Daniel Solis

Here's a little game mechanism to chew on. Let's call it gatekeeping . It's a model for one group getting access to a resource first, then establishing the terms by which any newcomer may get access to that resource. This is a heavy, complicated topic and definitely not my normal design space. Instead of a heavy-handed metaphor, I wanted to explore the mechanisms so that you understood the phenomenon without predispositions and a real-world bias. I find a safe comfort in the abstract. So here's the idea: Place a worker. That worker establishes terms for the subsequent workers placed there. Those terms are inspired by any number of other worker placement games like Keyflower, Bruxelles, Coal Baron. Terms might be: Placing a worker costs $1. Must place +1 worker here. Must keep workers here an extra turn. Workers must be same color. I think it would be easiest to translate this to card play, with each card representing a "worker" and its terms pri...

Good news, everyone! Monsoon Market is now available from DriveThruCards! I've been working on this game in various iterations for a long time and I'm glad to see it finally seeing the light of day. This is also my first experiment with early bird pricing. Here's the deal: Each new release will be deeply discounted until the next release comes out, however long that takes. So from now until my next game, Monsoon Market costs a clean $9.99. Get it now!

Playing a handful of dexterity games in the past few months has really given me some inspiration for how to apply these mechanisms to a game that doesn't require such able-bodied play. My first thought is the Memory genre, which doesn't get much of a spotlight outside of some kids' games. It seemed to me that the tension of a rising Jenga tower could be translated to remembering a long sequence of randomized data. Tonight I'm testing a little party game called Good with Faces , which aims to do to the memory mechanism what Wits and Wagers did for trivia. Namely, you don't have to be good at the actual mechanism, but recognize which players are good and bet for or against them. Below is one of the variants I'll be trying out. A random player takes the first turn. On your turn, you shuffle the face cards and set the deck face down. Reveal the top card, look at it briefly, and set it it face down in a central lane. Continue this until you've se...

I've participated or run in several Kickstarter campaigns back in the old days when making five digits was newsworthy. My KS marketing experience may be a bit dated, but it still presents a striking contrast to marketing a catalog of print-on-demand products. Immediacy: Strength or Weakness? When I first ventured into POD games, I thought immediacy would be the one strength they had over a kickstarted product. You don't have to wait twelve months or longer to get your game. You know it will fulfill. It will never go out of stock. It can be updated and adjusted bit by bit based on player feedback. All this seemed like an all-around strong offering. POD says "You can buy this game whenever, get it in 1-2wks!" KS says "You can probably only buy this game now, and wait 12mos." And yet it seems that very security and unlimited access is a weakness for POD marketing. Unlike a KS campaign, there isn't a time-sensitive offer or a sense of existentia...

For the last thirteen months, I've focused almost exclusively on releasing my own card games through the print on-demand service DriveThruCards . In that time, I've released several monthly sales reports outlining my own earnings, which have been pretty good! Enough to support further game development and meaningfully contribute to my household. I've never addressed the biggest hidden cost of this model: Shipping . For example, buying one copy of Koi Pond cost an extra four dollars in shipping for a 1-2 week delivery. Nevermind the lack of a box or public perception of POD card quality, the shipping 20% price hike is my biggest barrier to closing a sale. Traditional Shipping vs. Retail Shipping Shipping costs are hidden in a traditional retail purchase because the up-front production costs are much cheaper thanks to the economy of scale. When each unit only costs a couple dollars to make, and units are shipped in bulk, each unit's retail price can stay as ...

Just because I can't make it to Origins doesn't mean you can't get a great deal on my card games ! Until June 15, I've slashed prices on all my card games, up to 25% off ! If you've been holding out to pick up any of my games, now is the time! Come and get 'em!

Heyo! Monsoon Market is almost ready to go to DriveThruCards, but I wanted to get some more eyeballs on the rules cards first before I push the big button. Can you take a look at this very short PDF and see if the rules all make sense to you?

"Pay-to-Pick" is a game mechanism that I've noticed coming up in a lot of board games lately. It comes in many different variations, but it is essentially a little conveyer belt delivering in-game items, resources, or even actions. Let's just call them items for now though. At the closest end of the belt, items are generally free or very cheap to purchase. The further back in line, the more expensive those items get. Pretty simple, as I said there are little tweaks in a lot of games. ( Source ) Small World : $0+(n-1) First item is free, or place one point on each item you skip. Points are then earned by anyone else who buys that item later. ( Source ) Eight-Minute Empire : $0, $1, $1, $2, $2, $3. As opposed to Small World, the currency here is fixed and finite. Everyone begins with the same amount and it never returns to the economy. ( Source ) Suburbia : $(x+y). x is the base price for each item on the track. y is the additional cost applied...

Here's a quick preview of the art in Monsoon Market, the game of fast fortunes on the Indian Ocean. It's a time of peace and profit! There is abundant trade between East Africa and China, and whoever runs a port city can get rich quick. The game is a race is to get fifteen seals of approval from Zheng He, the Chinese Imperial mariner visiting every port on the Monsoon Market. You earn seals by using Gems, Books, Peppers, Silks, Leathers, and Wood to fulfill orders as they come into your port. The first four goods come in quantities of 1, 2, 3, or 4. Several of the 1s are actually hybrid cards, which may be used as either of two goods, but still only a quantity of 1. Leather is always in a quantity of 3 and Wood is always a quantity of 4, but no orders ever specifically call for these basic commodities. There are three levels of accuracy with which you can complete an order. For the gold rate, you must spend the exact types of goods in at least the quantity noted...

Transparency time! Here's your monthly update on Smart Play Games' sales performance. Looks the lack of new strategy game product continued the gradual downward slope from April into May. Dexterity game Ten Pen and game accessory Bird Bucks aren't grabbing attention like I hoped. So, I've been focused on the light strategy game products for which Smart Play Games became known early on. Those take time to develop properly. Time is in short supply these days. I've been triple-booked on freelance projects the past two months and that shows little sign of changing in the near future. That leaves little time for marketing and buzz-building. But that said, Monsoon Market is still in development. Development/Sanity Schedule Mondays are my most productive days for Smart Play Games business, since that is my regular board game night at the local game store. Every Monday night is devoted to playtesting my games, the rest of the day is spent designing and mocking...

Back in March, Chris Kirkman shared this photo of a paragraph from the rules of the Capitals : "In all cases, once Tourists have been awarded and then placed during the Executive Phase, all Tourist Markers remain where they were placed (normally on a Building Tile) until at least the next Tourism Phase. If the Tourists situation, verified at the beginning of this phase, remains unchanged from the previous turn (i.e. the same player that surrendered their Tourist Marker last turn will once again surrender it), the Tourist Markers will remain in the same City, and on the same Building Tile. If a different player's Tourist Marker is to be surrendered, that player removes their Tourist Marker from their City, places it next to the City that has the highest Culture Level. The player who previously surrendered their Tourist Marker may recover it, and place it next to their City. This indicates that they are available to activate any Building Tile during the following Executiv...