- Student
- 27/05/2026
Workshop shows: “Designing a game takes a lot of time”
That designing a game is something entirely different from playing one became clear during the workshop organized by students from board game and role-playing association Knights and Team Totem Game Dev. Working in groups, participants attempted to develop their own game under the guidance of professional game designer Hans van Tol. Cursor was there.
“You’re making cheating way too easy like this,” one student says to a group member. The participants are right in the middle of the brainstorming phase, where wild ideas are encouraged.
Before that, each group first had to come up with a theme for their board game. “Choose something all four of you are really excited about,” Hans van Tol instructed as the first assignment. Some groups quickly settle on their theme: nature, drug barons, drinking and driving, storms (as a weather phenomenon), and crime. One group of four Dutch students is discussing imps. They are speaking English “because it’s an easier language for games” and briefly have to explain to the reporter what they mean.
“Imps are little troublemaking creatures,” comes the explanation. “In our game, they’re going to build vehicles. To drive themselves, and to attack others with. They’re supposed to become something like tanks.” Student Meike Wiersma sketches what she hears while her group members try to convince one another of their best ideas. “We’re giving players three actions: sabotage someone, steal supplies, and build a vehicle.”
The group has not yet come up with a title for the game. That was not part of Van Tol’s assignment, but a question from Cursor. The student doing most of the talking suggests Imp-vasion. He emphasizes that it is a genuinely good idea.
Democratic
Another group is taking a very different approach and is still choosing a theme at that point. The students vote on which of their pitches is best: marriage, paintball, science, or cults. The last option wins.
Many of those attending tonight are members of Knights, the Eindhoven Student Role-Playing Society Knights of the Kitchen Table. “That was to be expected,” says co-organizer Wouter Leenen. He is a board member of student team Totem Game Dev and is also a member of Knights himself. Still, he notices some new faces as well.
Such as three women developing a game with the theme Ocean. Janne Leenders cuts large waves out of paper to serve as the game board. “The goal of our game is to reach the palm tree on the beach using a character you choose yourself. Whether you play as a little boat, diver, surfer, or mermaid, each character comes with different abilities.” Leenders studies Applied Mathematics and her group members study Industrial Design. She did not know them beforehand, but the collaboration is going smoothly.
The workshop, organized with support from Studium Generale, sold out immediately. Hans van Tol is not surprised. “Despite PC games, there is still a strong demand for board games,” he says. “It appeals to people looking for connection, and it’s also fun to combine with having a drink together.”
Of course, it is impossible to design a complete game in just one evening. Leenen would enjoy seeing students continue developing their ideas at home, though he does not necessarily expect that to happen. For him, the workshop is already a success if students go home satisfied.
The Industrial Design students, Floor Kuiper and Yara Frijters, are enthusiastic in any case. “We enjoy being creative. If the game isn’t finished tonight, we probably won’t continue with it. We already created a game at Industrial Design for a Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) course. The main goal was to learn prototyping. The game is finished, it’s called Hexatoon, and it incorporates memory elements and musical notes. We were given six months to work on that.”
Discussion