Belltower Games (Jeff)

I put together this printable summary sheet, and bookmark, capturing the central constructs at the heart of You Said This Would Be Fun. Perhaps it's useful as a reference/reminder If you're a designer, I suspect you have cardstock to print it on! drive.google.com/open?id=1_3ntW…

@IraFews42784 I feel like "Yes but your child is not /objectively/ fast" has maybe crossed into the proverbial "this is weird"/"go outside and touch grass" territory. This girl has great takeoff and strong mechanics. She will get "objectively faster" with continued coaching and training.

This thread is the result of ignorance combined with parental bias and salted with basic denial. People can easily look up how fast the fastest teens are. This mommy called a 13.2 100m the most insane thing she's ever seen and is now upset at the amused reactions.

@remotelywrite A few: @BillAckman @TRHLofficial @gghamari @bungarsargon @realsashastone @buttonslives @mkhammer @hoovlet @karol @DataRepublican @DataInterpretr @ScooterCasterNY @Erin_Molan @AnnaRMatson I'm not sure of their politics but they all post interesting things.

Conservative X, help a sister out. I’m new to this whole arena and was forced into it at that. But now that the fire has been ignited, there’s no going back. Who are your “must follows”?

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 Haha, that's sadly true. The stakes of this one are thankfully low. Whether Tom is or is not biased isn't too important in the grand scheme of things. If only all online discussions could be so low-stakes, tempers could surely stay in check more!

@belltowergames @Clint_Davey1 I appreciate it as well! It’s rare to disagree and not the conversation being called names online, lol.

Tom Vasel at the Dice Tower has put out a video saying "we don't care if your game is indie" Basically saying that every board game publisher outside of Hasbro, Asmodee and a handful of others are small enough to qualify as "indie", so the majority of the market is indie. Worth a watch. youtube.com/watch?v=huo5oT…

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 It's all good, thank you for the discussion!

@belltowergames @Clint_Davey1 That’s a step further than I would’ve taken it. I’ve never seen anything to indicate that Tom doesn’t love board games as a medium. Everything you’re feeling is reasonable but I just don’t agree with the conclusions you’ve drawn

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 What I get from Tom, and as he makes explicit in this video, is that Tom loves...certain games, that play a certain way and look a certain way. But, I think he's wrong. "It didn't have a lavish production" is not synonymous with "it's subpar".

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 To me the gold standard is Ebert, and what comes through clearly in Ebert's reviews is, Ebert loved film. Loved the medium, the artistry, just loved everything about it. He didn't love every film, but he loved great films in all their forms.

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 A game with a $20k art budget will look different from a game with a $1k art budget. If you set par (as Tom pretty much does) at the $20k art budget standard, sure, you'll judge many games to be subpar, but that is indeed A BIAS!

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 And I think that's deeply irresponsible in a reviewer. If you watch an art school film or listen to a garage album, you can't consider it through the same lens as you would a major studio or major label release.

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 I didn't watch the video yet, I guess my point is more to wonder, is anyone actually saying that they are overly kind to indie studios, such that he felt they needed to set the record straight?

@belltowergames @Clint_Davey1 Obviously not disputing that impression, I just think the video itself isn’t him bashing indie studios as much as explaining that they don’t give them a leg up. But I’m glad Chris liked your game!

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 he (Chris) cited the game as one of his top 10. Then, for no reason, the other guys started making fun of it, and Tom blurted out "It has problems!" It's fine if Tom has the opinion but he didn't elaborate, and it just felt tonally off for a "games that we liked" recap.

@cardboardhaven @Clint_Davey1 My general sense is the DT is actually kind of the opposite: Tom is more likely to go hard at an indie game than one from a "big" publisher. That was my experience. Chris from DT played, and liked, an indie game I released. In their annual "games we liked this year" video,

@Clint_Davey1 @SCrypto333 @garphillgames

@Clint_Davey1 @SCrypto333 @garphillgames Ok. I mean, he's free to go against his own website, it's his company! Good luck.

I like Stonemaier Games. They make beautiful stuff. Great artwork, great marketing. I would love to work with Jamey one day. But I don't like the direction he's going. Stonemaier's best ever game was Scythe. Making a game out of Jakub Rozalski's art was genius. The game has its flaws but it has incredible table presence, a solid engine and enough innovative features to deserve the acclaim it received. But Jamey has said recently that he will refuse to even look at games with themes remotely related to: -War -History -Religion So from making a highly successful wargame with big mechs set in alternative history 1920's Eastern Europe, Stonemaier has now transitioned to only making peaceful games with no basis in history. Games about looking after birds or being a little kitten or something. Vantage is an exception - it actually looks really cool. But you know what I mean. @littlemute described it best - Stonemaier makes games that feel like a knitting circle for old ladies. Now, Jamey's still making money. But I think that company had the potential to keep making games like Scythe and expand into even bigger wargame territory. Imagine that - the artistic and marketing power of that company applied to big, epic games about history, religion and war. Would have been incredible. It's a shame really.

@Clint_Davey1 @SCrypto333 @garphillgames They don't take outside submissions unfortunately.

@SCrypto333 @garphillgames Yeah I should start pitching to Garphill actually. That's a good idea.

@AnnaRMatson My son has profound nonverbal autism. He's sweet and funny and happy and we love him very much. But, it's a hard life and he will need support for his whole life. If there was a "cure", we'd take it. If we could prevent anyone else from being profoundly autistic, we would.

I want to hear from parents who have children that are profoundly autistic. Do you think autism is something to be celebrated? Do you think there is no need for them to be “cured?” Graphics like this love to pop up to discourage inquiry into the cause of autism, so I want to hear from you. Feel free to message me privately if you want your comment to remain anonymous.

I'm not particularly great at programming games but this one looks fun! CODER.IO: the adventurous family board game on @Kickstarter kickstarter.com/projects/90668…

Want to vote in a game design contest? We're asking our backers to do just that in our first-ever KS for Deck Hand Games. Round 1 games by @belltowergames, @haoleboygames, @cchunggames, & @timwkbrown Voting closes Friday kickstarter.com/projects/19670…