Things We Think About Games [Paperback]

Will Hindmarch (Author), Jeff Tidball (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2008

"An unholy mixture of helpful guidebook and jabbing provocation, [Things We Think About Games] will earn its right to rattle around your brain. It is essential reading for designer, critic, and straight-up rank 'n' file gamer alike."
--Robin D. Laws, creator of HeroQuest and Feng Shui

Will Hindmarch and Jeff Tidball think a lot about games. At their commentary website, Gameplaywright.net, they think out loud about what it means to play games, make games, sell games, and love games. They are gamers.

Here, with fellow game designers and notable game players, they think out loud on paper in the first Gameplaywright book. Things We Think About Games collects dozens on dozens of bite-sized thoughts about games. From the absurd to the magnificent, the demonstrable to the dogmatic, this collection spans both the breadth of games--board, card, roleplaying and more--and the depth of gaming, offering insights about collecting, playing, critiquing, designing, and publishing.

Forward by Robin D. Laws
Introduction by Wil Wheaton

Includes the contributions of John August, Pat Harrigan, Fred Hicks, Kenneth Hite, John Kovalic, Michelle Nephew, Philip Reed, S. John Ross, Mike Selinker, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[Things We Think About Games] should be read by every gamer. A good gamer though, will read it more than once. --Pyramid Picks

Although not fiction, the wonderful Things We Think About Games ought to be required reading for any fantasy fan. In its often Zen-like insights about gaming, you can see both the seeds of fiction and a holy but productive nostalgia for the days when we all played D&D. ... Of course, there's also serious discussion of gaming, from pieces about game "omnivores" to naming characters to packaging and rules. --Realms of Fantasy

About the Author

Will Hindmarch: A Will Hindmarch is a Chicago-born freelance writer and designer with a thing for airships. He co-founded the gameplay-and-story outfit, Gameplaywright, with Jeff Tidball. Will's writing has appeared in The Escapist, Atlanta magazine, Everywhere magazine and McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

In 2007, he was a judge for the MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning Competition. He has also written small-house plays, small-press comics, and award-winning poetry.

In 2004, he and his wife moved to Atlanta, sight-unseen, like carpetbaggers, so he could become a professional lunatic for White Wolf Game Studio, serving as the developer of the flagship World of Darkness Storytelling Game, Vampire: The Requiem. Prior to that he designed numerous game titles for publishers like Fantasy Flight Games and Atlas Games.

Do not talk to him about zeppelins or we will be here all day.

Jeff Tidball: Jeff Tidball is an Origins Award-winning and Diana Jones Award-nominated tabletop game designer active as a professional designer, writer, and producer of games since 1996. He took a break from full-time game design from 2000-2002 to earn an MFA in Screenwriting from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, which learned him some good story.

Jeff's proudest creative accomplishments are Pieces of Eight, a pirate-ship-combat game played with minted coins and no table, which received the Origins Awards' Vanguard Award for innovation in game design, and Gravity, an unproduced feature screenplay.

Jeff has worked as an employee of Atlas Games, Decipher, and Fantasy Flight Games, and done freelance writing and design for Eden Studios, Green Ronin, Steve Jackson Games, White Wolf Publishing, and others. He has served as the line developer of the tabletop RPGs Ars Magica, Feng Shui, and Decipher's The Lord of the Rings. Until it went south, he was a regular contributor to Games Quarterly Magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Gameplaywright Press (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981884008
• ISBN-13: 978-0981884004
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,391,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Food for thought, June 4, 2009

By 

B. Figgins - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Things We Think About Games (Paperback)

This isn't the longest book - some pages are mostly white space - but it serves its purpose well. These are things the authors think about games, and they'll get you thinking, too.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking for anyone who plays games, October 19, 2008

By 

Adam Jury - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Things We Think About Games (Paperback)

Bite-sized and approachable, Things We Think About Games is well worth reading for both casual and hardcore game players, and especially for game designers. You won't agree with all of it, and that's part of its charm: one page may make you smile and nod, the next will have you curling your lip in a bitter sneer. Hopefully, it will help you avoid that sneer during the next game you play.

4.0 out of 5 stars Just what it says on the package, March 18, 2011

By 

Zack - See all my reviews

This review is from: Things We Think About Games (Paperback)

Things We Think delivers just what it promises to: quick thoughts on games from people who spend their waking hours designing them. It's offers dozens of small streams of conscious that run together to create a larger, sometimes conflicting, whole. This book won't teach you how to make games, but it will give you a glimpse into the headspace of designers.