The workshop covers what games are and how they work, where ideas come from, how to understand and use game mechanics, and how to test and revise a design. You will concept, design and build a tabletop game from scratch, observe it being playtested, and improve your creation based on the players’ feedback. You’ll also play and evaluate two other games. By the end you’ll have a new understanding of what makes games fun, and will have designed an original, playable game that you can take home with you.
The masterclass is aimed at anyone interested in understanding how tabletop games work and how they’re made. It’s also useful for design students and digital game designers who want to learn how to paper-prototype their ideas.
James Wallis has been designing games for over twenty-five years, and is best known for Once Upon a Time (Atlas Games) and The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Fantasy Flight Games). He runs the games consultancy Spaaace in London, lectures on game design and interactive narratives at London South Bank University, writes for Tabletop Gaming magazine, and co-authored the book Board Games In 100 Moves with Ian Livingstone.
