Game Designs

Here is my current game design page. I have attempted to create games that meet my gaming needs as well as the needs of those who I game with. The things that I look for in a game are:

  1. Strategic depth: The game should not have one dominant strategy.
  2. Non random outcomes: The player with the better strategy should win.
  3. Minimized down time: Players should be able to be engaged in the game most of the time.
  4. Minimized play time: the game should not take longer than it has to.
  5. Simple rules. Explaining the game should not take a long time.
Here is my Tabletop Simulator page (for those games that I have put up on TTS).


These are the games that I have worked on (In reverse chronological order):
  • Mad Scientists of Mechanicsberg: Another attempt at the effect building mechanic - using tokens instead of cards, and with more things that can be built. Started during a 24 hour design contest.
  • Infamous!: A style copy of Glory to Rome, Originally intended to be only 18 cards.
  • Casino gone wrong: An expansion to the Perfect Moment. Containing cards from "The Fatal Flaw". Published in 2018 by Button-Shy.
  • Gorilla game: A dexterity game with a traitor mechanic, 2-6 players.
  • Motu(formerly Micronesia): An island colonization game, with elements of action selection, card tucking, and combo building.
  • Party table: A dexterity game for my kids. Get all the people on the party table without it falling over in order to win.
  • The Fatal Flaw: An expansion to The Perfect Moment. similar to TPM, but with new things that the cards can do, and a new deck which makes the strategy deeper.
  • Grab the Loot!: A pirate game where players try to get the most stuff without getting shot. Worker placement, set collection, take that rudeness.
  • The Perfect Moment: An 18 card time travel game about fixing that one thing that went wrong with the past. Winner of the Button shy wallet game design contest 2017. Published in 2018 by Button-Shy games.
  • Terran Robot Defense League: A game where you build giant robots to punch out evil aliens and save the world.
  • The Citadel of Madness: A steampunk game which revisits effect building.
  • The Dragon's Game: A lightweight strategy game where players try to get rid of treasure in order to make a dragon eat someone else besides them. Made for the BGG 2016 microgame contest.
  • Age of Vikings: A medium weight viking themed 4x game. Ion-Award finalist 2017, Iludo 2nd place 2017.
  • Archipelago: A very incomplete 2-4 player game about building a chain of islands where each island must have an island before it that matches the requirements of the island.
  • Jurassic Space: A 2-4 player ecosystem building game that has elements of drafting, set collection, and pick up and deliver.
  • Sorcery Inc.: A 2-4 player effect building game where players try to build magical perpetual motion machines. 2016 Ion award finalist. Up on TTS Here.
  • Deception: A 3-4 player microgame (18 cards) where players form and break alliances in an attempt to lose the fewest armies by the end of the game. This game was an attempt to make a 18 card version of the game Diplomacy. Cards.
  • Hungry Oni: A 2-4 player microgame (18 cards+ 8 tokens) where players attempt to be eaten by an ogre last by best meeting the ogres ever changing demands. 2015 Ion award finalist. Cards.
  • Witch Hunt: a social deduction game where you try to kill people without getting killed. Almost a werewolf game, but the teams are not set in stone. This game is very much still a rough draft. 3-8 players, 30 minutes. Cards.
  • Creative Accounting: a werewolf game where two players attempt to catch the other players doing something wrong in order to get them in trouble. 4-8 players, 10-30 minutes. Cards.
  • Collusion: a free market trading game where players are encouraged to fix the prices and drive other players to poverty. 2-8 players, 20-40 minutes.
  • Roguelike: a roguelike solitaire rpg. This game was built to be practically unwinnable (like all good roguelikes). Playing this game requires paper and pencil as well as a reasonably sizable playing space. This is my only game where randomness is likely to determine the outcome of the game. 1 player, 5 minutes - 2 hours.
  • Moar Moai!: an island themed worker placement game with two phases: the worker placement phase and the scoring phase. The worker placement is fairly different than other games in that there are no slots that can only have one worker in them - the way that the placement prevents people from getting what they want is based on how much you want (players who want the least get their resources the first). 2-4 players, 20-40 minutes. 2015 Ion award finalist. Iludo 2017 honorable mention. On TTS Here.
  • Brave Lala: a childrens memory game. 2-4 players, 5-10 minutes
  • Dancing Robots: a concern balancing multi-player solitaire drafting game. Build a robot and dance a dance to impress judges more than the other players do. Try not to blow up. 2-4 players, 15-60 minutes. Website.
  • Polynesia: an island themed 4x game. 2-6 players, 30-90 minutes. 2016 Ion award finalist. 2017  On TTS Here.
Here are games I am thinking about, but haven't worked on enough to make them real yet.
  • Snow goons: program snow men to build more snowmen and eventually make a big snowball.
  • Doge City: An Agar.io clone (as a card game) - I made a playable prototype, but never went farther than that.

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