Tell us a little about yourself?

Let’s see, in my day job I’m an aerospace engineer. I like to say I’m an air traffic controller only for space. I keep satellites from running into each other. I’m married with two boys and two cats. What else? I’m an avid Detroit Lions fan, like to the point of being obsessed. I like red wine and long walks on the beach …

What games have you designed or are currently designing?

I am the co-designer of Campaign Trail (with my Dad and brother). I am currently designing a knitting themed game with the working title of Threads. And got so many other ideas rattling around in my head, I don’t know that I’ll ever get them in physical form.

What are your top 5 board games?

1. Lords of Vegas
2. Viticulture (with Tuscany expansion)
3. Dominion
4. Probably some Feld game like Bruges or Trajan
5. Splendor

What game or designer influenced you the most?

I am not really influenced by specific designers, more games or mechanics. The idea for multi-use cards in Campaign Trail came from my first play of Bruges. That concept (the multi-use cards) broke the game wide open and let us go in so many great directions with the game.

What is the game mechanic you are currently obsessed with either as a designer or player?

I’m not sure if it’s a mechanic or not, but I’m really fascinated by legacy games. Nathan (my brother) and I are putting ideas together for a legacy style game based on the Odessy.

I’m also getting into designing around the solo play experience and working to make solo play versions of other designer’s games.

What is your design style? Theme first? Mechanics first? Something else?(based on Jeff’s answer we will now include Designer Experience as an option!)

I try to design around player experience, which to me is a combination of both theme and mechanics. I want players to remember not just the theme of the game and not just the mechanics but how they felt while they played the game. I want that feeling of elation or joy or whatever to be a memory that lasts.

If you were to give advice on how to design games, what would be your top 3 rules to pass along?

1. Play lots of games. Don’t stop playing other peoples game, other prototypes, other published games, anything you can get your hands on.
2. Get it on paper (or chipboard, bits, etc). Whatever your idea, however much in its infancy stages, get it down into something physical. It’s much easier to iterate and develop when you have something physical to look at and play with.
3. Don’t be afraid of radical changes. The multi-use cards idea I mentioned earlier was one such idea for Campaign Trail. Sometimes the radical change is what brings the game to where you need it to be (not necessarily where you previously wanted it to be).

Who do you turn to for design help?

My brother Nathan. He’s the best design partner a person can have.

How many games do you have in process?

I have written down ideas for about 4 games (not including Campaign Trail) and ideas for about 15 others.

What trends or changes do you see in the future of board game design?

One of the challenges has always been playtesting, finding the people for playtesting and affording prototypes for them to play with. I think a major trend in this area is the advent of digital game spaces (Tabletopia, Tabletop Simulator). These programs allow designers to get prototypes out to playtesters without huge cost overheads and can bring in a lot of people from all over the world, not just your own social circle.

What do you wish people knew about game design?

I wish new and aspiring designers would look more into new and unique themes. I get tired of zombies, fantasy, cthulu, and the like being overdone over and over. I, myself, have found that there is a huge market for a game about knitting. Who knew? Well, I guess knitter who are also board gamers did.

Tell us one crazy fact about yourself?

I have never played Magic or DnD

Written By

Dave A