This is not a game, but an update on the Gentle Games Habit
I missed two days in a row unintentionally, which is marking the end of this experiment for myself. So now, it’s time to review.
Why did I do this project?
This year, I have a personal goal to design a game that I’m proud of. My intention with the Gentle Games Habit was to get me started on the path towards that goal.
I just wanted to make up some games, learn from the experience, and get into a habit of thinking about games in this way.
Will I make my game this year? We’ll see. But regardless, this experiment felt like it got me going.
Why did I stop?
Life is full
Simply put, I’m just busy. I run a small business. I’m in a relationship. I’m trying to get enough rest and sleep. I also like to play games.
I’m working on other habits too: reading, meditation. Reading has been a consistent one because I do it in the morning daily. Meditation and game design have been less consistent because I have been stealing time when I have gaps in my day. On a day with no gaps, no practicing that habit.
Because of… games
The other reason I missed two days in a row is because I’ve been preparing to GM Blades in the Dark, which I’ve never played before. Since I missed days in preparation for running a game I don’t feel bad about breaking my streak, which is great. In truth, breaking my streak because I was prepping a game feels like a validation of the project. I do have a habit of attending to games at the moment.
Too many ideas
The other reason I stopped is because it was too demanding to make new ideas at that rate. Strangely enough, it got harder as I started setting more time aside. Five minutes is great to try to make up something small and weird. Fifteen minutes has an uncanny valley quality to it - too short to develop an idea significantly, but too long to write a short idea. When I started doing longer writing sessions, the games become more like concepts or frameworks, and I just wanted more time.
The other thing about the volume was that it was more than I could playtest. I playtested four of the games, and another was based on a scenario I made on the fly for an RPG I ran last month. If I can trap some friends in a room for a few weeks I can force them to have a not-so-gentle playtesting habit, that’d be useful.
What did I gain?
I thought about games a lot this month.
I made up a bunch of little games.
I learned about games
Sometimes obvious things. But the obvious lessons were sort of the best - it took the learning out of the abstract and into the experiential.
Like, you don’t need someone to tell you that it hurts to get knocked on the back of the head with a 10-foot pole. You already know it’s true. But if someone hits you on the back of the head with the 10-foot pole, you will have better knowledge of how it hurts.
From playtesting Even-Odd Dice, I learned the obvious lesson that the more dice you throw, the more likely they’ll move to the average. I’ve done the math on dice odds so often while playing games, so I’ve thought this kind of thing through. But the experience of throwing tons of dice and seeing how they end up so close to a 50/50 even/odd split was different and cool to experience. And less painful than the 10-foot pole.
I have some projects to work on more
I came up with at least two projects I’d like to put more effort in.
Though it’s not so original, I’m excited to make a complete set of cards for Card Backgammon. I just need to set some time aside to work on it more.
Invasive Species is the first game I started designing that felt like there could be something interesting in for a board game, so I’m hoping to experiment more with that.
I’m not sure if I’ll do it, but I’d like to flesh out The Egg of Gungyria into a tiny RPG or scenario that could go into other games. A few other games were things I’d like to integrate into something at some point: Flashback RPG Structure, Character Cache, House Maker.
I also did a few games based on “I cut, you choose”: Cake Slice Rummy, Paper Pentomino Stacker, Clear Bag Burglaries. I don’t know that any of them have anything there, but I feel like the “I cut, you choose” mechanic could make a good game somewhere.
How’d it feel?
I’m really glad I did this! As outlined above, I learned a lot, and I have some follow-up projects. So it feels like a victory for me.
It also reminded me of how much I like publishing online. This month I also did an overhaul of this website. So to have a habit of writing on my website was also a big positive for me.