Zach Hoekstra

@[email protected]
76 Followers
89 Following
115 Posts
Game Designer and Backend Programmer. My hobbies involve having 400+ unfinished projects and making games with incomprehensible strategies
My Gameshttps://zhoekstra1.wixsite.com/zbhoekstra/available-designs
My PronounsHe/Him
Zach HoekstraJan 16, 2023
I unfortunely didn't get some spend much time at PO this time due to the fact that we were moving that weekend. But my incredible wife took over for a few hours so I could test some others and test my own. I even got a playtest of PACT, which I was worried went horribly but actually went really really well! We played a single round to see when everything clicked for the new players, since teaching has been the big blocker for this game
Zach HoekstraJan 3, 2023

I'll be at @protospielo on the 14th and 15th!

I'll be playtesting a midweight abstract game called Cycle and my big political wargame, PACT, both of which are in the "looking for publishers" phase. Come by and give me some suggestions!

Zach HoekstraDec 25, 2022

#gamedev

Looking for publisher recommendations! I have an abstract game that I think is in a good place, and would benefit from a publisher that specializes in making good wooden games. Does anyone know any publishers for this type of game? Looking at Steffen-Spiele, for example.

Zach HoekstraDec 25, 2022

I'm tempted to make a game design that appropriates American culture like a lot of games appropriate Japanese culture.

It would be called Howdy Hollywood, and it's a perfectly bland eurogame about sending workers out to collect wood, stone, film reels, and hamburgers, which you use to build buildings. You can also recruit American Presidents, which are cards that earn you extra VP based on what resources and buildings you collected at the end of the game.

I think it'd be a winner!

Zach HoekstraDec 25, 2022
Minor grump, but I've been playing a lot of 7 Wonders Duel on BGA, and there's a few games where I've encountered a few high ELO (400+) players that insists that I should be learning to play the game right and get annoyed when I take a little time to think over my options. It's actually putting me off playing the game in BGA at all
Zach HoekstraDec 23, 2022

Had a short meeting with a publisher today to show off Have At Thee, and early sigbs are cautiously good! The game's a two player coop, which is a very niche genre, but would fit well within one of their lines.

Here's hoping!

Zach HoekstraDec 19, 2022

I think my favourite thing about the Artis zoo in Amsterdam is that they have an enclosure dedicated to North American animals, a kids are literally queueing up to see a majestic Wasbar and Stinkdier

And it's like two of the luckiest raccoons I've seen in my life, waddling along and getting free food instead of digging through trash cans and getting shot at.

Zach HoekstraDec 17, 2022

Today is my birthday, and my wife gave me the best gift I could imagine right now - a day to myself.

I went to a hobby store and got beads for a game design, browsed a game store and got myself a game as a treat, and just wandered the city for a while.

Now heading back home, for cuddles and a warm dinner with my wife

Zach HoekstraDec 17, 2022
Show threadMattie SchraederDec 17, 2022

@zhoekstra i've been chasing senior at several jobs, always being told to "learn their stack" and "prove myself" and "promotions in the future"

Only for something to happen preventing those promises from ever coming to fruition.

Show threadZach HoekstraDec 17, 2022

One great suggestion that came out was to push the idea of "one winner, many losers". This technically happens, as one person can really run away with available cashflow, but at the end of the game each person ends up "making" money.

Ideally, I want most players to be cash-negative at the end of the game. There's a few mechanics I want to remove, so I think there's mental load available to do a mechanic around squeezing people with no actual fiat money.