Conversation with Kory Heath: Game Design Process and Standards [Video]



Last week, I got into a little discussion with Kory Heath (designer of Zendo and co-designer of Criminals) about his preference to spend more time on a single game to make sure it meets his very high standards, rather than releasing more frequent games that may be of a lower standard.

My internet connection at the time was really dodgy, so we get cut off at around the 30min mark. Still, the short conversation covered lots of tantalizing topics, including the different goals of game design when it is a hobby vs. when it is a business.

Eventually we got to talking about our "perfect games." For Kory, it's Take It Easy. For me, it's No Thanks. We got to wondering if the designer of No Thanks would himself consider his game to be of a very high standard. Well, industrious friend T.C. Petty actually contacted Thorsten Gimmler on German facebook to ask the man himself!

Check out Thorsten's response on T.C.'s blog:
"Hi Thomas,
Do I have a perfect board game? I have more than 2000 games at home. I think that there are some perfect board games between. But I can´t say, that this is the one and only! 😉 I have a lot of games that I love!
I think that “No Thanks” is one of my best games. Is it a perfect game? I think that this is something other people had to decide.”
Seems like a very nice fellow!

Anyhoo, I hope I can record more of these conversations with other designers in the future.

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