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Dual Design Analysis – Concordia and Lewis & Clark
We like to conclude each series of topics with our Design Analysis series where we can dive into some of our favorite games from both past and present. To wrap up this group we thought it’d be fun to...
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2015 Mid-Summer Mailbag
Mid-Summer Mailbag We’ve been comparatively quiet this year at Games Precipice but we’ve been as busy as ever. We recently wrapped up our second series of topics by diving into Twilight Struggle,...
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Early Game Structures – Introduction & Resources
This month we’re talking about game structure, a potentially intimidating but universally helpful topic in game design. Modern tabletop games more and more often spawn from a flurry of exciting ideas...
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Early Game Structures – Turn Order
Of course, no discussion of early-game structures would be complete without talking about who gets /he first turn, and with it, we’ll take the chance to explore how turn order is decided in strategy...
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Early Game Structures – Decisions
Our latest series comprises what we consider to be “Early Game Structures“, some of the foundational elements visible at the beginning of many great games. As we talked about in the introduction of the...
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Mechanic Archetypes – Worker Placement
We’ve just concluded an article series about the early structures in games, including the distribution of resources to start the game and means to decide the first turn. We got some excellent feedback...
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Worker Placement – The Perfectly Average Middle Ground Mechanic
In a hobby with with so many divisive subjects, we can hardly agree on a definition for Worker Placement. Earlier this month, Matt responded to this very debate by identifying the key characteristics...
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2015 Year in Review Mailbag – Influencers & Collaborators
We’re wrapping up year two at Games Precipice and we’re as thankful as ever for the support, feedback and readership growth we’ve received this year. We recently launched an ambitious series of topics...
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Worker Placement – Observations & Innovations
We’ve been exploring Worker Placement over the last month, creating a working definition and identifying just a few of its strengths and weaknesses as a game mechanic. Before we move on from the...
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Mid-Game Structures – Player Ecology
We’re re-lighting our lantern to go deeper into our game structures series where we are headed toward mid-game structures to look at how games change their environments to keep the experience engaging....
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January Guest Interview – Dave Burke
Last September, I attended the Boston Festival of Indie Games, a regional gathering of developers of both tabletop games and video games. The highlight of the experience was being able to play games in...
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Mid-Game Structures – Player Interaction
The next stop on our tour of mid-game structures involves player interaction. Of course, player interaction is not strictly limited to the middle part of a game–in some games, every single turn...
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March Guest Interview – Dominic Crapuchettes
Today we’re thrilled to be joined by Dominic Crapuchettes of North Star Games. Almost ten years ago, my introduction to Wits & Wagers was one of the key experiences that unlocked my own pursuit...
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Game Design Analysis – Power Grid
Today, we’re thrilled to announce that Games Precipice is now Power Grid Precipice. As our reader Rob noticed way back in 2014, Power Grid is our favorite game, an excellent example of so many concepts...
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Mid-Game Structures – Player Strategy
Earlier this year we launched our Mid-Game Structures series; a few perspectives of how games change their environments to keep the experience engaging. This article is part of our ongoing series...
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Mechanic Archetypes – Pool Builders
Our topic this month is “Pool Builders”, a collection of related mechanics like Deck Builders, Dice Builders and Bag Builders that are worth exploring side-by-side as they tend to share similar...
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Six things we want you to know about Unification of China
Last Saturday we were exhibitors in the Tabletop Showcase at the Boston Festival of Indie Games. It was a terrific experience and we met so many great people, a special thank you to everyone who spent...
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Pool Builders – The Algae of Game Mechanics
We launched a new series over the past year of what we call “Mechanic Archetypes”, an opportunity to examine mechanic-by-mechanic what differentiates successful game designs from the rest when we’re...
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Pool Builders – Observations & Innovations
To wrap up our mechanic archetype series on pool builders, I’m going to trace a history of builders and try to hit the highlights of some of the most important developments in builders. Naturally, it’s...
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Game Design Analysis – Keyflower
Image use courtesy of @UpliftAndrew Since our last batch of Design Analysis articles, we’ve started two ambitious, multi-month article series. Our Game Structures articles are meant to explore the...
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