The Plan Is Not Important – How I GM Without Stress "The planning process is important, but the plan is not." Apparently Control Is The Real Fantasy I learned that the hard way after watching lovingly storyboarded sessions implode in the opening act. The first time I tossed my notes like confetti, I expected panic … Read more
From Monsters to Market Fit: Put The Player First "I found a solution in video games – I call it the Put The Player First Framework." There was a season when my to-do list looked like procedurally generated despair. Endless tasks, half of them icky, most of them designed to make me feel productive while … Read more
Map of Change Overview I designed the Map of Change to help NGO partners and school system leaders come together and understand the different transformation challenges faced by schools. The underlying problem was that school leaders and funders often struggle to grasp the trade-offs of real-world decision-making in schools that don't have enough resources. So, … Read more
Heya! We had our first Sunday checkin call today – and it went super well! Today, we focused on a very important concept – affordances – to help us create new and novel ways for players to interact with our games. We explored the affordances of: Click here to see the recording. Our Quest One … Read more
Yo yo yo! Man… this session was a lot of fun! We started off on time and we spent the whole session filling out a mini game design document. Honestly, I'm gonna stop talking so much and get people to do stuff! By the end of the session, we all had made good progress on … Read more
Call Recording: https://fathom.video/share/A1T_DAoW5arz-dh-1yvs2Q42NZ2icJDB We started the call with a discussion of the Wheel of Time series – absolutely epic fantasy if you've not read it yet! And then, we dove into the process behind how each of approached the design of our games. The mental model of hanging a bicycle chain up on a wall … Read more
"You Don't Get It…" Vikram (name changed) hissed. "My god… stop thinking with tech first and look at the people!" Shanthi (name changed) shot back, exasperated. "And you're forgetting how accessible technology is for these kids!" Vikram insisted. They were locked in a heated debate, their voices rising as they argued over how best to … Read more
We had our first checkin call after two weeks – and for the first few minutes, it was just me and two AI note-takers. Thankfully, others joined and we got under way. 🙂 We started by exploring a few Arena members' (we need a name!) Design Journal entries and got an idea of what they … Read more
As part of The Arena, I recommend that you keep a design journal. It's a place for you to record your entries and ideas that would be useful in your journey. When you're making entries into your design journal, I recommend using the mnemonic GOLD. Here's what it looks like, expanded: Here's how it looks … Read more
We had our kickoff call today for The Arena 🙂 Here are my notes for the session: My Tasks For Next Week Quest 001 Play a board game or video game like a detective. As you play, observe how you feel. What do you like? What do you not like? What can this game teach? … Read more