Podcast Guy 0:01
Welcome to Design Thinking Games the podcast where game design meets player experience and every game is a chance to support the community. Celebrate this fifth season of the Design Thinking Games podcast by not just talking about how games play, but diving into how they’re made, how they’re tested, and how communities keep them alive. All types of games are on the table, from table top to digital solo journaling to massive multiplayer. Come explore all forms of gaming and the design thinking behind them with your host, Tim Broadwater. Find every episode, including this one, wherever you get your podcasts or jump in at https://DesignThinkingGames.com now roll up your sleeves, open the play test notes and celebrate the power of play.
Tim Broadwater 0:56
It’s my final day at Origins Game Fair. It’s been a lot of fun. I’m now done working, but I’m on the lookout for games. As I move through the different convention rows, I see a game that looks almost like a renaissance fair with knights and a lot of different tokens. I go and check it out.
George Nebesnik 1:18
Yeah. My name is George Nebesnik. This is Gen1400 Gaming. Our first published game Hastilude. We published in January of this year. I started a company back in 2007 and I started with sports simulation games.
Tim Broadwater 1:34
Oh nice.
George Nebesnik 1:34
So it’s a really niche not very many people are into that genre games. I have about seven or eight sports simulation games right now that people can purchase through our website.
Tim Broadwater 1:46
As he’s talking, I’m looking over the board, and this looks like the career of a knight as they train and enter competitions and tournaments and Joust, like the actual sport of being a knight.
George Nebesnik 2:00
So yeah, Hastilude our most recent game we just published in January, 2025 it’s a worker placement game with a few twists on your standard worker placement game. One is workers. The more workers you put in the resource area, the more resources you get. You’re going to get gain resources to turn them into weapons, shields and armor. And the way to score victory points is you’re going to equip your knights enter in a tournament where you will tournament to where you will fight a random knight with different various strengths. You can also complete orders for gold, and you can complete quests for victory points as well.
Tim Broadwater 2:32
I was curious about the history of the game and how it came into production.
George Nebesnik 2:38
We ran a Kickstarter. We failed miserably, and so then we decided we would raise the money, and we got 500 copies printed, and we so we did it on our own. This is our first convention. Yes, ever, yes. So very first one. So yeah, thank you. We’re excited to be here, and hopefully we have a pretty good show.
Tim Broadwater 2:56
As I’m running around the last day, I wanted to get information on this game to check on it later, because this game looks right up my alley.
George Nebesnik 3:06
We have a video on our website. So if they want to go to https://gen1400gaming.site, we have a video and you can order the game. We offer free shipping forever on games, so they can order copies there, and there’ll be a video on there, they can see how the gameplay works, and they can always send me an email as well. We will have a game coming out, we’re hoping next year, called Earthlings. But for right now, we’re just we’re trying to make Hastilude work.
Danielle Reynolds 3:42
Join me. Danielle Reynolds for Game Design, Unboxed a podcast where I interview game designers about the games they’ve made from inspiration to publication. We will unbox the story of where the initial game idea came from, and the following journey to getting the game made and into the player’s hands every other Tuesday. But not only that, I’m taking the best parts of my podcast and turning it into bite sized videos on Instagram and Tiktok, so follow along at Game Design Unboxed to learn more tips and tricks from other industry professionals.
Tim Broadwater 4:21
At the far right near the end of the smaller indie game section, I see a big rainbow booth.
Brian Kaufman 4:34
We are Rainbow Quest. We are a nonprofit for diversity education and to start off, because the LGBTQ plus community has a suicide rate about four times higher than the national average, we thought that as we start addressing underrepresented minorities in gaming, that we should start with the queer population. So we. Currently are an LGBTQ plus board game, the only family friendly game that is actually about real life, history, culture and the people around your gaming table.
Tim Broadwater 5:14
There seem to be several editions of Rainbow Quest here, smaller ones, medium sized and heavier ones. So I want to find out more about what each one is.
Brian Kaufman 5:24
We have our classic edition, which is collective deluxe edition. We wanted to make sure that it included everything that a teacher might need if they’re advising an after school group for their career kids. We know that many groups are given conditional permission to use a school building, but they are reminded all the time that they do not have a budget, and if they touch anything in the supply cabinet, they will be kicked out. So our first edition includes tensiles and notepads and a pencil sharpener. We did not want to give anyone a reason to cut out a gay straight alliance in their community. So we have the classical deluxe edition, and it’s heavy. It’s five pounds of well researched goodness. It’s 25 years of research and development to create. We also have the new version, which will be more retail friendly, it will take up less shelf space, it will be lighter weight, it’ll be less expensive, and we’ll be able to reach a broader audience, even when I’m playing games, I don’t like to have my time wasted. So for people that are traveling, it’s stuck in an airport or train station or we or anywhere else we want them to be able to experience the Rainbow Quest effect, and we created a travel version you can just fit right in your pocket, and where the original game does include something called free hand, which is like Pictionary, and it also includes you’ve got talent, which is like charades. I thought that’s probably not a good thing to do while you’re driving. So we’ve made a new category called improv that still allows people to be totally creative.
Tim Broadwater 7:07
As a cisgender homosexual man, this is very important to me, and so I’m kind of wanting to know more about why they do this.
Brian Kaufman 7:17
We just think it’s really important to help people understand authentic pride by knowing who the heroes are that we never learn about. And the game makes it so easy for people to have what are normally awkward conversations, but it makes it just flow and gush, and it brings families closer together. It builds communities. We’re thrilled with how it came out.
Tim Broadwater 7:43
Nice. There’s, it’s important, because I’ve heard recently that I think it was the center for sexual studies that was, like, destroyed during World War Two in Germany.
Brian Kaufman 7:52
Oh, yeah.
Tim Broadwater 7:52
And so it’s like, there was a hard reset. And so we’re kind of a lot of that. We don’t learn that history at all,
Brian Kaufman 7:58
No. And there’s a rich history. It’s been hidden, and now historians are starting to understand.
Tim Broadwater 8:08
I was referencing the Institute for Sexual Science, which was in Germany from 1919 to 1933. It campaigned for progressive and rational grounds for LGBT rights, tolerance for homosexuals, it pioneered research and treatment for various matters regarding gender sexuality, including gay, transgender, and intersex topics. However, after the Nazis gained control of Germany in the 1930s the institute and its libraries were destroyed as part of a Nazi government censorship program by youth brigades who burned its books and documents in the streets. Given the current state of things in the United States of America, I think it’s very important what the message of this board game is doing right now, so I want to know how people can get involved, find out more, and even volunteer.
Brian Kaufman 9:08
I am a retired Psychology professor. In my retirement, I work harder than I ever did, but I’m always available via Zoom or by phone, by email to answer any questions at all and take you know input for the next version, advice and rainbowquest.org is our website, https://www.rainbowquest.org where you can learn so much about the research and development that went into it. Why gamers love it, why therapists love it, why teachers love it that the game is good for you, because, as I was advised, no one wants to play a game that is good for them.
Tim Broadwater 9:48
You hide, you hide the educational content.
Brian Kaufman 9:50
Yeah, we’re just a big, dumb, old, family friendly board game. Squeaky clean. It’s wholesome. It’s not intended to humiliate or shock anyone. It’s to have the important conversations that maybe grandkids can have with their great grandparents.
Michael Schofield 10:19
Thirst is a two to four player vampire vs vampire game of dominion, in which players become powerful, monstrous and bloodthirsty vampires. Rise from the graveyard, hungry to find that you are not the only creature of darkness in town, fight other vampires for dominion over neighborhoods and for influence. Hunt, but hunt wisely. The first vampire to accrue an influence score of 10 wins and can finally slake their Thirst. Thirst is on Kickstarter. Sign up to get notified of its launch https://ThirstBoardGame.com. Find thirst and other things we’re working on at http://DesignThinkingGames.com.
Tim Broadwater 11:10
I’m about to leave Orign’s for this year. I’m a little sad, but I did everything that I wanted to do, and on my way out of the exhibition hall, I see a Nintendo Switch 2. These are very coveted. I’ve been trying to get one for months, and I’m on Nintendo’s official waiting list, so I’m curious, and I just head over to the booth that has one.
Adam Schifani 11:46
So my name is Adam (Schifani). I am the Extra Life Community Manager. Extra Life is a program of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. We fundraise for 170 children’s hospitals across the US and Canada. So when you fundraise for extra life, all the money you raise goes directly to your hospital. We do not keep any of it. And so today, here we are fundraising for Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, at at Origins Game Fair. So it is a 501 3c it is so Extra Life is a program of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. So Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is the 5013c we just say fundraising entity of it. And so extra life has been around since 2008 so 17 years at this point, I have been a part of extra life since 2018. My son was treated at my local children’s hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. And so I started fundraising for extra life as a way to give back to my local children’s hospital. And in 2022 I accepted the job as the National Community Manager, so I am the community manager for all of Extra Life across the US and Canada.
Tim Broadwater 12:46
I see now that the Nintendo Switch 2 was a gimmick to get me in, but I’m not mad, because I’ve seen Extra Life at many different conventions before, even Pax Unplugged. I’m now curious how long he has worked for the organization and what all conventions they go to in a year.
Adam Schifani 13:03
Extra Life is in a lot of different gaming conventions. I go to a few every year. I don’t have budget to go to all of them, so this is my first time at Origins Game Fair, but I go to GenCon. We’ve been to PAX East and PAX West. We’ve gone been to TwitchCon. Later this year. We’re going to a couple other conventions. But, yeah, we we do appear. National appears at a few but extra lifers around the US and Canada staff booths as of volunteers all the time. And so there’s one like almost every week during the summer and fall. And so you’ve got extra lifers across the US and Canada staffing booths and spreading the good news about Extra Life and trying to get people to fundraise and or donate. Yeah. So when you would sign up for extra life, you put in your zip code and it shows you the hospital closest to you. So if you’re in Columbus, here, it would be national children or Nationwide Children’s Hospital. For me, I live in Memphis, Tennessee, so that’s Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. But yeah, it’s in almost every major city, and if not in your city, there’s one close by.
Tim Broadwater 14:00
So is it pretty easy for someone to just get involved, to be like, Hey, I’d like to raise some money for my local children’s hospital?
Adam Schifani 14:06
Yeah, absolutely. So what you would do is you go to https://extra-life.org/ and then you would create your own account, and then you saw you have to sign up every year, because that’s just the way these charity events work. You have to sign up every year, but your account stays every year, so it shows your total throughout the years and how many years you’ve been fundraising and everything. But yeah, it’s super simple. You go to that website, extra life.org, you sign up, you start fundraising, and you can fundraise a myriad of different ways. About 60% of our fundraisers do it through streaming. So a lot of people do on Twitch or YouTube, and they’ll fundraise either playing game video games or tabletop game streaming. And then you’ve got a lot of people that fundraise at local events like this. And then you’ve got people that do like, you know, to do Magic, the Gathering drafts at local game stores, or all kinds of other things. Yeah, DND is another really popular way for people to fundraise. They’ll do like, they’ll play DND and like, oh, you know, donate $1 for a reroll, or like, I’ve got a friend who even does like, if you donate, I think it’s $50 it’ll make someone on the team pull from the deck of many things and all kinds of crazy stuff happens there.
Tim Broadwater 14:11
I now remember that I played an Extra Life event at PAX Unplugged several years ago, it was with Magic the Gathering, you could play a free game, and they would give you packs to start, but you would then donate dollars or change to get special abilities, or cards, or extra draws.
Adam Schifani 14:11
Yeah, they probably did that. So that was, that was a few years ago. But we do actually have an active partnership with Magic the Gathering they put together, they do a secret layer drop every year for us, it’s usually October, November, and so look out for that one. So last year it was like, it was like retro game look. So it was like pixelated art and everything. So it’s really cool. And 50% of that money goes to extra life as well.
Tim Broadwater 14:11
I see here at Origins, a lot of people have been drawn in by the Switch 2.
Adam Schifani 14:11
Yeah, yeah. So they the the local guild here, they actually cashed in. They they had a bunch of old consoles that they weren’t using and stuff like that. And so they traded those in to actually trade up for the Switch 2. So they used game trades to get a Switch 2 raffle off here at Origins. That’s cool. Yeah. Whatever works exactly, yeah. Now the so the Switch 2 and the gargantuan Tiamat mini are the two most popular things in their raffle. But they’ve got all kinds of other things there. Oh yeah, it is a very big… mini is a generous term for that. Yeah.
Tim Broadwater 14:31
This is excellent, and I’ve definitely seen Twitch streamers doing extra life events. I wanted to know the best way people could get involved and find out more going forward.
Adam Schifani 14:32
The website is a good way to find us. You can also find us at extralife4kids on every social media platform. We also have our own Discord server, which is https://discord.gg/extralife4kids/. So that’s we’ve got a, you know, a large portion of our communities in there, and they share ideas about how to fundraise, or, you know, just, you know, have fun talking about, you know, games and and, and fundraising for the local children’s hospital and all the different strategies and everything. But yeah, extralife4kids and our website, extra dash life.org, are the best ways to find us.
Tim Broadwater 16:03
Everyone has a disability. Oh, yeah, of course,
Adam Schifani 14:31
It’s a good way for us, new community support. So we one of our biggest event every year is called Game Day. It is the usually early in November. This year it’s November 8 through the 15th, and that is when the majority of our community will actually activate and fundraise. A lot of our community does 24 hour streams on that Saturday. We don’t encourage that actively, but a lot of people love to do it, and so we love that that they’re putting in that time and effort for it. But that is the weekend when the majority of people will fundraise for us. So it’s November 8 through the 15th, is when we’re having our biggest fundraiser of the year.
Tim Broadwater 16:32
That’s awesome. Thank you so much.
Adam Schifani 17:05
Absolutely. Thank you so much. Yeah,
Moe Poplar 17:46
Dark Heist is a game of supernatural heists and larceny in a haunted Victorian city, recruit crooked monsters and monstrous crooks into your gang to do crimes and become the most notorious in the city. Dark Heist is a strategic deck building game for one to four players, full of evocative missions and plenty of player versus player backstabbing inspired by gothic horror, pulp crime novels, and the role playing game Blades in the Dark. This mid weight board game plays from 60 to 90 minutes and is rated M for Mature. Find out more about Dark Heist https://ashyfeet.com/. Are you ready for the crime of your life?
Tim Broadwater 19:13
Thanks for listening. I know that this has been a shorter season than usual, and that’s due to the Kickstarter launching on October 1. So we have an amazing team that is working on making Thirst happen. I am the designer of the game, Tim Broadwater. The idea, a lot of the writing and concept also came with Michael Schofield. And then Aidan Detwiler, as you know from last season and this season is he’s our Illustrator, but now we also have a voice actor, Brian Royces as well as JC who is working on our Kickstarter video from How to Teach Tabletop. You should check out all of these people’s resources, portfolios, channels, social media, but it’s a team of work, and as like, we’re kind of taking it to demo at places, and doing the newsletter and doing the finishing touches on the instructional design. And we also have Jim, he’s an instructional designer who’s working on kind of reviewing the reviewing the rule book for the game. So it’s a whole team that works together. It’s a whole team that makes it happen. And even though it’s a whole team, we are all part timers, or just spare timers, and so all that to say, not to diminish the season or some of the great work that’s been done here, but more so, I hope you enjoyed the season. I hope that you found out some more about some cool games, or just some even designers like SeaCow Games or or Hillary’s Toy Box. Please, if you haven’t already, check out our newsletter and go to https://ThirstBoardGame.com/ and click on ‘notify me on launch’. You know, we have a short time period in which to fund, which is going to start on October 1. And if you can just make sure that you have the reminder set up or the bookmark that does a lot to help us and help like indie games, thank you so much.
X Seekers of Fortune 21:35
The desert’s heat never rest, but neither do your rivals. Push forward. At last, you followed the leads and found what you’re after, half buried within the crumbling runes. The green eyed totem stares back at you, its emerald eyes glinting by the light of your torch. But you’re not alone. You’ve been followed, and you should have been more careful. Rookie mistake your rival has you in their sights. What are they plotting? Sabotage, a blade edge bargain, or perhaps a bit of strategic arson. No matter the case, one thing is certain, if your glory is imminent, they will try to thwart you with everything they’ve got. How do you know? Because you would do the same. This is no time to waver. It’s time to dig deep and break through to claim your glory. Stay sharp, play smart, and you might just find fortune is in your favor. In X Seekers of Fortune, an ever expanding, action packed adventure card game, pre order now at https://xseekersoffortune.com/ and seek your fortune today.
Podcast Guy 22:54
Thank you for listening to Design Thinking Games. Your time is valuable, and it means a lot that you spend it here in season five. Stay connected on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. DMs are always open, and don’t forget to visit DesignThinkingGames.com/ to request topics, ask questions or see what else is going on. If indie vampire board games sound like your thing, check out Thirst, where vampires and minions fight for influence in a dark city. Head to https://ThirstBoardGame.com/ to follow the journey and get updates when it launches on Kickstarter, October 1, until next time game on you.