𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀… 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀.

The Congress of Vienna was meant to be a diplomatic gathering: meetings, negotiations, and restoring order to Europe.
It became months of politics, receptions, rumours, salons — and, apparently, some very serious wardrobe planning.

#CongressOfVienna #Vienna1814 #HistoryMeme #HistoricalGames #BoardGameDesign

Small devlog from 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝟭𝟴𝟭𝟰: 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘇 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 🎲
Loyalty 🤝 in the entertainment phase now has two paths: gain support, or spend your own effort to discredit someone else’s influence.

The goal is controlled interaction — conflict without permanently destroying anyone’s resources.
Because at a polite evening, a whisper can still be a political weapon.

#BoardGameDesign #GameDesign #TabletopGames #HistoricalGames #Vienna1814

A small confession: beyond designing a board game about the Congress of Vienna, I also have a day job. Mostly remote, but today I came into the new office. View from the 31st floor.

I am not focused on the game today — though it never really leaves my head. And from up here, that forest reminds me of the Wienerwald (the Vienna Woods).

#BoardGameDesign #DevDiary

One design issue I’m working on in 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝟭𝟴𝟭𝟰: 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘇 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, my board game about the Congress of Vienna:
If an action is always worth taking, it stops being a meaningful choice.
So the entertainment 🍷💃 phase is changing — less repetitive token placement, more tension, more interaction 😳, and a stronger reason to quit early.

#BoardGameDesign #GameDesign #TabletopGames #HistoricalGames

I decided to freeze the action phase changes for iteration 3.5.

The structure is cleaner now: unified locations, fewer exceptions, and up to 3 actions per move.

I’m currently solo-testing it as five players, while shifting design work to the entertainment phase.
Goal: more tactical competition for characters, more player interaction, and better tempo.

#BoardGameDesign #GameDesign #TabletopGames #HistoricalGames #WIP

Small Congress scandal: at the opening ball of the Congress of Vienna, rumour had it that a quarter of the 10,000 silver teaspoons bearing the imperial crest quietly disappeared into the crowd.

I would treat this more as a perfect Congress anecdote than a precise inventory report — but honestly, that makes it even better.
Diplomacy, spectacle, gossip… and apparently a few unofficial souvenirs.

#History #CongressOfVienna #Vienna1814 #HistoricalGames #BoardGameDesign #WanderingPine

Everybody, please stop naming European countries. I beg you. The magic die list is finally complete 🎲
Number 6 is Romania — specifically Transylvania 🧛‍♂️

Tomorrow the die decides which country gets the next deep dive into a real person connected to the Congress of Vienna.

Final list:
1 — Andorra
2 — Finland
3 — Austria
4 — Serbia
5 — Greece
6 — Romania / Transylvania

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #History #CongressOfVienna #HistoricalGames

One thing I learned from more experienced board game designers that I really wish I knew sooner:

You can — and probably should — work on multiple games at the same time. Apparently most designers do. 😅
Sometimes the best way to fix a mechanic is to stop staring at it for two weeks and work on something completely different.

#BoardGames #BoardGameDesign #GameDev #TabletopGames #IndieDev

Most recent change in gossip mechanics: this time you don’t always control gossip directly.
It moves whenever you engage in public social actions. You don’t have to do it publicly, though — you can use the post office and send a letter, but only if you prepared one earlier.
And if you feel particularly cunning, you can still spread your own rumours. Because Vienna, obviously.

#BoardGameDesign #IndieBoardGames #TabletopGames #HistoricalGames #CongressOfVienna #GameDev #WanderingPine

And I just finished testing the new pipeline for action phases.

I define them in a spreadsheet, export to CSV, then one Python script turns it into YAML for the automatic action phase tester, and another turns it into JSON for the game logger.

This is what happens when a programmer becomes a board game designer.

#BoardGameDesign #GameDesign #IndieGameDev #Python #TabletopGames