The Misplay

Try not to let the clickbait title fool you—we’re definitely not in panic mode. Nope. Not even close. Couldn’t be further from panicking. Not us. Never ever. Instead, we’re diving into Tuckman’s Group Theory and breaking down how our team is formin’, stormin’, normin’, and performin’. See? Totally chill. No panic here.

We pitch fresh themes for "Succession", reimagining the game’s world and setting to create new dynamics and depth. From the political landscapes to gang wars to dating games, we're on a mission to find a theme to build mechanics that match.

We recap each board game pitch from our team and put them to the test in a round of 'Hit or Miss.' Join us to find out which ideas scored big and which ones are still in the prototype phase.

We realized we need way more game ideas, so we hit the reset button! The team is hard at work crafting pitches that we’ll dive into on the next show. Mark walks us through a pitch example for "Climb On", a climbing game where players race to the top.

We dive into Nightmare Smashers, a game where bluffing is the key to victory. Jason, who still hesitates to call himself a game designer, walks us through the game he helped create, along with contributions from the Misplay team. We're also testing out Mark Katz's 7 Step Playtest Protocol to see how it holds up in action.

'The Notes' because it's a more concise alternative to Mark Katz's Easy-to-Remember Seven-Step Design Protocol. We talk about and apply the easy to remember steps to Jason's version of Nightmare Smashers.

We revisit The Misplay as The Misplay Inc., a company. Our focus is on defining our mission statement and goals, and on creating the systems within the company to achieve them. And, of course, we’re throwing out more buzzwords!

Peter, Mark, and Jason each pitch their unique spin on "Nightmare Smasher," a game concept that could be a dark atmosphere horror game or wacky family-friendly card game. Tune in to see if one of the pitches resonates with you.

In this live episode, we broadcast from the floor of Lucas Oil Stadium at Gen Con 2024. We share our awe at the massive crowds and the incredible selection of games. This experience makes us question our readiness to create our own game.

We talk about our plans for attending Gen Con next week. You know, Gen Con, the General Managers convention. We share our goals, our schedule, and what we're hoping to take away from "the best four days in gaming."

We dive into the world of Arcana Rising by Grey Fox Games, exploring its mechanics and physical design. We've said it many times, "To make games, you have to play games". We take lessons learned from Arcana Rising and apply it to our own process.

We playtest Star Crossed Realms with a paper prototype for the first time. Despite finding the game isn't that interesting yet, we uncover valuable insights about the game mechanics and the importance of iterative design.

Swipe right on us as we return to playtesting the early concept for the dating game, a.k.a. 'Star Crossed Realms'. We highlight three areas we want to focus on: the chain, adding cards to your deck, and winning.

We welcome Peter, our new lead game designer, to The Misplay team! Peter shares his gaming history and all the progress being made on Star Crossed Realms. We try to paint a visual of what the game currently looks like.

We step into the cage to throw down and playtest two new versions of MMA Gauntlet. Of course, the real fight this week was still with Tabletop Simulator as we try and refine our playtesting process. The Misplay 0 TTS 2.

Join us as we dive into Tabletop Simulator for the first time! Despite being behind schedule, we're on a mission to learn the UI, import cards, and maybe flip the table in frustration. If we're doing nothing else right on this journey, it's honest storytelling.

We take a hilarious stroll down the art walk of shame, complete with laughably bad drawings shared on Instagram. We chat about our hope for finding an artist and why we are steering clear of AI art.

We're shaking things up with a unique game concept that's been brewing in the back of our minds as we've developed our previous ideas. Imagine a game that captures the essence of a first date, but with an unexpected twist involving... back-flips?

We welcome Ryan as a special guest commentator for our first run through of our supermarket board game! We navigate the bustling aisles, search for store managers, and resist the temptation to pick up last minute lib balm and sweets. Also, Ryan is funny.

Are you ready to rumble? We run the first play test for our MMA auto battler board game concept. It is a simple prototype that packs a punch! We talk about its strengths, share our reactions, and consider what the next version might look like.

We're thrilled to have game designer Leonie Grundler from Lioness Games join us. With her game Biome currently live on Kickstarter, Leonie shares the fascinating story behind its creation, her inspiration, and offers insights and advice to kickstart our own board game journey.

What kind of game are we making? The golf game? A trick taking game for tricksters? Maybe a board game to chase away the nightmares. We don't know yet, but listen in on our discussion as we talk about our early concepts and weigh theme vs. mechanics as a starting point.

Go behind the scenes to see what goes into creating a podcast and a board game company. You know, the business stuff. We talk about our partnership agreement and share our roadmap to become board game designers.

The Misplay is breaking into board game design. What's the best way? Make a game, of course. We created and play tested two PnP games that you can download and play. Join our journey as we take a game from nothing to crowdfunding.