On the design track

My son is now six months old. While that time seems to have flown by, I've also been very busy.

While my blog has been a little neglected I've been moving forward with my board game designs and seem to be making a lot of progress.

My first game, some two years into its life, Werewolves of the Black Forest has been through a pretty major overhaul moving away from some core things you experience with other deck builders. It now plays with the pace and energy I've been focusing in on. I've loved the journey its taken me on and there have been plenty of lessons learned and mistakes made. A publisher is currently reviewing the game and I hope they like the changes as much as I do (they'd seen a previous version).

Dice Planters has been through three iterations, moving from a dice rolling push your luck game (think Zombie Dice) to a multiplayer solitaire game (think Yahtzee) to its current form which is a match for what I'd envisioned to begin with. Players carefully watch each other adjusting the greenhouse, looking for the right moment to stop working on their plants and see them flourish.

I also have a new game in Guardian Spirits that's come together really quickly and specifically to meet a publisher's request. Its light weight, fast paced but still has enough depth to be interesting. This one clearly benefited from the challenges and errors I made in the first two as it came together so smoothly.

I'm going to try and get back to more regular blog updates but make them a bit more casual so they're easier to get done.