A board game designer's web site

 Copyright Eric Pietrocupo


E-Mail: ericp[AT]lariennalibrary.com


General Information

My Designs

Game Design Knowledge

My Board Games

News: Now with active projects

Page: News.News201301200251PM - Last Modified : Sun, 20 Jan 13 - 1667 Visits

I realised recently that I have some sort of improvisation problem that prevent my game ideas to progress more than the initial design. That prevents me from having a playable prototype and play it with real people. Which makes the game design stall indefinitely.

Now I am exploring various improvisation method. The goal is to stimulate game exploration and try different mechanics to know what should be the limits of my game. There are 2 methods so far I intend to use:

  • Mix and match: I might try to select randomly a game from my closet and add a mechanic from that game to the project I want to improve. Or simply try various mechanics until I stumble on something interesting. That is generally easier to do when you have a running game and searching for 1 or 2 mechanics to fill up.
  • Toy Play: Try playing a game without rules like a kid would do with toys. The idea is to explore what experience should the game give and then convert that experience into rules. This might be a bit harder to achieve because it could require a certain mindset that I don't have, but I will still give it a try.

Active Projects

In the "Board games" page of the "My Designs" section you will see a list of 5 active projects. These are the games that I should strictly work on for the year to come. I will focus on the 3 first game, but could end up working on the 4th and 5th too. In case of blocking, I will try to push further and use the methods listed above to make the game progress.

The list was selected according to various criteria.

  • Having an idea of the mechanics and where the game was going
  • Having some love for the theme
  • Having a playable prototype
  • Being different from other games in the list
  • User votes (the stars besides the project name)

I hope you will appreciate the selection, and I hope I will be able to unlock myself and make my design progress.

Wish me luck!

Enjoy and have fun!


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