RIP Reinhold Wittig, one of the big gaming pioneers in Germany has sadly passed away.
In the 80s he was THE small indie-publisher, who established the "tube cames", i.e. games in a cube here.
Also his artwork of games like Müller&Co is one of the best until today.
Three text boxes reading: Cube Pusher: I think a fun challenge I’d like to try is to make a Eurogame that’s as simple as possible, but I’m having a hard time pinning down a solid definition of what a Eurogame actually is. What elements would you say must be present in a game in order for it to be considered a Euro game? Humor Hawker: I’m working on a card game with humor at its core but with strategic gameplay. I imagine most of the cards having jokes and illustrations in the finished version. How do I go about playtesting and prototyping? Should I just test the core mechanisms, or should I create some of the jokes from the start? Unlikely Customer: When testing someone's game, for which you are not a likely customer, should you approach it the way YOU would typically play such a game or should you take on the persona of "someone who would probably like this kind of game" and try to do what THAT person would likely do?
Missing Pieces is looking for your game design questions! Our pile is low right now, so your questions has a good chance of being answered in an upcoming @ttgda.bsky.social newsletter.
Here are some of my favorite recent questions we've received. Submit yours here: forms.gle/53QtYWvZqJvA...
This is not a fair rate. We hope to work with Mattel to get this rectified.
Note that this is similar to the Hasbro Spark portal, which we warned against last year.
www.mymattelideas.com/ideas/myidea
ALERT: Mattel has been pushing game designers to submit pitches using their My Mattel Ideas portal, even if designers are in discussions with Mattel people directly.
The portal forces you to commit to a royalty cap of 1.5% plus a 10% deduction to net sales - effectively 1.35%.
Designers also had more industry-specific concerns, such as the possibility that AI could flood the market with bad games, degrade publisher decision-making and customer service, and divide the game-making community.
Other concerns mentioned in open-ended responses include commonly-cited problems such as plagiarism and AI's environmental impact.
Designers' other uses of AI include as a tool to help them do math, run simulations, and code digital implementations for human play.
About 4 in 5 respondents say they do not want publishers to use AI-generated marketing materials for their games and are not using it to generate marketing materials themselves.
About a quarter of designers use AI to edit text they've written, while fewer than one-fifth of respondents use AI to generate placeholder text, and fewer still use it for text to be included in the final version of a game.
There is almost no support for using AI to make the art that will be included in a published game. However, almost a third of respondents have used AI to generate placeholder art for prototypes.
About a quarter of respondents have tried using AI to come up with game ideas or mechanisms, while over half of designers said they were strongly opposed to this use of AI.
Many respondents were all-or-nothing on generative AI, with over a quarter being opposed to all uses and another fifth not opposed to any of them.
Just over half of respondents have tried using generative AI for something related to game design. However, of the seven types of use that we specifically asked about, none has been used by more than 40 percent of these designers.
We conducted a survey of our members about their experiences and thoughts on AI usage in tabletop game design. 🎲✂️
The full report can be found here:
irp.cdn-website.com/2b6905d0/fil...
A few takeaways: 🧵
The listing for the for the game Sanibel showing Elizabeth Hargrave
Kudos to @barnesandnoble.com for including designer names on their game listings!
A designer said to us that TTGDA has made him realize that the contract terms he accepts affect every designer who gets a contract from that publisher. And that has impacted his negotiating positions.
We love this sentiment!
Third year in a row GAMA has snubbed designers with their "Excellence in Game Design" award.
🎲✂️
Shame on GAMA for once again not including designers in their "Excellence in Game Design" award announcement.
Last year they promised that this would be corrected in 2026, but again designers are not given the recognition they deserve.
The omission is no longer an oversight. It is a GAMA policy.
Hex Factor by TTGDA member Frederick Weller is a fast-paced abstract game for 1-4 players where you claim territory by solving puzzles where the pieces have a mind of their own. 1 minute to learn and 10 minutes to play. It's currently funding through 3/17.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/sne...
AEG would not exist without the creativity and hard work of designers.
Tim Kask
December 30
First Employee at TSR, First Editor at Dragon Magazine
Julian Mayot
November 18
Founder, Blue Orange Games
Pete Knifton
October 30
Artist for Games Workshop
Burt Meyer
October 30
Designer of iconic toys including Mouse Trap, Lite Brite, and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots
‘Crazy Lady’ Melissa Morello
October 24
Co-owner, Iron Wind Metals
Rob Weiland
October 13
Journalist at EN World
Daniel Estes
September 24
Content Creator on Rose Estes’s (Endless Quest game books) work
Darryl Elliott
August 24
Artist for White Wolf and Others
Matthew Street
August 15
Artist for Games Workshop
Mark Painter
August 12
Artist/Art Director for TSR and Wizards of the Coast