the game design of taskmaster
Taskmaster. The incredibly popular British panel game show pits five comedians against each other in a series of ludicrous tasks, and has gained a massive following around the world. Going into its eighteenth series this autumn, the original television series devised by Alex Horne has spawned international versions, multiple podcasts, a board game, a VR game and a very passionate fanbase, all with no sign of stopping anytime soon.
In this series of blog posts, I am going to be analysing the game design principles behind the British television show Taskmaster. I will be breaking down specific game design concepts in relation to various tasks, so that you can gain an appreciation for the show from a game design perspective, and maybe learn a thing or two about game design as you enjoy watching the series.
A couple of caveats. One, Taskmaster is not a game. While there are elements of “game” in the tasks, Taskmaster is first and foremost designed as a television programme. In fact, that’s a great jumping-off point for the first post in this series.
Also, I am not claiming that anything I write is how or why the tasks were designed. Insights in this blog series are from my observations watching Taskmaster and knowledge of game design theory and practice.
As a game designer, it’s a lot of fun watching Taskmaster. This blog series is an attempt to use Taskmaster to explain game design principles in an interesting and easy-to-understand way. I hope you’ll find reading it fun, too.
The Game Design of Taskmaster
The series of articles can be read in any order. New posts will be linked in the list below.
