Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication

GDU 018-Stripes

In episode 18 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Maxine Ekl, the designer of Think Ahead, High & Low Poker, Dual Value Playing Cards, and Stripes! Maxine is one of the co-organizers for Chicago's Protospiel and co-owner of Clever Playing Cards. She’s a large fan of designing card games and her game Stripes even got the Dice Tower’s Seal of Approval! Maxine found that her game designs only got better after discovering Protospiels and local game design meetups. Learn how she started her own Protopiel and how patience is a virtue when it comes to taking a game from inspiration to publication. 

 

Featuring: 

 

Maxine Ekl - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Ben Moy - Host

Denice - Host

GDU 017-Sagrada

In episode 17 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Daryl Andrews designer of Sagrada, BOSK, 7 Summits, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Kodama 3D, Back to The Future Outatime and so many other games. Daryl shares his insights on going from hobbyist to designer thanks to an amazing local community of designers. Learn how he has worked with different design partners, themes, and mechanics becoming almost a swiss army knife of a designer. Daryl embodies the mentality of pay if forward and shows you how far you can go in the industry when you help support fellow designers.

 

Featuring: 

 

Daryl Andrews - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Ben Moy - Host

GDU 016-Orphans & Ashes

In episode 16 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Ryan Costello the designer of Orphans & Ashes, LFG Storytime with Dick, and a writer for various RPGs. Ryan pitched, designed, and developed Orphans & Ashes for Blind Ferret Entertainment based on their webcomic series Looking for Group. He worked to capture the dark humor and quirkiness of the webcomic characters to build a game designed with the fans in mind. He learned many valuable lessons about manufacturing and creating realistic manufacturing timelines as well as how to curate a board game subscription box while working for Blind Ferret. Ryan has worked his way into the gaming industry starting with creating the Know Direction podcast that currently hosts this show to landing a job with Blind Ferret and now Laughing Dragon. Ryan is a hobbyist turned game designer you can learn a lot from. 

 

Featuring: 

 

Ryan Costello - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Denice - Host

GDU 015-Cat Lady

In episode 15 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Josh Wood, a developer at AEG and game designer of Santa Monica, the Tiny Towns Expansions, and Cat Lady. Josh talks about the differences between developing and designing games as well as the heartwarming stories from Cat Lady’s design journey. 

 

Featuring: 

 

Josh Wood - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Denice - Host

GDU 014-BOSK

In episode 14 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Erica Hayes-Bouyouris about her co-design BOSK by Floodgate Games. Erica shares her insights on how to find a good co-design partner and what it was like as a woman diving headfirst into game design with the Canadian “Big Dogs”. 

 

Featuring: 

Erica Hayes-Bouyouris - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Ben Moy - Host

Denice - Host

GDU 013-LOTS

In episode 13 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Zachary Connelly on his game LOTS: A Competitive Tower Building Game. Zach speaks about designing his game with his son in mind. Plus, mistakes he made over various Kickstarters including the importance of having multiple people spell check your game. He also discusses how designing and redesigning games with component prices in mind can be a huge factor in if a game is going to be publishable. Learn more about being a hobby game designer/publisher from Zach in this episode of Game Design Unboxed.  

 

Featuring: 

 

Zachary Connelly - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Ben Moy - Host

Denice - Host

Plus, mistakes he made over various Kickstarters including the importance of having multiple people spell check your game. He also discusses how designing and redesigning games with component prices in mind can be a huge factor in if a game is going to be publishable. Learn more about being a hobby game designer/publisher from Zach in this episode of Game Design Unboxed.  

 

Featuring: 

 

Zachary Connelly - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Ben Moy - Host

Denice - Host

GDU 012-CTRL

In episode 12 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Julio Nazario about his design CTRL by Pandasaurus Games. Julio has worked to make his designs language-independent as well as use his engineering background to design in a 3-D space. Learn about his quick turnaround for CTRL and the lessons he learned as a newer designer. 

 

Featuring: 

Julio Nazario - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Ben Moy - Host

Denice - Host

GDU 011-Castle Panic

In episode 11 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Justin De Witt, co-owner of Fireside Games and designer of Castle Panic. Castle Panic is one of the most well known cooperative games to this day and is what launched Fireside Games as a company. Justin talks about the base game, expansions, variations and IP based sequels. From talking through starting his company along with his wife to being approached to do IP based game variations like Star Trek and Munchkin Panic. Justin learned a lot about design and running a company through the years and has a lot of great advice to share. 

 

Featuring: 

Justin De Witt - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

Ben Moy - Host

Denice - Host

GDU 010-ArchRavels

Episode 10: ArchRavels

In episode 10 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Adam McCrimmon, Jordan Miller and Lauren Nepomuceno of XYZ Game Labs about their newest release ArchRavels, a crafting themed tabletop game. They took a deep dive into the crafting community inorder to fully embed the theme into every pore of their game. Playtesters hugged, crafted and thanked them for making a game that felt like it was made just for them. From their incredibly diverse character art that represents different ages, races, genders and even handicaps, ArchRavels had a lot of time and thought poured into the game design. This episode will help designers learn more about creating a rich theme with diversity in mind. 

 

Featuring: 

• Adam McCrimmon - Guest 
• Jordan Miller - Guest 
• Lauren Nepomuceno - Guest 
• Danielle Reynolds - Host
• Ben Moy - Host
• Denice - Host

GDU 009-The Networks

In episode 9 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Gil Hova owner of Formal Ferret Games about his game the Networks. During the creation of the Networks he struggled to ditch a mechanism that wasn’t working in the game but once he did the design thrived. Through massive edits during playtesting he created a hit that launched his company through the use of Kickstarter. He speaks about how the Kickstarter platform is changing as larger companies have begun to use it more as a marketing and pre-order platform.

 

Featuring:

• Gil Hova – Guest
• Danielle Reynolds – Host
• Ben Moy – Host
• Denice – Host