If you love games, come to Unpub, even if you don't design games yourself. I get so much joy from playtesting events from seeing the essence of a game before it's coated in a glossy finish.
If, like me, you believe games are art, playing prototypes lets you see the fingerprint of the artist.
Unpub is this weekend! We're exciting to play your games and share some of ours with you. Our publishing studio focuses on games where any number of players can win or lose OR games where there are no winers and losers, just various outcomes players reach. Here's what we're bringing:
But are you ready for Unpub?
A while back, I posted about my move to the Netherlands later this year. As part of that move, my family is also venturing into the world of tabletop game publishing through Hawk and Dove. I'd be honored if you would check us out and follow along on our journey!
Golden Eye 64 Big Head Mode Gecko
Toby Fox Undertale Dog: Fire Edition
Angry Bird but it's made outta Leaves
Da three new pokeymans.
In what ways can board games improve society? Xoe talks with @gregisonthego.bsky.social about the social lessons games can teach us and how they can start important conversations, often through the lens of his design Keep the Faith, and his codesign Bloc by Bloc!
youtu.be/xDzYgaBJ11Y
Dialogue at Dusk thumbnail with the text: Social shifting The night is for progress
Tonight at 9pm EST, @xoe.gay will be having a chat with @gregisonthego.bsky.social about his design Keeping the Faith, as well as encouraging social change through game design!
You can come join the chat and ask us questions over on discord:
discord.gg/7SQXuB4M?eve...
AEG would not exist without the creativity and hard work of designers.
Also, hilariously, I wouldn't be surprised if this was written or heavily edited by gen ai. "X isn't Y. It's Z," is a common written-by-AI tell.
Comparing this to a machine playing chess is so off-the-mark and such a major reason why metaphor-as-argument is almost always an escape from reality.
For those getting into or already in this world reading this stuff, don't let this nonsense distract you from making and sharing your games.
Stuff like this downplays and ignores the significant reality of what it takes to design a game. It's not just making ideas, but testing them, refining them, demonstrating them, proving them, iterating on them, and doing it all over and over and over again to push forward the vision you made.
How can folks get involved?
There's a lot of online playtesters over at Break My Game who might be interested in testing something like this.
Yeah basically.
If you're in the Los Angeles area, Xoe is going to be repping Lunarpunk Games at Little Tokyo's Zinefest at table E8!
Going to be selling Vibes and Conviction and stuff there!
It's from 9am to 4pm!
www.ltzinefest.org
I'm quite proud to have had to order a second print run of The Book of Wandering. Back in stock, you can grab yours today! Imagine a handwritten letter from twenty or more like-minded individuals that you've never met.
#journaling #traveling #magical
Check out discord.gg/breakmygame
Massive design community filled with designers who chat on voice chat, in text channels, and playtest games regularly.
Highly recommend it as a resource!
None of this means those things can't be fun or exciting or silly in games. But it does mean they're still making some sort of argument or statement.
Plenty of well loved, competitive, tabletop games focus on and make the argument for achieving status above others (winning), taking resources (cards, tokens, etc), impeding others through competition, etc.
Even in the mechanics, board games are political. We gotta stop pretending they're not.
Rulebooks are often read out loud. This sounds obvious but make sure when writing yours you put all the stuff you actually want to be heard in the main text that *looks* like it should be read. Otherwise, the people not reading the rulebook (and probably the reader) are going to skip it.
Given the history of transphobic takes and enthusiastic embrace of AI generated illustrations, it's enormously disappointing to see @boardgamegeek.com celebrate and reward the work of FryxGames in their Hall of Fame.
It can be tricky balancing a multivictor game that rides the line between cooperative and competitive. Come listen to us chat with @zesock.bsky.social about the lessons he learned balancing his game Thieve's Dilemma for both playstyles.
youtu.be/sjFR6lWrGWc
A photo of the game What if I'm the Devil? A social deduction nightmare about protecting myself by Jamie Sabriel
What if I'm the Devil? just arrived!
Very excited to check this out.
It was released during the @lunarpunk.games Midnight Market!
There's no best way to playtest or make your game. Just many different ways that offer up many different results and insights for you to explore and make decisions from.
Hell yeah
We need to significantly lessen the number of zero-zum games that get made. It often especially makes little sense in historical games where results are often incredibly complicated.
That's actually their whole marketing strat too. They don't have a marketing budget, so they completely rely on word-of-mouth.
Thanks for sharing this resource!
Pirate Ship is soooooooooooooo good. Pretty much an essential for reasonable shipping in this market.
Happy to see this starting to take shape!
Pyrotechnics by TTGDA member @backwardscapgames.bsky.social is a 2 player head-to-head card game that's quick and easy with just the right spark of strategy.
It's currently available for pre-sale with delivery expected before the end of January 2026!
www.seahorseandhummingbird.com/shop/pyrotec...
π
