Know Direction Network

John, Ron, and Jason talk about about conventions, including those they’ll be attending starting this weekend!

Ron Lundeen is an employee of Wizards of the Coast and his opinions are his own.

Based on what’s been said in Paizo Live streams with the Starfinder 2e staff, Alex and James discuss what we know and what they’d like to see out of the new edition’s first releases.

Our heroes battle laser turrets and robots as they try to get to the vault!

In episode 110 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication, your friendly neighborhood editor, Amanda Rivera, takes over as host once again as we recap the fifth season and catch up with Danielle! They talk about this season’s guests, their games, and reflect on some of the amazing advice they shared for new and aspiring game designers.

Danielle talks about her upcoming games, the many prototypes she is working on, several exciting nominations, awards, and special guest appearances – oh my!

Other interesting highlights from the season five recap:

Danielle Reynolds – Guest

Amanda Rivera – Guest Host

John, Ron, and Jason talk about the recently announced Lost Odyssey: Godfall actual play along with what a top talent Starfinder 2E actual play might look like.

Ron Lundeen is an employee of Wizards of the Coast and his opinions are his own.

Our heroes visit Abadar Corp Bank Golden Vault Neighborhood Branch #9 to make a withdrawal.

In episode 109 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication we talk with Ian Clayman about collaborating with the game design team at Exploding Kittens – and an awesome surprise guest – to create a new game based on the longest running reality TV show, Survivor.

Ian dives into his unique approach for working on this well-known IP, the Exploding Kittens game development process, and how he got his foot in the game industry door by networking and snagging an internship at Exploding Kittens.

Survey says, both show super fans and Exploding Kittens enthusiasts agree that Survivor: The Tribe Has Spoken feels like the real deal – minus the lack of navigating island obstacle courses, weathering storms, and battling bugs!

Ian Clayman – Guest

Danielle Reynolds – Host

John, Ron, and Jason talk about the latest Starfinder 2nd edition news released by Paizo last week.

Ron Lundeen is an employee of Wizards of the Coast and his opinions are his own.

Our heroes fight a deadly menace hiding in a scrapyard.

In episode 108 of Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication, we chat with Connie Vogelmann about her design Apiary. What started as her journey as a playtester for Stonemaier Games, quickly dominoed into an invitation to a designer day where she showcased Apiary and ultimately led to it being signed. Connie shares the lessons she learned along the way, including the tools she used for prototyping and how tweaking the theme to “bees in space” helped refine the game’s mechanics.

Connie and Danielle discuss other topics including the advantages of working with large publishers with access to blind playtest audiences, the importance of filtering playtester feedback, the impact of online feedback (including the good, the bad, and the memes), and the lessons she’s learned about rapid prototyping, efficiency, and keeping your sanity through the many iterations of game design. 

And if you were wondering, yes, she actually did do beekeeping for a bit!

Connie Vogelmann – Guest

Danielle Reynolds – Host