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.
Peter C. Hayward is back on the show, and we’re delving into the secret sauce of his personal design process. Hint: It all hinges on blind playtesting.
Peter is a designer, developer, and publisher, so he has the benefit of seeing games from lots of different angles.
The post The Secret Sauce of Game Design with Peter C. Hayward appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In light of this recent “everyone stay at home” thing, and the “don’t go to conventions because they broke” thing, you might be short on entertainment and I am here to provide! Here be links to all of my games (all three of them) as Mods for Tabletop Simulator and Shop Links for The Game Crafter, so you can play them with your friends online, or buy a physical copy! All of these games were going to be on sale at BABScon, but with that not going ahead and me stuck in Europe, that’s not happening. Anyway:
Tabletop Simulator - The Game Crafter
Thunderdrome is a racing game for 2-6 Wonderbolts (though it’s best with 4). You navigate a randomly generated track with a hand of cards, rationing your high speed cards for the straights, your low speed cards for the corners to avoid damage, managing your slender deck through one or two pit stops, staying close to your rivals on a cramped circuit to earn fan boost, and using that later for extra speed. It’s simple enough to get playing quickly, but there’s still plenty to think about.
Now includes four expansions that add a game feature and two new characters each - Fury Road, Future Shock, Omega Wing and Youngblood!
Tabletop Simulator - The Game Crafter
Overtime is a simple push your luck game for 3-5 street criminals. Each round, the operator (dealer) deals cards off the top of the deck until everyone’s bailed and taken some loot, or two threats of the same suit show up, meaning everyone still in the round goes bust. At the end of the game, your score is the chips you get from your bravado in staying in each round the longest, plus the best poker hand you can make from the cards you took, because of this game’s other feature: It uses a regular deck of playing cards! So if you really want to, you can ignore the game I designed and just have a pack of Sunjackers playing cards.
Tabletop Simulator - The Game Crafter (Daring Do) - The Game Crafter (Fallout Equestria)
Palomino Gold is a social deduction game for 6 to a lofty 12 backstabbing treasure hunters. One player takes on the role of Daring Do, and at the start of the game, everyone burgles the heck out of her. After passing around the cute little mint tin box, in which everyone has a chance to take a role gem of their choice or as much gold as they want, Daring Do has to interrogate the table to find out who took her gold, who’s trying to help her, and who’s actually the police trying to catch her.
Finally, if you’d like to support me but don’t think you can justify spending 30 bucks on a pony-themed board game, or you’re in Europe and the shipping is murder, then you can toss me a few buckaroonies on Patreon, or just drop me a one-time tip on Paypal!
Or if you’re not in a position to be throwing money, just enjoy the games! That’s why they’re on Tabletop Simulator. Amica magnifica, ludum gloriosum.
It’s just me on the show, and I’m talking about my latest book project called Board Game Kickstarter Advice.
I go through some of my favorite excerpts from the 50 interviews I did for the book and discuss why it’s such good advice if you want to fund a game on Kickstarter.
Be sure to check out my book on Kickstarter HERE.
The post How to Fund a Game on Kickstarter with Gabe Barrett appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Charlie Cleveland, professional video game designer and founder of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, discusses the crossover of video games and board games and what board game designers can learn from their digital counterparts.
And be sure to check out Charlie’s game, Vampire Vendetta, on Kickstarter HERE.
The post What Board Game Designers Can Learn from Video Games with Charlie Cleveland appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Bez Shahriari, designer of Yogi, discusses how to design not just a game but a gaming system that can support lots of different games.
Bez designed a system called the ELL Deck a while back, and we get into everything a designer has to think about when working on a project that’s going to consist of more than one game.
And be sure to check out Bez’s game system, the ELL Deck, on Kicstarter HERE.
The post Designing a Game System with Bez Shahriari appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Victoria Caña and Alex Uboldi, designers of Gladius, discuss the design process for creating a game with betting at its core.
We go into the ins and outs of balancing hidden vs open information, tension, and why people like these games so much.
The post Designing a Betting Game with Victoria Caña and Alex Uboldi appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Tim Eisner, designer of Tidal Blades, discusses the design process for creating big games.
Tim is a master of designing games that take up a bunch of space on your table, but his games are also super approachable.
The post Designing Big Games with Tim Eisner appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Juma Al-JouJou, designer of Clans of Caledonia, discusses the design process for a farming centric game.
We talk about market economies, resources, balance, and more.
The post Designing a Farming Game with Juma Al-JouJou appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Mohamed Alqadi, designer of Conqueror: Final Conquest, discusses what localization is and how you can take it to the next level.
We talk about not only translating a game but also changing the art and gameplay depending on where the game is being sold.
The post Localization with Mohamed Alqadi appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Erica Bouyouris, designer of Bosk, discusses what all goes into designing a nature-themed game.
We talk about bringing a theme to life, mechanisms, art, components, and more.
The post Designing a Nature-Themed Game with Erica Bouyouris 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.
For this episode, I’m doing another design diary, and this time I’m talking about my monster-themed football game Dungeon Ball.
I talk about how the game came to be and what went into its design process. I also go into the business side of things and talk about the highs and lows of its Kickstarter campaign.
The post The Making of Dungeon Ball with Gabe Barrett appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Mike Gnade, designer of Maximum Apocalypse, Set a Watch, The Few and Cursed, discusses what all goes into designing an adventure game.
We talk about open worlds, story moments, combat, events, luck, and all sorts of other things that come together to make a good adventure game.
The post Designing Adventure Games with Mike Gnade appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Martin Gonzalvez, expert print-n-player, discusses why having a print-n-play version of your game is so important.
We talk about best practices and ways to make PnP files with excellence. We also get into some game creation techniques.
The post Designing an Awesome Print-n-Play with Martin Gonzalvez appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Andrew Lowen, from Next Level Web, is back to discuss even more things you need to know in order to market a game effectively. We talk about Facebook ads, post-Kickstarter marketing, working with a marketing agency, and more.
The post How to Market a Board Game (Part 2) with Andrew Lowen appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
Part 2! Skull, Spyfall, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Dead Man’s Draw.
The holiday posts from last year in case anyone was looking for those again!
In a Board Games With Friends first, it’s a double feature! Rainbow Dash will come back with her recommendations for holiday games that are a little spicier next [unit of time] when I can get around to drawing the update.
Once again this time’s games are:
Timeline, The Mind, Codenames, and Sushi Go.
The holiday posts from last year in case anyone was looking for those again!
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.
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