Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication

GDU 111 - Floristry

In episode 111 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with TAM about his game, Floristry, which is the first release by UP Games - a new publishing company in the tabletop space that he is a co-founder of!

 

Danielle and TAM talk about how game design has always been a passion (growing up without easy access to games led to inventing games to share with family and friends), the rise of 2-player date/cafe games, important things to consider when incorporating an app into your game, and distributing games in other languages.

 

Featuring: 

TAM - Guest 
Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 110 - Season 5 Recap

In episode 110 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication, your friendly neighborhood editor, Amanda Rivera, takes over as host once again as we recap the fifth season and catch up with Danielle! They talk about this season’s guests, their games, and reflect on some of the amazing advice they shared for new and aspiring game designers.

 

Danielle talks about her upcoming games, the many prototypes she is working on, several exciting nominations, awards, and special guest appearances – oh my!

 

Other interesting highlights from the season five recap:

• Games as inclusive, accessible, approachable, and engaging experiences!
• Where IS the best place to display an oversized convention special guest sign with your name on it?
• Tabletop Gaymers 10 Year Anniversary!
• Danielle’s new blog “Missing Pieces” for the Tabletop Game Designers Association.
• And, a Greek mythology lesson from Danielle!

 

Featuring: 

Danielle Reynolds - Guest

Amanda Rivera - Host

GDU 109 - Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken

In episode 109 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Ian Clayman about collaborating with the game design team at Exploding Kittens - and an awesome surprise guest - to create a new game based on the longest running reality TV show, Survivor.

Ian dives into his unique approach for working on this well-known IP, the Exploding Kittens game development process, and how he got his foot in the game industry door by networking and snagging an internship at Exploding Kittens. 

Survey says, both show super fans and Exploding Kittens enthusiasts agree that Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken feels like the real deal - minus the lack of navigating island obstacle courses, weathering storms, and battling bugs!

 

Featuring: 

Ian Clayman - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 108 - Apiary

In episode 108 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication, we chat with Connie Vogelmann about her design Apiary. What started as her journey as a playtester for Stonemaier Games, quickly dominoed into an invitation to a designer day where she showcased Apiary and ultimately led to it being signed. Connie shares the lessons she learned along the way, including the tools she used for prototyping and how tweaking the theme to "bees in space" helped refine the game’s mechanics.

 

Connie and Danielle discuss other topics including the advantages of working with large publishers with access to blind playtest audiences, the importance of filtering playtester feedback, the impact of online feedback (including the good, the bad, and the memes), and the lessons she's learned about rapid prototyping, efficiency, and keeping your sanity through the many iterations of game design. 

 

And if you were wondering, yes, she actually did do beekeeping for a bit!

 

Featuring: 

Connie Vogelmann - Guest

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 107 - Monkey Palace

Episode 107: Monkey Palace

 

In episode 107 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with David Gordon about his co-design Monkey Palace, the new LEGO game! Learn about how he and TAM took a design brief given to them and designed an engine building game about building temples to upgrade your engine to earn banana points. Also, hear about the constraints that come with designing under NDAs on this and other games. 

 

Featuring: 

David Gordon - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 106 - Tír na nÓg

In episode 106 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Jason Slingerland about his co-design Tír na nÓg. When Jason started designing in 2012 there weren’t many resources for designers so he started the Building the Game podcast with a friend. He used the podcast to help himself and other designers learn more about games, the industry and design. Through the years Jason gained experience and had his 9th game Tír na nÓg released with Grand Gamers Guild. The game used a straddle draft mechanic mixed with different scoring mechanics to form a great entry-level game. It was used by the publisher to test Gamefound’s crowdfunding platform and had a decent first print run but it sold out quickly thanks to reviewers which caused them to quickly put a second print run onto Kickstarter with extra content! 

 

Featuring: 

Jason Slingerland - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 105 - Omicron Protocol

In episode 104 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Bernie Lin and Brendan Kendrick about their first design Omicron Protocol, a skirmish miniatures game designed to help bring more people to the love of miniatures. They were inspired by a convention panel to self-publish knowing they wanted to create an “intra-apocalyptic”, cyberpunk-themed world for 1-4 players. Through designing they added a co-operative mode for the game that helped them teach the game to players new to miniatures games at conventions. Some of their favorite moments were hearing how nice it was to see Asian miniatures and females with different body types. They wanted all different kinds of players to be able to see themselves in the game.

 

Featuring: 

Bernie Lin - Guest

Brendan Kendrick - Guest

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 104 - Shake That City

In episode 104 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Mads Fløe about their co-design Shake that City. The draw of the game was a device that randomized how to drop out 9 different cubes in a 3x3 grid. These cubes worked to help you decide what tiles you could draft and place into your city. Figuring out how to make the machine out of cardboard and rubber bands made manufacturing so much easier to get the game signed and made. We talk about how he worked in co-designing the game and how you can promote yourself as a freelance designer. 

 

Featuring: 

Mads Fløe - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 103 - Trekking the World 2nd Edition

In episode 103 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Nick Bentley on how he redesigned Underdog Game’s Trekking the World and why they decided to call it a second edition versus a new name. Learn what changes were made to make the game both more streamlined and more gamery. How they chose to keep some graphic design choices while changing others. See what your thoughts are on if they decided correctly on the naming choice!

 

Featuring: 

Nick Bentley - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 102 - Cascade System

In episode 102 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Mike Danovich about his RPG system created to partner with different events and businesses in the Chicago area including Revolution Brewery. In that partnership he got to design character sheets for the different hops that are featured on their Hero IPA variety packs as well as an RPG that was given out at the ComicCon known as C2E2. Learn how Mike dealt with these quick timelines and designing with these partners in mind!

 

Featuring: 

Mike Danovich - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host