Sparke
In this episode: The board game focus continues on the podcast, as Aaron chats with Dylan Shearer and Aaron Sparke of Table Tyrant Games. Their Kickstarter for Tavern Fame will […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 89: Getting Monstrous with Kim Brebach
In this episode: Aaron chats with Kim Brebach of Secret Base Games, currently Kickstarting the monster-throwing game of Monstrous. We chat about Kickstarter, shipping woes, lowering barriers for Kickstarter backers, […]
Session Report: Incubator Meetup – May 2015
Getting Started A few things have changed since the last time I wrote about the first Incubator meetup back in October 2014. I’ve since stepped up my involvement and I’m […]
A Tale of Two Jams – Global Game Jam 2015 and Blue Jam Micro
In early 2014, we recorded a podcast on creating vs. consuming. It was something that I had discussed a few times with the guys on the podcast, which is why […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 71: Making Games with Sye and Allen
In this episode: Second podcast of the year and we delve into some meaty topics. I interview Australian board game designers Allen Chang and Simon Robertson about their upcoming projects […]
Session Report: Games Laboratory Incubator Meetup 0.1
I’ve been interested in board game design from a young age, starting with statistic sheets for robots I drew in my notebooks and on to trying to design my own […]
Buying games with problematic characterisation
After talks with a friend about how uncomfortable I feel supporting Team Ninja and their brand of “male-oriented” game design, I feel like I should elaborate on this topic in […]
Bioshock Discussion Post-Mortem
[Re-post from evanritchie.blogspot.com] So here’s where I stand: We have gaming developing in two (or more, but we’ll stick with two for the minute) directions. One offers entertainment from narrative-heavy immersion […]
Building Deck Building
Today I listened to an excellent interview with Donald X. Vaccarino, creator of Dominion, on the Little Metal Dog Show. I was surprised to learn that Dominion had its genesis […]
You got your Deckbuilding Peanut Butter in my RPG Chocolate
So, Mike Krahulik (Gabe) from Penny Arcade is designing a deckbuilding RPG. From what I’ve read about it, it sounds like it has great potential and I am excited to […]
Did you hear the one about 4 mechanics?
I’ve previously mentioned that I got into board games bass ackwards as a result of researching how to create my own card game (sordid details here). Also, it is pretty cliche […]
Action Points! 