Deep Space Lies (An Interview with Joey Vigour)

You might have heard some of the buzz about Chaosmos, an exciting new game that's rich in both story and interaction.  Joey Vigour and his team at Mirror Box Games successfully launched their Kickstarter for Chaosmos and are already over a third of the way to their goal within the first 24 hours!  Joey kindly took some time away from his hectic launch schedule to answer some questions about his "Dream Project".

To Coin an Age (an interview with Adam McIver)

There's no doubt about it: microgames are in right now. And the innest one of the last two weeks has been Coin Age, a small game played with a single card and pocket change. Coin Age is currently on Kickstarter with a pay-what-you-want campaign managed by Tasty Minstrel Games. The game has appeared at the top of Board Game Geek's hotness for several days in a row and has already blown past all of its stretch goals, netting backers several maps (including one made of credit card plastic) and additional benefits. We had the chance to interview Adam McIver, the game's designer.

Kings in Israel (an interview with Lance Hill)

Based on the selection available, making an original board game based on events from the Bible is tough. Making a good game based on events from the Bible? Even tougher.

Lance Hill is currently seeking funds on Kickstarter for his new board game project, Kings of Israel. He has already passed his funding goal with almost two weeks left to go. We had a chance to interview him about his game.

The Suns Are On Fire (An Interview with Emil Larsen)

This boxcover, as well as all other art and components pictured
are not final and subject to change

If you're like me, few things sound better than setting aside a good chunk of time to explore the galaxy, expand your galactic empire, exploit the resources of dozens of planets, and exterminate your enemies in epic space combat between massive fleets of ships. With some fantastic entires in the genre of 4x space exploration - Twilight Imperium being one of my favorite games of all time, and the popular Eclipse attempting to bridge the divide between thematic gamers and eurogamers alike.

So the prospect of a new 4x sci-fi game is an intriguing one.  But is Burning Suns, a new game on Kickstarter, going to fill a gap in styles of 4x games, or is it just noise beneath the games we already have?  The task of creating a great 4x game, given the scale and complexity in the very nature of such games, is a daunting one.

I had a chance to "sit down" at least virtually with game designer Emil Larsen and talk about his new game.  Hit the interview after the break and visit the kickstarter page here and judge for yourself whether Burning Suns is worth backing.

Rock 'n Throw (An Interview with Jeremy Burnham)

Jeremy Burnham is a freshman designer whose first major game, the unique deck-builder

Stack & Attack, is currently seeking support on Kickstarter.  With an analytically-minded background and as a new family man, Jeremy has eye for kid- and family-friendly gaming in hopes to hook new and casual players into the hobby.  We here at iSlaytheDragon appreciate Jeremy taking the time from what must be a whirlwind schedule with his first crowd-funding campaign to sit down for a few questions.

A Game Designer on Mars (an interview with Ben Rosset)

Mars Needs Mechanics, the second game released from Nevermore Games, was a hit on Kickstarter last September, raising over $45,000. The game shipped to backers this summer and has just recently arrived at game stores. We'll post our review of the game in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, we had a chance to talk with the game's designer, Ben Rosset, about Mars Needs Mechanics.

Fire at Will! (An interview with Steve Wood)

Space a dangerous place.  At least, it always seems to be in the future.  Perhaps we just love imagining massive, well-armed ships floating around out there, and we need to imagine some way to put them to good use.

Gunship: First Strike is a board game that gives you a chance to customize one of those massive ships and pit it against your opponent in a deadly space battle.

The game was previously on Kickstarter and became a success.  Now it's getting an expansion that promises to add a whole lot more to the Gunship universe.  We had a chance to interview the designer , Steve Wood, about the game and the upcoming expansion, so check it out below and then visit the Kickstarter page to help the project succeed!

Hitch your Way to Victory! (An Interview with Luca Caltabiano)

There are games with tightly wound mechanisms about building a microscopic economic system efficiently to score points faster than the other players in order to win.  And then there are games in which players attack each other wildly, hinder each other at every step, make deals and betray them, and hope that with a little skill and some luck sprinkled on top, they'll finish on top.

CarmaRace is definitely the latter.  It's a frantic racing game with a lot of "take that" elements that promises to be easy to learn, quick to play, and very customizable.  This game is now on kickstarter and we had a chance to talk with the designer, Luca Caltabino, to give you a better idea of what this game is all about.  Enjoy!

News Bits: 8/5/2013

Lots of news this week, including a development from last week's story. Now, the NEWS:

The publisher that saved Atlantic City from doom [Link] After all the hubbub I mentioned in last week's news about the failed Doom That Came to Atlantic City Kickstarter campaign, Cryptozoic has announced that they will produce the game--and provide a copy free of charge to backers. This is most certainly a gracious move on the company's part. It's also a brilliant PR coup. Still, let's not forget what this costs the company: after all, they don't receive the Kickstarter funds to print the game, and they're starting off in the red for both producing the game and giving out free copies. I hope this doesn't become the norm (failed Kickstarter campaign? Don't worry--someone will bail you out), but Cryptozoic does deserve major kudos for this.

News Bits: 7/22/2013

Here is the NEWS:

Sentinels of the Multiverse to debut on tablets in 2014 [Link] More games coming to tablets is great news, but I think Sentinels is especially good news, given how much easier some of the bookkeeping will be in a digital format.

Hogs Gone Wild! (An Interview with Kevin Kulp)

Kevin Kulp is your average game designer – full-time job and family man working in one half of the brain, designing games in the other half.  While having tinkered with designs for years, and taken courses on the subject in college, Kevin’s first published design, PigPen, is currently on Kickstarter.  You can also find him on Twitter @TheKevinKulp.  As he’s been up to his eyeballs in mud with his Kickstarter launch, we really appreciate Kevin taking the time to discuss his recent venture here at iSlaytheDragon.

Monster Mash (An Interview with Benjamin Radford)

Benjamin Radford is one of the world’s few science-based, paranormal investigators, and has done first-hand research into mysterious phenomena in sixteen countries on four continents including psychics, ghosts, exorcisms, miracles, Bigfoot, stigmata, lake monsters, UFO sightings, reincarnation, and crop circles. He is an editor for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, has authored six books, and has written articles and/or appeared on television for Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, Learning Channel, BBC, and CNN, among many others. His latest project draws upon his vast experience in studying the fact and folklore of monster myths around the globe – a fascinatingly unique board game now seeking funding on Kickstarter: Undead Apocalypse: War of the Damned. As you might expect, messin’ with Sasquatch is a full-time gig, so we really appreciate Ben’s time in sitting down to discuss his recent venture.

Adventures on the Tabletop (an interview with Doug Morse)

Board game publishing is a fascinating beast, and--like traditional publishing--it can be a hard area to break into. An interesting project currently on Kickstarter is Adventures on the Tabletop, a documentary that details the board game design process, from prototyping and pitching, through development and the publishing process, and into the finished product. We spoke with Doug Morse, the filmmaker behind Adventures on the Tabletop, to discover more about his project.

News Bits: 6/3/2013

I was on vacation last week, so I'm still catching up on news. But here's a good deal of the news from this week:

Bellwether Games interviews designer Ed Marriott (Scoville [unpublished]) [Link] I look forward to Bellwether's monthly designer interviews, and Marriott's interview is no exception. He details the prototyping and design process. Here's an excerpt I liked:

Simplify! In the game design process it is so easy to add more and more little rules to cover the “what-if” scenarios in your game design. I always recommend starting simple and adding detail only when necessary

This Game is Watching You (An Interview with Jamey Stegmaier)

Jamey Stegmaier has a strong passion for creating games that bring people together in the spirit of fun, competition, and strategic thinking. With a lifelong enthusiasm for playing and designing board games, he runs the business side of StonemaierGames along with Alan Stone. Together through their start-up company, the two produced Jamey’s first published title, Viticulture. Stonemaier Games is seeking to publish Jamey’s latest design, Euphoria: Build a Better Dystopia. Their Kickstarter campaign funded in, like, one hour (it was beast!), but it will still run through June 12. If you'd like to participate, there are still plenty of stretch goals to aim for and lots of neat-looking stuff that you can get in on! We asked Jamey a few questions about this title, and he was gracious enough to talk with us.

News Bits: 5/13/2013

Another week packed with NEWS:

IELLO hosts King of Tokyo championship [Link] This is your chance to prove if you are, in fact, the King of Tokyo. Regional qualifiers with a final tournament at this year's GenCon. I'm not enamored of this game, but @Futurewolfie likes it quite a bit.

News Bits: 5/6/2013

Did anything happen in the real world last week? Because there is a ton of board game NEWS this week:

Fantasy Flight reveals X-wing wave 3 ships [Link] Star Wars: X-wing is a game I'm definitely on the outside about, but I know many of our readers care about it, so here's a link to the new ships soon to come.

New Birth of Freedom (an Interview with John Poniske)

John Poniske is a life-long gamer and has been designing his own games for almost fifteen years, with a wide variety of titles published, available on VASSAL, slated for preorder systems, or still in the works. Perhaps his most recognizable family game is Leaping Lemmings, and he also has published a children’s game, Hugs. The bulk of his production is in war gaming, with an eclectic mix of both familiar and unique subjects; from Civil War battles to Native American-Colonial conflicts to the Haitian slave revolts. As a teacher, John sees gaming as not only an engaging hobby, but as an opportunity to teach and educate. His reprint of Hearts and Minds: Vietnam 1965-1975 (Worthington Games) just successfully funded on Kickstarter. Currently his card-driven, politically minded, strategic Civil War game Lincoln’s War (Multi-Man Publishing) is on Kickstarter and is almost 70% funded with 22 days remaining. We asked John a few questions about this title, which has been long in the making, and he was gracious enough to talk with us.

Fun Times on the Road: An Interview with Philip duBarry

That's a nice looking prototype! (Taken from Board Game Geek.)

Philip duBarry, known to many gamers in the hobby market for his fantastic Revolution! and Kingdom of Solomon (and most recently for Courtier in AEG's Tempest line), currently has a game on Kickstarter that seems like a departure from his normal designs: Family Vacation. We asked him a few questions about it, and he was gracious enough to answer them. (If you'd like to take a look at the Kickstarter page, click here.)

News Bits: 3/11/2013

News, news, news. Here it is:

The Wall Street Journal examines Days of Wonder [Link] The Wall Street Journal ran a piece about Days of Wonder last week. It's an interesting window into one of the giants of board gaming. It speaks of their intentionality behind releasing only one major game per year. Are board games mainstream now that they've appeared in the WSJ as well?