Tick Talk

The board game Villainous is widely available at your local Big Box and on the surface seems to be another barely-a-game theme-for-dollars affair.  After playing it, I came to view it is as a very elegant and well designed game.  Today I want to discuss all the things that I find interesting as a designer.

Cheapass Games in Black and White (by James Ernest) is a book that tries to take on several different roles: part retrospective, part rules archive, part design book.  It is an ambitious attempt, but ultimately falls short in most areas.

Hollow Knight for the Nintendo Switch seems to be tried and true metroid-esque game.  However, while it does have elements of Metroid games, there is little innovation of them.  There are some design decisions that seem to actually detract from the player experience and that is what I am going to talk about today.

Escape The Game (by Adam Clare) is a book about escape rooms, also called puzzle rooms.  It covers a range of topics, from design, to operating, to business advice.  It is a quick read and a broad overview of the overall escape room phenomena.

Meeples Together (Christopher Allen & Shannon Appelcline) is the book I have spent about 10 years looking for. The format of this book is as close to my ideal ‘game design’ book as I have found. Now, this book isn’t perfect, but it gets so much right, it should be considered a ‘must read’, allow me to elaborate...

As I have read more rumors about a Paper Mario for the Nintendo Switch, I have continued to play Paper Mario Color Splash.  Not my favorite Paper Mario, but the last one released.  However, as I play, I am again reminded why this is only my second play through in last three years.  This game is often an exercise in repeated frustration.  Yes, I am talking about the Tangerino Grill stage.