David Fulton

Great games that play at a fast pace. Jacksmack Games was started by me, Dave Fulton, to bring you fun games that have unique and fun mechanics.

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@JamesGunn I was watching Adam Savage's YouTube and it loaded an interview with you and I got confused because I thought his voice changed. You are morphing into a Mythbuster. :D

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@VancityReynolds here is my pitch for a Deadpool shorts series on Disney+... It turns out Deadpool murdered all the missing parents in all the classic Disney movies. And he is eating Bambi's mom jerky every episode without explaining it.

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@Sergejalexnoki I have started making the follow up multiple times over the years. At this point it might be a bit of a reboot. :D

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@Pixar Let me guess. She is hot but doesn't realize it and he is a tall drink of water...

Low hanging pun fruit there. 😂

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@stuffByBez I've been surprised by how much can be removed in practice. A lot of "vital" elements of a game are only tied to theme. By letting things like theme act as blinders, we often overlook obvious solutions to common negative feedback by shrugging and saying "That's the game though."

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

What is the most valuable advice you have gotten since getting into board game design?

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@DanielSolis Or you would become incredibly fertile...

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@CardboardEdison They grow up so slow sometimes.

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

I might just be a cranky person, but as a game designer I find I come up with my best ideas when I think about game mechanics that I don't like. It makes me think about how I wish they made me feel, and how I can rework them.

Where do you get your best ideas?

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

My favorite game is Ascending Empires. It's a 4X Dexterity game, and while it isn't perfect it is really good.
It's my favorite because it gets hate from both sides. 4X gamers usually hate Dexterity games, and Dexterity gamers usually hate 4X games.
I love how odd it is.

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@galious @CardboardEdison Yep. I have learned to make prototype elements quickly and don't put LOVE into them. I put EFFORT in so the game isn't painful to look at, but no more. I once put WEEKS into board artwork, for a game and eventually got rid of the board. It was HARD to remove it...

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

What painful or embarrassing lessons did you learn when creating and refining your first board game prototype?

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@HerbieHero @CardboardEdison Ouch. Been there. Heck, I'll likely be there again soon...

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@TishToshTesh YES. This is so true. You pour effort and ideas into a passion project thinking you are adding fun, but you are just adding noise that gets ignored if players want to succeed.

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

One of my first prototypes had a TON of procedural steps. It was a fun system that gave interesting choices, but the game was only 10% choice and 90% processing the outcome. Better to do that kinda thing in a digital game.

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@subquark James Mathe was one of my favorite people to see at a prototype con. Because he would eviscerate every prototype I put in front of him.
The first game he didn't give brutaly crushing constructive criticism to turned out to be my first game picked up by a publisher.
I miss him.

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@Noah_Cohen @BigBadLex Absolutely. But it is an art to know where the math can bend a little, and where a small change to the math will result in a beautiful tire fire.

[David Fulton @JacksmackGames]

@eric_lang Is Ikea smelled M A L L now?