My Love for Customization!
What happens when you love playing a game? Like, really love it?
Do you get heavily biased towards it?
Play it too often?
Brainwash your friends to love it like you do?
As for me, a game has my heart if I opt to customize it!
I don’t know if it stems from developing games or not, but I have a knack for tweaking games; particularly ones that I really enjoy playing. Here’s a few instances of customization that felt just right!
Lantern
This game has to be on my top 5 all-time print-and-play games! A game that is easy to learn, quick to play, unique dice mechanisms and above all- big scopes of customization!
The game is available in black-and-white format, so I opted to color it out to add my own flavor. I ended up giving it a fiery, battle-themed look and I’m delighted to inform you that it’s approved by Board Game Geek! More than 60 gamers have already downloaded and played on my colored version, check it out if you are interested!
And did I stop there? Nope!
Lo and behold, the board game version of Lantern! I made this version specifically for Game Nights, for a circle of friends to gather and have a blast playing this game. There is an indentation for the 7 enemies for the game, as well as a built-in dice tray. The print I used for the board game version is colored by the talented Chris de Villiers. I laminated the print to ensure its longevity. If you are also a fan of this award-winning game and got hooked to it, I highly recommend trying out this board-game version- provided you have a knack for customization!
For a Date Night!
If you’ve read my Silly Blog on a date night, you know what I’m talking about! I opted to customize three games to introduce my date to the world of print-and-play. And it’s safe to say this- we had a great time!
I altered the enemies of the game Lantern (customizing it YET AGAIN!) to silly villains of her day-to-day life, altered the Dark Lady of Black Sonata, and also tweaked the princess and food cards of All is Bomb! Not only was the customization a wow-factor but it was also highly appreciated. The effort certainly was worth it, now that I have a new member added to my game nights!
Inspired to Inspire!
The first print-and-play game review that I published featured Escape of the Dead, an intense game to escape a hoard of zombies. Being a fan of customization, I suggested hand-crafting the game components to enhance the gaming experience. A couple of weeks after releasing the game review, I was beyond happy to see one of our readers customizing the game with barricades, soldiers, zombies and a car! His post on X about his gaming experience from the customized set made my day.
OwyssWerkin, if you’re reading this, thank you for inspiring me!
Well, these are 3 out of the many instances where customization just felt right. It’s not just about altering things for the sake of it, but to have the curiosity to go beyond to see if your gaming experience can be enhanced.
Is customization your cup of tea? Did I by any chance inspire you somehow? If I did, make sure to reach out on Twitter!
Tasliman is a board game developer based in Bangladesh, with the dream of exploring the world of games and introducing it to anyone new to it. He is the founder of Kraftz, a brand that develops board games commercially, as well as with reputed entities like BRAC and The Gates Foundation.
