Sam Francis (Samphire Games) 🔜 Airecon

Space Invaders - Pluto Press A history of global protests and social movements from the perspective of radical geography

I feel @plutopress.bsky.social might have some stuff – this came up for example: www.plutobooks.com/product/spac...

A moment of glory from last night's playtest.

Knowing the difference is key.

Yeah, I'm with you! At the same time smoothing out things in the background so they don't distract from the core experience.

I learnt it from you Podcast Episode · But Why Vikings? · 6 March · 51m

The latest episode of But Why Vikings is out now! Hosts me and @ava.foxfort.net answer questions from @tabletopgamesblog.com on strategy guide use, the posting of stats from @tzartzam.bsky.social and a three parter on digital RPGs

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/i...

Yeah, I doubt it anyway. I think part of their formula is to appear boldly opinionated as we know that works as clickbait. YouTube need to label AI content.

But hey, your smashing the Gamefound campaign and they're busy trading in their souls for clicks.

Do you know for a fact that they haven't actually played the game? Seems likely but would be interesting to know. Ugh, I'm sorry you have to look at this, and that it even exists!!

*frantically writing prompts, eyes reflecting nothing but the screen*
Less clothes.
Shinier hair.
Bigger rictus grin.
Deader eyes.
Deader.
Bigger box.
Bigger.
Bigger still.
Melt the background.
Melt the foreground.
Deader eyes.
Deader grin.
Publish.
*the hand stills, the screen dims*

This example is particularly heinous – an AI slop channel telling you not to buy a game with beautiful art handmade by a human?

Ugh

Hah, exactly! It's the same reason that it's good not to obsess over prettiness of components isn't it. Inertia slows us!

Oo yes, good and bad complexity is a good concept!

Players who would feel condescended to will know they can just ignore any "first time" notes. It's good!

About to make some 🎲✂️ changes that I've been holding back from because they will increase the complexity of the game, at least initially. But I think they'll be good.

Do you ever hold back from game design changes like this because you fear increasing complexity and/or breaking things?

Over 40% of global shipping by volume exists to move fossil fuels from one place to another.

A huge share of the world's maritime infrastructure has been built around a system that is going to change dramatically as renewable energy and electrification displace fossil fuels.

We also played Jo's latest prototype – which came alive at our table! It's great to see a game on its journey – I played one of the very first versions and I could see what they wanted to achieve. Happy to report that the latest iteration does just what I'd hoped it would! 🎲✂️

Yes please! I'll DM you when I know my plans (not sure what time I'm arriving on Friday yet!).

It's so helpful psychologically knowing I have managed this level of development before with Poll & Write – this is a more complex game to get right, but I know it's going to be great when it gets there.

Recognising and replicating feedback and issues I got from the publisher who passed on the game, and working towards solutions and improvements. Constantly guided by the question of what kind of game I want it to be.

Another new playtester, Lina, successfully assassinated the Thane and in the ensuing power vacuum my union got the opportunity to propose a law.

In 90 minutes we got through the teach and about 75% of a four-player game, so I'm happy with the pace.

Useful playtest last night in Bristol. The owner (@miasmacorp.bsky.social) tried being uncooperative with the union, which combined with the Thane's tactics (played by a new playtester, Leon) led to an austere economy – low wages, low prosperity. This worked better for the Thane than the owner. 🎲✂️

It's a clue! The next one is in the Guardian's magazine, G2.

You belong here YouTube video by Matthew Dunstan

This week's video was a bit tough to make, reflecting on a few things that have happened in the last few weeks in the wider board game design community. Hopefully some folks find it useful.

youtu.be/y3P0gg8dBrs

🎲✂️

5 minions swarm the Palace Square where the radical has just attempted Propaganda of the Deed.

Infighting between the union and radical delayed the union's progress. The radical attempted to assassinate the Thane, but the Thane's minions instead took out the Radical – which was enough to clinch the win.

Dining Hall in Dwarf Union with 9 unionised workers represented by dice.

Accidently stress-testing the component limits! There's only 1 union worker in the supply now as the whole lot are unionised! The game shouldn't last long unless the other players can crack down on the union.

I love this feeling. I'm very pleased with the reaction that the pitch of my dwarf game usually gets – very encouraging!

This whole conversation is going to change. The far right will make it all about pro-natalism. In the best case this puts people off in the way Matt Goodwin's "penalise women" message at the by-election probably didn't help them, and also reveals that they're just racists.

Net migration in 2025 was about 160,000.

That headline 2025 net migration figure will come out in May: it will clearly be significantly below the 205k for the year to June 2025 (est range: 130-180k) as 2025 visa data is now published.

But the 2026 figure is likely to show negative net migration.

*side note

Sure note: I'm browsing bluesky and who should pop up in the replies but my uncle 😆