The Nugget
- Cohabitive Games like Optimal Weave focus on enhancing negotiation and cooperation skills through gameplay. The game’s mechanics have been refined to better facilitate player interactions and strategic planning.
Make it stick
- 🎲 Optimal Weave is a game designed for practicing negotiation and cooperative bargaining.
- 🛠️ Event Deck introduces unpredictability, making players adapt their strategies throughout the game.
- 📦 Print-and-Play Version allows for quick iteration and access; essential for fostering community feedback.
- ✏️ Automation in design reduces repetitive tasks and aids in swift adaptations for game components.
Key insights
Development of Optimal Weave
- The author initially introduced the concept of Cohabitive Games to develop negotiation skills.
- Over ten months, the prototype named Optimal Weave 0.1 underwent significant refinements in game mechanics and aesthetic design.
- Introducing an event deck allowed for streamlined gameplay and added unpredictability, enhancing player engagement.
New Game - Final Autumn Together
- A secondary game, Final Autumn Together, aims to explore cooperative strategies in a different narrative, focusing on resource management as players prepare for winter.
- The use of a rolling d20 at the game's end introduces a non-zero sum outcome, allowing for nuanced victory without absolute loss.
- Players face the challenge of achieving sufficient supplies while grappling with surprise events and resource trades.
Community and Future Directions
- The creator is interested in building a community around cohabitive games, advocating for shared understanding of cooperative bargaining.
- An Element channel exists for discussions about cooperative game design, although there are considerations of shifting back to Discord for wider engagement.
- Emphasis on community feedback is crucial for refining game mechanics and building upon player experiences.
Key quotes
- "I argued for Cohabitive Games, games that are designed for practicing negotiation."
- "I found a nicer low-volume prototyping service; their prices are better, uploads are easier to automate."
- "The event deck lightens the upfront brain crunch... by spreading ability reveals out over the first couple of turns."
- "Final Autumn: a game about coming together (or apart) to scrabble for supplies before a perilous winter voyage."
- "If The Way is as strong as one would expect, you'd really want your communities to possess it."
This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.