The Game Design Round Table

Sydney Engelstein joins Dirk and David to talk about her history in game design and her work on multiple card-centric games. After discussing some of her earlier games such as the Space Cadet games, Sydney talks at length about her experience working on some of the popular game series in the Stronghold Games lineup: Aeon’s End and Terraforming Mars. The discussion covers what it’s like making expansions for the deckbuilder Aeon’s End, how the design for Ares Expedition streamlined aspects of Terraforming Mars by focusing in on the card play, and some advice on the more business–oriented side of game acquisitions.

Damon Stone joins Dirk and David to discuss his game Liberation Haiti, a historical-themed deckbuilder and a Zenobia Award finalist. First, Damon talks about his experience in game design and development, including how he got started working with Fantasy Flight. Next, Damon talks at length about the historical setting for Liberation Haiti and explains how he mapped different mechanics to that theme. Other topics include how undefined time to prepare for a final confrontation can sometimes sink a game and how Damon chose to handle the random elements of a game that uses both cards and dice.

Dave Scott joins Dirk and David to discuss the upcoming tabletop roleplaying system Everyday Heroes, a revived and updated version of the old D20 Modern system. Dave discusses how he worked with a team of game designers to create rulesets for a system and roleplaying space that has fascinated Dave for years. One topic is a deep dive into the problems with chase mechanics in RPGs and how those mechanics are handled in Everyday Heroes. Another big discussion point is how Dave and the team decided to give the game a more cinematic feel and capture the action hero stereotypes without straying into superhero status. Finally, Dave talks about what the design process for his team looks like right now and how they utilize a group of hundreds of playtesters effectively.

Charlie Cleveland joins Dirk and David to discuss his work on the underwater survival game Subnautica–an indie hit and a standout in the genre. The trio talk about the game’s somewhat unusual theme and the difficulties of making a game set underwater. They also talk about how that theme helped influence the game’s mechanics and continually reinforced the core design pillar for the game: thrill of the unknown. Finally, Charlie takes some time to talk about the early access process, aspects of the game that got cut, and a little discussion on the game’s frosty followup title, Subnautica: Below Zero.

Covering the full breadth of digital, tabletop, and role playing games, The Game Design Round Table inspires and educates aspiring and experienced game designers.

Covering the full breadth of digital, tabletop, and role playing games, The Game Design Round Table inspires and educates aspiring and experienced game designers.

Joseph joins Dirk and David to talk about his game Molly House, which was a Zenobia Award finalist. They discuss the historical theme behind the game, which was the Molly Houses where 18th century queer communities would gather. A major topic is how the game keeps players involved and engaged while including historical setbacks that the queer community faced.

Sherria joins Dirk and David to talk about her game From Darkness to Light, which explores the intersection between the education of women in Indonesia and the Indonesians’ fight for independence. Plenty of historical background is provided as Sherria discusses why the theme is important to her and how her game represents these stories through mechanics.

Anya, Director of Games for Kickstarter, joins Dirk and David to talk about how the crowdfunding platform works with creatives in the games industry. The three discuss why games, and especially tabletop games, have thrived on the platform and how to make sure a Kickstarter campaign has the best chance of working for your game. Topics covered include game-adjacent products, changes in Kickstarter over the years, community building, and discoverability on the platform.

Banana Chan joins Dirk and David to talk about her experience in multiple areas of game design, and how thematic games can be made in each medium. First, Banana discusses live action roleplaying (LARP) design at length, providing tips for a thematic design and explaining how monetization might work as a LARP designer. Next, the trio talks about tabletop roleplaying games and specifically on how to pick the right system and mechanics for a theme.

Kathryn joins Dirk and David for a round table discussion based on recent shows. Dirk and David get Kathryn’s perspective on card games and how they help her create story-based games. Then discussion moves to market trends and demographics for cooperative games. Next the trio talks about unused game concepts, inspired by the interview with Will Thompson. All three hosts have a conversation on past projects that are “the ones that got away,” using the episode with Jesse Howard as a starting point.

Will returns to the show with Dirk and David to discuss his game Winter Rabbit, a finalist for the Zenobia Award. A contest for designers from underrepresented groups in the hobby, the Zenobia Award pairs promising applicants with mentors and awards winners with a cash prize and help with publication. Will, a member of the Cherokee Nation, talks about how Winter Rabbit was designed from the start to incorporate indigenous themes.

Soren returns to the show with Dirk and David for the third and final episode in this mini-series on his game Old World. They talk about the reception for Old World now that it’s been released, the narrative elements of the event system that became important to the design, and how other systems were finalized through feedback from a lengthy early access period.

MJ Newman joins Dirk and David to discuss co-op card games and her work on the Lord of the Rings and Arkham Horror LCGs published by Fantasy Flight Games. They talk about how these co-op games are designed compared to a competitive collectable card game, and how MJ’s love for narrative led to a stronger RPG-like aspect to the games she worked on. Finally, the game discusses some of the considerations when designing a Lovecraftian game.

Jesse Howard, one of the first guests on the Round Table podcast, returns after several years to chat with Dirk and David. He talks about the long journey of his game Hype Tag, originally called Ploy in his first appearance on the show. Jesse discusses his design process, which generally starts with a system or structure that he wants to mimic mechanically.

Andrew Navaro, a card game veteran from Fantasy Flight Games and now his new studio Earthborne Games, joins Dirk and David to talk about card games. The bulk of the discussion focuses on his time working with the wide variety of LCGs produced by Fantasy Flight. Topics include discussions on production timelines, what makes LCGs different from the similar CCGs, and set design. The conversation wraps up with Andrew talking about the design and inspirations for his new card game Earthborne Rangers.

Skye joins Dirk and David to draw the starting hand for a deep dive into card games! With some card game experts on deck for future interviews, the trio take this episode as a chance to explore the various reasons why card games work so well as a game component. Discussions cover the various card games all three designers have worked on, and also bleed into popular games from Dominion to Magic the Gathering and digital games like Slay the Spire and Griftlands.

Cole Medeiros joins Dirk and David to discuss his work on the board game adaptation of the popular Stardew Valley video game. The discussion covers thematic game design in general—how Cole approaches theme-first design, how mobile game design utilizes theme, and how a specific IP as a thematic setting can create both challenges and signposts for a designer. Several specific design challenges and iterations are covered as Cole talks about the development process for Stardew Valley: The Board Game.

To start the episode, Skye rejoins Dirk and David to finish off their deep dive into the MOBA genre. They talk about what they learned for their personal design work, as well as what they learned for improving future genre deep dives. The next series of episodes to get the Genre Deep Dive treatment will be all about collectible and living card games.

Kathryn Hymes joins Dirk and David to answer listener questions from our Discord channel. Questions range from practical designer concerns like pitching digital games and community building to more philosophical questions on topics like emergent gameplay and novelty vs structure.