139 – James Hudson, Skybound Games – The Family Gamers Podcast

We last had James on exactly 100 episodes ago! Then, we talked about The Grimm Forest. Now it has been nominated for a Golden Geek award for Artwork & Presentation.

Tidal Blades

James tells us a story about Tidal Blades -it actually resulted from the Mr. Cuddington artists wanting to take a break from specific commissioned art. James asked them, “what if I strip the theme off a game I have and let you do whatever you want with it?” Tidal Blades has had an amazing reception, and there will be an RPG in that same world!

Recent Skybound projects:

Valor & Villainy – tabletop RPG. The Kickstarter recently wrapped up.

Sorceror City – “the project that will never die” – this has ended up being a very complicated project. Complicated components, manufacturing issues, and everything is taking longer than they’d like. James has to make decisions that (thankfully!) most of us don’t have to think about. Was supposed to deliver in January, but they’re still working hard on making it all work.

The Grimm Masquerade is coming – It’s a standalone follow up to The Grimm Forest. Social deduction, card-driven strategy game. More deduction, less “social”. (coming to retail in June)

Walking Dead: Something to Fear. This has a “co-op-etition” feel. Easy to learn, but enough “teeth” to be enjoyable for seasoned gamers. Artist Justin Chan also did Century: Golem Edition. Gave the comic book characters a new spin. (coming to retail in July)

Guardian’s Call was recently released; they spent a lot of work just on the tray, making sure nothing will fall out!

Design:

At the Skybound “retreat”, they worked on 31 projects. That’s several years’ worth.

James has advice for would-be game designers: “get it on paper and start trying to play it.”

James’s first design: Bloodstone. He actually started with art before many mechanics were fleshed out. But that worked to propel the project forward!

Find whatever motivates you to keep working on the design and making it better!

Giveaway!

James picks the winner of our Guardian’s Call giveaway.

Get in touch with James:

Twitter: @DruidCityGames
Facebook: @DruidCityGames
Instagram: @JamesMatthewHudson

and email: support@druidcitygames.com

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