E65 (S3E6) - What Board Game Reviewers Overlook

Feeling extra methodical lately? Us too. For the community question, we discuss the tools that keep us working hard and hardly working. Whether it’s Note-Taking-Apps, mediations, or some unexpected ones that have helped us build our projects. Then, we turn to the main topic: what reviewers often miss when it comes to board games. How do these things really affect people? How can we be intentional in navigating the expectations of consumers? Everything from graphic design elements to presentation, we pontificate it all. You can listen to now on your preferred platform below!

In this episode, we start off with a look at the impact of the natural world on our work here at O-Neb. How do we connect with nature? How do we interpret what we see and put it into our designs? Perhaps it is the shapes and patterns that inspire. Or maybe its a sense of something more cosmic and grand that moves us to insight? We each come at this a little different and this was a more interesting community question than we originally thought it would be.   For the main topic, we dive deeply into how we deal with exhaustion and how inspiration can come from that state. Where’s the line between investing yourself and becoming a workaholic? What does it mean to truly lose yourself in the work? Can exhaustion maybe be a good thing if the result turns out amazing? Is all of this just a bunch of unhealthy brightsiding?!   There’s also little something about a fantasy life, some confusing dualities, and writing genius ideas in our sleep (it totally happens). All this and more awaits in the newest episode of The Outpost.

What other tabletop experiences have influenced our games? We’re not huge proponents of “all design is iterative” or “great artists steal” as overarching ethos, but we do love to weave a healthy thread of inspiration from other creations into our own. Find out what other games had their voice in the creation of Vindication, Unsettled, and Spirit Fire.  Would you have guessed those influences? Are there others you would have assumed? Are there any games that *you* find particularly inspiring? Why? Let us know in the comments and we’ll let you know how right and wrong you are!  What types of mindsets, mottos, strategies, practices, principles, lenses, tactics, and what not are at the heart of our game design mentality? What about theme versus mechanics? What is invisible design? What is a “sacred concept”? How do hostage negotiation tactics factor into our thinking? How do we choose what to keep and what to cull?  We have thoughts! We think they’re pretty good. What other thoughts are good? Do *you* have thoughts? ….Are they good? Think those thoughts at us in the comments so we can have thoughts about your thoughts and we can get a whole thing going.

We're talking lore(s)! First, some real-life O-Neb lore, which ends up being more full of feels and substance than we would have guessed. Then, some make-believe Vindication lore, which ends up being exactly as full of oddness and hilarity as we would have guessed. In a format we will definitely be returning to, our producer throws cards from Vindication onto the screen in front of us and we improv/brainstorm possible backstories and personalities for each character presented to us.  If we studied this episode closely, we'd probably learn some things about ourselves. But we're not going to. We know more than enough already. 

Jam-packed with creative-thinky things, this episode dissects the traits of board game developers and all the depth, faux-depth, context, and contextless crazy logic trains that run through our "brains". We ponder quickly if these are good things (and decide: they totally are). Things then turn to a broader discussion on the struggles and agonies (excuse us, "nuances") of being a creative team. The standard array of weird tangents surface as well. 

You know how people are, like, people, and how that can be *rough*? And then you put people on the internet and...oof? And then, you know how you make creative projects and share them with people on the internet, but sometimes things don't go according to plan, and all those internet-ing people have big big feelings about that? This episode is about all these things. More specifically, it's about navigating truly brutal feedback, overly intense criticism, and well-intentioned situations threatening to turn toxic. A regular topic on our Discord, we can think of no better way to start this new season of the Outpost than diving straight into the question we get asked most frequently: "How do you deal with this $&#@ with such grace?"  Back after year long-hiatus, we are very excited to be back in your ears, talking about all the behind-the-scenes things happening at Orange Nebula.

How Many Mummies Should You Own? / How Much Are You All Just Winging It? / What Are Some Of The Weird Little Things You Love About Your Craft? 05:03 - Tom's thoughts on optimal mummy quantity  07:32 - An answer filled with Neb-Soul 10:58 - Main Topic - Weird Little Things We Love 21:26 - Tom on Jared presenting ideas in a meeting

What Would You Do If You Knew You Could Do It? / What's The Worst Creature To Give Wings To / Fantasy Vs. Sci-fi  00:58 - What Lacey Would Do If She Could 08:40 - Tom's apt research 10:50 - Main Topic - Fantasy Vs. Sci-fi 23:41 - Subdividing The Two

How Do You Make Your Work Feel Like Play? / What Is Your Coffee Order? / What Are Ghosts That Haunt Your Creative Mind? 02:18 - How Krista Adds Objects To Her Work & Process 08:00 - Marc's Coffee Order 12:51 - Main Topic - Ghosts That Haunt Your Creative Mind 24:52 - Krista's Thoughts On Creative Ghosts Relating To Our

Obstacles You Wrestled With Early In Your Career? / How Would You Like To Die Vs. How You Think You're Going To Die? / How Does Media's Portrayal Of Your Artistry Effect You? CONTENT WARNING: This episode of the Outpost contains descriptions of ways someone could die. The context is playful, but if this is a subject you’d like to avoid, we recommend skipping the segment between minutes 13 and 17. We care about you. Thanks for listening. 03:18 - Marc's obstacles early in his career 13:29 - How Krista thinks she will die 17:15 - Main Topic - Media's Portrayal Of Your Artistry  31:46 - Lacey's feelings on how media portrays her role as a marketer