I’m always fascinated by a good story. Wanting to shine a light on them has been a big part of why I started writing about board games. When it comes to the journey of a designer and their game, few stories compare to that of Jo Kelly and Molly House: A first time designer teaming …
Read more “Origin Stories: Molly House – An Interview With Co-Designer Jo Kelly”
Looking back at 2024, Rise & Fall was one of the few stand-out games for me that a) did something radically different I hadn’t seen in another game before and b) I could see myself actually still playing in five years time. What initially looked like just another over-produced crowd funding game turned out to …
Read more “Origin Stories: Rise & Fall – An Interview With Designer Christophe Boelinger”
This is part 2 of my conversation with Dani in which we are talking about prototyping digitally in Tabletop Simulator, balancing, the eventual release of Barcelona, and of course designing the expansion Passeig de Gràcia. If you haven’t read part 1, you can find it here. Playtesting & Solo Modes Earlier, you mentioned TTS. Do …
Read more “Origin Stories: Barcelona – An Interview With Designer Dani Garcia – Part 2”
Euro games are a tricky category to design in. While their focus on balanced game play and avoidances of direct player conflict has given them immense popularity over the years, those strong points have also caused a lot of new releases to feel bland and interchangeable. Why should one care if one is building churches …
Read more “Origin Stories: Barcelona – An Interview With Designer Dani Garcia – Part 1”
This issue of Origin stories is special for a number of reasons. I’m talking to Stephen Hurn, a designer who’s name you might not recognise but who’s contributions to the hobby you will have experienced when playing Martin Wallace’s Anno 1800: The Board Game and it’s recently released expansion. He has been deeply involved in …
Read more “Origin Stories: The Anno 1800 Solo Campaigns – An Interview With Designer Stephen Hurn”
For this episode of Origin Stories, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Vladimír Suchý. In my mind, his name is synonymous with “something unique and different”. Similar to reading a great novelist, I’m always looking forward to playing his new releases, regardless of the specific story or mechanisms. Whatever one of his games might …
Read more “Origin Stories: Evacuation – An Interview With Designer Vladimír Suchý”
Welcome back to part 2 of my conversation with Vangelis about Hegemony. If you haven’t read part 1 already, you should do so here. In this part, we talk about the economic aspects of the game, playtesting, running a Kickstarter, and what the future holds for Hegemony but also Hegemonic Project Games. Enjoy! The Economy …
Read more “Origin Stories: Hegemony – An Interview With Co-Designer Vangelis Bagiartakis – Part 2”
One of my most unique gaming experiences of 2023 was without a doubt Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory, designed by Vangelis Bagiartakis and Varnavas Timotheou. It’s a thriller woven out of heavily interconnected political and economical concepts that pits up to four players against each other, each trying to get their unique, asymmetric faction to …
Read more “Origin Stories: Hegemony – An Interview With Co-Designer Vangelis Bagiartakis – Part 1”
When discussing modern classics of the board game hobby, one quickly ends up talking about 2013’s Concordia. While its theme of trading in the Mediterranean nowadays is considered a cliché of the hobby and a synonym for unremarkableness, the gameplay of Concordia is far from it. In fact, Concordia can be seen as a master …
Read more “Origin Stories: Concordia – An Interview With Designer Mac Gerdts”
The story of Brass from it’s original version to – in the form of Brass Birmingham – becoming the number one board game on BoardGameGeek is a fascinating one for multiple aspects: how did a game from 2007, a time where the hobby looked much different than today, manage to stay relevant for so long? …
Read more “Origin Stories: Brass – An Interview With Designer Martin Wallace”