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, w...

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:...

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 - @blackstrawg...

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 Sore...

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,...

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, 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@iron...

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.c...

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 Knem...

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 fina...

Dirk and David are joined by guest Justin Gary, accomplished game designer of many deckbuilding games. Justin's career started as a professional, award-winning player of Magic: the Gathering and has continued with several successful designs. His creations include Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer, and Solforge. He and David talk shop this week about deckbuilding games, including communication...

Return guest Harrison Pink stops by to catch up with Dirk and David and let us know what he's been up to. Harrison recently moved to a new studio and is working as a world designer on the next Mafia game. He also had the opportunity to travel to China to talk at their GDC conference. He talks about designing for open world games, lessons he's learned about what players want, and his international...

Dirk, David, and Rob tackle more listener mail in this week's episode. We had a lot of great questions come in from our listeners that cover royalty free assets, distribution for board games, and some more from Dirk on Tesla and Edison.---------------------------------------------------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, Dirk@Knemeyer.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron...

We're back! Dirk, David, and Rob are here again to talk about game design after a flurry of activity and travel. David is knee-deep in Star Trek Timelines and Rob is pleased with the success of Pandemic Legacy. Meanwhile, Dirk was invited to the laboratory of Thomas Edison thanks to the work he did with his game Tesla vs. Edison.---------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.art...

Dirk and Rob sit down with game designer Isaac Childres to talk about his self-published and Kickstarted game Gloomhaven. Rob seems to have found the game he's been looking for all along and has plenty of questions for Isaac, who has published several games on his own and appears to be looking at a hit with Gloomhaven.--------------------------------------------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemey...

Dirk, David, and Rob get together to talk about what happens when the game has shipped and there's still more to do. Post-launch support can come in the form of features that were originally left on the cutting room floor, expansions to existing content, or continuations of a line with new product. All three of our panelists have experience with expansion content across different industries and sh...

This week Dirk and David are joined by game designer Alex Kevern. Alex has followed the path from gamer to designer and brought several different games to market with a myriad of publishers. He offers his experiences dealing with different publishers as well as modifying themes for games and working on Kickstarter.-----------------------------------------------------------------Contact Info Dirk K...

Rob is back from vacation and it's time for some more listener mail. Is it possible to play a game that is fun but not good? Should you share your ideas with people before publishing your game?-------------------------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, Dirk@Knemeyer.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Rob Daviau -@RobDaviauGamer, rob.daviau@ironwallgames.com-----------...

Dirk and David talk to game designer David Somerville about his game Trove and experiences publishing his first game. David shares his insights as far as community management, how to hand things over, and pitching your games. Other David shares that he really, really wants to be a cave.----Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, Dirk@Knemeyer.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron David S...

We're back! After a brief hiatus due to the craziness of Gen Con the crew is back to tell their stories and get caught up on all the new developments. Dirk, David, and Rob talk about Gen Con, the new collaboration between Dirk and David, and answer a little bit of listener mail.------------------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, Dirk@Knemeyer.com David Heron - @D...

Dirk and Rob sit down with game designer Daniel Solis to talk about his background with card and microgames. Daniel's games can be played all over the world and he shares his experiences with international publishers as well as crowdfunding and print-on-demand.---------------------------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, Dirk@Knemeyer.com Rob Daviau -@RobDaviauGam...

Dirk, David, and Rob are back to answer more listener questions about budget, toolsets, and more.------------------------------------------------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www.artana.com, Dirk@Knemeyer.com David Heron - @DavidVHeron Rob Daviau -@RobDaviauGamer, rob.daviau@ironwallgames.com Episode Outline 0:02:12 - Budget for art and assets 0:06:29 - Marketing and Kicksta...

This week, Dirk and David chat with Meg Jayanth to talk about her experiences as a writer in the games industry. Meg's prose is probably most well known in the story-heavy gameplay of 80 Days on mobile devices and Sunless Sea on the PC. Meg shares her background, what it's like to create oodles of content characters may never see, and the benefits of working in pajamas.----------------------------...

Dirk, David, and Rob get together to confirm that no person is an island, especially when it comes to game design. Collaborating with others can be challenging but also rewarding, sometimes allowing partners to bring out the best in each other. David describes his collaborations at work while Dirk and Rob talk about collaborating with others and the importance of eating with your coworkers.-------...

Jamey Stegmaier stops by to talk to Dirk and David about his previous games as well as the upcoming and hotly anticipated Scythe. Scythe's evocative art and theme have piqued the interest of the boardgaming community. Jamey fills us in on how the game came about and what the players can expect in terms of mechanics and gameplay.-------------------------Contact Info Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer, www....