My passion for board gaming has always been deeply rooted in social interaction: the gathering of friends around the table, coupled with tricky decisions and a visually rich presentation, it really is the trifecta of what I look for in a worthwhile board game experience. I’ve tried to create that feeling with Distilled, in which the game is meant for players to enjoy each other’s company while also enjoying the game on the table (and maybe a drink in hand, perhaps? 😉).
But there is also a great number of people in the board gaming community who enjoy that puzzle-y, think-y experience of overcoming the challenge on the table, and also enjoy it on their own when other players aren’t available to join them. This is the solo board gaming community, of which I have only dipped a tiny pinky toe into, up to this point.
More and more these days, it is expected that a game will have a solo variant, experience, or entirely separate game as part of the shipped box. With the pandemic showing no sign of being over in the very near future, solo gaming has see a rise in the number of people adopting this approach to games, rather than letting their shelf of shame become even more dusty in 2021!
Enter David Digby, an individual from the UK that I had the pleasure of meeting online during some of the virtual playtesting sessions I participated in this summer. He’s a frequent attendee (and now co-coordinator!) of the Virtual Playtesting Group, and has also participated in Protospiel Online. David had a chance to playtest Distilled a few times over the past year, and I was always quite impressed with his ability to quickly open the hood of the game and find what might have been making that funky noise or inhibiting it from running smoothly. I still remember one of his gameplay suggestions for the Co-op in Distilled, that we limit the number of times visiting the space. That’s a crucial element to the balance of the market in Distilled, and its retooling has presented players with some tough choices to make.
Through my experience with him as he playtested Distilled, as well as his curriculum vitae of accomplishments for game design and development of many highly respected titles, I came to quickly realize that David was perfect to design a solo game design experience for Distilled. It was further demonstrated when I watched Paul Grogan’s Gaming Rules! solo playthrough of the Chocolate Factory (that video below) – a game which has some similarities to Distilled, regarding a “creation” theme and “manufacturing” simulation, around a product (in this case, chocolate!). So, enough of me blabbing. I’ve asked David to provide a bio for you all to realize how accomplished this designer truly is, and how lucky we are to have him join the Distilled team!
David is a designer, developer, and rulebook editor based in Colchester in the UK. He has a particular enthusiasm for solo game design and was delighted to be asked to design the solo for Distilled having playtested the game with Dave online. David has also designed solo modes for Chocolate Factory, Eternal Palace, Swatch, Fantastic Quests, Undaunted: Reinforcements (with David Turczi) and Tinners Trail (which he also redeveloped for the new edition). He has also worked as a tester and developer with numerous publishers including Alley Cat Games, Osprey, Board & Dice, Mindclash, Cranio Creations, and PSC. Outside of games David works as a technical manager in theatre, plays golf, and coaches youth cricket for his region. Checkout David’s BoardGameGeek Profile, for a full list of games.
He can be found on Twitter at @BoardDigby, and on Facebook at DavidDigbyBoardGames
Welcome to the team, David!