Game Design

A couple of recent comments about games, and being immersed in them, really got me thinking. Firstly - in this comment on LinkedIn, Vikki McCall of the Socialudo social enterprise was commenting on my post about using fictional scenarios for serious games. She said “when the fictional scenarios are driven by research and real lived experience that can add some real impact”. This is absolutely true. I think a benefit of an imagined scenario is that it removes a lot of the baggage people might bring to a game, so players can concentrate on the issues and decisions abstractly, without being caught up in either an historical context, or their own personal experience. ...

A prediction of what will be underwater when the sea rises two metres. Water Water Everywhere I helped run this session as part of the CLWG design conference; CLWG being the Chestnut Lodge Wargaming Group. I believe the organisation is around forty years old, and is much more focused on the design of new games rather than playing existing ones. Well, I say “helped run” the session, I mainly took notes while my co-designer, Terry Martin, asked the questions. ...

A few thoughts on the reality TV show The Traitors, that has just finished on the BBC in the UK. PLEASE NOTE I’ve made absolutely no allowances for possible spoilers below, so if you haven’t watched the series be aware of what you’ll learn by reading through this. That said, even knowing what’s coming, I imagine it would be interesting to watch to see how the game develops between different players. Although the cliff-hangers won’t carry so much weight for you as they did for me. ...

This is a list of my thoughts on the particularly valuable points from the Georgetown University Wargaming Society (GUWS) talk: “Based on Mechanics & Theme: Synergies in Game Design” by Damon Stone. You can watch the whole thing on their YouTube channel. ( if you do watch it, there’s literally a couple of pauses due to intermittent connectivity; but they’re not a big deal, and are well handled by all ) GUWS event on July 7th 2022 Provoked thoughts: GUWS is pronounced “goose”?! ...