NIALL CRABTREE - GAME DESIGNER
Menu

What happened with Frosthaven Kickstarter Update #80?

5/21/2021

Comments

 
Foreward
First and foremost, I apologize if you take this as "adding to the fire" or whatnot, but I wanted to make a blog post about my first actual viral Facebook thread, which had over 550 comments and 70 reactions in just a couple of days. The topic of this thread was about the adverse reaction towards Frosthaven Kickstarter Update #80, as well as the way that the community voiced that adverse reaction, namely in the way some chose to bomb the Frosthaven Board Game Geek page ratings as well as swarm a couple of threads on the same page. Still, once again, I ask for forgiveness if you see this as being purposefully controversial, as I know a few had voiced those concerns on Facebook. Still, I want to discuss this topic in more detail, using some insights from the Facebook post's comment section. 

Also, as an additional note, please do not take what I write as my personal opinion on anything related to the update; I'm merely trying to observe and hopefully add value to the topic. ​

Read More
Comments

Unique Rules for your First Game, Catan Case Study

5/17/2021

Comments

 
I've only just played Catan!
It's the year 2021, and I just played Catan for the first time last Saturday. I know, shock, horror, I should bow out of the community right now. I am japing, of course, but what I will say is that my first session of Catan has been a long time coming. The only reason why I had a copy to play is that it was my birthday last Tuesday, and my brother (who is also a member of my weekly board game group) bought it for me for the occasion. My lack of want regarding making the purchase myself was due to Catan being a 3-4 player game. I play almost all of my games with my partner Meg, so to have a game with a minimum player count of 3 is usually a no-go, but as a member of the group bought it, I could count on us playing it at least once every few weeks, so I decided Catan is the game I wanted. 
Picture

Read More
Comments

The Advantages of Paying for your Final Prototype for your Board Game.

5/8/2021

Comments

 
Foreword
To preface this post with a bit of justification and clarity. I wanted to discuss the pros of ordering professionally made prototypes over making prototypes of your games for yourselves, with the rationale being that there is something to discuss: which means that we have to talk about the pros and cons of this course of action. Getting your prototypes professionally made costs money and can sometimes be very expensive, depending on the game. That's the main barrier to entry for most up and coming designers. Secondly, to shed some light on my experience, I will be talking about three of my games I have prototyped myself, or in fact, had prototyped by a manufacturer. Finally, to be doubly clear, these pros are regarding final prototypes, not your first, second, or tenth prototype. This prototype is the one you will take pictures of, show at conventions, and send to reviewers.
Picture
Prototypes for Langskip that arrived today (as of writing this post) along with my cat, who is aptly named Thor.

Read More
Comments

My First Time Playing Scythe | Top Tips for your First Time Playing Scythe

5/7/2021

Comments

 
Why did it take me so long to play Scythe for the first time?
I've wanted to play Scythe for a long time now, so this blog post has been a long time coming. There are multiple reasons why I held out until now, namely:
  1. The price.
  2. The number of components.
  3. The complexity.
  4. The group of gaming friends I have (this is tied into points 2 and 3).​
Picture
So, what's changed? Well, this relates strongly to my game design journey. If you haven't been following my blog, I will essentially capture a casual audience with a simple game; then, I plan to convert them to middle-to-heavy weight gamers throughout six games, therefore adding to the market rather than taking away. 

As you can probably tell from what I just said, I had to wait for this sort of journey to play out in my group of gaming friends as well. When we first started playing weekly earlier this year, we started with games like Kingdomino, Coup and Ticket to Ride. Last Wednesday, we played Scythe for the first time, the biggest game we have touched to date. Here are my top tips to learning and playing Scythe based on my own first-time experience. 
Tips for Learning Scythe

Read More
Comments

Making a Bidding Board Game - May 2021

5/4/2021

Comments

 
​Making a bidding game is something that I have never endeavoured to undertake before these past few weeks. I've played a couple of bidding games in the past and games with bidding mechanisms in them, but they never felt fleshed out enough to provoke some creative decision-making from the players. Bidiots is probably the best example of a game enveloped by bidding and is quite fun to play. However, Bidiots has the advantage of being a digital experience, whereas I want to create a tabletop game.
Picture

Read More
Comments

    Author

    Hello, my name is Niall Crabtree, and this is my comprehensive blog showcasing all of my game development 
    ​endeavors and successes, as well as essays on game design.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    June 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020

    Mailing List

    Receive an email every two weeks with all the articles I produce so you never miss one!
    * indicates required

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • FATAL KNOCKOUT
  • Projects
  • Blog
    • Lethal Deal
    • Langskip
    • Food Time Battle in Space
    • Blockers: The Stacking Game
  • Talks & Interviews
  • Contact Me
  • —————————
  • Video Essays
  • Podcast
  • Mailing List Sign Up
  • Home
  • FATAL KNOCKOUT
  • Projects
  • Blog
    • Lethal Deal
    • Langskip
    • Food Time Battle in Space
    • Blockers: The Stacking Game
  • Talks & Interviews
  • Contact Me
  • —————————
  • Video Essays
  • Podcast
  • Mailing List Sign Up