Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication

GDU 144 - Waypoints

In episode 144 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with freelance game designer and co-founder of Postmark Games, Matthew Dunstan.

Matthew shares how his curiosity for understanding what happens behind the scenes led him from being a sports referee and umpire in Australia to moving to the UK, where a growing design community, weekly meetups, and a game design contest helped launch his full-time design career.

Together, we discuss how digital playtesting has transformed the industry, designer compensation and contracts, collaborative design, how to create successful print-and-play games, and why building a stronger, more sustainable tabletop industry starts with supporting the people who create it.

 

Featuring: 

Matthew Dunstan - Guest

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 143 - Pirates of the High Teas

In episode 143 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with board game designer and founder of Pink Hawk Games, Emily Vincent.

After a career in software and UX design, Emily caught the game design bug when she realized the games she wanted to play simply weren't on the table. She shares how her love of afternoon tea inspired Pirates of the High Teas, leading to a great discussion on thematic integration, player motivation, and making mechanics feel believable.

The episode also covers how Emily's UX background informs playtesting and player feedback, managing player expectations, game naming and SEO, overlooked maintenance mechanics, the realities of crowdfunding, the rise of delightfully unique themes in tabletop, and how embracing authenticity and challenging traditional ideas of professionalism can lead to greater success both in design and in life.

 

Featuring: 

Emily Vincent - Guest

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 142 - Diplomacy: The Golden Blade

In episode 142 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with freelance game designer Rosco Schock about his first published game, Diplomacy: The Golden Blade, released by Renegade Game Studios. The conversation focuses on the challenge of translating the "feel" of a classic, beloved strategy game into a streamlined and more approachable card game experience.

We also discuss the path from prototype to publication, finding the right publisher and timing for a licensed project, and balancing respect for a 60-year-old franchise while creating something new. Rosco explains how Diplomacy: The Golden Blade now serves as an on-ramp to the larger Diplomacy experience, why understanding a game's unique selling points matters, and how patience and persistence pay off in game design. Plus, we learn what a game triathlon is.

Featuring: 

Rosco Schock - Guest

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 141 - Inkwell

In episode 141 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with librarian and game designer, Lewis Graye, whose game design journey began after relocating to Syracuse, becoming part of the local tabletop scene, and participating in a game design contest at a wedding.

 

They share the story of Lewis’ first published design, Inkwell, and its unexpected path to publication, which began as a playtest mechanic that DVC Games expanded into a full game whose theme was inspired by the animated movie, The Secret of Kells. 

The discussion continues into the use of historical, open source inscriptions for content, the importance of balancing gameplay so it stays fun without becoming overly cutthroat, adapting designs to publisher constraints like box size and component changes, how player experience can shift depending on the group, designing escape rooms, the importance of getting a playable prototype to the table early, and how the salt in the Syracuse water yields some pretty great game designers.

 

Featuring: 

Lewis Graye - Guest

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 140 - Wine Cellar

In episode 140 of Game Design Unboxed, we talk with Andrew Stiles, game designer and co-host of the podcast Tabletop Submarine, about how discovering GDU early in his design journey helped him better understand the tabletop space, and how a life reset during COVID (and a challenge to get a game signed in 6-months by his wife) sparked a career pivot into game design.

We talk about his first game, Wine Cellar, and how the inspiration came from his previous background as a sommelier, prompting him to lean into the “design what you know” mentality. Andrew talks us through key development decisions, such as scaling player counts, reworking card math, and how table space and visibility shape the player experience.

The episode also covers other topics, including the realities of breaking into the industry, the value of the UNPUB mentorship program, researching and targeting the right publishers, why smaller conventions are a great place to network for new designers, Board Game Arena (BGA) implementations, designing for non-gamers, and bad fonts that keep you up at night.

Featuring: 
Andrew Stiles - Guest
Danielle Reynolds - Host

 

GDU 139 - Side Effects

In episode 139 of Game Design Unboxed, we chat with Jade Shames and Ben Bronstein, co-founders of Pillbox Games and co-designers of this episode’s spotlight game, Side Effects.

They talk about how a mental illness–inspired card game idea (later titled Side Effects) sparked their collaboration and company, the power of bold visuals, why skeletons make perfect models, the balance between realism and accessibility, adjusting setup rules for varying player counts, and being innovative when it comes to product design for your games.

They also discuss homebrew variants, the all-too-familiar and disturbing medical side-effect warnings in commercials, and the hope that, if a misprint or typo occurs in print, it might become a collectible one day!

Featuring:

Jade Shames and Ben Bronstein - Guests
Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 138 - Song Survivor

In episode 138 of Game Design Unboxed, we chat with Edwin D. Benton II, Founder and CEO of Doin’ the Most Games, about how his journey into game design stemmed from an addiction to app games like Words With Friends and a frustration with their limitations. This inspired him to build his own inclusive, slang-driven app where players could contribute words from around the world, a mindset that evolved into the world of tabletop card games, which were gaining popularity at the time.

 

We talk about the spontaneous vacation sing-along moment that sparked Song Survivor, his playtesting process (from parties with friends to blind tests), his passion for designing for players with disabilities and specific cultural groups, hiring experts, packaging for mass market (why box size matters), and leveraging celebrity endorsements (and how to get them).

Featuring:

Edwin D. Benton II - Guest
Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 137 - A Place for All My Books

In episode 137 of Game Design Unboxed, we chat with freelance game designer and developer for Druid City Games, Michael Mihealsick who shares industry  insights from years of working for multiple companies, taking on freelance projects, and continually refining his game design craft.

 

We discuss the rise of cozy game design and what that means for different players, the niche book-collecting concept featured in this episode's game highlight, "A Place for All My Books," and how ditching a victory point tracker allowed for a competitive game to still feel safe and inviting.

Other topics in this episode include how games can adopt an audience or become a lifestyle experience, the feeling of being “typecast” as a designer, the definition of laundry day and frankenstein in game designer language and artwork differences for the same game in different countries.

 

Featuring: 

Michael Mihealsick - Guest

Danielle Reynolds - Host

 

GDU 136 - 3 Tricky Pigs

In episode 136 of Game Design Unboxed, we chat with freelance game designer (and Danielle’s co-designer on Tricky Kids), Steven Ungaro, who shares his “zero-to-three-games-in-a-year-hero” design journey.

They discuss how discovering hobby games led him down the research rabbit hole many aspiring designers fall into, and how resources like the long-running Ludology podcast have evolved over the years.

Because it is Steven’s specialty, the episode covers a lot about trick-taking games, including designing for “bad hands,” the genre’s popularity in the Midwest, and making it more accessible to non-trick-takers.

They also talk about how playtest feedback can shift your perspective on terminology, mechanics, and rule clarity, common phobias in games, matching art aesthetics to theme, and how players can rely on familiar stories (like The Three Little Pigs) when learning new games.

Featuring: 
Steven Ungaro - Guest
Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 135 - Stable Times

In episode 135 of Game Design Unboxed, we chat with freelance game designer Kristen Mott, whose game design journey began with creating games for her kids to play at home to supplement homeschooling.

We talk about how kids are great built-in playtesters, how her children’s interests were her thematic inspiration for designs, what kids learn through play, and the wild thematic evolution of Stable Times from a game about starfish, to tattooing sea monsters, to horses.

Other topics include how co-designing expands your skills, the value of feedback, her experience self-publishing, and the realities of waiting on contracts, ghosting, and publisher limbo.

The conversation also talks about adding personal Easter eggs to your game and the collection of real horses featured in Stable Times.

Featuring: 
Kristen Mott - Guest
Danielle Reynolds - Host