With Essen nearly upon us and all the final preparations going on at Naylor Towers, I thought it was a good opportunity to give you the lowdown on playing Magnate: The First City (5C132) at the show. Magnate, the game I've been working on for the last few years, will be live at the biggest boardgame convention on earth, all show long. What an awesome sentence to type! Where can I play Magnate? We're at stand C132 in Hall 5, conveniently located right on the edge, on the way to Hall 6. Here's the very official convention map (its literally what I was sent in the post by the organisers) plus a discreet addition from me: We've got three decent...
In September there were a lot of firsts for Magnate: we got our first ever review, did our first podcast interview and the first ever “pretty prototype” was assembled. Now our first big show is upon us! Tabletop Scotland a huge success & our first ever review At the beginning of September, I travelled north of the border to Perth to playtest Magnate for, what I only realised later, was the inaugural Tabletop Scotland. The playtesting was a huge success. It allowed me to test out a solution to the longstanding problem where players are mystified by bidding for turn order on the first round. I am glad to say that solution worked very well. I also got a chance...
Progress to publishing Magnate continues to move at a pace. Here’s a quick round-up of the latest developments from August. Magnate BGG page is up I am very happy to say that Magnate now has it’s own Boardgamegeek entry. Suddenly, – as I’m sure hardcore gamers can readily imagine – it all feels a lot more real. This both makes sense and doesn’t at the same time. Of course, BGG is still the closest thing to the officialdom in the industry but if Magnate wasn’t real before, what have people been enjoying all these years? I suppose there will always be a buzz seeing your creation listed among the greats in the place for games regardless! As it turns out,...
Want to know how Magnate works and get a closer look at its components? This is the post for you… As I announced before Tabletop Gaming Live last week, the Magnate art prototype is now ready. Since it’s starting to look like the game that was always in my head, I thought it’d be good time to tell you more about the game itself and its components. But rather than walk you through a bland component list, I thought it might be nice to give you a tour of the game; the closest thing in written form to being on the stand with me, with a real-life copy of Magnate. Ready to get going? Then follow me… At the heart...
With the receipt of renders I take a closer look at some of the game’s buildings and the source of their inspiration Everyday that goes by Magnate starts to come together a little more. This week was a major milestone: I received the first ever renders of the game’s 3D buildings from my sculptor. While these are only the first iteration, they already look fantastic. Why do they matter? A big pleasure of the game – for me and many of my playtesters – is the way the city emerges in Magnate. It starts off small, but it grows physically as the player’s fortune grows. Happily, it tends to grow in semi-realistic ways: An office in the middle of nowhere...
