Claim OwnershipThe Board Game Design Lab
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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.
487 Episodes
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In this BGDL rewind from June of 2020, Corey Konieczka breaks down his entire design process. Corey has several games ranked in the top 100 games of all time, and it was incredibly insightful to learn about how he brings a game to life. We chat about his path into the industry, his prototyping process,...
The post The design process of one of the world’s best designers, Corey Konieczka appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this BGDL rewind from May of 2019, Elizabeth Hargrave dives into all the ins and outs of designing an engine-building game. We chat about her personal design process and all the interesting obstacles she encountered when designing Wingspan. We also talk about how to layer concepts on top of each other, balancing winning strategies,...
The post How to Design an Engine Building Game with Elizabeth Hargrave appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this BGDL rewind from April of 2020, Ignacy Trzewiczek, founder of Portal Games and designer of Robinson Crusoe, discusses his company’s motto: Games that tell stories. We go in-depth into Ignacy’s design process, talk about his most popular games, and get to the heart of what it looks like to create games that have players leaving...
The post How to Design Games that Tell Stories with Ignacy Trzewiczek appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this BGDL rewind from December of 2020, I chat with Emerson Matsuuch about all the many ways a designer can use math to create better games. We talk spreadsheets, game balance, mathematical models, and more!
The post Using math to make your games better with Emerson Matsuuchi appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this BGDL rewind from May of 2018, I chat with Richard Garfield about finding the right balance of luck vs skill when designing a game.
The post Finding the Right Mixture of Luck and Skill with Richard Garfield appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this update, I talk about 2024’s vision for the BGDL. And if you need help with your game, company, or upcoming crowdfunding campaign, and you think I might be able to help, please click HERE.
The post Where the BGDL Is Headed in 2024 appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, I answer a bunch of questions that were submitted by BGDL community members!
The post Your game design questions answered appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Joe Bragg, founder of the indie publishing company Meek Heroes Gaming, discusses the grassroots approach he’s taking to building his publishing company. We chat about why this approach makes sense for a lot of people, the pros and cons of not using crowdfunding, how to build a community from the ground up,...
The post How to Publish Games with a Grassroots Approach | Joe Bragg appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Jason Perez and I chat about how designers can boost their creativity by thinking outside the box, pushing past tropes, and being more intentional about their thematic choices.
The post How to Boost Creativity and Avoid Tropes | Jason Perez appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, John de Campos, founder of Terrible Games, and I chat about the highs and lows of starting and running an indie publishing company in the board game industry.
The post Listen to this BEFORE you start an indie publishing company | John de Campos appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, I break down some game design productivity hacks that have been helping me lately, and I’m specifically talking about a concept called “habit fields.” This was a presentation I gave recently for Board Game Design Pro, so if you find it useful and want more helpful content like it, be sure to...
The post Board Game Design Productivity Hacks with Gabe Barrett appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Leo Taylor, designer of games in the Risk, Clue, and D&D universes, breaks down his “key pillars of game design” as we chat through the many questions designers should think through as they dive into a new game design. You can download a PDF of the key pillars HERE.
The post Do this BEFORE designing a game | Leo Taylor appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Joe Slack and I talk about how we’ve both been able to piece together lots of different revenue streams in the gaming industry to be able to make a full-time living from game design. And be sure to check out Joe’s latest puzzle game here: http://kck.st/3SfV1Np
The post How to Make Money from Your Game Design Hobby with Joe Slack appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Elan Lee, the creator of Exploding Kittens, talks about his venture into creating games for small children. Elan has been designing the games alongside his four-year-old daughter, and we talk about the process of designing games both for and with small kids. We also get into the business side of things and...
The post Designing Games FOR and WITH Young Kids with Elan Lee appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Geoff Engelstein and I chat about design theory and break down Geoff’s favorite examples and how they relate to designing games. Geoff’s book about loss aversion can be found here: https://amzn.to/3rIgi7y More info about the Tabletop Network Conference can be found here: https://www.tabletopnetwork.com
The post 4 Amazing (and Useful) Examples of Board Game Design Theory with Geoff Engelstein appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Jason Greeno and I chat about the current boom in the print-n-play side of the market, and we dive into how and why more designers should create printable versions of their games. You can find a ridiculous number of PnP games on Jason’s website, PnP Arcade. And you can find his game,...
The post Why You Should Create Print-n-Play Games with Jason Greeno appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Pam Walls and I chat about the games on our “must play” lists if you’re a game designer. And be sure to check out Pam’s awesome channel about game design here: https://www.youtube.com/@pamwallsgamedesign Here are the games we discuss: -Imhotep -Dungeons & Dragons -Catan -Chess -Magic: the Gathering -Robinson Crusoe -Kemet -Creature Comforts...
The post The Games Every Designer MUST Play with Pam Walls appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Rob Daviau and I chat about how to playtest, receive feedback, iterate, and playtest a whole lot more.
The post How to Playtest like a Pro with Rob Daviau appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, Jay Cormier and I chat about how to teach game design concepts to others and help them become game designers. And be sure to check out Jay’s new game design activity book HERE.
The post How to Create More Game Designers with Jay Cormier appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
In this episode, I chat with Ben Downton who designs games and runs the publishing company Prometheus Game Labs. We chat about how lonely design work can be, how to balance being creative with running a business, Board Game Arena, and more! And here’s the Board Game Arena article mentioned in the show: https://prometheusgamelabs.wordpress.com/2023/08/14/how-a-game-gets-on-board-game-arena/
The post How to Design AND Publish games with Ben Downton appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.
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I shall say this was more an advertisement of a game on Kickstarter than a podcast about how to breath a theme into our games. There was some discussion about it, but absolutely nothing new or rather useful, unlike your other podcasts.