yeah totally!
Takuma Okada
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You can, just not through Itch! You can buy the zine at two different online stores now, Heart of the Deernicorn and Knave of Cups.
Umm I don’t really have much but I do have this collection from a while ago. Mostly I would just recommend reading and playing whatever games you find on Itch that you think are cool!
https://itch.io/c/602475/games-that-make-you-think-a-crash-course-in-ttrpg-design
I think it really helped to hear someone say it's okay to say boring and wrong shit. Thank you.
And I agree about "I want to make games like I cook meals for my family"
I care about cooking almost as much as I care about making games. And I approach them in similar ways, I think. And relate to other people with them in similar ways. I should think more about this. Thank you.
here's a quick guide thing i did to pwyw games on itch that i think are great to learn different aspects of design from!
https://itch.io/c/602475/games-that-make-you-think-a-crash-course-in-ttrpg-design
players just choose whichever challenges they want to do, in turn order! if you run out, players can choose something that was done already. The game is over when you’ve succeeded (won a number of coins equal to the number of players+2) or when every player is knocked out (when every PC/named NPC has had a coin flip come up tails)
I did in fact write a story game that uses chess and has safety tools! But yeah in general people have an understanding of what chess is, and what the pieces do, and what the outcome is. People know what happens in a chess game before they start playing, even if that's approximate. There's very little uncertainty in content, and then of course chess doesn't necessarily come with narrative, although it very easily can.
If a game involves other people I'd most likely say yes! The improvisational aspect of RPGs is definitely part of it too. These both come down to uncertainty: we don't have a script written out, and we can't know what other people are thinking, and both of those things combined can go badly.
Single-player games though are a gray area. I think usually content warnings would be enough, but if something unexpected comes up in say a video game a pause/eject button would be good. At least in solo TTRPGs you can walk away when you need to.