Richard Rouse III returns to talk about life after his indie release, The Church in the Darkness. Richard talks about the life of being an indie developer and the different cycle of development, marketing, and patching that is normally separated in larger studios. Drew and Chris also ask if producing a game about a religious cult has had any kind of transformative effect on his way of thinking or perception on of groups of any kind such as Christians or vegetarians. 

Drew Dixon, our Chief Content Nerd talked to 6 more developers and designers at GenCon 2019 including Evan Derrick of “City of Angels” who spent 5 - 6 years creating this game; Robert Newton, Josh Wood, and Frank West amongst others. After a quick run down of the games they are showing at GenCon, we ask what do you hope the players get out of the experience and why do you make games?

Drew and April-Lyn were at GenCon 2019 this week to play games and interview the developers of said games. This week is part 1 of our interviews featuring some returning guests from GenCon 2018 as well as new developers. Michael Fox gives us an update on the success of Holding On: The Troubled Life of Billy Kerr as well as the new game Oceana Megacities from Hub Games. Tiffany Caires also shares her passion with Habba Games of bettering the lives of those who play by teaching social and emotional skills to players. Zain Memon had an ambitious goal of making a game that allowed players to talk about politics while avoiding the toxicity and anger tied to those discussion in todays culture.

Drew and Chris complete their "Getting to Know You" 2 part series where they give listeners a glimpse into the background of two co founders of Love Thy Nerd. This week Drew is in the hot seat as Chris asks Drew about his time in a "liberal" baptist church that deigned to read from the New King James version of the Bible in pursuit of a girl he fancied, the self righteous age of the early 20's, and ultimately to the more mellow family man we know and love today. 

Teri Litorco from Renegade Games talks with Drew and Chris about her early days on YouTube teaching the basics of painting miniatures for table top play. These videos put her on a road to Geek & Sundry during their early days and the end result of working with Renegade Games. The latter half of the episode turns the conversation toward Teri's heritage from the Philippines and the practice of Roman Catholicism both there and in her now home of Canada, and how it brings her a sense of completion rather than compartmentalization.

Henry Audubon, board game designer of titles such as Space Park, Kingswood, and PARKS joins Drew and Chris to talk about his road to board game design, barely passing high school, making his own D&D campaigns, and experiencing the open ended spiritual influences of his mother. 

Paul Shortt of Exploding Kittens joins Drew and Chris to talk about his life in Detroit area Michigan. Working as a graphic designer for health care interface design, he was brought on board to work for the popular card game. The conversation turns to his younger years, the religion of the family growing up, and the pros and cons of having a "silo" cultural environment. 

Drew visits the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio and gets to play a plethora of new and unreleased board games as well as getting to interview their creators. Derek Funkhouser from Skybound Games, Gil Hova from Formal Ferret Games, and others talk to Drew about what they hope gamers get out of their games and why they make them. 

Drew and Chris have been hosting the show for a while now so we figured it was time to get to know them a bit more. This week Drew interviews Chris about his favorite games, growing up in the midwest with a culture of ignored conversation, being the black sheep of his family, and the feelings of guilt and shame that come from being the guy that calls the repair man.

James Hudson did not always start out as a board game creator. World of Warcraft dominated his life for almost 9 years until a friend convinced him to come to a board game night and he was exposed to Power Grid. Since that night James has been involved with collaboration efforts with Druid City Games, now a part of Skybound Entertainment, to publish amazing games that help fuel that organic passion of playing games with other people around the same table. Drew and Chris have a conversation with James about the seasons of his faith, the disillusionment with the American church culture, and the sacred space that the board game scene can provide for those looking to have relationships across multiple divides.