Gen Con-style events, an extra hall: UK Games Expo mulls expansion options as it preps for its biggest, most international event yet

UK Games Expo director Richard Denning has been organising the show since its foundation in 2007, when 900 gamers converged on a Birmingham conference centre. After a record 32,000 attendance last year, the event is now considering its future expansion - with Denning citing Gen Con's vast swathe of live entertainment as a key inspiration.

Designer Diary: How we made Carolingi

History teacher Sebastian Freudenberg describes his years-long journey to publishing his debut game Carolingi, in which players act as Charlemagne’s grandchildren fighting over his vast realm using a bag-based action selection system to control areas of the map, unite regions, develop their realms, attract followers and gain glory. Carolingi is the first game from Sea Cove Games, the joint publishing company launched last year by Peter Eggert, who created Eggertspiele in 1996, and Spielworxx’s Uli Blennemann.

Four years after leaving Asmodee, Dead of Winter creator Plaid Hat is finally free to do things its own way

Four years have passed since Plaid Hat creator Colby Dauch bought back the Dead of Winter studio from Asmodee - but an exclusivity deal signed as part of the exit has put limits on what the newly-independent studio has been able to experiment with. That deal expired ten days ago - and Dauch has wasted no time in spreading Plaid Hat's wings for its first-ever foray into crowdfunding, with the launch of its latest narrative-fuelled Crossroads game, Wandering Galaxy, set to go live on Kickstarter in the summer.