Making Games with Bert and Ernie

Jeff Tidball

Jeff Tidball is a game writer, designer, and producer, as well as the Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Games. He co-wrote (with Will Hindmarch) Eternal Lies for Trail of Cthulhu, which won an ENnie for Best Adventure. Other designs include the Origins Award–winning pirate coin game Pieces of Eight, the Fantasy Flight Games edition of Horus Heresy, and Doctor Who Time Clash. In marginally related nonsense, he published the social mini-game Band or Album with Kenneth Hite and published The White Box, a game design workshop-in-a-box. Visit Jeff online at jefftidball.com. On Twitter, he’s @jefftidball.

Designing and publishing games requires two kinds of complementary skills. “Bert” skills are deliberate and organizational. “Ernie” skills are expressive and visionary. Learn more about these two approaches, how both are important, and how to avoid killing your counterparts as the process unfolds.

How to Win Game Jams with This One Weird Trick

David Mann

Victory at a game jam can mean different things to different people. David has a decade of experience building games at game jams and will be sharing a special selection of games and his experiences developing them. He’ll cover selecting and grooming a game concept, how to prevent scope creep, and how to work effectively with a team you just met.