Isaac Shalev
@isaacshalev.bsky.social
I design boardgames and write about game design. Also here for cooking, the NYJ, comedy, and being neurodivergent.
Yeah the names are regrettable. I didn't much care for input and output randomness either - I like pre- and post-decision randomness. Though as @gengelstein.bsky.social pointed out to me, those don't abbreviate well. I'm just bad at naming stuff!
I agree that output randomness can be awesome.
I agree that output randomness can be awesome.
June 22, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Yeah the names are regrettable. I didn't much care for input and output randomness either - I like pre- and post-decision randomness. Though as @gengelstein.bsky.social pointed out to me, those don't abbreviate well. I'm just bad at naming stuff!
I agree that output randomness can be awesome.
I agree that output randomness can be awesome.
Yeah, that's a good one. Circles work pretty well too, though they can also be annoying to make.
March 11, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Yeah, that's a good one. Circles work pretty well too, though they can also be annoying to make.
Hexagon tiles. These days I buy pre-cut birch at Michael's
March 11, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Hexagon tiles. These days I buy pre-cut birch at Michael's
So they're taxing you on 500 gallons of gas, or maybe 15k miles per year. That sounds like parity w the average gas driver, no?
March 4, 2025 at 6:42 PM
So they're taxing you on 500 gallons of gas, or maybe 15k miles per year. That sounds like parity w the average gas driver, no?
I agree, but the biggest difference I see is guns. RW vigilantes were all about gun ownership and use as a policy prescription, but beat-em-ups rarely gave the good guys guns.
February 25, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I agree, but the biggest difference I see is guns. RW vigilantes were all about gun ownership and use as a policy prescription, but beat-em-ups rarely gave the good guys guns.
I think these are better understood as fantasies about personal safety and control rather than as policy proposals for ending crime. Big cities were legit terrifying to walk through at night in the 80s.
February 25, 2025 at 12:50 PM
I think these are better understood as fantasies about personal safety and control rather than as policy proposals for ending crime. Big cities were legit terrifying to walk through at night in the 80s.
There was no conflict when the tender was issued or responded to. I agree we have to be concerned for graft. But this isn't a good example as best I can tell.
February 13, 2025 at 8:47 PM
There was no conflict when the tender was issued or responded to. I agree we have to be concerned for graft. But this isn't a good example as best I can tell.
Only one company responded to the Biden-issued tender
February 13, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Only one company responded to the Biden-issued tender
Watch better vids? There are plenty of good ones. And many of them don't start with a rulebook, that start with a teach from the designer.
February 10, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Watch better vids? There are plenty of good ones. And many of them don't start with a rulebook, that start with a teach from the designer.
Fortunately, videos and tutorials have gotten better and are more popular than ever. Maybe we should be making "good teaching and reference modalities" instead of getting hung up on the dead end of "good rulebooks"
February 6, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Fortunately, videos and tutorials have gotten better and are more popular than ever. Maybe we should be making "good teaching and reference modalities" instead of getting hung up on the dead end of "good rulebooks"
It's not strictly more options, it's just deferring the same decision to later. But it also incentivizes going for Planner, which is definitely a bad idea for beginners to chase.
January 30, 2025 at 3:11 PM
It's not strictly more options, it's just deferring the same decision to later. But it also incentivizes going for Planner, which is definitely a bad idea for beginners to chase.
I'm actually deeply uncertain of how effective it is. Yes, players can skip the initial decision of which cards to buy, but it's a deferral - they'll still have to choose whether to play them. It hasn't reduced the number of options they have to think about.
January 30, 2025 at 1:05 PM
I'm actually deeply uncertain of how effective it is. Yes, players can skip the initial decision of which cards to buy, but it's a deferral - they'll still have to choose whether to play them. It hasn't reduced the number of options they have to think about.
Terraforming Mars has the starting corporations that give players ten cards for free.
January 30, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Terraforming Mars has the starting corporations that give players ten cards for free.
Single-use flossers
January 15, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Single-use flossers
The f/t designers I know the to be either salaried with a big publisher, freelancers doing lots of dev and commission work, designers who had a massive evergreen hit, or designers who self-publish.
January 4, 2025 at 7:55 PM
The f/t designers I know the to be either salaried with a big publisher, freelancers doing lots of dev and commission work, designers who had a massive evergreen hit, or designers who self-publish.
It's not intended for your convenience, it's intended to generate more views.
January 1, 2025 at 4:37 PM
It's not intended for your convenience, it's intended to generate more views.
Tiletum inspired this exact conversation in my group. But then, did we optimize well? Or did we all play mediocre+?
December 27, 2024 at 1:41 AM
Tiletum inspired this exact conversation in my group. But then, did we optimize well? Or did we all play mediocre+?
If you're brave enough...
December 20, 2024 at 2:26 PM
If you're brave enough...
Shortening the optimization window is a possible solution, though. People will optimize if it's the dominant strategy and within their cognitive capabilities. So offering a shorter window for optimizing is effective. Wingspan does this by removing an action each round
December 10, 2024 at 7:53 PM
Shortening the optimization window is a possible solution, though. People will optimize if it's the dominant strategy and within their cognitive capabilities. So offering a shorter window for optimizing is effective. Wingspan does this by removing an action each round