The Cardboard Herald

The Light in the Mist is an exciting new puzzle game by Post Curious, makers of The Emerald Flame & The Tale of Ord. The kickstarter launches Sept 21 at this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/postcurious/the-light-in-the-mist

00:00 - Intro & scope of the game

06:04 - Why bring in a collaborator?

10:19 - The design process

13:24 - Why make something smaller

15:52 - Gaging the right level of challenge

22:21 - Non-linear structure & multiuse components

25:04 - Writing the story

30:56 - Post-kickstarter endeavors & The future of PostCurious

Other Links:

Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.com

Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald

Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald

Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

You may know Eduardo Baraf as a game designer and owner of Pencil First Games, but may more will know him from his popular review channel Gaming With Edo.

00:00 - Intro

01:10 - Designer; Publisher; Content Creator

03:35 - Emphasizing smaller publishers

06:42 - Perception of reviewers

11:37 - Contacting publishers for reviews

16:46 - Ed & Ed Trash Games

17:42 - The spark to create games

22:30 - Switching creative focus from video to tabletop

29:04 - Inspirations & Aspirations

33:34 - Skulk Hollow Design & Development

37:43 - Preference for Collaborative Design

47:32 - Maul Peak & Solo

Links:

Pencil First - https://www.pencilfirstgames.com

Gaming with Edo - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpvwHi-2kifAtpvZ64gBv9A

Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.com

Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald

Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald

Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

Potent theme delivery systems or sinister cash grabs preying on your nostalgia? Today we talk about licensed games.

Defining IP

Cynical cash grabs or a source of joy?

What makes something look promising or damning?

Games where fighting IPs are the platform (unmatched, Funko Battles, VS System)

IP Games in our collections

Lovecraft vs. the Mythos & Public Domain

Licensing & preventing games getting

Best/Worst that we’ve seen

What IPs are you dying to see?

LINKS:

Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.com

Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald

Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald

Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

This was a great chat with Fertessa and a rare opportunity to dive deep with a full-timer at a game company. Wicked & Wise is live on Kickstarter August 10th, here's the link: http://weirdgiraffegames.com/WW17

00:00 - Intro

00:48 - Staffer or Freelancer?

02:19 - Funco, Production & Prospero Hall

07:09 - History with tabletop games

11:44 - Alternate career paths

13:31 - Buy in from family?

16:10 - Pitching to Weird Giraffe

18:53 - Design & development of Wicked & Wise

19:45 - The problem with cooperative games

24:57 - Establishing Theme

26:29 - Design & Development sacrifices

29:28 - Inspiration to improve output?

34:20 - Day to day routine as a games producer

40:42 - Dream game with dream IP

LINKS:

Fertessa's Twitter https://twitter.com/fertessa

Our Site - www.cardboardherald.com

Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald

Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald

Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

We've gotten it to the table, some of us more than once! Gonna talk through our opinions of the new release of this modern classic.

SHOW NOTES:

Hypecicles

-Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

-MTG D&D

-Descent: Legends of the Dark

History of Kemet

Game 2012 - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/127023/kemet

Ta Seti 2015 - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/161842/kemet-ta-seti

Seth 2018 - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/254543/kemet-seth

Blood & Sand KS 2020 - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/matagot/kemet-blood-and-sand

Our History with the game

Blood & Sand

-How many times we’ve played?

-Does it feel like the same game?

Highlights:

-How scaling powers are handled

-Balance

-Power trays

-Cosmetics (dem pyramids)

Low Points:

-Board design

-Rules wording

-Errata!? https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2694291/rulebooks-revision-available

Going over the history, the methodology (that we know of) and how much importance we should place on the BGG rankings & top 100. Come talk to us on discord: https://discord.gg/6nGJsA6NNp

Our notes for the podcast:

What is it?

BGG founded in 2000 https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/BoardGameGeek_History#

By 2001 they had rankings

Uses an undisclosed algorithm that seeds some votes and incorporates user ratings

Ratings are not about quality, necessarily, but about desire to play https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/ratings

10 - Outstanding. Always want to play and expect this will never change.

9 - Excellent game. Always want to play it.

8 - Very good game. I like to play. Probably I'll suggest it and will never turn down a game.

7 - Good game, usually willing to play.

6 - Ok game, some fun or challenge at least, will play sporadically if in the right mood.

5 - Average game, slightly boring, take it or leave it.

4 - Not so good, it doesn't get me but could be talked into it on occasion.

3 - Likely won't play this again although could be convinced. Bad.

2 - Extremely annoying game, won't play this ever again.

1 - Defies description of a game. You won't catch me dead playing this. Clearly broken

What do we know about the methodology for ranking?

30 ratings to be eligible for ranking, seeded with 100 votes of 5.5, and apparently more dummy votes are added the more rankings a game has: https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/ratings

Entropy?

Moderation to avoid false fraud votes

Past # 1 games

Tigris & Euphrates

Puerto Rico

Agricola

Twilight Struggle

Pandemic Legacy Season 1

Gloomhaven

Of the top 100 - Jack’s played 56

Jack’s most surprising game that’s not in the top 100 - Kemet

John’s most surprising game that is in the top 100 - Nemesis

Other cool stuff:

Our Site - https://www.cardboardherald.com

Our Video Channel - https://www.youtube.com/TheCardboardHerald

Our Twitter - https://twitter.com/CardboardHerald

Our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=9669551

01:46 Childhood expressions

04:36 Cartooning inspirations

08:20 Is being part of a studio restrictive?

12:35 Using art to get people into the game

14:31 Translating the abstract

19:18 Oath's visual identity

23:12 Oath's Worldbuilding

30:56 Fort's visual identity

31:56 How do you organize your day?

37:41 Impact on & advice for the next generation

40:30 What makes the Leder team so special

44:37 Art for engagement

47:59 Fort Cats & Dogs

51:05 Capturing animal personalities

54:08 Grounding Oath with animals

Talking about the different forms conflict can take in games. Come talk to us on discord: https://discord.gg/6nGJsA6NNp

Come talk to us on discord: https://discord.gg/JZYZHUgqGR

I can easily answer no to "are expansions bad?", but it's much harder to answer if they are good. So John and I talk it through.