iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

My work on Tír na nOg, Seikatsu, and Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design will have to speak for itself. Trying to belittle my work publicly because you didn't like my opinion - not my work, my opinion - is a shabby way to treat a fellow designer.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Weird, I'm seeing much more, including a DT vid

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Did you look on YouTube? There are a bunch there

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Yeah the names are regrettable. I didn't much care for input and output randomness either - I like pre- and post-decision randomness. Though as @gengelstein.bsky.social pointed out to me, those don't abbreviate well. I'm just bad at naming stuff! I agree that output randomness can be awesome.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Yeah, that's a good one. Circles work pretty well too, though they can also be annoying to make.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Hexagon tiles. These days I buy pre-cut birch at Michael's

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

So they're taxing you on 500 gallons of gas, or maybe 15k miles per year. That sounds like parity w the average gas driver, no?

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

I agree, but the biggest difference I see is guns. RW vigilantes were all about gun ownership and use as a policy prescription, but beat-em-ups rarely gave the good guys guns.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

I think these are better understood as fantasies about personal safety and control rather than as policy proposals for ending crime. Big cities were legit terrifying to walk through at night in the 80s.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

There was no conflict when the tender was issued or responded to. I agree we have to be concerned for graft. But this isn't a good example as best I can tell.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Only one company responded to the Biden-issued tender

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Watch better vids? There are plenty of good ones. And many of them don't start with a rulebook, that start with a teach from the designer.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Fortunately, videos and tutorials have gotten better and are more popular than ever. Maybe we should be making "good teaching and reference modalities" instead of getting hung up on the dead end of "good rulebooks"

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

This was a deeply moving episode. Chad Jensen, your memory is a blessing. Thank you, Kai, for your courage and generosity of spirit in sharing about his loss.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

It's not strictly more options, it's just deferring the same decision to later. But it also incentivizes going for Planner, which is definitely a bad idea for beginners to chase.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

I'm actually deeply uncertain of how effective it is. Yes, players can skip the initial decision of which cards to buy, but it's a deferral - they'll still have to choose whether to play them. It hasn't reduced the number of options they have to think about.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Terraforming Mars has the starting corporations that give players ten cards for free.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

The f/t designers I know the to be either salaried with a big publisher, freelancers doing lots of dev and commission work, designers who had a massive evergreen hit, or designers who self-publish.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

It's not intended for your convenience, it's intended to generate more views.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

Tiletum inspired this exact conversation in my group. But then, did we optimize well? Or did we all play mediocre+?

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Shortening the optimization window is a possible solution, though. People will optimize if it's the dominant strategy and within their cognitive capabilities. So offering a shorter window for optimizing is effective. Wingspan does this by removing an action each round

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Reposted by Isaac Shalev

Matt Leacock @mattleacock.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Excited to announce *Animal Rescue Team* co-designed with friend and real-life animal rescuer, Lisa Towell, coming next year from Play to Z. This will also be the first game in the SU&SD Presents line. Fun to work with Zev again; we first teamed up on a game called Pandemic back in 2007.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

It was wait on line for this, or the LotR trick taking game. I chose wisely

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Fabio Lopiano playtested one of my games at PAXU yesterday, in the @unpub.bsky.social room!!

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Reposted by Isaac Shalev

Greg Loring-Albright (he/him) @gregisonthego.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

ASCEND, ASCEND TO THE TERRACE!

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

My variant rules are available in the BGG variants forum for Wyrmspan

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

I liked Wspan enough to design a simultaneous play variant for it. I like the game, but the syncopated rhythm of v short 'play a dragon' or 'draw a card' turns compared to the long 'explore' turns canb least to really long downtime for players, esp at higher counts

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Organizing, eg via @ttgda.bsky.social is a means of establishing clear and fair industry norms and meditating disputes in private instead of litigating them in social media

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

TBC I wasn't suggesting that the existing protections are sufficient or formal, just trying to offer insight into the status quo. Too much of this conversation is dominated by players with little experience in publishing evaluating claims of designers and publishers. It's more heat than light.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

It's also bc publishers value their reputation and the assets they're about to sink into a new game, and don't want to jeopardize them by having a disgruntled designer airing dirty laundry about them and the game

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

It's worth trying to understand why these situations are relatively rare, given how easy it is to steal a prototype. It's but bc BG pubs are morally upstanding. It's bc most of them value the ongoing collaboration w the designer for both polishing and marketing the game.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

We have about 30 copies of Tír na nÓg available at the Grand Gamers Guild booth at PAXU. Please use this information responsibly.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

I bought a wine advent calendar so that I can play on hard mode

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

The campaign mode is awesome with the right group

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Cranberry sauce. Tested with syrup but the cranberry sauce was clearly superior

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

I do my stuffing with eggs, like a bread pudding, and I added two more eggs and a splash of stock to help with the texture of the waffle

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

As we make our way through this gluttonous weekend of deals, remember that no matter how low the price of a game is in dollars, you must also pay its cost in time.

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Maybe it's immersion in the setting that is in tension with the mechanical flow state?

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

If you dislike a game you don't owe the designer constructive feedback. Ty to those who provide it tho

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

My kids are starting a DnD campaign this afternoon, leaving me free to take a nap. Living my best life.

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Reposted by Isaac Shalev

Doomsday Games @5g4d.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Great week for Five Games for Doomsday! A classic #5G4D show with @kwanchai.bsky.social and a slightly inebriated episode of Battle Report playing Unmatched-Suns Origin!@restorationgames.bsky.social . These are both fantastic! buff.ly/3ZbNvpL buff.ly/3UZ691F

buff.ly

Kwanchai Moriya

This week's guest is the board game artist Kwanchai Moriya. We talk about studying art, the challenges of being a commercial artist and his optimism for the fut

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Reposted by Isaac Shalev

Doomsday Games @5g4d.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

In this free Battle Report, Ben and Steve tackle Unmatched:Suns Origin from @restorationgames.bsky.social buff.ly/3UZ691F

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Isaac Shalev @isaacshalev.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Are immersion and flow state in tension with one another? I love games that get me into flow state, but that's usually when I forget about the art, setting, components, story, all the stuff that makes me feel immersion. ✂️🎲

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