Speakers
Vlaada Chvátil
Vlaada Chvátil is a Czech board game and video game designer. He started with local publisher Altar, where he worked digital games (Fish Fillets, Original War) and that also published his first Board Games (Arena, Prophecy). He became recognizable in the worldwide board game community following the publication of Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization in 2006 and thereafter his designs frequently made the top 100 list on BoardGameGeek. In 2016, he won the coveted award "Spiel des Jahres" (Game of the Year) in Germany for Codenames. In 2019, he entered the Origins Award Hall of Fame.
SOME OF THE GAMES Vlaada WORKED ON
Designer’s Challenge—How to transform a popular party game into a single-player mobile experience
When you have a fast, simple and worldwide loved board game, it must be easy to convert it to a successful mobile app, right? Well, and what if it is a game that blooms best with bunch of five or more friends in a local pub, a game that is about empathy, associations and imagination AIs are not capable yet, a game that requires really hard thinking from half of the players and perfect attention from the others, a game where a single word of communication outside the game means ultimate cheating that destroys the gameplay?
Vlaada and CGE Digital are an experienced team, praised for great implementation of one of the most complex strategic board games (Through the Ages). Yet, Codenames, a simple party game, proved to be their greatest challenge. Let’s talk about that challenge.