@AnandaGuneratne Profile picture

Ananda Guneratne

@AnandaGuneratne

Programmer and game designer.

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I've been using MSE for board game prototypes since 2015, and because it was comfortable, I resisted switching to #nandeck for the longest time. I finally decided to give nandeck another try. @WeirdGiraffes, you were right; nandeck is better.


Icewords is out! I still have some post-release work to do adding new features - multiplayer, more languages, fast animations, etc., but after more than a year of working on it (and longer working on Spelling Brawl, the board game version), it is finally published.


The safest type of gift is consumable things that you are reasonably sure will be used (chocolate, tea, soap, yarn, etc). You don't have to worry that the recipient already has a copy, and they don't have to worry about keeping it around for you to see that they still have it.


It took much longer than I thought it would, but I finally have a store page and a release date for my computer game Icewords: December 27th. store.steampowered.com/app/1661760/Ic…


I thought that the mechanic in Oath where you roll to see whether the Chancellor wins felt kind of clunky, but after playing as a Citizen, I realized that it is essential to making their alliance work. anandaguneratne.com/randomized-vic… #boardgamedesign


Some thoughts on how you reduce the burden on players in games with lots of effects if around a quarter of your card pool has abilities that only trigger when you first play the card: anandaguneratne.com/on-play-effect… #boardgamedesign


An idea for making randomized hidden victory point tokens feel less arbitrary to players: anandaguneratne.com/how-to-make-ra… #boardgamedesign


I am in the final stretch of developing my first mobile game, Icewords, now. It is mostly just bug fixes and tweaking the animation/sound effects timing at this point. I plan to release by the end of May, if all goes well.


I finally got around to putting together a website (anandaguneratne.com), which I had been putting off for a while. It has links to TTS versions of my most recent board games, and also a link to the Icewords prototype. Hopefully this should make sharing easier.


In multiplayer games, the player that is winning benefits from weak but reusable defenses that will trigger on each attack from the other players ganging up on them. The players that are losing benefit from powerful, single-use defenses to discourage opportunistic attacks.


Ananda Guneratne Reposted

Tonight a new song was coined, "do you want to kill a snowman" 🎶🎶☃️ Thank you @AnandaGuneratne for joining us tonight! clips.twitch.tv/GrossBumblingA…


#gamedesign Rolling for defense feels like wasted effort if your only reward is survival. Only players that stand to gain something from a conflict should be forced to participate in its resolution. (eg. dice rolling in Root versus in Risk)


In most set collection games, you have a few exciting turns where you get to play a set, and then many unremarkable turns where you are just choosing a card for your hand. It would be nice if the experience of taking a card felt more impactful and memorable.


Here is an idea for an artifact in a tabletop RPG: a sword (or perhaps some other type of weapon) that turns enemies that it slays into books. The books are an autobiography of the slain enemy, narrated in first-person.


When victory points are used as the currency to buy things, choices feel heavier and mistakes feel more punishing. Players are also more aware of their point totals during the game. This makes the game feel less casual and contributes to analysis paralysis.


Players faced with a word search puzzle in a mobile game are more likely to assume that they should tap letters rather than dragging to select a word. Tapping also obscures the tiles with the player's thumb for less time than dragging does.


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