Spreadsheets! Spreadsheets! Spreadsheets! (Now you can't say you haven't been warned)

In these microtalks, spreadsheet gurus will showcase their creations, sharing insights on their origins, workflow, design choices, and the discoveries they made along the way.

Mike Rossmassler will share his process for creating paper prototypes informed by spreadsheets.

Tyler Coleman will discuss how to combine Google Forms & Sheets to create mini paper prototypes using just sheets and survey forms, a low-code solution to test gameplay and UI

Everest Pipkin will discuss using spreadsheets to update websites in realtime, and how this can be utilized both for responsive, flexible webgame development as well as community-sourced solidarity work and resource-building.

Guillaume Pierre will talk about the economy spreadsheet he created for Targon Studios' indie coop horror game Darkwater, simulating every loot drop, every room, every outpost and every district the game procedurally generates.

Ridima Ramesh will share how she drew on the versatility of spreadsheets in the process of developing an immersive strategy simulation; initially to alleviate complexity in early playtesting, and eventually to guide the creation of a companion app that facilitated player decision-making.

Tomo Moriwaki will talk about collaborating on google sheets and how Epic Tavern built directly from the google sheets into the game's data. The spreadsheets were set up to organize the data, but we needed to devise a way to work together on the story of the game in a way that worked for the data but didn't make thinking about the story impossible.

Cheryl Platz will teach you a localization and prototyping magic trick that transforms your Figma files into any language you plug into Google Sheets while demonstrating how spreadsheets can play a role in building a stronger UX design to implementation process.

Takeaway

Attendees will feel inspired to view spreadsheets in new ways, having learned innovative techniques and novel methods for organizing and presenting data. They will gain fresh perspectives on leveraging spreadsheets for game design, enhancing their workflow, and discovering creative solutions to complex problems, ultimately boosting their productivity and creativity.

Intended Audience

System designers, technical designers, economy designers, narrative designers, advocates and anyone interested in diving deeper into the world of spreadsheets.