Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication

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

GDU 101 - Ovation

In episode 101 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Kirsten Lunde about Ovation, a game-school inspired design that originated from her wanting to teach her son about classical music but wasn’t able to find a game themed that way at the time. Since then, she worked to be as inclusive in the creation of the game as she could be as both the designer and publisher. From making sure to include ethnic and gender diversity in the composers you were playing as to hiring the team of artists and graphic designers that worked on the project. She even has a story of playtesting with a color blind playtester in the hope of helping make the game as inclusive as it could be! Listen to all the people that helped her along the way. A rising tide lifts all boats!

 

Featuring: 

Kirsten Lunde - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 100 - Sushi Go!

In episode 100 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we celebrate the 100th episode with Phil Walker-Harding talking about 10 years of Sushi Go! From his initial self-imposed design challenge of making a simple set collection game to the concept of “panning for gold” when trying to create a simplistic game. We discuss what we as designers can do to make games more accessible. Also, learning and accepting what kind of designer you are is a great thing. To be a “good designer” doesn’t mean being able to design a 90 minute Euro game. You can create a silly small game and be equally as talented.  

Featuring:
Phil Walker-Harding - Guest
Danielle Reynolds - Host

GDU 099 - Arboretum

In episode 99 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Dan Cassar about his design Arboretum. Dan talks about how you’re building paths of trees while balancing the colors remaining in your hand in order to score. Using the layout of the final path of cards gave the feeling of an arboretum. We talk about themes and how they can add to a design. Plus, the comparisons between his first and second editions of the game. 

 

Featuring: 

Dan Cassar - Guest 

Danielle Reynolds - Host