Corey Konieczka, one of the best designers on the planet, gives us a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process.

We talk about what it’s like to work at Fantasy Flight Games, coming up with ideas, playtesting, and more.

If you’re not familiar with Corey, he’s worked on these games:

• Battlestar Galactica
• Space Hulk: Death Angel
• Descent 2nd Edition
• Eldritch Horror
• Star Wars: Imperial Assault
• Star Wars: Rebellion
• Twilight Imperium 4th Edition
• Star Wars: Outer Rim​​​​
• ​​​​​​​​​And a TON more!

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Ignacy Trzewiczek, founder of Portal Games and designer of Robinson Crusoe, discusses his company’s motto: Games that tell stories.

We go in-depth into Ignacy’s design process, talk about his most popular games, and get to the heart of what it looks like to create games that have players leaving the table with a story to tell.

The post Designing Games that Tell Stories with Ignacy Trzewiczek appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

David Smith and Travis Winstead, designers of 10 Gallon Tank, discuss what all goes into publishing your first game. 

We talk about idea selection, creating a product, long-term planning, and more.

And be sure to check out their game 10 Gallon Tank on Kickstarter HERE.

The post Publishing Your First Game with David Smith and Travis Winstead appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Andrew Lowen, from Next Level Web, discusses everything you need to be thinking about when it comes to marketing your game.

We talk email lists, Facebook, timelines, and more. There was so much, in fact, that this podcast will be a 2-part series.

The post How to Market a Board Game (Part 1) with Andrew Lowen appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Jayson Smith and Jason Zmuda, from Gold Cauldron Games, discuss the ins and outs of various combat systems.

We talk dice, cards, dexterity and more. And we analyze several “must play” games to learn how to design awesome combat. 

The post Combat Systems with Jayson Smith and Jason Zmuda appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Jamey Stegmaier, designer of Tapestry, discusses how to design a civilization game.

Creating a civ game is no small task, and we get into all the ins and outs of putting one together.

The post Designing a Civilization Game with Jamey Stegmaier appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Joe Pilkus, professional game developer, discusses the lessons he’s learned from developing games over the years.

Joe has worked on games from Stonemaier Games, Academy Games, and many other major publishers, and he’s been helping fledgling game designers online for years.

The post Lessons Learned from Developing Games with Joe Pilkus appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Elizabeth Hargrave, designer of Wingspan, discusses how to design engine building games.

Wingspan is ranked in the top 100 on Board Game Geek, and we talk a lot about Elizabeth’s design process for creating the game.

The post Designing an Engine Building Game with Elizabeth Hargrave appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Coming to you from Dice Tower Con 2018, Eric Lang had a free 20 minutes and agreed to answer some questions, so we found a not so quiet side room to chat.

Eric gives his best advice on several design topics, and he provides incredible insight that all designers need to pay attention to.

The post Eric Lang’s Best Advice appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Richard Garfield, designer of Magic: The Gathering and a ton of other great games, discusses how to use luck and skill effectively in game design.

Richard belongs on the game design Mount Rushmore and has awesome insight and advice.

The post Luck vs Skill with Richard Garfield appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Matt Leacock, designer of a little game called Pandemic, discusses how to craft the player experience.
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Matt is one of the most well-known designers in the world, and he’s learned how to finely tune a game to give players the desired experience. Previously, he worked for companies like Apple and Yahoo developing UX for various products, and he’s been able to bring those ideas into the board game space.

The post Crafting the Player Experience with Matt Leacock 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.

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.

Rahdo and I discuss 2 player games and how to craft an awesome 2 player experience. We go into specific mechanics that work really well in 2 player games, and we talk through how a designer can make a game scale down to 2 players effectively. After playing nearly 1000 games with just 2 players, Rahdo is an expert on the topic.

Check out Rahdo’s game runthroughs at https://www.youtube.com/user/rahdo.

The post How to Create the Perfect 2 Player Experience with Rahdo appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Jamey Stegmaier,Kickstarter guru and designer of Scythe, and I discuss all the things he wishes someone would have told him before he got into game design, kickstarter, publishing, and more. He gives a ton of valuable advice.

For lists of games designers should play, click HERE.

For more from Jamey, check out the Stonemaier Games website.

The post What I Wish I Would Have Known before I Got into Game Design with Jamey Stegmaier appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.