Victory Pointers 013 - Designing Experiences and Tabletopia Playtesting with Philip duBarry

We are joined by consummate game designer, Philip duBarry to talk about designing games around experiences, working with intellectual property, getting games published in the era of Kickstarter, playtesting on Tabletopia, and designing with kids. We also chat about searching out uncommon themes, editing content as part of game design, and what happens when someone else makes the game you were also designing.

Philip duBarry - @pdubarry / Phantasio Games

Kim Brebach – @secretbasegames / secretbasegames.com

Aaron Lim - @ehronlime / theactionpointspodcast.com

Sye Robertson - @syelon / syelon.com

What we talked about

2:01 - Variants in games and publisher changes

4:05 - Looking out for uncommon game themes

10:08 - Getting into the thought processes behind Codenames

13:23 - Epic failure moments in games

14:24 - Editing content for games

20:26 - Letting go of game designs when someone else designs a similar game

25:18 - Inspirations and sources of ideas for games

28:23 - Graphic design for Spirits of the Rice Paddy

30:19 - How do you design for a specific game experience?

35:09 - Designing games within existing settings and intellectual properties

40:30 - Designing and publishing games in the era of Kickstarter

45:20 - Do considerations for stretch goals influence game design?

47:51 - Have game contracts changed with considerations for Kickstarter?

49:00 - Black Orchestra, using pre-orders vs crowdfunding

53:51 - Making Black Orchestra available on Tabletopia

57:03 - Playtesting games on Tabletopia

1:05:48 - Caravan will be released in two different versions, but with the same game mechanics

1:08:00 - Designing games with kids

Links to what we talked about

• Threadsteading is a game played with a sewing machine
• Laputa: Castle in the Sky
• Porco Rosso
• Schwarze Kapelle (Black Orchestra)
• Pre-orders for Black Orchestra
• Tabletopia
• Games Laboratory Incubator
• Tabletop Simulator
• Caravan is a game that will be released in two different versions, but the same gameplay

Games we mentioned

• Revolution!
• Marrying Mr. Darcy
• Chief Inspector
• Codenames
• Codenames: Pictures
• Dixit
• The Big Book of Madness
• Skyway Robbery
• Spirits of the Rice Paddy
• Canalis
• Courtier
• Eminent Domain: Battlecruisers
• Kingdom of Solomon
• Monstrous
• Unfair
• Black Orchestra
• Caravan
• Tiger Stripes

Music: Something Small (Instrumental) by Minden is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License. Based on a work at http://needledrop.co