Nick Bentley Makes Games

@nickbentley.bsky.social

1079 Followers 963 Following

Posts about game design. Director of Game Design at Taco Cat Games (Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza), former President of Underdog Games Studio (The Trekking Trilogy), former Neuroscientist. Trying to cultivate a radical acceptance of all experience.

The Box for the Taco Cat game POINTS FOR EVERYTHING
The book cover of "Ask Iwata", about the ideas and people that have driven Nintendo, by its former CEO
Tabletop game design tip of the day: a good idea solves multiple problems at once
Tabletop game design tip of the day: cut or change rules that players forget
A bar graph in which each bar is top rating of the current #1 player for each of a bunch of games on Board Game Arena.
Taco Cat Games Logo
Cover of the book "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud
An example of a rulebook setup page constructed the way comics do (from the game Trekking through History)
comic books make clear who's words belong to who by putting those words in speech bubbles that point directly to the person speaking
In rulebook setups, the words are separated from the pictures they reference by a number index system. Comics illustrate how you don't need this.
Tabletop game design tip of the day: to write rulebooks, study comics
Flip 7 game box
Pictures of the cards for the game Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. The cards are: Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza, Gorilla, Narwhal, and Groundhog.
Tabletop game design tip of the day: consider your in-progress designs guilty until proven innocent.
Tabletop game design tip of the day: don't mistake a situated experience for a marketable product
Trekking the World, and Trekking the National Parks, on Target shelves
Game designers tend to be on the positive tail of the opinion distributions about their own games.
Hagibis 21 inch Ring Light with Stand
Tabletop game design tip of the day: record and rewatch playtests
Tabletop game design tip of the day: split test
Tabletop game design tip of the day: don't let the players feel stuck too much.
tabletop game design tip of the day: try making early turns simpler than later turns
Math and reading scores are dropping in a bunch of countries
Tabletop game design tip of the day: the game should be fun when played by the wrong rules
Tabletop game design tip of the day: don't make players touch the pieces too much
Tabletop game design tip of the day: test with first-time players often
Tabletop game design tip of the day: fun & messy often beats dry and clean.
tabletop game design tip of the day: be curious about criticism, not offended.
Subzero production sample
my new game: the pack hunting mechanism
my new game: how a creature eats another creature
my new game: definition of "creature"
Abducktion the board game
the very special games guys
skyjo box
Subzero Box
tabletop game design tip of the day: before and while designing, create a premortem
Tabletop Game Design Tip of the Day: Avoid Vetoes
Trekking the World 2nd Edition Box Cover
Tabletop Game Design tip of the day: try replacing explicit costs with opportunity costs
Tabletop game design tip of the day: players should have fun even when misvaluing things
Example of a customer who expected our game to be a trivia game
Trekking through History box cover
tabletop game design tip of the day: understand player expectations and design to them