The Board Game Design Lab

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**The Board Game Design Lab**

The Board Game Design Lab was created for one purpose: to help you design great games people love. To accomplish that goal, this podcast interviews designers, publishers, and board game insiders on specific topics related to game design. I don’t waste time talking about recently played games or pop culture. Instead, the show does a deep dive into subjects that I hope you’ll find extremely valuable as you progress through your game design journey.

Latest Episodes:

[BONUS] Colby Dauch on Barriers to Entry in Gaming Dec 30, 2016

Show notes

The post [BONUS] Colby Dauch on Barriers to Entry in Gaming appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

Going Pro in the Gaming Industry with Colby Dauch Dec 28, 2016

Show notes

Colby Dauch, founder of Plaid Hat Games and designer of Summoner Wars, goes in depth on the challenges he faced when he started his own publishing company. We talk about business, life, and work/life balance, and we even get into not letting people discourage you from chasing your dreams.

The article Colby talks about in the show on barriers to entry in tabletop games can be found HERE.

The post Going Pro in the Gaming Industry with Colby Dauch appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

[BONUS] Mike Strickland on Coming up with Alien Races Dec 23, 2016

Show notes

The post [BONUS] Mike Strickland on Coming up with Alien Races appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

How to Turn Kickstarter Failure into $100K+ Success with Mike Strickland Dec 21, 2016

Show notes

Mike Strickland, designer of Tau Ceti, and I talk about his Kickstarter failure and what he did to relaunch the campaign to wild success. After an unsuccessful first attempt, Mike regrouped and brought in over $100k the second time around. We discuss what led to the dramatic difference.

Please note that Mike was in a spaceship while recording the episode, so you’ll notice the slight hum of the warp drive in the background. Or maybe it’s just the sound of his computer’s overzealous fan. But since we’re talking about a space game, let’s just pretend he’s on a spaceship.

The post How to Turn Kickstarter Failure into $100K+ Success with Mike Strickland appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

[BONUS] Rahdo on Themes He’d Like to See More Of Dec 19, 2016

Show notes

The post [BONUS] Rahdo on Themes He’d Like to See More Of appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

[BONUS] Luke Laurie on Things All New Designers Need to Know Dec 18, 2016

Show notes

The post [BONUS] Luke Laurie on Things All New Designers Need to Know appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

[Bonus] Jamey Stegmaier on his favorite game mechanisms Dec 17, 2016

Show notes

The post [Bonus] Jamey Stegmaier on his favorite game mechanisms appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

How to Create the Perfect 2 Player Experience with Rahdo Dec 14, 2016

Show notes

Rahdo and I discuss 2 player games and how to craft an awesome 2 player experience. We go into specific mechanics that work really well in 2 player games, and we talk through how a designer can make a game scale down to 2 players effectively. After playing nearly 1000 games with just 2 players, Rahdo is an expert on the topic.

Check out Rahdo’s game runthroughs at https://www.youtube.com/user/rahdo.

The post How to Create the Perfect 2 Player Experience with Rahdo appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

How to Work with a Co-Designer with Luke Laurie Dec 14, 2016

Show notes

Luke Laurie, designer of The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire, and I discuss all the ins and outs of working with a co-designer. Luke has worked with a co-designer on multiple projects and provides great insight on what’s good and what’s challenging about the process.

Check out more from Luke at The League of Gamemakers.

The post How to Work with a Co-Designer with Luke Laurie appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

What I Wish I Would Have Known before I Got into Game Design with Jamey Stegmaier Dec 13, 2016

Show notes

Jamey Stegmaier,Kickstarter guru and designer of Scythe, and I discuss all the things he wishes someone would have told him before he got into game design, kickstarter, publishing, and more. He gives a ton of valuable advice.

For lists of games designers should play, click HERE.

For more from Jamey, check out the Stonemaier Games website.

The post What I Wish I Would Have Known before I Got into Game Design with Jamey Stegmaier appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.