Over at The Players’ Aid, Grant A. Kleinhenz has a great interview with designer Harold Buchanan. This nugget in particular is of especial interest to aspiring game designers:

Grant: What was the hardest part about the design for Liberty or Death?

Harold: Finishing the game! Mark Simonitch said: “The last 20% of the game takes up 80% of the time and the last 1% is a killer.” Everyone is exhausted and the play testers are burned out and ready to move on.  I talked to Volko about it late in the process as I felt like I was on a deserted island. Volko said “that’s why you meet so many people with good ideas and few who have designed completed games.”

What can you do to improve your odds of making it past these final hurdles in completing a design…? It’s hard to say, really. There’s not a whole lot out there on this topic! But after sitting in on some development sessions with both Britannia Designer Lewis Pulsipher and SPI veteran Fred Schachter this year I have to say, playtesting games for a veteran designer that is delving into the last 20% of his design will teach you all kinds of things you may never even have thought to ask about.

If you haven’t set aside the time before to go to one of the better conventions like PrezCon or World Boardgaming Championships, this is easily among the best reasons around to take the plunge. If you’re the type of person that compulsively rereads designer notes because you absolutely have to know everything that goes into your favorite games, then you really owe it to yourself to see these things come together in person.

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PaxSims (Simulations)

• Simulation and gaming miscellany, 2 October 2016 (10/02/16)
• Nine-dash Line: A South China Sea matrix game (10/01/16)
• BOMBER! —a game about targeting and ethics in war (9/28/16)
• Workshop on history and games (Glasgow School of Art) (9/22/16)

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Inside GMT (GMT Games)

• The Last Hundred Yards Example of Play – Part 1 (10/02/16)
• The Pendragon Chronicles Vol. 2 – Raiding (9/29/16)
• Talon Tuesday Issue #28: Talon 1000 on P500 (9/27/16)
• The Seven Years War: Frederick’s Gamble: Game Development Progress Report and Updated Overview Presentation (9/24/16)
• Why Ariovistus? (9/22/16)

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Castalia House (Wargames)

• WARGAME WEDNESDAY: Avalon Hill’s The Arab-Israeli Wars – Part 3: The Chinese Farm (or That’s a Wrap) (9/28/16)

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Ludic Futurism (Brian Train)

• … and I told two friends… (9/28/16)

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VASSAL (News)

• Update – Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game (HotAC campaign) (9/24/16)

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The Demo Gamers (David)

• Bolt Action 2nd Edition Index (9/23/16)

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The Players Aid (Grant A. Kleinhenz)

• Review: Asgard’s Chosen by Mayfair Games (10/04/16)
• Interview with Volko Ruhnke Co-Designer of Ariovistus: A Falling Sky Expansion by GMT Games (10/03/16)
• “They sowed the wind and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.” – AAR for Bomber Command Berlin Scenario by GMT Games (10/01/16)
• Best 3 Games with…Auctions! (9/30/16)
• GMT’s Enemy Coast Ahead Scenario 1 – AAR ‘Attack on the Mӧhne Dam’ (9/29/16)
• Interview with Marc Rodrigue Designer of Bayonets & Tomahawks by GMT Games (9/28/16)
• Star Wars Edge of the Empire Roleplaying Game Campaign Log #5 – Connecting the Dots (9/27/16)
• Review: Secret Hitler (9/26/16)
• Interview with Harold Buchanan Designer of Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection by GMT Games (9/26/16)
• I Loved Gen Con 2016: Why I Know it is the “Best Four Days in Gaming”! (9/24/16)