Ben Rosset, designer of The Search for Planet X, talks about how to design games based on real-life systems and processes.
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Ben has designed games based on aging cheese, brewing beer, finding planets, manufacturing board games, and many other themes that happen in the real world, so we have quite a bit to chat about.

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Jess and Steph Nguyen, from Hot Potatoz, talk about how to design take that games.

We talk about finding a good balance of fun, game length, and hurt feelings. And we get into finding the right audience, playtesting, and more.

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Jesse Stacy, from Triceratops Games, discusses how to design drafting games. Jesse has been working on a drafting style game for a while, and we dive into the different types, how to keep a game moving, stacking other mechanisms, and more.

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Gino Brancazio, from Tinkerbot Games, talks about the three stages of prototyping, and we discuss what you need to know depending on which stage you’re in.

The post [BGDL Community Spotlight] The 3 Stages of Prototyping with Gino Brancazio appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Andrew Lowen and Sean Bradford, from Next Level Web, talk about how to get the most out of your crowdfunding campaign.

We spend most of the time talking about different aspects of marketing and break down examples from our own campaigns of what worked and what didn’t.

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Rob Dougherty, founder of Wise Wizard Games, talks about how to run a successful publishing company.

We talk about how Rob got started, how to actually make money, how to use Kickstarter effectively, and more.

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Ryan Laukat, designer of Sleeping Gods, talks about designing open world games.

Sleeping Gods is a phenomenal example of how a board game can pull off the open world experience, and we do a deep dive into basically every aspect of its design. I’ve also been working on an open world game of my own over the last couple years, so we get into the ways we overcame similar issues.

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Matt Bivens discusses how to teach game design. Matt has been teaching design to high school kids for years, and we get into the usefulness of game design concepts, feedback, and more.

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Jess Metheringham, founder of Dissent Games, talks about designing games that are housed completely on greeting cards. We talk about the value of constraints, holiday themes, and more.

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Kathleen Mercury, designer of Greece Lightning, talks about designing race games.

We talk about meshing a racing theme with mechanisms that actually feel like a race, different ways to win, general design concepts, and more.

The post How to Design a Race Game with Kathleen Mercury appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Stephen Schwartz and Floyd Lu, designers of Slash and Spells, talk about designing asymmetrical games.

We talk about creating interesting differences, balancing factions, the challenges of playtesting these kinds of games, and more.

And be sure to check out Stephen and Floyd’s game on Kickstarter HERE!

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Ted Alspach, designer of Maglev Metro and several other route building games, talks about what makes these games special.

We talk about themes that mesh well with the mechanism, end conditions, keeping players interested, and more.

The post How to Design Route Building Games with Ted Alspach appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Arthur Franz, founder of Uplink Underground Games, discusses what it looks like to run a publishing company that’s based on print-on-demand manufacturing.

We talk about pros and cons, pricing challenges, community building, and more.

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Frank Sarro, designer of Pathways, talks about abstract dexterity games. We get into component quality, manufacturing challenges, complexity, and more.

The post [BGDL Community Spotlight] Designing an Abstract Dexterity Game with Frank Sarro appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Phil Walker-Harding, designer of Sushi Go, Barenpark, Imhotep, Gizmos, and several other great games, takes us behind the scenes of his personal design process.

We talk about coming up with ideas, honing big ideas into super fun games, knowing when to walk away from a design, pitching to publishers, and more.

The post The Design Process of Phil Walker-Harding appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Carla Kopp, from Weird Giraffe Games, discusses how to multiply your time and get more done.

Carla runs multiple companies while also designing games and creating solo modes for other designers’ games, so she’s had to figure out how to create more hours in the day. We talk about time management, scheduling, and all sorts of other things.

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The post How to Design 2 Player Games with Alf Seegert appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Carol Mertz and Elan Lee, from Exploding Kittens, discuss how to build a community.

​​We talk about their record-setting Kickstarter campaign, building relationships with customers, guerrilla marketing techniques, and what it looks like to focus on the “crowd” portion of crowdfunding.

And be sure to check out their latest Kickstarter project, Hand to Hand Wombat, HERE.

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Kevin Carroll and Steve Mark, designers of Tenzi and owners of Carma Games, discuss how they built a game publishing company that’s made several million dollars.

They tell their origin story, share guerrilla marketing techniques, discuss mistakes they’ve made, and much more.

Also, you can get 20% off in the Carma Games online store by using coupon code BGDL.

The post Building a Million Dollar Board Game Company with Kevin Carroll and Steve Mark appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Tyler Langtimm, designer of Moxie: A Journey of Monsters, discusses how to design a game about monster taming (think Pokemon). Tyler has been working on a monster hunting/taming game for a while (and so have I), so we have quite a lot to talk about. We get into exploration, combat, puzzles, progression, and more.

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