What I Learned from Releasing 150 Episodes of Game Design Unboxed
When I started Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication in 2020, I had no idea how much the show would shape me as a game designer and professional working within the tabletop industry.
I originally started the GDU podcast as a way to talk to more game designers by providing a platform for them to share the stories about where their game ideas came from. What was that first spark of inspiration? How did an idea transform from a rough prototype into something people could actually find in a store. What went wrong along the way? What changed? And, maybe most importantly, what could the rest of us learn from that journey?
Up until today, I've already had the privilege of learning from over 150 different designers through 150 unique conversations. When I started the show 6 years ago, I had no idea that this endeavor was going to become one of the greatest educational experiences of my career. I thought it would be a fun hobby I could use as a way to not only learn, but also add value when I approached a publisher wanting to pitch.
Every interview I’ve recorded reminds me that there is no single way to design a game. Inspiration can come from personal experiences, careers, hobbies, nature, other cultures, a vacation, an interesting mechanism, or something as simple as stumbling across a random post online. A designer might spend years carefully refining one idea, while another game seems to appear almost fully formed. As Emerson Matsuuchi said in his Century: Spice Road interview his game was a “lightning in a bottle idea”. Some designers begin with a theme, others with mechanics, components, or even a feeling they want players to experience. I know I’ve personally designed games from all these perspectives.
I've also learned that the game people eventually see is rarely the game that started on the designer's table. Behind every published game is a trail of prototypes, abandoned mechanics, playtest notes, publisher feedback, compromises, breakthroughs, and occasionally complete redesigns. Talking with designers about those moments has reinforced a mantra that I’ll repeat for the rest of my career: just do it. Get the idea out of your head and into the world. Put it on paper, and get it playtested as quickly as possible. An idea can’t grow if it never sees the light of day.
The podcast has also given me a much broader understanding of what "game design" actually means. We've talked about everything from accessibility and graphic design to manufacturing, licensing, pitching, publishing, crowdfunding, marketing, and building a career in this industry. I've been able to learn from people with completely different backgrounds, experiences, and approaches to creativity and then take pieces of those conversations back to my own designs.
At the same time, my own career has grown alongside the show. I started Game Design Unboxed a year into my journey as a designer in 2020. Since then, I've designed hundreds of concepts, released over 30 published games I designed or developed, worked professionally in game design, development, marketing, and project management, and become increasingly involved in the tabletop community through non-profits. There are lessons I heard in early episodes that I understand completely differently now because I've lived through those experiences myself.
Over the years, listeners have told me that an episode helped them improve a prototype, understand the industry, prepare a pitch, or simply feel like becoming a game designer was possible. In one recent interview, designer Andrew Stiles even talked about discovering Game Design Unboxed early in his own design journey and how it helped him better understand the tabletop industry. Hearing something like that is incredibly surreal. A podcast I started because I wanted to learn from other designers became a resource other designers were learning from, too.
Game Design Unboxed has become a time capsule of hundreds of creative decisions, mistakes, experiments, successes, and stories. And thanks to my editor Amanda Rivera, designer quotes are being featured twice a month on social media so you get their exact words! Here were just a handful of of our favorites:
“I love games with small rules and BIG stories.” - Bug Boll, E112: Sentai & Sensibility
“What can we do to create the puzzles that we love to play?” - Ace Ellett, E114: Blueprints
“When you design a cooperative game, every time the player loses, the designer wins.” - Pat Marino, E118: Cuphead
“Games within themselves are escapes, but they can also be art, and they can also be meaningful.” - Jade Shames, E139: Side Effects
"Through playtesting, you start to notice what excites people, so you're trying to recreate those moments and focus on those moments." - Roberto Panetta, E125: Gems of Iridescia
“The more games that are out there made by more different people, the more games that will be there to bring new people into the hobby.” - Emily Vincent, E143: Pirates of High Teas
And here are two of my favorite quotes I’ve said that really capture the essence of GDU:
“When you get to see more of how the sauce gets made, it’s only going to make you a better designer. Or cook.”
“Like the Nike slogan, Just Do it! Get your idea out of your head and onto the table.”
After six years, I still finish interviews thinking about something a guest said. I still discover approaches I've never considered. I still get excited when I hear the strange, funny, deeply personal, or completely unexpected thing that inspired someone's game. I also want to buy so many of these games to play with my loved ones after hearing about their design journeys!
And I think that's my biggest takeaway from hosting Game Design Unboxed since 2020: there is always something left to learn and something to share. I’ve been a storyteller since I was a little kid and I’ve loved helping give designers a platform to share their stories! Especially with so many game designers not being as extroverted as I am. It’s nice to give them a chance to talk about and promote their creations.
I started Game Design Unboxed because I wanted to better understand how games make the journey from inspiration to publication. More than 150 interviews later, I’m still learning and that’s one of my favorite things about this industry. There’s always another perspective to hear, another creative process to discover, and another lesson to take into my own work.
I hope you’ll continue learning alongside me by listening to the podcast and checking out the short-form videos I’ve started creating to share even more of these stories and insights.
A huge thank you to every guest who has taken the time to unbox their creative process, and to every listener who has joined me along the way. And a special thank you to Ryan Costello and the Know Direction Network for giving this podcast a home, Amanda Rivera, my wonderful editor and quote writer, TAM, my web designer, Jeff Payne, the man who redesigned my logo and Allplay, our sponsor, for helping make this show possible and giving me the opportunity to keep doing something I truly love.
Here’s to the next 150 conversations and everything we’ll learn along the way!
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