About Drew

Drew Corkill is a UI/UX designer with nearly 15 years of experience and a deep background in graphic design, who has quietly become one of the most prolific creators in tabletop gaming. Alongside Gabe Barrett, Drew is the driving force behind the “Solo Game of the Month” initiative, he’s launched more crowdfunded games than almost anyone in the industry, building a system that prioritizes speed, iteration, and consistent output.

Drew first connected with me as a student in the Think Like a Game Designer Course, where his early work on Small Time Heroes evolved into a breakout success with multiple expansions and campaigns. In this episode, Drew shares how his background in UX shapes his approach to game design, what makes solo games uniquely powerful, and how community, structure, and relentless iteration can turn creative ambition into a sustainable career.

Justin’s Ah-Ha Moments:

• Threats, Timers, Treats: Drew had one of the clearest frameworks I’ve heard for solo game design. If you want a solo game to generate excitement, you need pressure (threats), urgency (timers), and reward (treats). Miss one, and the whole thing feels more like a puzzle than a game. This is a simple checklist, but it’s deceptively powerful.

• You Don’t Build Alone: What stood out to me in Drew’s story is how much of his success came from the environment around him. Community, feedback, and deadlines are force multipliers. Left on your own, it’s easy to stall, but put yourself in a room with people who are building, and everything speeds up. This is true whether it’s a course, a group, or just a few people you trust.

• Cut to the Experience: When you take something digital and try to make it physical, all the excess gets exposed. You can’t rely on automation or hidden math, instead you have to decide what actually matters. Drew’s approach is to strip things down until the fun is obvious. That’s a useful lens for any design. If something is slowing the player down without adding value, it’s probably not pulling its weight.

If you’ve ever had a game idea but didn’t know how to turn it into a real, playable design, my Design Labs program walks you through the entire process. With 60+ lessons, practical assignments, and a private Discord community, you’ll learn how to move from inspiration to prototype, playtesting, iteration, and publishing.

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Show Notes:

“I was like, well, I’ll just make my own version of what I want.” (00:07:01)

This is one of those deceptively simple origin moments. Drew couldn’t find the experience he wanted, so instead of waiting, he built it. That impulse, where you’re moving from consumer to creator, is where a lot of design careers actually begin. If something feels missing in the games you’re playing, consider it a compass, and try to fill the gap.

“If it’s distracting from the fun […] then it’s a baby that has to be killed.” (00:27:30)

This is Drew being brutally honest about design discipline. It’s easy to fall in love with clever mechanics, complex systems, or ideas that felt great during development, but if they slow the game down or pull players out of the experience, they have to go. Prioritization is key, because not every good idea belongs in the final product. Remember, most of the time you should be removing anything that doesn’t serve the core experience, no matter how much time you’ve invested in it.

“To design a solo game is much easier than it is to design a multiplayer game.” (00:42:47)

Drew loves to design solo games. Late in the conversation, he gets tactical about why his “game a month” system works. Solo games reduce complexity, which makes them faster to design, test, and ship. Solo games are easier to iterate on, because until very late in the process, you are the only designer and playtester needed to refine the prototype.

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You can find Think Like a Game Designer on these platforms:

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• Youtube

If you’ve ever had a game idea but didn’t know how to turn it into a real, playable design, my Design Labs program walks you through the entire process. With 60+ lessons, practical assignments, and a private Discord community, you’ll learn how to move from inspiration to prototype, playtesting, iteration, and publishing.

Learn More

Curated Moments of Game Design Wisdom

To celebrate the first 100 episodes of Think Like a Game Designer, we’re looking back at some of the most powerful lessons from the show. Over the years, I have spoken with many of the most influential designers in tabletop and digital games: creators who have built legendary worlds, invented new genres, and designed games played by millions. In this special episode, we revisit some of the insights that stuck with us the most.

Show Notes

Guests featured:

• Keith Baker

• Monty Cook

• Raph Koster

• Richard Garfield

• John Zinser

• Elizabeth Hargrave

• Eric Lang

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00:03:06 — Keith Baker

Lesson: Creating a world that becomes a playable game.

Baker explains how he designed the Eberron setting and why fantasy worlds need recognizable hooks that players can quickly understand.

00:17:31 — Monte Cook

Lesson: How RPG worlds and systems come together in design.

Cook discusses the process of building role-playing games and the interplay between storytelling, mechanics, and player experience.

00:23:24 — Raph Koster

Lesson: Designing games through structured creative practice.

Koster explains his ideation process, how he takes notes and prototypes ideas, and why constraints and deliberate practice help designers develop new game concepts.

00:33:18 — Richard Garfield

Lesson: Spend your “complexity points” wisely.

Garfield talks about balancing innovation and accessibility, emphasizing that too much novelty can make games harder for players to understand.

00:40:33 — John Zinser

Lesson: A successful game needs a strong hook.

Zinser explains how publishers evaluate games and why clear differentiation is critical when pitching or launching a new title.

01:04:36 — Elizabeth Hargrave

Lesson: Passionate themes can unlock new audiences.

Hargrave discusses how Wingspan succeeded by pairing a unique theme with mechanics that reinforce that theme.

01:17:03 — Eric Lang

Lesson: Great games come from iteration and cutting what doesn’t serve the design.

Lang discusses engine design, playtesting, and how cohesion between theme and mechanics strengthens a game.

ou can find Think Like a Game Designer on these platforms:

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• Youtube

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About Eric Lang

Eric Lang is one of the most influential designers in modern tabletop gaming, known for bold thematic systems and highly interactive play. Over his career, he has designed or co-designed titles including Blood Rage, Rising Sun, Ankh: Gods of Egypt, Chaos in the Old World, and numerous licensed and collectible card games including Game of Thrones, Call of Cthulu, and Star Wars. His work spans hobby and mass-market audiences alike, blending deep strategic frameworks with strong narrative identity. In this episode, Eric shares how he approaches conflict-driven design, why player psychology matters more than mechanics alone, and what it takes to build games that feel both competitive and emotionally resonant. If you’re interested in designing for tension, identity, and memorable table moments, this conversation offers a masterclass from one of the industry’s most distinctive voices.

Ah-Ha Moments

Games as Ritual: I hadn’t fully appreciated how much games function as ritual. Even deeper strategy games like Ascension (especially the app) get played repeatedly in a way that’s almost meditative. People return to it every day: on the metro in the morning, at lunch, or whenever they have a few free minutes at home.

If a game becomes part of someone’s daily rhythm, like coffee in the morning, you start thinking about it differently as a designer. You’re not just considering the experience of a single session but how feels to return to that experience again and again.

Cooperative Design Complements: Eric and I are working on a new game together, and in this episode we talk about what makes collaboration truly work. At its best, collaboration happens when each person understands the other’s strengths. That trust in your partner’s abilities frees you to push harder in your own lane. The right creative complement makes the whole project stronger than either designer could make alone.

We Reconstruct the Past Through Today’s Lens: One thing that’s fun about talking with Eric is that he tends to bring a contrarian edge. In this conversation, his perspective on Exploding Kittens somewhat contradicts the narrative Elon Lee shared in my previous episode (linked here and below). The specifics are in the episode, but the broader lesson is that we’re often tempted to take a present-day truth about our design process and apply it universally. As designers, we have to be careful not to oversimplify the story of how things were made.

Show Notes

“I wanted to get back to my roots and get back to making games the way I used to make games before I became a professional hobby game designer.” (00:10:30)

When Eric talks about stepping away from executive roles and returning to broader audience games, there’s a quiet but important design lesson underneath it. Over time, professionals can drift toward complexity, prestige, or industry expectations. Eric’s move back toward games for families, short attention spans, and immediate joy reflects a rediscovery of purpose. In other words, creative evolution can often mean stripping things back to the part that first made you love the craft.

“But the skill, of course, is all EQ based, is all social based.” (00:17:00)

Early in the episode, Eric reframes what “skill” means in certain game spaces. For broad-audience and social games, the mastery is about emotional intelligence rather than strategic depth. Reading people, understanding dynamics, and navigating social energy becomes the real engine of play. Sometimes the deepest design move is getting out of the way and letting people do the heavy lifting.

“Games are designed for payoff, not for input.” (00:42:15)

Midway through the conversation, Eric makes a contrarian argument about complexity. He pushes back on the idea that “agonizing decisions” are inherently virtuous. Players generally appreciate the payoff of the mechanic more than the mechanic itself. The most enduring games, in Eric’s view, minimize effort while maximizing emotional impact. Do your best to reduce friction wherever possible so players can reach the magic faster.

“I want to play this, but I don't want to get better at it. This feels like something I just want to do as a group meditation.” (00:57:06)

Later in the episode, Eric explores the idea of games as ritual. Not every game needs to reward mastery curves or long-term optimization. Some experiences are valuable precisely because they resist improvement. They become shared habits, meaning social anchors that people return to without pressure. He stresses repetition, comfort, and communal rhythm.

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You can find Think Like a Game Designer on these platforms:

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• Youtube

About Theresa:

Theresa Duringer is the owner and CEO of Temple Gates Games, a San Francisco–based digital board game studio known for best-in-class adaptations of modern tabletop games. Her team has brought Ascension to VR and developed acclaimed digital versions of Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Shards of Infinity, and more, with a relentless focus on speed, clarity, and intuitive UI. Theresa works closely with designers and publishers to translate complex tabletop systems into digital experiences that feel natural, responsive, and faithful to the original games, helping players around the world connect and play together online. In this episode, she shares insights on what makes a great digital adaptation, why performance and UX are inseparable from game design, and how to bridge the gap between physical and digital play without losing what makes tabletop special.

More about Theresa and Temple Gate Games:

• Temple Gate Games

• Discord

• Meta

• Bluesky

• Instagram

Justin’s Ah-Ha! Moments

Board Games Are UI, Not Just Games: A board game is already an interface to a system. Digitizing the User Interface (UI) forces you to confront it. Every card, zone, and transition either communicates clearly or breaks the experience. Great digital adaptations work because they make the system readable, not because they add polish.

Show the Decision, Hide the Noise: Great UI is all about showing the right thing at the moment a decision is made. Theresa’s rule: maximize critical information related to decision-making and eliminate everything else. When players feel overwhelmed, you know that you’re prioritizing the wrong information.

Real Differentiation Comes from Uncomfortable Problems: Temple Gate Games moved early into VR and other hard spaces where the rules didn’t exist yet. Solving problems before anyone agrees on the answers is how you build real leverage, and real expertise.

Show Notes

“We see a lot of adoption from people who already know how to play the game, but it's harder to get people to pick up something as complicated as a board game when they don't already know how to play it.” (00:28:50)

One of the hardest problems in digital tabletop is onboarding. Physical board games amortize their learning cost socially, because friends teach friends and the fact that rules are softened by the community, food, and shared space. Digital games remove that buffer. The lesson here is that accessability is about replacing social scaffolding with intentional design. A digital game has to present enough information to get a player hooked in just a few minutes or it will never reach new players.

“We are not using generative AI.” (00:45:23)

Despite Temple Gates being early adopters of neural network AI for gameplay, she explains why generative AI is different. The issue is trust. She frames creative work as a covenant between creators and the systems that support them, and argues that covenant is currently broken. She suggests that just because a tool is powerful doesn’t mean it’s ready to be used responsibly. Long-term trust matters more than short-term efficiency.

“So from my point of view, board game apps are almost entirely UI.” (01:00:26)

As we mention in the Ah-Ha moments, in digital board games, UI is the game. Every button, highlight, animation, and constraint is making design decisions on the player’s behalf. The lesson is that UI isn’t a cosmetic layer added after design—it’s the mechanism through which the design exists. If the interface is unclear, slow, or misleading, the game itself is broken, no matter how strong the original system was.

“So we as designers are saying, what does the player probably want to be doing? Let’s make it a big shiny button.” (01:04:14)

Theresa explains the deceptively deep thinking behind something as simple as an “OK” button. In a physical board game, players infer what happens next through shared rules knowledge and table culture. In a digital game, the interface has to make that call. The lesson here is that good UI removes friction, without removing agency. Designers should automate throwaway decisions so players can spend their attention where it actually matters. Its important to remember that speed isn’t the enemy of strategy; confusion is.

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About Jaimie

Jaimie Walansky has over 20 years of experience in the games industry, with a career spanning major brands and mass-market hits. She’s worked as a sales rep bringing games into stores like Target and Barnes & Noble, and has helped launch titles like Shopkins, Catan, Ticket to Ride, Bananagrams, and Exploding Kittens. She even worked with Justin to bring You Gotta Be Kitten Me to market. In this episode, Jaimie shares what it takes to succeed in a crowded space, how to build teams you can trust, and why knowing when to let go of a project can be just as important as seeing one through. If you care about the business of games—especially the part that happens after the prototype—this conversation is packed with sharp insights and real-world experience.

Justin’s Ah-Ha Moments:

• Trust the People Around You: One of the hardest parts of creative work is taking hits. Feedback, failure, and ideas that looked brilliant on paper and flopped in practice will all punch you in the gut. What makes those punches survivable is who’s around you when they land. This episode is a reminder that success doesn’t come from avoiding pain. It comes from surrounding yourself with people you trust enough to tell you the truth, and strong enough to hold you up when the truth stings.

• The Future Looks a Lot Like the Past: Mass-market card games are everywhere—and that’s the problem. With so much saturation, it’s harder than ever to stand out. What excites me is the shift back to tactile, nostalgic experiences. Think physical pieces, simple mechanics, and visual languages that evoke the board games we grew up with. This isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s a deeper trend toward experiences that feel grounded, personal, and real—something digital games can’t fake.

• Curate Your Intuition Good designers trust their gut. Great designers know how to curate it. Every podcast you listen to, every game you play, every weird rule interaction you explore is data. Your job is to pay attention. When something clicks—or nags—you need to listen. That’s how you build an intuition that doesn’t just feel right, but actually leads you to better work. It’s not magic. It’s pattern recognition with practice.

Show Notes

“Everything that I do terrifies me... but I’ve failed before and I’ve done so many things.” (00:05:20)

Jaimie talks about how fear shaped her creative path and how repeated failure gave her the courage to keep going. Instead of trying to eliminate risk, she learned to walk toward it. That mindset doesn’t make the gut punches disappear, instead it makes them survivable. If you’re creating something worth doing, fear is part of the job. So is learning how to move anyway.

“They're so overwhelmed by the big guys... it’s getting harder and harder for what we call one-item vendors to get in.” (00:14:44)

Mass-market retail is more crowded than ever, and Jaimie has seen firsthand how difficult it is for new games to break through. Big brands dominate buyer attention, and stores are less willing to take chances on unknown titles. For smaller publishers or one-product creators, the bar to entry keeps getting higher. If you’re trying to get into retail, you need more than a good game—you need a strategy, a relationship, and a deep understanding of how the system works.

“We get to now create these experiences that bring and create the new friendships out there.” (00:38:17)

Jaimie reflects on what decades in games have really given her great relationships. From friendships formed on the Magic Pro Tour to watching team members celebrate 10-year anniversaries, she’s seen how games create connection. The lesson is about what happens after the box is opened like shared memories, lifelong bonds, and the kind of joy that keeps people coming back to the table.

“Your brain perceives and takes in so much more information than you’re consciously perceiving… your intuition does process it.” (00:44:44)

Jaimie defends intuition as unconscious intelligence. For analytically-minded creators, she offers a reframing: don’t treat intuition as magic, because it’s not—it’s data your brain already absorbed but hasn’t verbalized. If you give it space, it will speak through your feelings, through tension, through clarity. Creative breakthroughs often come not from thinking harder, but from listening more carefully.

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About Vlaada

Vlaada Chvátil is one of the most influential game designers of the modern era. As the creative force behind classics like Through the Ages, Codenames, and Galaxy Trucker, and a co-founder of Czech Games Edition (CGE), he’s built a career defined by curiosity, craft, and an uncompromising commitment to making games he actually wants to play. Vlaada’s path—from programming and digital game development to shaping some of the most enduring tabletop designs of the last 20 years—has given him a rare perspective on iteration, collaboration, and long-term creative sustainability. In this episode, we explore how he chooses projects, why great development beats marketing every time, and how designing for joy has fueled both his games and his company.

Ah-Ha Moments

We Sell Games So We Can Make Games: Vlaada reframes the entire business of game design. The purpose of publishing is to fund the next act of creation, not to chase sales targets. This mindset frees designers to make bolder, more honest games, because success is measured by creative momentum, not quarterly performance.

The Best Marketing Is Ruthless Investment in Development: CGE spent its early years with no marketing team at all, because they didn’t need one. Vlaada’s long-term strategy is simple and difficult: invest heavily in development and let quality do the work. Great games create their own momentum. Word of mouth, sustained sales growth, and long tails are the natural result of excellence.

The Golden Rule of Collaborative Design: When collaborators disagree, Vlaada avoids persuasion entirely. Instead of fighting to prove one idea right and the other wrong, the goal is to find a third solution neither person originally proposed, but that both genuinely like. This reframes disagreement as a creative engine, not a conflict, and almost always leads to stronger, more resilient designs.

Show Notes

“If I stop liking the game after twenty or thirty plays, then there’s no point to continue.” (00:14:48)

Vlaada explains that his earliest and most important playtesting phase happens alone. Before external feedback, before polish, before production, he plays his own games dozens of times in a sandbox environment. If the core experience doesn’t sustain his interest, the game goes back to the idea stage. The insight here is simple and brutal: no amount of testing can save a game its creator no longer enjoys. Personal endurance is a stronger signal than market research.

“We are selling the games so we can create them. We are not creating the games to sell them.” (00:26:46)

This line reframes the entire relationship between creativity and business. Vlaada sees publishing not as the purpose of design, but as the mechanism that funds future work. That mindset shaped Czech Games Edition from the start, allowing the team to prioritize passion, curiosity, and long-term quality over short-term optimization. The result is a healthier creative engine where success is measured by continued creation, rather than sales numbers alone.

“I still believe the most efficient way is to make the game actually great.” (00:31:41)

When I ask about marketing, Vlaada points back to development. CGE spent its early years with no dedicated marketing staff, relying instead on deep iteration and polish. Vlaada argues that truly great games create their own momentum through word of mouth and longevity. The lesson is counterintuituve: marketing can amplify quality, but it can’t replace it. Long-term growth comes from investing where players feel it most.

“In Codenames, it is really about connecting minds.” (00:44:18)

Discussing the digital version of Codenames, Vlaada explains why the team deliberately avoided AI opponents. Unlike strategy games where the challenge comes from systems, Codenames is about human intuition and shared meaning. Even asynchronous digital play preserves that core by keeping people at the center of the experience. The takeaway is a reminder that medium changes should never erase a game’s core sentiment—digital adaptations must protect what makes the game human.

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About Carly

Carly McGinnis is the driving force behind one of the fastest-growing tabletop companies in history. As CEO of Exploding Kittens, she’s helped lead the company to over 25 million games sold and dozens of successful launches, all while keeping the promises of the most-backed crowdfund ever. Carly’s path—from surviving the Hollywood talent-agency grind to building a global game business—has given her a rare blend of resilience, humor, and no-nonsense leadership. In this episode, we discuss how she scales teams, navigates creative chaos, and builds a culture that can actually deliver on big ideas.

Related episodes with Elan Lee, Creator of Exploding Kittens

Justin’s Ah-Ha Notes:

• Slow Down to Grow Faster: Carly reminds us that speed isn’t the same as progress. When you rush just to keep moving, you create confusion, rework, and stress that ultimately slow you down. The real skill is learning to pause long enough to think clearly, set the right priorities, and avoid doing things simply for the sake of doing them. When you give yourself and your team permission to slow down, you actually create the conditions to grow faster and make better decisions.

• Define “Good Enough” and Move Forward: One of Carly’s superpowers is knowing when to push and when to ship. Perfection can quietly kill momentum, especially inside a fast-scaling company. By clearly defining what “good enough” means for a project, she empowers her team to keep moving, learn in the real world, and avoid getting stuck polishing details that don’t matter. Progress comes from clarity and clarity starts with setting a bar everyone understands.

• Leadership Is Repetition: Carly makes this point beautifully: leadership isn’t about a single breakthrough moment, it’s about reinforcing the fundamentals again and again. Whether it’s reminding the team of the mission, encouraging fast feedback loops, or surfacing hard conversations, the job is to repeat what matters until it becomes part of the culture’s DNA. A great leader is patient, and presents enough to help their teams grow in the right direction.

Show Notes:

“It’s that… fail-fast mentality, which I think is super helpful early on.” (00:22:02)

Carly explains how Exploding Kittens grew out of a pure startup mindset: figure it out as you go, move fast, and learn from mistakes before they become expensive. Early in the company’s life, she and Elan operated with that scrappy “do whatever it takes” attitude toward shipping, logistics, manufacturing, customer support, all of it. However, the deeper lesson is that “Fail fast” is empowering when you’re discovering what works but there comes a moment when you must slow down, build structure, and replace improvisation with process. The art is knowing which phase you’re in and evolving with your company instead of clinging to what used to work.

“It’s not about being perfect. It’s about moving forward and making sure the team knows what good enough looks like.” (00:49:37)

This is one of Carly’s core leadership philosophies, and one she learned the hard way. She’s open about being a perfectionist, and how that instinct can quietly sabotage growth. Perfection leads to bottlenecks; clarity leads to momentum. The turning point for her was realizing that leadership is about empowering the right people to do their jobs well. Defining “good enough” gives your team the opportunity to execute, surface issues early, and learn by doing. As I’ve discovered myself, sometimes that means they’ll make decisions differently than you would, but that’s how they grow.

“Leadership is repetition.” (00:56:21)

This is one of the most powerful lines in the entire conversation. Carly describes how processes, values, and expectations naturally decay unless leaders continuously reinforce them: not once, but endlessly. Teams don’t absorb things because you said them; they absorb them because you say them consistently, in different contexts, until the culture internalizes them. Being a great leader means returning to the fundamentals over and over, with patience, humility, and clarity.

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About Kyle

Kyle Thiermann is a professional big-wave surfer, journalist, and creative director whose career bridges storytelling, advertising, and adventure. He’s written for Men’s Health, Surfer, and Outside Magazine, and helped shape campaigns for brands like Patagonia, Yeti, and Mudwater, with his ads and viral spots reaching over 100 million people. Kyle is also the author of One Last Question Before You Go: Why You Should Interview Your Parents Now, a deeply personal exploration of family, curiosity, and conversation. In this episode, Justin and Kyle dive into the fear that drives creativity, the lessons of surfing six-story waves, and how to use curiosity and courage to build a more meaningful creative life.

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

Deadlines create gravity: Surrounding yourself with people you respect and setting clear deadlines are two of the most powerful tools for getting things done—it is the engine of creative work, which turn ambition into action and ensure you finish what you start.

Proximity is an accelerant: Kyle’s learned, both in the ocean and in his creative career, that the fastest way to improve is to surround yourself with people already doing the thing you’re learning. Mentorship and shared goals create a rhythm of steady progress that’s hard to find alone.

Better questions equal better understanding: We’re trained to have answers, but not to ask better questions and that’s where understanding truly lives. Whether you’re exploring a design challenge or rebuilding a relationship curiosity has the power to turn conversation into insight. Kyle’s book about interviewing his parents is a masterclass in curiosity.

Show Notes

“The power of deadlines and more specifically, the fear of disappointing people I respect has driven my career.” (00:04:55)

We start by talking about the writing group where Kyle and I met, guided by New York Times best-selling author Neil Strauss. Together we dig into how essential structure and accountability are for any creative project including the value of mentors, peers, and most of all, deadlines. If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you’ve heard me say it: deadlines are magic. They turn vague ambition into finished work.

“Find the people that are doing the thing and hang out with them as much as possible.” (00:15:58)

Kyle connects his life as a big-wave surfer to his creative process, showing that fear and mastery follow the same pattern. Whether you’re paddling into six-story waves or starting a new creative career, the fastest way to grow is to surround yourself with people already doing what you aspire to do. Mentorship, proximity, and shared accountability accelerate progress more than any course or tutorial ever could.

“Copywriting is much more like stand-up comedy, where you’re trying to take an idea and distill it down to its most essential form that’s going to get someone’s attention and connect them to this thing that you are selling.” (00:34:49)

Kyle compares copywriting to stand-up comedy and it’s a perfect analogy. Both rely on timing, clarity, and emotion. Every word has to earn its place. For designers, writers, and storytellers, the lesson is simple: your job isn’t to explain, it’s to distill. When you can make someone feel something in a single line, you’ve revealed its essence, making it easier for your audience to understand, and therefore, to buy.

“We’re taught to have the right answers, but never taught to have the right questions.” (00:51:56)

Kyle wrote a book about interviewing his partents. His book grew out of realizing that curiosity—especially toward the people closest to us—is a learned skill. We train for answers, but not for questions, and that leaves entire parts of our relationships unexplored. As Kyle discovered, interviewing is about transforming judgment into curiosity. Asking better questions of our parents, our collaborators, or ourselves is how we rediscover the people we thought we already knew.

• Kyle’s Upcoming Book: https://geni.us/onelastqbeforeyougo

• Kyle’s Website: https://www.kylethiermann.com/

About Touko

Touko Tahkokallio is one of the rare designers who has mastered both tabletop and digital worlds. Starting out as a theoretical physicist, Touko shifted careers to follow his passion for play. First by designing acclaimed board games like Eclipse, then shaping some of the biggest mobile hits of all time at Supercell, including Hay Day, Boom Beach, and Brawl Stars. In 2022, he co-founded a mobile game studio Stellar Core which he is the chief creative officer.

In this episode, we explore the hidden value of juggling multiple projects, how to prototype without rules or components, and why a playful mindset is essential, especially when the work gets tough.

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Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously: Touko explains that the healthiest creative mindset comes from balance. Even when you’re working on something important, it helps to have other passions and routines that keep your identity from hinging on one project. When your sense of self isn’t tied to a single success or failure, you can experiment more freely and take creative risks with less fear.

• Your Mind Is Your Best Playtest Tool: Before building anything, Touko runs through his designs mentally: testing systems, pacing, and player choices in his head. He calls this “mental playtesting” and it helps him to identify weak points early in the design process and saves hours of prototyping time. As designers, we should learn to slow down, imagine deeply, and pressure-test our ideas in our minds before bringing them to life.

• Physics, Play, and Pattern Recognition: With a background in theoretical physics, Touko approaches game design as a study of systems and feedback loops. He sees design as an experiment where he’s observing player behavior, forming hypotheses, and refining the model. The lesson is simple but powerful: creativity born from disciplined curiosity. By studying how players react to your game, you gain the insight needed to understand what their experience truly is and that’s the key to ramping up the fun and making your game memorable and replayable.

Show Notes

“I really try to keep all my work as just a fun thing and hobby and as long as that works, I feel like I’m always in a good spot and there’s a lot of room for creativity and fun.” (00:07:49)

Touko talks about how creativity thrives when work feels like play. When your work becomes your identity, failure can feels personal, but when you approach it as a hobby, you stay flexible, resilient, and open to discovery. The most innovative ideas often come from those still having fun. At the same time, there’s a balance to strike: without deadlines or accountability, that same freedom can drift into complacency.

“If you can keep it in your head and really try to think about how it will play out, see all the possible outcomes and problems and what could be fun, what could be challenging—it helps you tremendously. You can kill many ideas, kill many mechanics already there.” (00:14:06)

Touko describes mental prototyping as one of the most valuable design skills you can build. Before cutting any components, he imagines how systems interact, what could break, and what might be fun. This mental simulation saves time and sharpens focus. By rigorously testing ideas in your head first, you can identify weak mechanics early and enter real playtesting with clarity and purpose.

“I think it’s easier to work on games where there’s a very simple core gameplay loop, and then you have a meta-system around it.” (00:42:35)

This is a great lesson for new designers, keeping the core gameplay loop simple is always the right answer, from there every componet or additional mechanics should support or expand on that core gameplay loop. This approach keeps games scalable and replayable, whether you’re building a tabletop title or a global digital hit.

“I want to test things as fast as possible to get some reads on them and do smaller testing rounds with limited players. Just send the builds to players and get their feedback.” (01:03:26)

Touko discusses the importance of fast, focused playtesting, something echoed by Elan Lee, creator of Exploding Kittens, in a previous episode. Rather than waiting for a perfect build, he runs small tests early to gather real player reactions. Watching how players behave (where they hesitate, smile, or lose focus) reveals more than any internal assumption ever could. The faster you get those signals, the faster you can adapt, improve, and uncover what truly makes your game fun.

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About this Episode

This episode is a little different from the usual Think Like a Game Designer conversation. Instead of a freeform discussion, I came prepared with a curated list of questions to guide the conversation, giving us a structured look into Jordan’s creative process, his philosophies on innovation, and the lessons he’s learned over decades of building worlds. The result is a fast-paced, insight-packed episode that feels like sitting in on a masterclass in game design.

About Jordan Weisman

Jordan Weisman is a legendary figure in interactive entertainment, whose career spans tabletop games, video games, theme parks, and beyond. As the creator of Battletech, Shadowrun, and Crimson Skies, and the founder of iconic companies like FASA and WizKids, Jordan has shaped generations of players and creators alike. His work is defined by boundless curiosity, fearless experimentation, and a lifelong commitment to collaborative storytelling.

In this episode, Jordan and I explore what it means to think small, fail boldly, and keep learning no matter how much success you’ve had. We discuss how curiosity drives innovation, why emotional courage is more important than financial risk, and how respect—for yourself, your team, and your audience—is at the heart of great creative work. Whether you’re just starting your design journey or looking to rekindle your passion after decades in the industry, Jordan’s insights offer a masterclass in staying creative for life.

Justin’s Questions

What’s something that you’re passionate about outside of your career, and what do you love about it? (00:01:33)

• During the pandemic, he rediscovered model building and diorama crafting, a childhood hobby that brings him therapeutic joy.

• He enjoys it because it’s tangible, visual storytelling where you can actually see progress, a much different process than game design, which often feels abstract or slow.

What do you love about that kind of model building and creating? (00:04:05)

• It aligns with Jordan’s love of world-building and storytelling when creating small, detailed scenes that tell a story visually.

• It’s satisfying because each session produces visible progress, reinforcing creativity and immersion.

What is advice that you would give to someone that’s just starting out in your industry? (00:04:06)

• Think small. Beginners often aim for massive projects like the ones they admire.

• Start with something you can finish using your own limited resources.

• Completion and execution teach more than ideas ever will.

• Focus on learning through doing, not imagining.

Now let’s flip to the other side of the equation: what do you see as an important lesson that industry veterans need to learn? Or put another way, what advice do you think your older self might give to you? (00:06:30)

• Avoid hubris. Experience can blind you. Everything you know might be wrong.

• Listen to young minds. Youth brings creativity because it hasn’t learned what’s supposedly impossible.

• Over time, past failures make people too cautious; veterans must keep their beginner’s mindset.

• Innovation demands courage to look foolish publicly; fear of embarrassment kills creativity.

• Stay humble, keep experimenting, and reassess old assumptions regularly.

Are there any practices or rituals or ways that you try to keep yourself in that beginner’s mind? How can one get the advantages of experience and minimize the disadvantages? (00:08:09)

• You must be willing to “go face first into the mud.”

• As he said in the previous question, public embarrassment is the price of innovation.

• Surround yourself with young thinkers, question assumptions, and resist dismissing ideas based on past failures.

• Always check whether past lessons still apply, because markets and contexts change. Jordan gives an example of a failed company born from his overconfidence, where he didn’t re-research the market because he assumed he already knew it.

What do you consider the most important skills to cultivate for your profession, and how do you cultivate these skills? (00:15:13)

• Endless curiosity: Study adjacent fields like comics, fiction, tech—anything that feeds creative cross-pollination.

• Build a box: Instead of “thinking outside the box,” define constraints clearly to evaluate ideas. For example: He designed Mage Knight by creating a checklist of problems (ease of entry, low cost, retailer needs) and solving within that “box.”

• He values self-education: when he didn’t know toy manufacturing, he paid a small company to teach him the process.

So let’s get to the areas where the industry or you have been dead wrong. What common advice do you hear about your industry that is dead? (00:24:26)

• “Nothing is ever dead.” Genres, mechanics, and IPs always come back (vinyl, RPGs, etc.)

• When people say something’s over, it’s actually ready for reinvention.

• He used to believe in-person collaboration was essential, but remote work proved him wrong.

• He often misjudged products (like thinking Funko Pops would flop).

• Absorb wisdom but not edicts.

• Success and failure are cyclical, making timing and humility matter more than certainty.

What books, articles, or learning resources have had the biggest impact on you? And if there are any key takeaways that stuck with you that come to mind? (00:30:53)

• Mentions Reed Hastings’ book (Netflix culture) and Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull (Pixar). The value here is the small-team principles and leadership lessons, though he’s skeptical of the “find five geniuses” model.

• His biggest lessons came from mentors, not books: Mark Miller (creator of Traveller): taught him kindness and professionalism. His father, Mort Weissman: joined FASA, ran the business side, and kept it alive.

• He emphasizes mentorship, respect, and kindness as lasting business principles.

What is the right way to find a partner? (00:33:14)

• Finding a partner is like finding a life mate: talk about goals, work habits, expectations.

• Negotiate the “prenup” early, meaning you should decide how you’ll split if things go wrong.

• Avoid the naive approach he took (asking friends at the table).

What about systems, software, and tools that have had a big impact on your workflow?(00:38:18)

• Internal tool: his “box” process for evaluating ideas.

• Software: Slack (no internal email, all communication centralized), Google Docs (collaboration), ClickUp/Jira (task tracking).

• Avoid “Not Invented Here” syndrome: don’t build tools you can buy.

• Focus on your core innovation; outsource or use existing solutions for everything else.

• Reuse mechanics unless your innovation demands new ones.

• Let your team choose tools bottom-up instead of enforcing top-down.

What’s your favorite project, and what lessons did you learn from it? (00:45:46)

• His favorite is always the one he’s working on now, but emotionally, Shadowrun and Crimson Skies stand out. Shadowrun came from trying to differentiate from Cyberpunk and combining fantasy with cyberpunk via the Mayan calendar. Crimson Skies was born from personal burnout after his wife pushed him to rediscover his passion. It led to reinvention and eventually Microsoft’s acquisition of his company.

• His lesson here is that passion and reinvention are crucial; listen to loved ones and know when to move on from stale success.

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You can find the previous episode with Jordan below:

About Jonathan

Jonathan Grant is a creative director at Zynga, founder of Orbital Games, and co-host of We Thought It Would Be Easy with Jordan Weisman. His career spans startups, acquisitions, and AAA environments, where he’s pitched ideas in Zynga boardrooms, built risky new projects, and collaborated with legends of the industry. Jonathan’s work is defined by his willingness to experiment, his honesty about failure, and his belief that great games hide secrets waiting to be discovered. In this episode, we dive into what it means to make the right bets, how to use criticism to grow, and why experimentation and mystery are essential tools in game design

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• Your Critics Are Right About You: Jonathan challenges us to let go of ego by acknowledging that criticism often contains truth. Instead of fighting it, use it as fuel to grow. Accepting this mindset helps designers take risks, embrace feedback, and move forward without fear of failure.

• The Power of Experimentation: At Zynga, Jonathan saw firsthand how structured experimentation can refine ideas—sometimes running a dozen tests at once. The key lesson: experimentation validates and sharpens vision, but it should never replace it. Use data to guide improvement, not dictate creativity.

• The Purpose of Gameplay is to Hide Secrets: Jonathan believes the most memorable games invite players to discover hidden layers. Secrets create mystery, turning mechanics into worlds worth revisiting. As designers, we should craft experiences that reward curiosity, giving players reasons to return again and again.

Show Notes

"Pain isn’t bad. Damage is bad." (00:17:57)

This framing really resonated with me. Creative projects often hurt, the late nights, the tough feedback, the near-misses, but that’s not the same as damage. Damage is when you burn out, ruin relationships, or risk your financial stability. Learning to distinguish between the two is essential. Pain can be a teacher or a compass; damage is a warning sign.

"Your critics are right about you." (00:27:14)

It’s a hard truth, but Jonathan is right. The ego wants to believe that critics don’t understand us, yet their words often hold a kernel of truth. When I apply this mindset, I can let go of defensiveness and see criticism as fuel for growth. Its a reminder to use feedback to sharpen both my work and myself.

"The thing that Zynga was incredible at was experimentation… sometimes a dozen experiments at once." (00:50:37)

At Zynga, experiments weren’t random, instead they were structured, frequent, and scaled. As a designer, I take from this that experimentation should validate vision, not replace it. Numbers can guide us toward sharper solutions, but they can’t generate the spark that makes a game truly special.

"Philosophically, the purpose of gameplay is to hide secrets." (01:08:29)

I love this idea. Secrets are what keep players coming back: hidden interactions, unexpected depth, and little discoveries that reward curiosity. A great tip for RPG game masters is to place a secret in every location so players always have something to unravel, with each secret offering a way to draw them back on track. In my own designs, I’ve found that the best games aren’t the ones that reveal everything up front, but the ones that invite players into a world where there’s always more to discover. That sense of mystery is what makes play feel alive.

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About Elan

Elan Lee (@elanlee) is the co-creator and chief executive officer of Exploding Kittens, a leading gaming and entertainment company. Under his leadership, Exploding Kittens has expanded its portfolio to nearly 30 different games with more than 60 million games sold in more than 50 countries since its founding in 2015.

Before founding Exploding Kittens, Lee was the chief design officer at Xbox Entertainment Studios, where he led the Interactive Entertainment Portfolio. Prior to that, he was the founder and chief creative officer of Fourth Wall Studios and co-founder of 42 Entertainment. He began his career at Microsoft Games Studios as a lead designer on the original Xbox.

Lee has won a Primetime Emmy for the series Dirty Work; Game Innovator of the Year for Exploding Kittens; a Peabody Award for the world’s first alternate reality game, The Beast; and an IndieCade Trailblazer Award for a distinguished career in interactive entertainment, among others.

In this episode, Elan and I discuss into how his company built their rigorous playtesting culture, why marketing is inseparable from product design, and how pitching to Target and Walmart is just another kind of game. Whether you’re trying to break into retail, sharpen your viral marketing instincts, or simply design games people can’t stop playing, this conversation will give you both insight and inspiration

Links:

• Elan Lee YouTube

• Elan Lee Instagram

• Exploding Kittens Website

Check out the previous epsiode with Elan Lee below:

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• Execution is the Superpower: From manufacturing to social media strategy, Elan’s team treats execution as part of game design. Elan explains why 80% of his company are marketers, producers, and logistics experts, all aligned around making games irresistible to discover and play.

• Marketing is Product Design: At Exploding Kittens, marketers have veto power. A game might be hilarious to play in the room, but if it can’t be captured in a five-second social video, the game never makes it out of the room. Elan shares how his team tests hundreds of games at design retreats, then filters them through a marketing lens to ensure the product is not only fun but also instantly communicable and shareable.

• Play to Sell: When pitching to Target or Walmart, Elan doesn’t “sell” games—he plays them. He gets buyers into the experience, proving the fun directly. This approach yields extraordinary success rates, with most of Exploding Kittens’ pitched games picked up for retail. Elan reframes pitching as playing with new friends, making joy the ultimate sales tool.

Show Notes

"She said, ‘I just want you to take a moment and take a breath and realize you built this thing.’" 00:04:46

It’s easy as creators to focus on what’s broken or what needs fixing (I know I fall into this mindset myself) but sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is step back, practice gratitude, and recognize how far you’ve come. Elan’s wife reminded him of this during a board meeting, and it’s a lesson all of us can use to cultivate more joy in our creative journey.

"It doesn’t matter if it’s the best game in the world. If they don’t know how to sell it, it is not worth wasting our time on." 00:15:15

Sometimes as game designers, we feel like the job ends once the mechanics click. Marketing can seem like an afterthought, but the truth is that it’s part of product design. Elan bakes this into his process by giving his marketing team veto power at design retreats. It’s a powerful reminder: if you want your game to succeed, you must think not only about how it plays but also about how it will be discovered. For Elan, that means asking whether a game can be sold in five seconds on social media. He shares stories of projects he loved that never made it to market because his team couldn’t find a way to sell them. This strategy is tied directly to reaching the casual gameplay audience, which demands this very specific approach.

"All I do is I talk to my friends about how much fun they are about to have, and then I prove it." 00:32:25

Elan’s approach to pitching games is radically simple: instead of talking, play the game and let the experience do the work. Whether you’re pitching to Target or teaching your prototype at a convention, the best way to win people over is to let them feel the joy for themselves. Hearing this made me rethink my own approach, as I’ve often been guilty of trying to “sell” too much instead of simply playing.

“[Poetry for Neanderthals] is, in its purest form, a tool set to let you talk to other people in the room." 01:04:01

Elan describes his games as tool sets that let players entertain each other, which is why games like Poetry for Neanderthals or Codenames can stay fun even after dozens of plays. My philosophy takes a different angle: I aim to design games that last a lifetime, so my team thinks deeply about what the 100th play will feel like, something Elan admits he never has to think about with his own games, designed for his casual gaming audience.

Whether your players stick around for ten plays or a hundred, the real secret is the same: Whether they’re crushing their opponents with clever plays or laughing together as they stumble through ridiculous challenges—great games create space for players to shine.

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ASCENSION 15TH ANNIVERSARY

At Gen Con this year, we kicked off Ascension’s 15-year anniversary celebration. I had the chance to meet so many fans who have been part of this community for over a decade; the experience was both humbling and rewarding.

We just launched the Gamefound Campaign for the Ascension 15th Anniversary Collector’s Edition and I’ve been reflecting on the incredible journey that brought us here. What began as a casual prototype I created to play with friends between rounds of Magic tournaments has grown into a game that connects millions of players around the world.

Here are the five most important lessons I've learned, each has transformed Ascension from a prototype to a global phenomenon.

Lesson 1: Prototype and Iterate Fast

When I first started working on Ascension, I never expected it to become the success it is today. It was 2009, and I had just quit my job to start my own game company. The funny thing about starting a company is that until you’re making money and collaborating with others, the difference between “CEO/Game Designer” and “guy sitting on his couch” is mostly a matter of attitude.

At the time, I had spent over a hundred hours playing the deckbuilding game Dominion. This game pioneered the genre, offering the fun of deckbuilding without the hassle of collecting cards. As a Magic: The Gathering Pro, I loved that it delivered the joy of constructing a deck without buying packs or managing a collection. Eventually, however, the game became predictable. Because each setup of available cards was fixed from the start, I rarely needed to change my strategy. I also found that the game took too long to set up, impacting the ratio of fun to busy work in a way I thought could be improved.

The secret to creating Ascension was simple: remove the things from Dominion that get in the way of fun.

My first prototype was literally just a shuffled pile of Dominion cards, which instantly cut 20 minutes off setup time. Mind you, this prototype wasn’t good, but it gave me a quick sense of how the gameplay might feel, and I could see a spark of something great there. My next prototype was nothing more than sharpie scribbles on blank cards. Since my prototypes were quick and ugly, I had no problem throwing them out and making rapid changes. That freedom allowed Ascension to go from idea to store shelves in under 18 months.

The lesson: Your first prototype should be so ugly you're embarrassed to show it to anyone. That embarrassment is freedom—freedom to fail fast, change everything, and find the fun without falling in love with your first ideas.

Lesson 2: When in Doubt, Cut it out

Most new designers try to solve problems by adding things to their games. The correct answer is almost always to cut instead.

Ascension started by cutting Dominion’s purchase and play restrictions. This streamlined the game and gave players more choices each turn, but also required me to add a second resource [power] to keep tension high. This change was just the start, the biggest cut came much later in development.

Ascension’s signature innovation was the ever changing center row, which dramatically increased the variety in each game. At the same time, this mechanic also created the risk of a stalled board state, meaning that if players weren’t able to buy anything from the center, nothing would change and the game would drag on. My original solution was a “conveyor belt” mechanic, where, at the end of each turn, the rightmost card was banished and everything slid down. This guaranteed movement and created tension as cards neared the edge.

The problem was that players kept forgetting to slide the cards down. Every. Single. Game.

I tried everything: special cards that interacted with the conveyor belt, giant reminder text on the board, entire mechanics to make sliding feel essential. Nothing worked. Then one playtester asked the question that should have been obvious but I was blind to: "What if we just cut that rule?"

We shuffled up, played without it, and never looked back. The game was cleaner, faster, and more fun. Did the board stall occasionally? Yes, but we could mitigate that by subtly adjusting card costs and adding banish effects players could buy when needed. In this case, the conveyor belt cure was far worse than the occasional stalled board disease.

The lesson: Every mechanic costs mental energy. When facing a design challenge, always ask first: "What can I eliminate to solve this problem?" Remember, "dead now" doesn't mean "dead forever." Cut mechanics make great expansion content later.

Lesson 3: Perfect Your Pitch Through Repetition

Every game needs a killer hook, and the only way to find it is through repetition. Brutal, exhausting repetition.

I learned this the hard way at my first Gen Con booth, where we sold the first copies of Ascension 15 years ago. Over the course of the show, you pitch the game a hundred times. You refine, adjust, and figure out what works. By the end, I could pitch and demo Ascension in my sleep. I knew exactly how to get someone hooked, and the moment I no longer needed to be there (for Ascension, it’s usually turn three, when players start seeing the new cards they purchased and get excited about improving their decks).

Whenever possible, use things your audience already knows as a reference, combine two familiar concepts, or give a twist to something they’ve seen before. You need to get information about your target audience and customize the pitch to them. Once they’re hooked, you can guide them into a demo and, hopefully, into buying the game and sharing it with friends.

In 2010, if I knew my audience played Magic, my go-to pitch was:

“Imagine all the fun of drafting card packs in Magic, all with just one lifetime purchase.”

If they were familiar with Dominion, an effective pitch was:

“Ascension is like Dominion, but with a fun fantasy theme and you can play an entire game in the time it takes to set up a game of Dominion.”

If they weren’t familiar with either game category, I would usually start with a more theme forward pitch:

“Ascension is a 30 minute card game where you recruit mighty heroes and weapons to defeat monsters and earn honor.”

At first, pitching this way feels awkward. You have to train yourself to read the audience, adapt, and take feedback from their reactions. The best games also make it easy for players to teach friends, and those people become your best marketers. The more you practice pitching and running live demos, the more it will shape your design choices, helping you create games that are not only fun to play, but also fun to learn and teach.

The lesson: Practice pitching your game early and often. Alex Yeager’s 2-2-2 demo framework is a fantastic tool for game designers (you can hear more about it on my podcast with Alex here). Whether you need a two-sentence pitch, a two-minute overview, or a two-player demo, tailoring the level of detail to your audience is key. This approach prevents overwhelming your audience with too much information at once while still providing a clear and concise introduction to your game.

Lesson 4: Know Your Core Tension and Protect It

Every great game revolves around one central tension that hooks players.

• In Uno, you're trying to empty your hand without unlocking your opponents' cards.

• In chess, you protect your king while threatening your opponent's king.

• In poker, you want to win the pot but must risk chips without knowing what others hold.

• In Magic: The Gathering, the one-land-per-turn restriction forces agonizing tradeoffs about which spells to cast.

For Ascension, the core tension is this: adapting to an ever-changing market while your opponents threaten to snatch the exact cards you need.

The game sings when there are multiple exciting cards supporting your strategy, but your opponent might grab them first. Every choice matters because the board state is temporary. Purchasing a Mechana construct early makes each successive mechana construct better, but if your opponent cuts you off from the cards you need then your strategy could fall apart.

Understanding this core tension has guided 15 years of expansions. Every new mechanic is built to enhance this central dynamic, but never replace it. Our newest expansion, Ascension Legends, turns faction choice into a higher-stakes decision than ever with the Legendary Track system. As you climb each faction's track, you unlock powerful bonuses. Suddenly, that “meh” Lifebound hero becomes essential because it pushes you toward a game-breaking legendary power. Multi-faction cards become contested treasures. The tension ratchets up, but the heart of Ascension remains intact.

In the 15th anniversary campaign, I’ve designed an entirely new card type that impacts every game called Chronicles. Chronicle cards were an interesting challenge to design, because I wanted to make something that honored Ascension’s history, impacts every game, and could work with whatever expansion(s) you chose to play it with. But I’ve always believed constraints breed creativity and these constraints were no exception. There are 17 Chronicle cards available in this campaign. At the start of the game, you can select any two of them and set them beside the center row. Each one adds a new game rule or unique cards to the game. Each of these 17 cards was designed to highlight one of our previous expansions and compress its impact on the core tension into a single effect. Because they are promos and players can opt in to which ones they want to play with, I also felt more free to make more powerful abilities that I would never put into a normal set. For example, one card representing Darkness Unleashed, where we first introduced transforming cards, adds the rule: “At the start of the game, each player removes one Apprentice and one Militia from their Starting Deck and Transforms them into one Mystic and one Heavy Infantry.” These cards are a great way to radically shake up the game and have some fun reevaluating old cards and strategies in the light of new mechanics. You can learn more about the new card type in our update here.

The lesson: Identify your game's core tension in one or two sentences. Write it down. Frame it. Before adding any new mechanic, ask: "Does this enhance or dilute our core?" As your game inevitably grows more complex, staying true to its core ensures it evolves in the right direction.

Lesson 5: Create Space for Community and Connection

At GenCon, a father approached me with his 11-year-old daughter in tow.

"I just wanted to thank you," he said. "Ascension has become our special thing. We play together almost every night, and it's given us this amazing way to connect."

His daughter beamed and jumped into the conversation, eager to tell me about her favorite faction (lifebound) and the strategies she'd discovered.

What struck me wasn’t just their enthusiasm—it was the math. She wasn’t even born when Ascension first released in 2010. Yet here she was, fifteen years later, experiencing the same joy of discovery that’s captivated players from day one. That’s when I realized we hadn’t just created a game—we’d built something that bridges generations.

From the beginning, Ascension was deliberately designed to feel less confrontational than other strategy games. You're not attacking other players—you're all racing toward your own goals while your opponent does the same. Only the shared center row and occasional monster effect encourage direct competition.

This makes Ascension approachable to partners, friends, and family members who might be intimidated by more aggressive games. I’ve heard from hundreds of players who say Ascension was their entry point into tabletop gaming. Even the partner of a hardcore gamer can enjoy Ascension because even when you lose, you still get to build something cool and feel progression throughout the game.

This design philosophy has created a community where parents can genuinely enjoy playing with their children, where couples can bond over evening games, and where someone whose only card game experience is Uno can sit down and have fun within minutes. The rules are simple enough to teach quickly, but the strategy is deep enough to reward returning players.

The secret to lasting community is making everyone feel welcome at the table. Even competitive card games like Magic have benefited enormously from more social formats like Commander which allow new players to enjoy the experience without as much direct conflict. Even for SolForge Fusion, the game I co-created with Richard Garfield as a very competitive game, we created a campaign mode and storyline tournaments that make players allies against a common cause, helping them root for each other and take on challenges that are less directly antagonistic with other players.

The lesson: Your game's community will outlive any individual player if you design it to include rather than exclude, to welcome rather than intimidate, and to create shared positive experiences rather than zero-sum conflicts. Think about how your design allows players of different skill levels to enjoy the journey together. The best victories are the ones you can celebrate with the person across the table, not at their expense.

Fifteen years ago, I was just a guy on a couch with a dream and a Sharpie. Today, Ascension connects hundreds of thousands of players across the world—parents and children, partners and friends, veterans and newcomers. As we launch our 15th anniversary campaign on Gamefound, featuring exclusive anniversary editions and the brand-new designs, I'm not just grateful for the game we've built. I'm grateful for the community you've helped us create.

I am beyond grateful for the community that has supported the last 15 years, and I can’t wait to continue to grow together over the next 15!

Join our 15th anniversary celebration at Gamefound and get exclusive anniversary rewards available nowhere else.

— Justin Gary

About Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss is a category of one. His innovative approach to life and business has helped him to launch 5 New York Times Bestellers, build one of the most influential podcasts in the world with over one billion downloads, become an early stage investor in companies like Uber, Facebook, Shopify, Duolingo and more. His #1 New York Times Bestselling Book, The 4-Hour Work Week, was part of the inspiration for me to quit my job and start my own company (you can here more of that story in my appearance on Tim’s podcast here). And now he has taken all of those skills and brought them to game design with the release of Coyote. We dive deep on all of these topics and learn how Tim selects and approaches each new arena he seeks to conquer. Tim deliver’s on many insights that will apply to you regardless of your creative field.

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• Design Experiments So You Can’t Lose: Tim shares how he structures decisions so that either outcome moves him forward. When you run experiments where your real goal is to learn, build skills, or build relationships, losing is not an option. Whether pr not a specific project succeeds or fails, it still generates value. The real trick is defining success clearly and choosing goals that deliver upside no matter what happens. Once you learn how to frame your decisions this way, you stop fearing failure and start building momentum.

• Listen to the Quiet Signal: Tim demystifies intuition as a source of truth. Far from woo-woo pseudo-science, intuition is a practical tool to help get out of your head and use all of your senses to evaluate a situation. Pay attention to feelings that show up in your chest or gut when you are evaluating a project, creative work or potential partner. You can train this skill in simple situations like looking at a food menu, then leverage it for big decisions like knowing when a project is ready to launch.

• Find the Channels No One Else Is Using: Tim points out that his highest ROI marketing efforts rarely come from mainstream platforms. Instead, they come from finding underutilized channels that punch far above their weight-class. That could be a niche blog, a tight-knit email list, or a corner of the internet most marketers ignore. Tim looks for places where attention is scarce and trust is high. They work because they feel personal. If you want your message to land, it helps to speak where others aren’t shouting.

Show Notes

“I would think about what you are uniquely positioned to do, or uniquely capable of doing.” (00:15:20)

Tim and I discuss how AI is changing the landscape for creators. Its going to be difficult to compete directly with the technology, so he suggests zooming out and asking what you are uniquely positioned to do. This is a practical strategy for identifying where your lived experience, network, or taste gives you a non-obvious advantage. As AI becomes more capable, the leverage shifts toward those who can combine those tools with irreplaceable human insight. In short, the more powerful the technology, the more important it is to know what only you can bring to the table.

“Just learning new things, new skills, and developing relationships that even if this project, this experiment doesn't work out, right? The book fails commercially, the game fails commercially, I lose all my money angel investing, that those learnings and those relationships are—they can transcend that project.” (00:39:19)

Tim shares a lesson about how he approaches creative work—including his new party game, Coyote. He frames each project as an experiment optimized for learning and relationships. It's a mindset that not only shaped Coyote, but can reshape how we all approach risk, creativity, and growth.

“This is the game that people want to play again, right?” (00:49:49)

This is a great section of the episode where Tim shares how he got started in game design—buying carloads of games, playing them all, and searching for one that people genuinely wanted to play again and again. That game was Poetry for Neanderthals. Intrigued, he began researching its designer, Elan Lee, and started considering this style of game for his own. Elan not only became a guest on his podcast, but ultimately the designer Tim teamed up with to create Coyote.

Want to hear more from Elan Lee? Check out this episode:

“The sort of code name for the book is The No Book. It's an entire book on how to say no and block out noise and the trivial many. But it's really a book about how to make decisions and choose wisely.” (01:09:24)

As Tim describes the development of his new game, he introduces The No Book—his working title for an upcoming project centered around the difficult but essential practice of saying no. On the surface, it's a guide to filtering out distractions and the “trivial many,” but at its core, it’s a book about decision-making. Tim emphasizes that learning to say no is about discipling yourself to listen to your instincts, then making space for the projects and relationships that matter most. This mindset has changed everything from his writing and investing to his game design journey with Coyote.

“One consideration or open question was how interesting is this to watch, right?” (01:40:33)

Tim shares some of the elements shaping the marketing for Coyote. Inspired in part by Exploding Kittens co-creator Elan Lee, who said, “We don’t make entertaining games, we make games that make people entertaining.” Tim realized the power of designing for the spectator experience. If players are laughing, bluffing, and performing, the game markets itself. This mindset helped guide Coyote into a game that’s not just fun to play, but fun to watch, making it far more likely to spread organically through word-of-mouth, livestreams, and social sharing.

"Do not be your own lawyer. There are certain places to spend money. That is one of them." (02:11:05)

Later in the episode, we discuss the world of book publishing—something that’s especially relevant for me as I prepare to release my own upcoming book. Tim brings a wealth of experience to the table and his wisdom on choosing between traditional publishing, self-publishing, and a few emerging hybrid models. He also emphasizes the importance of hiring skilled professionals. As Tim puts it, legal expertise isn’t optional: it’s an investment that protects the value of your work and helps you avoid major headaches down the road.

• Coyote Card Game

• Tim Ferriss Blog

• The Tim Ferriss Show

• Tim Ferriss on X

• Tim Ferriss on Instagram

• Exploding Kittens on Tik Tok — Publisher of Coyote

Check out my episode on Tim’s Podcast below:

About Cole

Cole Wehrle is one of the most innovative minds in board game design today. Cole is a partner at Leder Games, but best-known as the creator of Root, the woodland war game that redefined asymmetric play. Cole’s work reaches far beyond cute meeples and clever mechanics, with a background in history and a career in academia, Cole approaches game design as a way to explore systems of power, narrative ambiguity, and the complexity of human behavior. In this episode, Cole and I dive deep into the tension between control and chaos, discussing how historical research fuels good design, and why the best games ask players to grapple with uncomfortable truths. Whether you’re designing your first prototype or searching for deeper meaning in your work, this conversation will challenge you to think differently about what games can do.

Cole’s Links:

• leadergames.com

• https://wehrlegig.com/

• Cole on Bluesky

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• How to Manage Asymmetry: Root might is one of the most successful asymmetric strategy games ever made, but Cole points out that asymmetry is a design philosophy. Asymmetry can create deep immersion and endless replayability, but the cost is development time, playtesting, art, product logistics, and balance. Cole shares the techniques he uses to manage that complexity, from tracking player interactions to designing mechanics that allow factions to counter each other. If you want to build a game where everyone plays by different rules, the key is to make sure they’re still playing with each other, instead of just next to each other.

• Losing Means You’re Learning: Cole argues that a well-designed loss can be more satisfying than an easy win. In Root, he deliberately builds systems that resist mastery on the first play. The factions are so different, and the interactions so dynamic, that early games are often full of failure—that’s intentional. The goal is to create moments where players feel the consequences of their choices. The experience he’s aiming for is when a player walks away from a loss not because they were close to winning, but because they understand what they should have done to win. That’s when you know your design is working.

• Visual Language Can Subvert Expectations: Cole talks about the emotional power of a game’s art and physical presence. Root may look like a forest full of cuddly woodland critters, but the game is brutal, political, and full of betrayal. That contrast is intentional. Just like Blood Rage, which he describes as playing more like Sushi Go! than a traditional wargame, Root uses its aesthetic to lure players into a deeper strategic experience than they expected. The lesson here is that your visual design doesn’t have to match your mechanics one-to-one; it can contrast with them, soften them, or even trick the player into lowering their guard.

Show Notes

“I do visual design at the same time I’m doing game design.” (00:08:15)

Cole reflects on how redesigning old, clunky games taught him the fundamentals of layout and priority. Visual hierarchy (what the player sees first) isn’t just about aesthetics. For Cole, it’s a core design tool that shapes how players understand and interact with games. He explains how every design decision, from card size to information density, demands trade-offs. This drives his philosophy that great game design and great graphic design must evolve together, from the first sketch to the final board.

“The vast majority of games and play that exists in this world is confrontational and pretty aggressive. And that is actually very well-suited to play. […] So we kind of made a bet that people actually do want these types of games. They just don't usually like the aesthetics that are associated with them.” (00:23:08)

Cole discusses the emotional power of visual tone. In Root, adorable woodland creatures mask what is actually a ruthless, political game. That contrast, of theme and mechanics, shapes how players experience the world and each other.

“Asymmetry is expensive in every way a game can be expensive.” (00:29:32)

Cole and I discuss the cost, complexity, and creative power of asymmetric design. While asymmetric factions are expensive to develop and nearly impossible to balance, they create immense narrative depth. In Root, Cole designed factions with distinct goals and mechanics, and each has a handful of viable strategies. The magic, he says, is that “you can’t even lean into your differences, because there are only differences.” Cole designs for strategic variety, shifting dynamics, and the thrill of adaptation. Here, he puts the goal of lasting engagement over perfect balance.

“How you win informs and shapes the next game that is going to be played.” (00:54:09)

Cole explains the core design principle behind Oath. Instead of telling a fixed story, Oath builds a living narrative where the outcome of one session directly alters the next. Whether you scorched the world or built a thriving city, the board, deck, and victory condition evolve in response. Unlike a legacy game where you physically alter the game with stickers and other components, Oath offers players the opportunity to leave a lasting mark through play itself.

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Check out this episode mentioned during Cole’s interview:

About Amy

Amy Lowe is a marketer, strategist, and lifelong nerd whose career spans over two decades helping brands connect with audiences in meaningful ways. Though she’s worked across industries, Amy found her passion in the tabletop gaming space as the marketing and communications manager for the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) where she brought hard-won insights about brand strategy, customer research, and authentic positioning to help game publishers and designers not just sell more games—but build sustainable, trusted brands. In this episode, we explore why marketing isn’t just promotion but the bridge between your company and your community, how to identify your X factor, and why the courage to lean into your authentic voice is the key to long-term success. Whether you’re launching your first game or trying to grow a studio, Amy’s wisdom will give you a roadmap for connecting with players in real, human ways.

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• Stop Chasing Shiny Objects and Build a Real Strategy Instead: One of my biggest takeaways from talking with Amy is how vital it is to have a clear marketing strategy. Without one, you’re just chasing trends or copying what you see your competitors doing without knowing why it works for them. Amy breaks down how a good strategy starts with real conversations: first, talk to your team (from the top down) to hear how they describe your company and your customers. You’ll almost always find their ideas don’t match what your customers actually think! From there, she explains how to bridge the gap with research, customer interviews, and personas that help you spend your time and money in ways that actually serve your audience, not just your assumptions.

• Get Out of Your Head and Go Talk to Your Customers: Amy believes that every great brand starts with one question: what does your customer need from you? She calls this “Jobs to Be Done,” the real, often emotional reasons people hire your product into their lives. You can’t guess this. You have to talk to them. Past customers, current players, your diehard evangelistt—they all have different insights. Put calls out on different channels, aim for 10 real conversations to start, and listen deeply. Amy’s lesson is clear: the best products drive product-led growth because they’re so good, your players talk about them more than you do.

• Find Your X Factor and the One Thing They Can’t Resist: One of Amy’s favorite exercises is asking: what’s the one thing that would make your customer say, “I have to buy this game”? She urges creators to look for that emotional hook buried in your personas, the detail that turns a casual fan into a loyal supporter. Pair this with your X Factor: what sets you apart from every other company fighting for the same attention? This combination of clarity and differentiation can transform your marketing from noise to resonance. If you’re not sure, Amy suggests you start by asking your customers: “Why do you buy these games? How do you choose them? What makes you tell a friend about the game?”

• Let Your Players Market for You but Make It Easy: One of the simplest but most overlooked ideas Amy shared is that your biggest advocates are your players if you give them something to share. Offer a print-and-play version so new players can try your game for free. Create how-to videos so they don’t feel intimidated. Encourage user-generated content and share what your community makes. Don’t feel like you have to post on every social media channel; pick one or two you can actually keep up with. Great marketing isn’t about doing more. It’s about helping your biggest fans do the work for you.

Show Notes

“Without a strategy, you can easily end up chasing shiny objects and kind of doing what's trendy instead of what works.” (00:11:32)

In the opening segment, Amy explains why a clear marketing strategy is so important for game creators. Without one, you end up copying what other companies do without understanding why it works for them. This lesson is simple but powerful: if you want to build something sustainable, stop guessing and start being intentional about who you want to reach and how.

“When I am starting my persona research... I conduct customer interviews and I go to everybody that I possibly can. So that can be past customers. It can be current customers. It can be your evangelists. It can be anybody that's had an experience with your brand.” (00:16:05)

A bit later, Amy shows how research really works in practice. She describes her process for gathering customer insights to build accurate personas. The takeaway is clear: if you want to know why people buy your games, you can’t just sit in a room and guess — you have to talk to real people, across different segments, to understand what they need.

“People would find that if they lean into that authenticity more, it's going to build trust and it's going to build that loyalty.” (00:27:06)

In the middle of the episode, Amy dives into the fear that stops brands from being real. Many creators worry they’ll scare people away if they show who they truly are. Amy’s insight: embracing authenticity may cost you some customers, but it builds trust and loyalty with the ones who matter most. If you want to stand out, don’t be afraid to be yourself.

“Don't try to be on every platform. Pick two and try to be on there.” (00:32:59)

Toward the later part of the conversation, Amy offers practical advice about managing social media without burning out. Her tip is refreshingly simple: you don’t need to be everywhere. Pick the platforms that make sense for your audience, use smart tools to save time, and amplify what your community is already creating. This focus keeps your marketing human and doable.

There’s a lot of variance. So you just have to iterate… Your strategy is going to evolve.” (00:48:04)

In the last part of the episode, Amy reminds creators that no strategy stays perfect forever. Author Robert Greene calls this “fighting the last war” in The 33 Strategies of War: the danger of clinging to past strategies instead of evolving with new realities. Markets shift, your players’ needs evolve, and you’ll gain new insights the more you listen. Amy’s lesson is simple: don’t get stuck waiting for a perfect plan. Build a clear strategy, launch, and keep talking to your customers so you can adapt and grow over time.

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About Derek

Derek Sivers has worn many hats, musician, entrepreneur, author, and philosopher, but his work maintains a single throughline: a relentless pursuit of living deliberately. He found entrepreneurial success by founding CD Baby, an indie music platform that revolutionized digital distribution before he sold it for over $20 million and donated most of the proceeds. Since then, he’s become a bestselling author of books like Anything You Want, Hell Yeah or No, and Useful Not True, each filled with punchy, poetic wisdom earned from experience. In this episode, we explore how to treat your life like a design problem, why marketing is part of the art, and how vulnerability and weirdness aren’t liabilities—they’re the keys to resonance. Whether you’re building a company, making games, or just trying to figure out how to live a more meaningful life, this conversation will challenge your assumptions and invite you to take that first small but deliberate step.

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• Art Doesn’t End at the Edge of the Canvas: Derek shares one of the most powerful lessons of his career: the art isn’t just the song, the book, or the game: it’s how you present it to the world. When helping a friend promote a concept album, he didn’t just send a CD to radio stations; he hand-crafted a bizarre, dirt-rubbed package from a fake conspiracy theorist living in the bushes behind the studio. The result? 540 out of 600 stations played the album. Derek urges creators to treat marketing as an extension of the creative process and not an afterthought.

• Make Your Brain a More Fun Place to Be: One of my favorite takeaways from this conversation with Derek is how he treats thinking like play. When he hears a belief like: “you have to go to college to succeed,” he doesn’t accept it at face value. He flips it. Asking: what if the opposite were true? That kind of mental inversion is something I do regularly through my “assumption-challenge” exercises, and it’s one of the most powerful creative tools I know. Derek also offered a framing I loved: instead of asking “Is this idea true?”, ask “What action does this idea create?” If a belief drains your energy or keeps you stuck, toss it. If it moves you toward growth, connection, or creative output, follow it. That mindset doesn’t just help with ideas; it makes your brain a more fun, surprising, and productive place to be.

• What 5-Minute Action Could Shortcut You to What You Really Want?
  Most people take the long way around. They imagine multi-year plans to finally do the thing they care about. Derek challenges that mindset with a simple question: what’s the five-minute action that could start you down the shortcut path? For him, it was booking a flight to China the next morning with his son, within 24 hours of the idea. He didn’t map the whole trip, instead he just took the first step. The lesson: your next big transformation might only be five minutes away.

Show Notes

“I realized early on by looking at the careers of other musicians that the way to succeed is to stand out, to be different from everyone else. You've got to find your unique voice in the cacophony.” (00:06:14)

Derek shares how his obsession with music from age 14 taught him the power of intense focus and differentiation. He compares the path of becoming a successful artist to an Olympic athlete: only the most dedicated make it. His insight—that success requires you to be unmistakably yourself—applies to any creative field, from songwriting to game design.

“The best thing you can do is whatever nobody else is doing. And the way to find that is to notice what about yourself is weird.” (00:17:05)

When asked how creators can stand out, Derek encourages embracing your weirdness. He and Justin explore how quirks, vulnerability, and personal truth deepen audience connection. Whether it’s a confessional paragraph on a website or a bold design choice, the things that make you different are often the most memorable—and the most powerful.

“Everything’s a fun ‘let’s see what happens’ kind of experiment. You're not searching for the right answer, you're just playing.” (00:29:03)

Derek describes iteration not as failure, but as playful experimentation. He urges creators to treat business and creative risks the way game designers treat prototypes: as sandboxes. This mindset removes ego from the equation and invites curiosity-driven exploration—key to discovering innovative ideas and enjoying the process along the way.

“Ultimately, everything we're talking about is being considerate to the person on the receiving end... You're making people's lives a little more interesting by giving them something that's not what everybody else is doing.” (00:41:01)

In a powerful reframe of marketing, Derek argues that bold, unusual choices are actually acts of generosity. He tells the story of how he helped an artist mail dirt-smeared conspiracy-themed CD promos to radio stations—and why 540 of them played it. The lesson: creativity doesn’t stop at the product. It extends to how you share it with the world.

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As a great follow up, check out this episode with writer Steven Pressfield:

About Dominic

Dominic Crapuchettes is the founder of North Star Games and the designer of massive hits like Wits & Wagers, Say Anything, and the Evolution series—games that have collectively sold over 4.5 million copies. In this episode, Dominic opens up about the rise and fall of North Star, from building a 30-person team and landing six SKUs at Target, to watching the company go bankrupt and eventually buying it back. He shares what he’s learned from those hard-won lessons, including how to build frothing fan communities, how to design with audience constraints in mind, and why brand and hook matter as much as gameplay. We also dive into his most ambitious project yet: Nature, a new modular game system launching at Gen Con that aims to bring the magic of collectible games to families and casual players alike. Whether you're a founder, designer, or someone trying to follow your passion while staying afloat, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• Success Doesn’t Make You Bulletproof: Even after selling over $60 million worth of games, Dominic’s company still collapsed. That hit hard. There is no level of success that insulates you from failure. Leadership challenges, bad hires, or strategic missteps can still take everything down. But what matters most is what you do next. Dominic didn’t give up. He bought the assets, rebuilt from scratch, and made something better. I’ve been through my own version of this—it’s a conversation reminded me just how common and survivable those dark moments can be.

• Build the Game They Need, Not Just the One You Want: Dominic wasn’t designing for himself; he was designing for “Target Moms.” That meant fast play, easy rules, low setup time, and portability. When we’re designing, we often default to our own preferences, but true creative impact starts with understanding your audience: their life, their time, their constraints. Whether it’s busy parents, mobile gamers, or hardcore hobbyists, knowing who you’re building for is what makes a good idea great. As I’ve said before, when it comes to game design the most important metric is player experience.

• Brand Get You In the Door. Mechanics Make You Stay: Great gameplay doesn’t sell a game. It’s what keeps players coming back. What sells a game, especially in year one, is branding. A compelling hook, a clean pitch, a strong identity. That’s what grabs attention and drives early sales. But if the game isn’t good, it won’t last. Wingspan wasn’t just a hit because it was fun. It was a thing. That combination is what we’re all aiming for. As Dominic put it, branding drives year one and mechanics drive year five.

Show notes:

“I think about who's the audience and how does it fit into their lives and what are the needs that we're meeting to those people.” (00:08:06)

Dominic describes the most overlooked parts of design: knowing who your game is for. Whether it’s a mom juggling three kids or a group of hobby gamers in a basement, every game serves a different lifestyle. Designing with those constraints in mind doesn’t limit you—it opens the door to smarter, more focused creative choices.

“I always looked at business people as bad and superficial.” (00:19:48)

Dominic opens up about his early aversion to business, shaped by a mission-driven upbringing. Over time, he reframed business as a tool for doing good and sharing creative work. Dominic’s story is a great reminder that making awesome games isn’t just about creativity or business; it’s about learning to balance both. The magic happens when you stop seeing art and commerce as enemies and start treating them as partners.

“He had worked for five years at a retail game store... but I hired them to be a salesperson. And they weren’t.” (00:37:44)

Dominic shares a candid mistake about hiring the wrong person for the wrong job. He underscores the importance of aligning actual skills (not just adjacent experience) with the responsibilities of the role. It’s a valuable lesson in how mismatched expectations can hurt both sides.

“I am trying to create a lifestyle game with a gateway center that can bring families in.” (00:58:59)

Dominic introduces Nature, his most ambitious project yet, a modular game that starts as a simple, family-friendly experience and slowly expands into something deeper. It’s his answer to Magic: The Gathering, built to capture the same sense of discovery without the barriers that kept so many people out. It means the game is designed to evolve as players do: starting simple, then unlocking deeper layers as they’re ready. It’s a smart way to keep players engaged and invested without overwhelming them from the start.

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5 Quick Lessons About Crowdfunding

1. Crowdfunding has changed: You need to bring your own audience and community. Success now requires months of preparation, including playtesting, reviews, and pre-launch marketing. Start collecting followes at least 3 months ahead of launch.

2. De-risk your campaign: Validate your product ahead of time (e.g., with digital play or print on demand), use scalable local manufacturing, and print to order to reduce financial risk. Be careful about including too many tiers and SKUs

3. Offer meaningful, manageable exclusives: Offer backers unique experiences or digital rewards that don’t overcomplicate fulfillment or inflate costs. Exclusive cosmetics, ways to become a part of the game and behind the scenes access are great tools to leverage here.

4. Lead with gratitude and humility: Crowdfunding is hard and full of uncertainty. Transparency, community connection, and willingness to own mistakes are vital for long-term support. Even after more than 13 years of crowdfunding, I still make plenty of mistakes. The important thing is how you address those mistakes and learn from them.

5. Build and contribute to community: Share not just your products, but your journey, learnings, and stories. Part of the goal as a creator is to share what is uniquely you with the world. Your product isn’t just the game, its the entire experience of discovery, drama, and delight you share with your audience. That’s how you create lasting relationships and grow a global community.

First, thanks for checking out my new crowdfund!

If you’re a fan of game design, or just curious about the process behind building a unique hybrid TCG, you're in the right place.

SolForge Fusion: Shadows Over Solis is the next major evolution in the SolForge Fusion universe, introducing brand-new physical booster packs packed with innovative cards, mechanics, and strategies. Everything in this set works seamlessly with your existing SolForge Fusion collection—both physical and digital.

Whether you’re just getting started or have been with us since day one, this campaign also includes the best offers we’ve ever made on earlier sets. Don’t miss your chance to expand your collection, explore new design space, and be part of what’s next for hybrid games.

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About Kohji

Kohji Nagata has worn many hats—software developer, musician, podcast creator—but today he’s best known as Head of Design and co-founder of Parallel Studios, where he helped launch the massively successful Web3 trading card game Parallel. What started as a passion project has become a genre-defining phenomenon, valued at one point at half a billion dollars. Kohji approaches design from a deep philosophical place, wrestling with fear of failure, perfectionism, and the drive to always improve. In this episode, he and Justin explore the creative tension between success and self-doubt, dissect the mechanics of resource systems in TCGs, and dig into the role of AI in the future of game design. Whether you're an aspiring creator or a veteran designer, this conversation offers a rare window into the mind of someone building at the frontier of games and technology.

• Check Out Parallels

Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways

• Good times aren’t good times forever. Kohji shares why success can be dangerous if you’re not prepared for change. One of his core lessons in running a game company: always know your runway. Ask yourself, “If no more money came in starting today, how long could we operate?” That’s not just a financial question—it’s an emotional one. Kohji urges creators to forecast a wide range of outcomes, be brutally honest with themselves, and prepare their business to weather the unexpected.

• The Digital Glass Case: Kohji explains that Parallel's early success wasn’t just about game mechanics, it was about making collecting feel magical. From cinematic pack opening sequences to rare cards that feel like treasures, Kohji and his team recreated the feeling of standing at a store counter, flipping through Scry magazine, and dreaming of pulling a Black Lotus. If you’re working on a digital game, investing in how players open, view, and share their digital objects is just as important as the gameplay itself.

• Make Them Care, Then Put Them in Danger: When designing Colony, Kohji realized that what makes a game stick isn’t always the loop, it’s the character attachment. His goal? Make you fall in love with a character, then throw them into peril. Whether you're building an AI-driven game or writing a campaign, Kohji challenges creators to increase emotional investment. Want players to care deeply? Build better characters and raise the stakes.

Show Notes

“I look at the games that I make and the only thing I see is all the mistakes or all the things I want to improve.” (00:04:03)

Kohji Nagata shares how a strong work ethic and a deep-seated drive for quality shaped his journey from musician and developer to game designer and co-founder of Parallel Studios. His early lessons, instilled by parents who emphasized hard work and focus the best version of things, sparked a philosophy that now defines his design work: always push for better.

“I took all the elements of the card games I love and smashed them together.” (00:19:42)

Kohji explains how Parallel blends the strategic depth of Magic: The Gathering, the streamlined resource system of Hearthstone, and a unique banking mechanic that adds player choice and tension to every turn. The result is a game that feels fast and competitive without sacrificing tactical nuance. If you’re a TCG fan or designer, this section offers a clear look at how thoughtful fusion—not just innovation—can create something truly new.

“We were like, we don't have a fun game yet. So we need to give people a fun experience.” (00:40:26)

That insight led to one of Parallel’s most beloved innovations: a cinematic card pack opening that made collecting digital cards feel exciting, tangible, and memorable. Kohji breaks down how Parallel didn’t just lean into Web3 for ownership’s sake, it used the technology to make collecting feel like collecting. Whether you’re a designer, developer, or creative of any kind, this moment underscores a lesson I’ve repeated across nearly every episode: in game design, the most important metric is player experience.

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