We have kicked the playtesting year off! Once again, with the support of the study association Glitch we had a great playtesting event at our study Communication & Multimedia Design. Students from all years (1st years to graduating students) brought their project work and their independent work. And some teachers walked in to give their 2 cts. 🙂 Besides the digital games there were some card games playtested, and some work in progress (also nice to bring!).

I even got the opportunity to bring my RPG party game to the table and put the new rules to the test! Huzza!

In a few more weeks time for another playtesting event. And for tabletop game fans / designers: join us at the Spellenmaakgilde playtesting nights in Groningen! Speaking about tabletop games, the biggest analogue game convention in the Netherlands ‘Spellenspektakel’ is coming up and the Guild has some tables available at a reduced price to demonstrate your game! Further details are available in Dutch here, if you are non-Dutch and interested, you can contact me.

The Hanze Applied University has an independent magazine for their students. Last year I donated 2 different games to them as a contest price. I had a zany interview about game design and the release of my game Capo della Mafia with them. That was already cool. Besides the print it is also available on their site (in Dutch). Now at the start of the new study year they reprinted it, nice!

What was even more awesome is to see the game being played! During introduction camp with the new first years’ students the study association Glitch brought a copy and played it. It is so cool to see a designed game being played. My prediction, that will never get boring. 🙂

In May we initiated another Day Jam, make a game in 24 hours. Students from year 1, 2 and 4 (and non-students) participated during their holiday break. Respect.

My colleague Sean kicked it off with the theme on Thursday 3 May ‘endings and beginnings. The next day the teams presented their games. There were 4 digital games and 1 tabletop game. And damn, it was impressive. All the games had something going for them and some felt quite smooth already. It was very enjoyable to play the games.

Big thumbs up to the organisers and participants!

Nearing the end of the block (deadline week for the students), we had another playtesting event at the Hanze Applied University. There were multiple digital game prototypes and personally I brought some tabletop games.

The next final block of the year will again offer 2 more events!

Thursday 15 March we had another playtesting event. Around 40 participants playtested more than a dozen games. There were students of different majors present and games tested included project group work, graduation work and some personal projects. Including a VR game and some card games!

On the 5th of April we will have our next event!

In January we held another playtesting event at CMD Hanze Applied University. Around 60 students playtested 20 games and concepts, ranging from tabletop card games and party games to digital games. Some using hardware like a Hololens and augmented reality glasses. So all in all another great turnup, with students from year 1 ranging to year 4. Check out the pictures below. 

Next block we will have another one! Bring your prototype, or just come over to see what others made (and play it!). For those interested in non-digital / hybrid games: there is the monthly Spellenmaakgilde (game design guild) tabletop testing night on Friday 2 February. It is their 3 year anniversary!

Thursday 14 December we had another Test & Chill event at our multimedia design study. More than 45 students of our major Game Design and the minor Game On showed up to have their games playtested, nice!

In total 15+ games -applied & entertainment- were tested, including: rough early digital prototypes, paper prototypes, a Hololens game, an escape room for 3, games for mobile, a dating simulator, platformer games,  analogue / card games.

All in all the attendance was high, with students bringing interesting projects, sharing feedback and creating a good vibe. Looking forward to the next one in January!