Think Like A Game Designer

In this short episode, instead of interviewing another brilliant designer, I'm going to share with you a few tips and tools I've used to level up my games, my company, and my life!

Alan Phan and his team recently launched a million-dollar Kickstarter for a trading card game called The Grand Archive. What’s even more impressive is that he and his friends had never made a trading card game before, so today, we will learn more about Alan and his story. Enjoy!

Richard Bartle is a legend among game designers. He has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence and is the co-creator of the first virtual world ever to exist, a game called Multi-Use Dungeon or M.U.D. Richard authored the book Designing Virtual Worlds and his most recent book is How to be a god: A Guide for Would Be Deities, in which he examines the history, ethics, structure, and technology of MMOs. His research on player personalities and what’s called the Bartle Test had a significant impact on my designs, which is why I’m so excited to interview him today. This episode is a fascinating one, that focuses on virtual worlds: past, present, and future!

Alan Gerding is responsible for one of the highlights of my game design career, which we discuss in the first part of the podcast. He is a psychology professor and game designer who co-owns Tuesday Knight Games with his best friend. He is the designer of the recently Kickstarted game Mothership: Sci-Fi Horror RPG which made over 1.4 million dollars. Alan is awesome and this episode was a blast to record, there are lots of laughs and lessons in this one! Enjoy!

Mike Turian is a Magic The Gathering Hall of Fame champion and is the current Product Architect for Magic The Gathering. Mike has the unique experience of being on nearly every side of the success of Magic, from Pro Player, to marketing manager, to game developer, to digital product manager. I’ve known Mike for many years from our days on the Pro Tour, and in addition to being brilliant, he is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever encountered.

Brotherwise Games is an LA-based board game publishing company founded by Chris and Johnny O’Neal in 2012. Since then, the “Brothers Wise” have become one of the tabletop industry’s biggest indie success stories. In this episode we discuss working with family, tips for game marketing, working with influencers, and what publishers are looking for in games. I’m super excited to share this episode with you—there’s so much to learn here. Enjoy!

JT Smith started designing games when he was in high school and wanted an easier way to prototype his game. His drive to find a better way to prototype led him to found the company the Game Crafter, a company that allows you to print prototypes and even produce your game on a small scale. In addition to Game Crafter, JT has programmed a number of incredible tools for creating card prototypes, migrating your physical games to programs like Tabletop Simulator, and even running entire conventions. Thanks to JT this episode of the Think Like A Game Designer will, no doubt, make your game design life easier.

In this episode, I discuss SolForge Fusion with the legendary Richard Garfield. Richard is the creator of Magic: The Gathering and KeyForge, and pioneered the collectible card game genre. Together, we created a brand new game called SolForge Fusion. Today, we break down everything about the game and discuss why it’s been such an exciting game to work on.

Peter is the founder and first CEO of Wizards of the Coast. If you’re listening to this podcast you’re probably familiar with Wizards, but in case you’re not, they are the company that created Magic: The Gathering, distributes the Pokemon: Trading Card Game, and that now owns Dungeons & Dragons. Peter is also the owner of Gen Con, a huge gaming convention held in the midwest.

Elizabeth Hargrave's games are known for breaking the thematic mold. In her first game, Wingspan, you play as bird enthusiasts out to discover and attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves. The game is wildly popular and won the 2019 Kennerspiel des Jahres. In this episode, we discuss designing, playtesting, and pitching these groundbreaking games. 

Jason Charles Miller is a musician, voice actor, and professional game master. In this episode of Think Like A Game Designer, our interview strays from Game Design into what it's like to play role-playing games professionally, how it feels to voice characters from some of the biggest properties out there (like Drizzt Do'Urden and Optimus Prime), and we also dip into Jason's life as a musician where he shares lessons learned about pursuing passions and making the most of your life. 

Bruno Faidutti is the legendary creator of Citadels and Knightmare, two games that have inspired me throughout the years along with 40+ additional published games. In addition to game design, Bruno has studied law, economics, and history, and knows an awful lot about unicorns. This episode is full of lessons on design fundamentals, rules creation, and drafting games, in particular. Enjoy!

Rodney Thompson has been designing games professionally for over 15 years. He has worked on some of the industry's most significant properties, including Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, Lords of Waterdeep, Tyrants of the Underdark, and Dark Sun. He's currently a designer for the Destiny franchise at Bungie and develops his personal projects at Scratchpad Publishing. This episode has a detailed deep dive into building worker placement games and roleplaying games. If you love these games, you'll love this episode.

John Zinzer is the CEO of Alderac Entertainment Group. His game design career started over 30 years ago, with Shadis Magazine and the CCG Legend of the Five Rings. In this episode, he tells one of the most entertaining and educational origin stories on the podcast. He's a great storyteller and an even better teacher.

Today's episode is a little different than usual, because I want to run you through the Think Like A Game Designer Mastery Course which was developed for anyone out there who listens to this podcast and wants to make a game or start a career in the gaming industry.