Keith Burgun

Rob Daviau

Posted: July 21, 2019 Under: Interview By Keith Burgun No Comments

Hello everyone! Today I come to you bringing yet another great board game designer: Rob Daviau, probably best known at this point for his Legacy series games, particularly Pandemic Legacy, which is indeed awesome, and which even inspired an article of mine. But he’s an extremely prolific designer overall who has dozens and dozens of … Continue reading "Rob Daviau"

Episode 60 – Eric Zimmerman on game design theory (also, randomness with Brett Lowey)

Posted: July 16, 2019 Under: Education By Keith Burgun No Comments

I’ve been saying this a lot recently, but this is a big one! Clocking in at nearly an hour and twenty minutes, this is, I think, the longest Clockwork Game Design Podcast episode yet. Eric Zimmerman is a game design instructor at the NYU Game Center, where he works with other CGD guests Naomi Clark, … Continue reading "Episode 60 – Eric Zimmerman on game design theory (also, randomness with Brett Lowey)"

Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design – interview with Geoff Engelstein and Isaac Shalev

Posted: July 10, 2019 Under: Game Design By Keith Burgun No Comments

I can’t believe I went this long without interviewing one of my biggest game design theory heroes, Geoff Engelstein. Together with designer, game design writer and fellow game design podcaster Isaac Shalev, they’ve written a book that seems like it might be kind of a big deal in this field. To quote a bit of … Continue reading "Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design – interview with Geoff Engelstein and Isaac Shalev"

Tim Fowers

Posted: July 03, 2019 Under: Game Design By Keith Burgun No Comments

Episode 58 is HERE, with the incredibly awesome and prolific board (and video) game designer Tim Fowers! This was, in many ways, a model episode of the Clockwork Game Design Podcast, because we hit so many different (but relevant) topics involving the process of game design. Yay! Here’s a few key items: Conventions/conferences – which … Continue reading "Tim Fowers"

CGD Episode 57: Smoothness in game design (and other topics)

Posted: June 18, 2019 Under: Gem Wizards By Keith Burgun No Comments

Hi everyone! Here is episode 57 of the Clockwork Game Design Podcast, where I give a bunch of updates on the games I’m devvin’. I talk a bunch about progress on both my Gem Wizards games and many of the game design struggles, particularly with the card game, which I’m deep in the design-weeds and … Continue reading "CGD Episode 57: Smoothness in game design (and other topics)"

Execution in strategy games should be considered “randomness”

Posted: June 02, 2019 Under: Game Design By Keith Burgun No Comments

I have long considered execution to be basically a form of randomness, similar to dice rolls or card draws. I have also long recognized that not everyone agrees with me, and some people find the idea deeply offensive. I can understand both of these responses, but today I would like to address them directly and … Continue reading "Execution in strategy games should be considered “randomness”"