Let’s Talk About Games.
Ca Del
Granchio
Portunoidea, Îles Rouges
Welcome to Ca Del Granchio, the esteemed Lecture Hall of Crab Fragment Cay. Here you will find videos, articles, and more serious information about game design, prototypes, and publishing.
For jaunty, up-to-the minute recaps of daily life on the Island, check out the pages of James Ernest’s Blog.
Videos
Below are some of the best-loved instructional and informational videos on James Ernest’s YouTube channel.
James Ernest explains some basic techniques for creating more legible prototypes.
This is James Ernest's 30-minute lecture on the basics of designing family games.
James Ernest explains three techniques for making your own prototype game cards.
James Ernest on Board Game Design Lab, summer 2023, discusses basic design theory and the meaning of “fun.
James Ernest interviews folks at Game Storm 2019 about their memories of Cheapass Games.
James Ernest describes how to make your own sheet of high-quality cardstock counters.
James Ernest describes several ways to make prototype game boards.
James Ernest describes how to make prototype Tile Cards, a key component for games like Agora.
Articles
Do you love reading?
Here are some words on pages, about subjects that we have not yet deemed worthy of a video.
This section has articles in PDF form. There are more articles below in blog form.
Probability for Game Designers: James Ernest discusses the fundamentals of probability theory as they apply to hobby game design. (8 Pages, from lecture notes, Gen Con 2014)
Volatility in Game Design: Building on topics from “Probability,” this article discusses the application of randomness in tabletop game design. (7 Pages from lecture notes Gen Con 2012)
Keeping It Simple: Efficiency in Game Design. This is the article about the block of marble. A short piece from 1997 that’s still mostly true today. (3 Pages, from Chief Herman’s Holiday Fun Pack)
Writing Effective Rules. An excerpt from James Ernest’s 2013 tabletop game design class, explaining the basic approach to creating, organizing, and testing a game rulebook. (8 Pages)
Design Articles
The articles below are relevant to general game design and publishing. For more frequent and fluffier posts, please visit James’ Blog.
Developing Tak
This post tells the origin story of Tak: a Beautiful Game.
Driving Games
We might be taking actual road trips again soon, so let’s talk about driving games. This is a group of parlor games that require nothing but conversation.
Designing Traditional Card Decks
This article explains my thoughts on what makes a good multi-game card deck. I’ll talk specifically about how these considerations affect the design of Fairmarket. I’ll also talk about other decks I’ve created in this space, and whether they hit the right marks.
Black Box Mechanics
Is there such a thing as an ethical payout? Yes, sort of. Here’s 5000 words to explain that answer.
Bluffing Games
This article is about bluffing games: what they are, why they work, and how to make them better, with a few examples.
Which Comes First?
Ideally, the back story of a game shouldn’t just be an add-on to the rules. It should convey the rules. A back story can explain what you’re doing, and it can cut the rule book in half. On the other hand, an incongruous story can be worse than none at all.
Publishing Advice
There are several strategies open to an aspiring game inventor, including a few I’ve outlined below. How you decide to bring your game to the world will depend on your goals for the project.
Humor in Games
Genuinely funny play comes not from repeating jokes, which will get old, but from engineering surprise into the game mechanics, and empowering the players to create their own humor.