Comments on: Now, the Twist: … and Tear Us Apart

By: Colin McComb

Colin McComb — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:32:10 +0000

Porky –
I’d be absolutely delighted to see a completely new approach, and if I seemed to speak glowingly in favor of everyone taking only small and incremental approaches to creating games, I did a poor job communicating.

What I wanted to accomplish with this particular article was getting would-be designers to set aside their fears of treading on existing ground, and begin to understand that the act of changing just a few small aspects starts us on the path of wholesale creation. Knowing what all games have in common is a great way to get started on that.

I’ve been looking at Itras By reviews, and it looks cool – thanks for pointing it out! I’m not quite sure how they’d be doing something altogether new. Deadlands used cards and poker chips, and sharing the storytelling duties seems similar to Amber Diceless. Sadly, I have no background in Scandinavian languages (though I have a smattering of German even after all these years) – any idea if they have plans for an English release?

By: Wolfgang

Wolfgang — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:06:49 +0000

True, completely new games are a wonderful thing. They are quite rare, though, and there is a lot of joy and play value in variations on a theme.

I think there’s room to celebrate both complete originality and excellent new variations. I’m not giving up on board games just because CCGs exist, after all!

By: Porky

Porky — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:42:29 +0000

Interesting, and good encouragement to begin creating, especially for those not sure how or where.

That said, isn’t what we need a completely new approach? Not just endless variations of the same basic game, but new kinds of game? I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately and I’m not the only one. If we look at games like the Norwegian Itras by, we see an attempt at something truly original. And this could be just a starting point.