James Hudson, owner of Druid City Games, talks about how to create a game that families love to play.
James works full time in the gaming industry, and his company focuses specifically on family games. We talk about what makes a game appealing to families and how to get noticed on Kickstarter.
The post How to Design a Great Family Game with James Hudson appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Daryl Andrews, designer of Sagrada, discusses how to work on a bunch of designs at the same time.
Daryl has designed around 100 games that are either in stores, in production, or have been signed and are waiting to move forward, so he has a TON of knowledge on the subject.
The post How to Work on Multiple Games at the Same Time with Daryl Andrews appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Gin Yu and Alex Hall, filmmakers with Gin and Tonic Films, discuss their new web series Getting on Board.
Gin and Alex have been interviewing and following game designers around for a while and filming their different processes.
I had a ton of fun with this episode, and I think you’ll get a kick out of it as well.
Find them on Facebook here. And Twitter here.
The post Lessons Learned from Following Game Designers Around with Alex Hall and Gin Yu appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Seth Jaffee, designer of Eminent Domain, discusses how to tackle that last 10% of game design that takes a game from merely good to that next level of great.
And be sure to check out the BGDL inspired t-shirt project over at IndieGoGo. Shirts are only available for a very limited time.
The post Taking a Design from Good to Great with Seth Jaffee appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Richard Launius, designer of Arkham Horror, shares great, veteran advice on how to design an AI system for both co-op and non co-op games.
The post Designing a Good AI System with Richard Launius appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Tony Miller, attendee of double digit design conventions, discusses why it’s so important to attend design cons and what you need to take with you to get the most out of your experience.
The post Getting the Most out of a Design Convention with Tony Miller appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Gil Hova, designer of The Networks, discusses how to manage a game’s scope and not allow it to get out of hand. We also go into a good bit of detail on abstraction and how vital it is for keeping a game’s scope where it needs to be.
The post Keeping a Design from Getting out of Hand with Gil Hova appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Daniel Zayas, a member of the Kickstarter Expert program, discusses what the program is and how it works. He also gives some really great advice on how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign.
The post Advice from a Kickstarter Expert with Daniel Zayas appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Gabe Barrett, founder of the BGDL, discusses why this hobby of ours matters and why game design is much more than just a fun, little activity. He also shares some stories that relate to design and talks about where the BGDL is headed in the future.
The post Why Game Design Is Important with Gabe Barrett appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Mike Mihealsick, from Coalition Games, discusses all the lessons and insights he’s learned after facilitating hundreds of blind playtests. Blind playtesting is the purifying fire in which we truly get to find out what our games are made of, and Mike offers a ton of advice on how to navigate the process well.
The post Lessons Learned from Blind Playtesting with Mike Mihealsick appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Chris Kirkman, designer of Fate of the Elder Gods, discusses Cthulhu themed games and what makes them so popular. There’s just something about Cthulhu that continues to intrigue people, and even with all the Cthulhu games that have come out, there’s still a great deal left to be explored.
The post Cthulhu Themed Games with Chris Kirkman appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Morten Pedersen, designer behind the solo modes for games such as Scythe and Viticulture, discusses how to scale a game down to one player and create a great solo experience.
Morten has his own design company that focuses on creating single player systems for games and has even won awards for it. For more, check out Morten’s blog here.
The post Creating a Great Solo Variant with Morten Pedersen appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Patrick Leder, designer of Vast, discusses what all goes into designing an asymmetrical game. In Vast, each player takes on an incredibly different role with different actions, different win conditions, and different ways to play. And creating a game of this scope is no small task.
The post Designing an Asymmetrical Game with Patrick Leder appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Chris Rowlands, designer of Last Garden and host of NPC-Cast, discusses creating awesome content that helps people as much as possible and also builds up goodwill toward you and your games.
The board game community is incredible, and there are tons of opportunities to help fellow designers and add value to what they’re trying to create. And in doing so, you build relationships that will likely lead to people wanting to help you when the opportunity arises.
The post Content as Marketing with Chris Rowlands appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Rob Daviau, designer of Pandemic Legacy, and I discuss how to run playtests like an absolute pro.
Rob started designing games for Hasbro before moving into the designer game space, and he has a TON of insight on how to playtest your way to an amazing game.
The post How to Playtest like a Pro with Rob Daviau appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Brent Kinney, vice president at Panda Game Manufacturing, discusses the details and nuances of getting your game printed. We talk typical setbacks, what the different phases in the process look like, ways to make the process easier, and much more. Panda GM is one of the major manufacturers of board games in the world, and Brent brings a ton of experience and insight to the discussion.
The post The Ins & Outs of Printing with a Vice President from Panda Game Manufacturing, Brent Kinney appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Tom Vasel, founder of the Dice Tower, discusses some of the many things he’s learned after playing an astronomical number of games. We talk themes, mechanics, Kickstarter, publishing, trends, and tons of other stuff.
Tom has played and reviewed thousands upon thousands of games which has led to some interesting insight on what makes a great game.
The post Lessons Learned from Playing 5000+ Games with Tom Vasel appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Sen-Foong Lim, designer of Belfort and Junk Art, discusses the many things a good game design space needs and ways to organize it all.
Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the show:
The post How to Organize a Design Space with Sen-Foong Lim appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Edo Baraf, designer of Herbaceous, discusses the many different types of custom components you can add to your games and the challenges and considerations that go with each one. We talk custom dice, boards, boxes, inserts, meeples, sleeves, and more. (Not miniatures. That will be its own episode.)
Edo has experience with lots of custom components and offers a ton of insight on the things to be aware of when adding them to your game.
The post Custom Components in Your Game with Edo Baraf appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Dan Peterson, chief developer and head of new acquisitions at Mayday Games, discusses why a publisher might reject your game and how to handle it.
Dan looks at close to 200 unpublished games a year and has years of experience in finding new games to publish. This episode is packed with great wisdom for anyone wanting to travel down the traditional publishing path.
The post Why a Publisher Might Reject Your Game and How to Handle It with Dan Peterson appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
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