The
Boardgame Players Association will be holding their annual
World Boardgaming Championships convention in Lancaster, PA the week of 1-7 August (with some pre-convention activity in the last days of July). I'm looking forward to the opportunity to immerse myself in a fun, competitive boardgaming atmosphere.
Even more than playing, though, I anticipate meeting people in the game design and publishing business. I'm fascinated by different philosophies that govern how people approach game design, and I look forward to engaging designers and developers in the industry to find out how the bring new titles from concept to market. Clearly the various categories and types of games require different emphases and approaches, but I'm curious to explore differences among the way people design and develop games even within the same genre. It would be particularly illuminating to find what distinguishes the makers of some of my favorite games (
Z-man for example). I suppose I'd like to learn how best to design the kind of game I like to play.
 |
Britannia, designed by
Dr. Lewis Pulsipher |
One designer I specifically intend to meet is
Dr. Lewis Pulsipher, whose blog I've followed for quite some time now. His series of instructional presentations discuss his thoughts on game design. A good convention provides the opportunity to engage names in the industry and exchange ideas, and this is an opportunity not to be missed.
I am already making long-range plans for WBC 2012. My intention for next year is two-fold: To run
Trains Planes and Automobiles as an official Juniors Event at WBC, and to bring a playable prototype of my space-mining game for playtesting or perhaps even demonstration to a potential publisher.
It's good to have a focus.
I wish I could afford to go to this. Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteYes, I know what you mean. I'm saving a few bucks by staying at a hotel down the road rather than right in the convention center. Still, I often wonder what it would be like to be independently wealthy, traveling around the country from one game convention to the next, like Johnny Meepleseed...
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