They shared the principles used to map research and real-world accuracy about these modern conflicts - like the war in Afghanistan - to a game design that evokes the practical and political tensions between actors at a country-wide scale.
most of our modern military conflicts) in a way that’s compelling and deeply, deeply educational. (Malki’s game, Machine of Death, is based on the narrative seed of a machine that’s able to tell users the eventual cause of their death and nothing more.) Brian Train and Volko Ruhnke are responsible for modern wargames that model “counterinsurgency” warfare (i.e. The organizers deserve credit for bringing together speakers whose designs rely on very different principles for their “gameness.” David Malki !, a storytelling-person-turned-game-designer led the conference in an exploration of “theme” as a crucial means of enriching players’ experiences. As far as I experienced it, everyone played the conference’s games - from War to Fire in the Lake to Forbidden Desert to Spaghetti Standoff -very avidly, with an exploratory demeanor that yielded opportunities to find shared ground, surface unconscious tensions, and develop novel frames. Attendees brought questions and game prototypes in a sincere effort to uncover more about the craft. Each speaker shared an honest tranche of information from their game design experiences and wondered openly at what more could be done in tabletop games and to what end. I’d go again in a heartbeat, especially if they take advantage of clear opportunities for healthy improvement.Ĭuriosity was TableFlip’s prevailing emotion, and it made for a pleasantly cerebral weekend. And like a train ride, the even pacing permitted moments of contemplation that make the experience in retrospect feel more textured and the journey more complete. For a geek of my persuasion, it was fulfilling in a deep, quiet way - more like a train ride than a roller coaster. Happily, I’m reporting that the inaugural TableFlip conference met my high expectations across a very broad spectrum. After playing a game, the first thing I want to know is, “How did they make me feel that?” The modern tabletop game designer operates at an obscure pinnacle of design practice, orchestrating a symphony out of players’ natural proclivities around competition, optimization, risk aversion, deception, conflict resolution, and more. I call it “magic” because the modern tabletop game evokes incredible levels of emotional and intellectual engagement based on little more than the players’ agreement to follow the rules and use the same set of pieces. I’ve had a lifelong love of playing games, but since co-designing a board game at a Global Game Jam event in 2011, I’ve discovered an even deeper joy in exploring the why and how of a tabletop game’s magic.
Instead, talented game designers will present in-depth case studies of unique tabletop games.Īfter exploring game mechanics and theme in detail, attendees experience each game in group play sessions - with tons of time for discussing the art and practice of game design.Īfter reading the blurb, I swept my calendar clean and started counting pennies - this was the board game conference I’ve always wanted to attend. Here is the organizers’ description for the two-day event:Īt TableFlip, there’s no exhibit hall, no tournaments and no huge crowds. I spent the past weekend attending the first TableFlip tabletop game design conference in San Francisco.
#Gamefaqs warflame pm me your confessions tableflip series
Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train unpack the underlying principles of the COIN series of transformative wargames.
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