We all love a great board game. Especially right now, when we’re still staying at home as much as we can, there’s nothing better than a game that will transport and engage you, but we often take for granted how they get made and what they mean to the myriad creators and developers behind those games. That’s the world that the new documentary Gamemaster, available to buy today on digital, wants to reveal.
If you’ve ever wanted to know what goes into the creation of some of your favorite games, this might be the documentary for you.
Directed by Charles Mruz, Gamemaster is “an insider look at board game publishing following first-time game designers as they try to achieve their dream of creating a board game. This insightful documentary also explores the recent renaissance of the billion-dollar tabletop industry and interviews established creators of wildly popular board games including Exploding Kittens, Settlers of Catan, Pandemic, Hanabi, and many more.”
But it’s not just about the games you know and love, it’s about the people working to develop new games that represent themselves and their cultures, like Nashra Balagamwala. Nashra’s bio describes her as an “Experiential Designer working at the intersection of art and politics. Originally from Pakistan, her work involves the critical exploration of taboo subjects, frequently transforming controversial ideas into games, designs, and experiences.”
Nashra uses games to tell personal stories, and her game Arranged! which she funded via Kickstarter, is about her personal journey to avoid an arranged marriage. In this exclusive clip, Nashra discusses what it meant to make that game.
Gamemaster is an independent look at one of the most creative and vital parts of our geek world, and when you’ve got a break from Catan and buying up Boardwalk in lockdown, it’s certainly worth checking out!
(images and clips: Courtesy Gravitas Ventures)
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