Daniel Solis

Yay! I just got the feedback form results from the Belle of the Ball playtests at UnPub3. The data below is split between quantitative responses about the game's length, ease of learning, and so on. The qualitative responses get a sense of context for the player's preferences in gaming and what they liked about this game in particular. At the end are some findings and possible courses of action I could take in response to this data. Many thanks to Car Trunk Entertainment for scanning 35 handwritten feedback forms from the show! QUANTITATIVE DATA Overall the data was positive. Most said the game was easy or very easy to learn, which for some was possibly a negative aspect. Also many found the game length to be appropriate, though several comments in the qualitative section wished it was a little longer in a four-player game. A surprisingly small minority didn't care for the theme. I say "surprising" because I expected a core gamer audience to be a little ...

Heyo! It's been a while since I've done many podcast interviews. I was doing a TON in 2010-2011 promoting my games or the 1000 Year Game Design Challenge. This time around things are much more casual. Here are some recent appearances that you can put in your ear holes. The Dice Section 12: Survive I stop by to visit my good friends at the Dice Section to chat about the current events of gaming and to play a rowsing game of Survive: Escape from Atlantis . We also talk about the current iteration of Belle of the Ball and how it was refined from a particularly rough playtest last Fall. Jennisodes 143: Sidekick Quests James Stowe, Lyndsay Peters, and I team up to talk about Sidekick Quests , James' adorable webcomic about youthful adventuring sidekicks. Lyndsay and I are still tinkering with the card game. We talk about our design goals, how the game works, why it's great for kids, and list several of the cute D&D-inspired quests in the game. Look for more on S...

Dicecards are a lovely little concept that takes the notion of dice-on-cards to the next logical extreme. Well, "logical" may not be the adjective that comes to mind when you see the sheer plethora of dice and randomizers that appear on each DiceCard. playing cards polyhedral dice pirate die fudge die werewolf roles other games distribution dice meeples elements die weather die RPSLS die treasure map target compass poker chips craps dice dreidel crown and anchor slots die dominos letter tiles short straw zener card runes tarot coins and Writer's Dice! There are so many interesting data sources in each card. The mind reels. REELS. So back the project!

In 1324, Musa I, the king of Mali , set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Unfortunately, the Mali empire left behind few written records, but we do have the eyewitness accounts of Musa's extravagant procession of 60,000 people and animals. All carried large quantities of gold bars and gold dust that were given to the poor along the way. In fact, Mansa Musa singlehandedly depressed the value of gold across the Mediterranean for decades after his pilgrimage (and supposedly inadvertently helped fund the Italian Renaissance). I've been fascinated with this story mainly from a science-fiction perspective. I'm reading Iain M. Banks' Culture novels which mostly concern an interplanetary post-scarcity utopia. It's kind of like if Star Trek's Federation, the Borg and Kahn all teamed up to make the universe a happier, more peaceful place. I'm mostly interested in seeing how citizens of the Culture value their time and possessions when neither are in scarce supply. ...

» Download PnP PDFs: Rules and Cards UnPub3 was a great experience and I'm really looking forward to the next show. Belle of the Ball felt very well-received and I spent most of my time running demos at my table. I kind of pride myself on being a demo-machine, but this was an even more prolific event than usual. By my best estimate, I demoed Belle of the Ball somewhere around 25-30 times to around 40 people. Several were repeat players who wanted to show the game to their friends. Feedback from the attendees was excellent. One attendee said that she would have bought a copy from me if I had one with me. Another attendee insisted on paypalling me $10 for a PnP. Meanwhile, I've had couple publisher responses that I incorporated into the second day of UnPub. I call this Prototype O-2 . The main issue regarded the lack of tension in Prototype O. In Prototype O, players had room in each party for four groups and five cards in each group. This created a leisurely pace with ...

One of the things that came to stark relief after UnPub3 is how much the designer being present at a playtest can influence reactions to that game. It's a mixed blessing. The immediacy of your feedback is great for rapid prototyping, but it's hard to decouple the feedback to your game from your presentation of the game. Take for example the Alien-themed deduction game I posted about last week. I brought it in my back pocket as an unofficial side project to Belle of the Ball. If I saw people milling around and I had a couple minutes between tests, I would ask "Hey, want to play a 5min game?" They'd say "sure" and quickly draw a crowd. In a hushed voice, I start the magic trick. "You're trapped on a derelict space ship with a hostile alien entity. Only one of these items will let you escape. You're trying to figure out which it will be." I shuffle the deck and continue. "There are only 13 cards in this deck. There is a wh...

I'm back from UnPub3 with plenty to talk about, so this will spread out over a few posts. Trust me, there's plenty to discuss regarding Belle of the Ball , but I wanted to cover some of the more general interest stuff first. Case in point: The Panels! First up were the designers who have had their games at past UnPub events and have since been published. From left to right we have John Moller hosting the event, Ben Rosset with Mars Needs Mechanics , Darrell Louder with Compounded , T.C. Petty with VivaJava , Jason Tagmire with Pixel Lincoln , and Jesse Catron with Salmon Run . There was also a publisher panel which focused on how to approach publishers and the value of Kickstarter to fund your company's ongoing bottom line. From left to right we have A.J. Porforino of Van Ryder Games , Bryan Fischer of Nevermore Games , Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me Games and Dan Yarrington of GameSalute . I live-tweeted the panel discussion with quotes, but I couldn't ...

[UPDATE: I've revised this prototype since UnPub3. It's tentatively called Xenophobe. PDF is here. ] I've been playtesting Animal Rescuers with several different groups and come across two divergent but parallel prototypes. The first removes all suits and is much more appropriate for younger audiences with the cute animal theme. Cards either highest/lowest card in hand/play and there are three of each permutation. This feels way less cutthroat than the second prototype, which keeps the suits. I played a few 2-, 3-, and 4-player games last night with Levi Middleton, Matt Fowler and Ryan Macklin over Google+ Hangout. Levi was generous enough to set up a Roll20 app with the cards so we could play long distance. You can watch our Hangout here , but unfortunately it didn't pick up the board we were playing on, so you just see our handsome mugs. It was clear that despite the small card count, it was a tense and brain-throbbing game of brinksmanship, bluffing and a ...

I just recently watched the entirety of Crash Course World History, which is an excellent overview of the cool aspects of world history that your high school teacher forgot to tell you about. Most interesting to me were the episodes on Zheng He (the Chinese Muslim eunuch admiral of the largest fleet of treasure ships the world had ever seen) and the preceding episode on the Indian Ocean trade networks that Zheng He navigated. These networks were a long-standing series of sailing routes extending from the east coast of Africa all the way to China, and it was all so well-timed according to the monsoon cycle that you could plan departures and arrivals with an accuracy of a day or two. Zheng He sailed these routes over the course of seven voyages to establish trade agreements with the major trading centers of the era. This of course makes me wonder why there are dozens of Mediterranean seafaring themed games but relatively few (if any) concerning the "Monsoon Market." Y...

If you're near Dover, Delaware this weekend, I'll be demoing Belle of the Ball - Prototype O at UnPub3 . Check out the preview and interview on the UnPub site. You may recall that I playtested Prototype L at an UnPub ProtoZone last September, which led to a rapid revision cycle that eventually led Belle to its streamlined current state. This time, I'm mainly practicing my pitch and demo technique, the development on hold while publishers review the game. I'll also have a copy of Animal Rescuers on hand if you want to test a very alpha prototype that has already been getting really nice feedback . Clay Gardner had some excellent comments on embedding more of the victory information into the art itself. Perhaps if the animals were looking up or down to note that they thank the higher or lower cards. Perhaps if they held cards in-hand to note that they're looking at cards in hand. Definitely worth considering! It's still tentative, but I'm going to t...

Here's an update on that ultra-minimal, deduction game idea I've been discussing lately. I decided to go with a more family-friendly theme: ANIMAL RESCUERS DOWNLOAD: PROTOTYPE A 2-4 Players, Ages 8+ An animal has fallen in a hole and is calling for help! The other animals answer the call and together they pull up their friend. After being rescued, one special animal will get thanked. Your goal is to deduce which animal is in the well so you can figure out how you can get thanked. COMPONENTS The game is comprised of 13 numbered cards; 1-6 appear twice in the deck and 0 appears once. Each card depicts animals of increasing size, from an ant (0) to an elephant (6).  Each animal will thank one or more animals depending on that animal’s personality. The reference chart lists all the animals in the game and who they thank. SETUP EACH ROUND There is a new dealer each round. The dealer shuffles the cards and places one face-down on the table. That is the animal to be ...

Since AEG released the ultra-minimal game Love Letter , folks have been discussing the potential of other tiny games. Love Letter packs a lot of replay value in just 16 cards. Here's an idea for a sort of trick-taking game that I've discussed before , but now using a much small deck of cards. It's called... WAKE UP, MONSTER! Premise Monsters are trying to lure another monster out of a cave. The only problem is that you don't know which monster is in the cave! Whoever is in the cave will reward or punish whoever woke it up. Components 13 cards. Each number 1-6 appears twice in the deck. There is only one 0. Each card depicts creatures of increasing loudness, ranging from Ghosts (0) to Banshees (6).  Each card also has a reward. Play One player will be the dealer each round. The dealer chooses one card to put face down on the table. That is the sleeping monster. Only the dealer knows its identity. The dealer then shuffles the remaining cards and deal...

Heyo! So here is where my head's at since the last time I talked about Dung & Dragons . I'm continuing the central idea introduced in that last post. Each player chooses one numbered action card from his hand each turn. Then all players reveal their cards at the same time. Actions may incur bonuses if the total of all numbers is above, equal to or below the average. There are six actions, you may only do one on a turn: Shovel earns you 1, 2, or 3 victory points for shoveling your dragons' stables. There are two Shovel cards in your hand. Build lets you add 1, 2, or 3 buildings to your ranch. Raise lets you advance your dragons 1, 2 or 3 levels. This growth can be spread across multiple dragons or focused on just one. Feed lets you give 1 or 2 food to your dragons. Hatch lets you add 1, 2, or 3 dragons to your ranch. Upgrade lets you advance your buildings 1, 2, or 3 levels. This growth can be spread across multiple buildings or focused on just one. Th...

» Current Beta Rules PDF [Prototype O] » Download the Print-and-Play Cards PDF It's been a while since the last public release of a Belle of the Ball prototype. This is by far the most streamlined and elegant its ever been thanks to the excellent feedback of a diverse playtester cadre. In particular, it solves some of the production challenges introduced in Prototype N. That's less relevant for actual play, but very relevant for getting this game published. Here's an overview of the cards and changes. You don't see the back of the Belle cards except when they are in someone else's hands. So, the back shows the Belle herself, holding a hand of cards and about to play one. Belle cards show different things the Belle is doing to the party, such as moving guests around or changing how groups are scored. Because the Belle is now just one character, that left a big space for a diagram to help explain how each card works. I really tried to keep iconography...

There is big news from Evil Hat's Fate Kickstarter! The latest stretch goals include a new Do game built from the newly streamlined Fate Accelerated system. This is great news gamers out there who loved Do 's Avatar-meets-Little-Prince setting, but wanted a more character-focused style of play. This is also great news for the legions of Fate fans who haven't yet had a chance to explore the worlds of Do . In Do: Fate of the Flying Temple , the Flying Temple has mysteriously drifted away from its home in the center of the sky. It's up to the Pilgrims to explore the worlds of Do to uncover the mystery. Along the way, they must raise a young dragon left behind after the temple's disappearance. Pairing that approachable rule set with a family-friendly setting like Do feels like a perfect fit! If you want fresh new Do , go back the Kickstarter now and tell your friends!