Podcast Archives - Board Game Design Lab · Gabe Barrett

71 Ways to Become a Better Game Designer with Gabe Barrett

·1 hr 19 min·10 clips

Seventy-one is the frame. The host says this began as a Board Game Design Lab YouTube video, then moved to the podcast because more people listen than watch. The structure stays simple: a run of lessons pulled from interviews and aimed at designers who have been working for fifteen minutes or for many years. He keeps the advice close to the table. Design is not treated like a cloud of theory; it is about what changes once real players sit down and start poking at the game. Published games become part of the curriculum. So do complaints. He tells listeners to read what people gripe about in Facebook communities and BoardGameGeek forums, because frustration can point to mistakes worth avoiding. Some of it will be petty, sure. But complaints about graphic design, length, player count, or Kickstarter products can show where a game still let someone down. The useful part is learning the pattern without simply borrowing the outrage. Ideas also need somewhere to land. He admits he used to assume good ideas would come back later, and plenty did not. Your brain is not a filing cabinet. Use an app, notebook, phone note, or whatever actually catches late-night and shower thoughts long enough to inspect them later. Most notes will not become much. That is fine. You can only judge the idea after you have saved it. Playtesting gets the last word. He closes on the habit that does the most work: keep testing your games, test other people's games, and watch what really happens when players get their hands on the pieces.

As heard by us

A fast, practical set of design habits that keeps coming back to playtesting.

Board Game Design Lab is a brisk solo listen, with Gabe Barrett laying out 71 ways to get better at game design. What works here is how concrete it stays: note-taking, playtesting, and even listening to complaints about published games all feel tied to actual practice instead of…

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Why you'd press play

You want a fast, audio-friendly dump of design tips packed with nuggets you can actually use.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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