Welcome to People Behind the Meeples, a series of interviews with indie game designers. Here you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about the people who make the best games that you may or may not have heard of before. If you'd like to be featured, head over to http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html and fill out the questionnaire! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples.
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| Name: | Arthur Kelly |
|---|---|
| Email: | arthur@boardcrunch.com |
| Location: | Florida |
| Day Job: | Computer programmer, web design, event planner. |
| Designing: | One to two years. |
| Webpage: | www.boardcrunch.com |
| Facebook: | BoardCrunch |
| Twitter: | @TheBoardCrunch |
| Instagram: | @BoardCrunch |
| Find my games at: | Nowhere yet. |
Arthur Kelly
Interviewed on: 7/31/2017
Arthur Kelly is not only a game designer with a number of games in the works, but he’s also the founder of BoardCrunch.com, a new site all about analyzing successful Kickstarter campaigns and connecting game designers to publishers. They’ll be organizing regional Crunch Events where designers can present games directly to publishers and earn a chance to work with those publishers to bring their games to Kickstarter. This sounds like a VERY interesting project and I’ll be keeping a close eye on it. As someone who has a few designs that I think would be of interest to publishers, I’d love to attend an event like this. So I’m hoping this is successful and I can see some local events in the midwest soon! Be on the lookout for a follow-up interview or article about the BoardCrunch project!
Some Basics
Tell me a bit about yourself.
How long have you been designing tabletop games?
One to two years.
What game or games are you currently working on?
Rainbow Madness, Super Awesome Monster Parade, Drink-King, a few unnamed.
Have you designed any games that have been published?
Not yet!
What is your day job?
Computer programmer, web design, event planner.
Your Gaming Tastes
My readers would like to know more about you as a gamer.
Where do you prefer to play games?
Game stores, friends houses, home.
Who do you normally game with?
Wife, kids, friends
If you were to invite a few friends together for game night tonight, what games would you play?
Smash Up, deck builders, Epic Spell Wars
And what snacks would you eat?
Pretzels
Do you like to have music playing while you play games? If so, what kind?
Thematic, flavor of the night
What’s your favorite FLGS?
Was Cool Stuff, now undecided
What is your current favorite game? Least favorite that you still enjoy? Worst game you ever played?
Fave - Smash Up, Worst ever - this Zombie dice game (not Zombicide - just roll D6s)
What is your favorite game mechanic? How about your least favorite?
Fave- deck building, Least- CCGs
What’s your favorite game that you just can’t ever seem to get to the table?
Pathfinder
What styles of games do you play?
I like to play
Board Games, Card Games, Miniatures Games, RPG Games, Video Games
Do you design different styles of games than what you play?
I like to design
Card Games, Miniatures Games
OK, here's a pretty polarizing game. Do you like and play Cards Against Humanity?
No
You as a Designer
OK, now the bit that sets you apart from the typical gamer. Let's find out about you as a game designer.
When you design games, do you come up with a theme first and build the mechanics around that? Or do you come up with mechanics and then add a theme? Or something else?
Mechanics, then theme.
Have you ever entered or won a game design competition?
No
Do you have a current favorite game designer or idol?
Not really.
Where or when or how do you get your inspiration or come up with your best ideas?
Lying in bed at night, ideas just pop in and then I jot them down.
How do you go about playtesting your games?
Rough prototype, then test with family and friends
Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Co-designers, artists, etc.?
I like working with people who have like-minded goals
What do you feel is your biggest challenge as a game designer?
Artwork. I wish I was more artistic.
If you could design a game within any IP, what would it be?
Evil Dead
What do you wish someone had told you a long time ago about designing games?
Become close friends with a good artist :)
What advice would you like to share about designing games?
It is hard work. Anyone can think of a game and write down some rules. Seeing it through until the end is the true test.
Would you like to tell my readers what games you're working on and how far along they are?
I'm planning to crowdfund:
3
Games I feel are in the final development and tweaking stage are:
2
Games that I'm playtesting are:
2
Games that are in the early stages of development and beta testing are:
1
And games that are still in the very early idea phase are:
1
Are you a member of any Facebook or other design groups? (Game Maker’s Lab, Card and Board Game Developers Guild, etc.)
I frequent many Facebook design groups.
And the oddly personal, but harmless stuff…
OK, enough of the game stuff, let's find out what really makes you tick! These are the questions that I’m sure are on everyone’s minds!
Star Trek or Star Wars? Coke or Pepsi? VHS or Betamax?
Star Trek was my first love, Coke when I drank soda, VHS.
What hobbies do you have besides tabletop games?
Bowling, programming for Minecraft, sports when I can.
What is something you learned in the last week?
There is never enough time in the day to do what you want :)
Favorite type of music? Books? Movies?
Dubstep, horror themed movies
What was the last book you read?
Sadly cannot remember.
Do you play any musical instruments?
Never did.
Tell us something about yourself that you think might surprise people.
I tried out for a professional football team when I was younger. (Did not make the cut :)
Tell us about something crazy that you once did.
Stole a car to stay warm after being lost in the woods at age 15!
What would you do if you had a time machine?
Tell myself to start saving money and get into buying houses as young as possible.
Are you an extrovert or introvert?
Situational, I can be either.
If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
Batman, rich and cool? Come on.
Have any pets?
2 cats
When the next asteroid hits Earth, causing the Yellowstone caldera to explode, California to fall into the ocean, the sea levels to rise, and the next ice age to set in, what current games or other pastimes do you think (or hope) will survive into the next era of human civilization? What do you hope is underneath that asteroid to be wiped out of the human consciousness forever?
I do not even know how to approach this question! :)
If you’d like to send a shout out to anyone, anyone at all, here’s your chance (I can’t guarantee they’ll read this though):
All my friends who have supported my crazy ideas!
Just a Bit More
Thanks for answering all my crazy questions! Is there anything else you'd like to tell my readers?
I have recently launched BoardCrunch.com a site dedicated to tracking the successes of funded games in the crowdfunding area. We plan to run regional Crunch events which will allow game designers access to publishers and receive real feedback on their game.
Each event will also produce a winner of our Golden Crunchy Award and work one on one with the publisher to assist them in getting their game ready for Kickstarter and a possible publishing deal!
[GJJ Games] This sounds very interesting! When you are ready to start launching events I’d love to feature them on my site! I’ll be sure to keep watching BoardCrunch.com!
Thank you for reading this People Behind the Meeples indie game designer interview! You can find all the interviews here: People Behind the Meeples and if you'd like to be featured yourself, you can fill out the questionnaire here: http://gjjgames.blogspot.com/p/game-designer-interview-questionnaire.html
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