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Think Like A Game Designer

Think Like A Game Designer

Di: Justin Gary
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In Think Like a Game Designer, award-winning designer and Stone Blade Entertainment CEO Justin Gary speaks with world-class game designers and creative experts from various industries. Each episode deconstructs the creative process, offering insights into the art of game design and the broader cultural, technological, and business influences shaping a myriad of creative mediums. Join us for actionable advice and unique perspectives that will enrich your understanding of what it means to be creative in and out of the gaming world.

justingarydesign.substack.comJustin Gary Arte
Episodi
  • Elizabeth Hargrave — Distilling Wingspan Pocket, AI Ethics in Tabletop, and Building Equity for Designers (#112)

    Elizabeth Hargrave — Distilling Wingspan Pocket, AI Ethics in Tabletop, and Building Equity for Designers (#112)
    Oct 8 2026
    About Elizabeth HargraveElizabeth Hargrave is an award-winning board game designer best known for her runaway smash hit Wingspan, which won the Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2019 and has sold over two million copies worldwide. Her diverse body of work, including Tussie-Mussie, Mariposas, The Fox Experiment, Undergrove, and Sanibel, explores rich corners of the natural world. Elizabeth recently released Wingspan Pocket, an absolute masterclass in distilling the core of Wingspan into an accessible, 30-minute, small-box game. Beyond design, she is a co-founder of the Tabletop Game Designers Association (TTGDA), where she champions a games industry that embraces diverse voices and respects the labor, creativity, and intellectual property of designers. In this returning episode, Elizabeth and I break down the mechanics of condensing big games into small boxes, the mission behind the TTGDA, and an honest, nuanced debate about generative AI, human intent, and the ethics of art.Connect with Elizabeth:* Elizabeth’s Website* Wingspan Pocket* bluesky: @elizhargrave Ah-ha! Justin’s Takeaways* Don’t Fall Asleep at the Wheel with AI: As machine tools get faster and more accurate, there’s a real danger of falling asleep at the wheel. Even if a model seems 95% or 99% reliable, never trust the machine over real human playtesting and lived player experience. Stay actively engaged in your process, verify your data, and remember that an algorithm can never replace the authentic human feedback loop.* Elegance is Deep Decisions with Fewer Rules: True game design elegance comes from the depth of player decisions while drastically stripping back the rules and components. Wingspan Pocket is a perfect execution of this exact principle. By shrinking setup friction and focusing on pure decision-making, it proves you don’t need a massive box or tons of tokens to deliver a rich, weighty experience.* Contract Details Matter (Even for Pros): Every single detail in a publisher contract matters, and you should never just blindly sign away your hard work. Look, I literally went to law school before I became a full-time game designer, and I still hire a lawyer to review my contracts! That’s why the work Elizabeth is doing with the TTGDA is so vital—giving emerging designers the tools and guidance they need to negotiate better deals.Show Notes“What would (Wingspan) look like to have a smaller version a more accessible version?” (00:05:40)Mass market retail doesn’t always require dumbing down your initial design. Wingspan proved that mainstream audiences at Target were eager to embrace a heavier hobby game, and iterating a pocket-sized, highly accessible version opens up a massive second wave of players who want that same engine-building magic without the setup footprint or intimidation factor.“But the actual ideas I don’t want to outsource. There’s a thing I’m trying to say.” (00:32:00)Elizabeth hits the philosophical heart of why we design games. Even as technology evolves to automate statistics, spreadsheets, or playtest simulations, the fundamental creative spark, the specific human perspective you want to express about the world, cannot be outsourced to an algorithm. Games matter because they connect one person’s lived experience to another’s around the table.“We put out a little position paper recently. When you talk about games, don’t just say who it’s published by, name the designer.” (00:54:40)How the industry uses language dictates how it values creators. Shifting public habits from “published by X” to prominently crediting the individual designer isn’t just about ego; it treats game design with the exact same authorial respect we give to novelists, directors, and playwrights. Normalizing designer attribution builds long-term equity for every creator in the space.“Because I feel like that’s there’s a whisper network. You hear about publishers that you don’t wanna work with, but if you’re a brand new designer and you don’t have the connections to hear those things, then you could end up working with people that you would rather not work with. I love being able to get that information to people who need it.” (00:56:30)Industry protection shouldn’t depend on who you happen to know at the bar. By creating peer-driven support networks through the TTGDA and formalizing contract reviews, Elizabeth is turning insider knowledge into a public resource, ensuring new designers are armed with real data before signing away their IP. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justingarydesign.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 ora
  • Scott Morris — Making Memories Over Games, Navigating Personal Tragedy, and the Law of First Principles (#111)

    Scott Morris — Making Memories Over Games, Navigating Personal Tragedy, and the Law of First Principles (#111)
    Sep 24 2026

    About Scott Morris

    Scott Morris is the founder and CEO of Steel Wing Games, a boutique tabletop publisher focused on approachable, high-quality games, as well as the Global Brand Director for Lucky Duck Games under Goliath. A two-decade industry veteran, Scott previously served as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Lucky Duck and President of Passport Game Studios. His latest project, Rainbow Boulevard (designed by Adam Wyse), represents a decade-long journey of patience, personal resilience, and deep human connection. In this deeply moving episode, Scott shares the origin of Steel Wing Games, the harrowing personal tragedy that put his career on pause, and why game publishers aren’t just selling boxes, they’re building lifelong memories. Plus, we unpack the mechanics of eliminating player downtime, the shift from positions to principles in design debates, and what it really takes to launch a crowdfunding campaign today.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justingarydesign.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 ora e 4 min
  • Ben Robbins — Revisiting Microscope, Designing Uncomfortable Games, and the Mechanics of Shared Stories (#110)

    Ben Robbins — Revisiting Microscope, Designing Uncomfortable Games, and the Mechanics of Shared Stories (#110)
    Sep 10 2026

    About Ben

    Ben Robbins is an acclaimed indie game designer best known for creating Microscope, In This World, Kingdom, and This Means War. Ben’s flagship design, Microscope, revolutionized GM-less storytelling games by allowing players to collaboratively build vast, non-linear histories from the top down. In this returning appearance on the podcast, Ben and I dive deep into the psychological hurdles of revisiting a beloved, successful game to create Microscope v2. We explore the creative trick of fooling yourself to bypass pressure, the design spectrum between "wings vs. rails," and why opening your playtesting process up to the public saves time while yielding better results. Plus, we break down his experimental new game This Means War (which strips narrative control away from players) and engage in a passionate, honest debate on the role and impact of AI in the future of game design.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit justingarydesign.substack.com/subscribe
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    1 ora e 24 min
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