The Game Design Round Table

Dirk brings on guests Peter Hayward and Tania Walker to talk about their work at Jellybean Games. Jellybean places an emphasis on family-friendly games that can still be enjoyed by adults. Peter talks about his role at the company and what prompted him to start in the family game space and Tania shares her experience as an artist and art director. ---------------------Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com Peter Hayward - @PeterHayward Tania Walker -@TaniaWalker, taniawalker.com ---------------------Episode Outline 0:01:34 - Jellybean Games 0:12:22 - Scuttle 0:16:05 - The first Kickstarter 0:19:59 - Dracula's Feast 0:30:31 - Upcoming games 0:48:23 - Future plans for Jellybean 0:52:28 - Advice for Designers

Dirk, David, and Rob are back to answer more of your questions. How viable is it to break into the market and make a decent salary? Is high-quality art worth it? And just how do you get cards printed?---------------------Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Rob Daviau -@RobDaviau, rob.daviau@ironwallgames.com.---------------------Episode Outline 0:00:41 - Games that use memory as a resource 0:14:04 - How to print cards and prototypes 0:25:39 - Art and artists 0:37:43 - Hobby market vs mass market 0:56:31 - The value of IP

Dirk and David welcome designer Sarah Graybill of Black Straw Games to the show to talk about their unique brand of games. Black Straw have developed a collection of abstract and family friendly games while also working to foster the game development community..--------------------- Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Sarah Graybill - @blackstrawgames, blackstrawgames.com ---------------------Episode Outline 0:00:58 - Black Straw Games 0:04:30 - Abstract games 0:11:37 - Rocket Squad 0:15:32 - Publishers 0:18:17 - The design process 0:22:55 - Oolong 0:28:41 - Community development 0:36:59 - Goals for the company 0:44:27 - Oblique

Soren Johnson is back to talk to Dirk and David about his new game, Offworld Trading Company. Offworld is the product of Soren's own game development studio, Mohawk Games. He dives deep into the development process and the early access model and shares how the game has evolved over time.---------------------Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Soren Johnson - @sorenjohnson, designer-notes.com, offworldgame.com---------------------0:02:20 - The development process 0:16:48 - Tutorials and concepts 0:21:01 - The campaign 0:33:04 - The daily challenge 0:37:15 - Black markets and goon squads 0:45:25 - Refining the campaign 0:47:05 - Early access and launch 0:55:47 - "Lessons learned"

It's a celebratory show as Dirk, David, and Rob talk about the latest releases from the crew. Rob's Legacy game Seafall is finally ready for preorder after many years of hard work and Dirk is also pleased to share that his expansion for Tesla vs. Edison - Powering Up - is up on Kickstarter and exceeding his expectations. Our always-curious listeners have provided yet more questions for the panel, and they delve into a variety of topics on digital game implementations and why Rob wants to be a cardboard screen.---------------------Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Rob Daviau -@RobDaviauGamer, rob.daviau@ironwallgames.com---------------------Episode Outline 0:00:32 - Seafall 0:06:30 - Tesla vs. Edison - Powering Up 0:14:39 - Games in both tabletop and digital format 0:20:19 - App first before Kickstarter? 0:34:13 - Turn length on apps and tabletop 0:39:42 - When are you truly a game designer? 0:45:06 - What physical game component do you most identify with? 0:48:49 - Playing a bad game with a good group 0:53:24 - Memory as a resource

Dirk and David are joined by designer and board game community member Chris Zinsli. Chris and his wife Suzanne are the founders of Cardboard Edison, a resource for designers of board games. Their blog and other media have helped countless designers get their ideas into production. They also co-design and publish a slew of their own games that touch on a wide variety of topics.---------------------Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Chris - @cardboardedison, www.cardboardedison.com---------------------Episode Outline 0:00:18 - Cardboard Edison 0:06:23 - The Process 0:09:58 - Cardboard Edison award-winner "Blood of an Englishman" 0:19:17 - Building the business and publishing 0:25:57 - Tessen 0:33:30 - Dubai 0:40:11 - Sultana 0:42:13 - Working with other publishers 0:45:43 - Co-designing with your spouse 0:49:27 - Pitching to publishers

Dirk, David, and Rob peek into the mailbag once again and answer your questions. After a brief celebration over the recent success of Pandemic Legacy, the trio talk about design-driven narrative and a few questions about the dirty details of rules.---------------------Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Rob Daviau -@RobDaviauGamer, rob.daviau@ironwallgames.com-------------------------Episode Outline 0:04:41 - Tools for design-driven narrative 0:22:38 - Errata and updates for tabletop games 0:39:22 - Handling obscure or difficult rules 0:49:00 - Game design vocabulary

Dirk and David sit down this week with game designer Tim Fowers. A physics major gone rogue in the world of game design, Tim has experience in both board games and the digital space. His games Burgle Bros, Wok Star, and Paperback have allowed him to make the transition to full-time independent game designer.---------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Tim Fowers - @tfowers, www.fowers.net---------------------Episode Outline 0:00:18 - Tim's background 0:03:42 - From indie to big game studio 0:11:02 - Simplicity: the route to success 0:19:22 - Full time and part time 0:25:02 - Burgle Bros 0:45:03 - Direct sales numbers 0:49:03 - Current and future projects

Description Dirk and Rob help David celebrate the launch of his company's game: Star Trek Timelines. Timelines was a long time in the making and is an extremely ambitious game for the mobile platform. David reviews the development process and how the team is stretching the Unity engine to its limits. We also have several listener mail questions to answer.---------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Rob Daviau -@RobDaviauGamer, rob.daviau@ironwallgames.com ------------------------- Episode Outline 0:01:25 - Star Trek Timelines 0:08:35 - Blending different crews 0:21:51 - Board game genres 0:32:27 - Rapid prototyping 0:50:55 - How to price mobile transactions 1:00:24 - Win condition terminology

This week Dirk and David are joined by Daniel Doan of Black Shell Media. Daniel's career in games started with mods for the original Starcraft and grew into his breakout game, Sanctuary RPG. He then moved on to publishing and working with other designers on getting their games to market. Daniel offers advice on how to keep game designs focused and work with focus testing in order to deliver a final product that sells.---------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, dirk@artana.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Daniel Doan - @doandanial, www.blackshellmedia.com ------------------------- Episode Outline 0:00:16 - Daniel's background 0:03:14 - Starcraft mods 0:04:55 - Sanctuary RPG 0:09:42 - Development and publishing 0:12:55 - Overture 0:20:47 - The rewards in company building 0:25:03 - Black Shell Media 0:31:53 - Influences 0:35:45 - Future platforms 0:40:10 - Future of BSM 0:46:14 - Board game design 0:49:32 - Focus testing