Joseph Z Chen – Medium

Joseph Z Chen

Pitching your board game design to publishers

I’ve been fortunate to have experienced most parts of the board game industry. For Fantastic Factories I co-designed the game, made the…

Jan 2

Pitching your board game design to publishers

Jan 2

[Stacked] Wish fulfillment

This post is part of a designer diary series about my latest game design, Stacked. Check out my first post if you want to start from the…

Mar 22, 2024

[Stacked] Wish fulfillment

Mar 22, 2024

[Stacked] Choices, choices, choices

This post is part of a designer diary series about my latest game design, Stacked. Check out my first post if you want to start from the…

Mar 13, 2024

[Stacked] Choices, choices, choices

Mar 13, 2024

[Stacked] Maximize the drama!

This post is part of a designer diary series about my latest game design, Stacked. Check out my first post if you want to start from the…

Mar 11, 2024

[Stacked] Maximize the drama!

Mar 11, 2024

[Stacked] A different kind of game

After a 3 year hiatus in designing games, I’ve finally returned with a new game design — and it’s very different from my previous game…

Mar 8, 2024

[Stacked] A different kind of game

Mar 8, 2024

How I designed the solo rules for Fantastic Factories

I have a confession to make. Before I designed Fantastic Factories, I had never played a single hobby board game solo. So I hesitate a bit…

Mar 31, 2021

How I designed the solo rules for Fantastic Factories

Mar 31, 2021

Setting the MSRP of your board game and why you shouldn’t use the 5x landed cost rule

You’ve finished designing your tabletop game. You’ve acquired art assets, hired a graphic designer, and you’re now ready to take your game…

Nov 20, 2020

Setting the MSRP of your board game and why you shouldn’t use the 5x landed cost rule

Nov 20, 2020

Fantastic Factories: Manufactions is here!

Just a quick post! The Kickstarter campaign for TWO Fantastic Factories Expansions (Manufactions and Subterfuge) is now LIVE. Here’s a…

Sep 29, 2020

Fantastic Factories: Manufactions is here!

Sep 29, 2020

What should be on your Kickstarter launch day checklist and why you should have one

Launching your crowdfunding campaign is a big deal. It’s often a culmination of years of hard work, and in spite of all that hard work…

Feb 18, 2020

What should be on your Kickstarter launch day checklist and why you should have one

Feb 18, 2020

Fantastic Factories Design Diary

I thought it might be of interest to people to write about how Fantastic Factories got its start and the various design challenges…

Nov 18, 2019

Fantastic Factories Design Diary

Nov 18, 2019

How large of a mailing list do I need before launching my Kickstarter?

Detailed analysis of converting a mailing list into Kickstarter backers for a tabletop game

Jun 5, 2019

How large of a mailing list do I need before launching my Kickstarter?

Jun 5, 2019

Detailed breakdown of crowdfunding premarketing mailing list

I often hear people ask what is the best way to build an audience for your board game Kickstarter. I’ve detailed my methods in this earlier…

May 9, 2018

Detailed breakdown of crowdfunding premarketing mailing list

May 9, 2018

Designer Diary: Rolling Random

May you always roll sixes… or should you? In many board games, the higher you roll, the better the result. I wanted to challenge that…

Apr 30, 2018

Designer Diary: Rolling Random

Apr 30, 2018

Perception vs Reality in Game Design

In a board game, is it worse to have a card that is perceived as overpowered but actually isn’t or to have a card that looks balanced but…

Feb 26, 2018

Perception vs Reality in Game Design

Feb 26, 2018

Published in
ART + marketing

Aislyn Hall: How to hire artists and provide art direction

In my blog posts, I like to tackle the topics and questions that come up time and time again. I often see first time Kickstarter creators…

Dec 18, 2017

Aislyn Hall: How to hire artists and provide art direction

Dec 18, 2017

Marketing through multiple touchpoints

This week I did a guest post through Daniel Zayas’ blog. Here’s a snippet. Jump on over to his site for the full piece.

Dec 3, 2017

Marketing through multiple touchpoints

Dec 3, 2017

PAX Unplugged 2017 Report!

Where do I even start? I had a great time at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia! I’ve been a long time attendee of PAX West so it was…

Nov 30, 2017

PAX Unplugged 2017 Report!

Nov 30, 2017

Building an audience and mailing list for your tabletop game

This is a question I see all the time from aspiring designers who are interested in launching their game via crowdfunding platforms like…

Sep 28, 2017

Building an audience and mailing list for your tabletop game

Sep 28, 2017

PAX West Indie MEGABOOTH Report!

What a weekend! We spent more than 50 hours doing PAX-related stuff. We were at the Sheraton pre-PAX board game night. We were at the ACT…

Sep 7, 2017

PAX West Indie MEGABOOTH Report!

Sep 7, 2017

Catch Me If You Can: The Runaway Leader and Catch-Up Mechanics

You’re 30 minutes into the board game, and there’s already a clear winner. The lead only increases with each passing turn. There’s no hope…

Aug 2, 2017

Catch Me If You Can: The Runaway Leader and Catch-Up Mechanics

Aug 2, 2017

Joseph Z Chen

Joseph Z Chen

Board game designer, developer, and artist. Writes about game design and crowdfunding. Credits: Fantastic Factories (design), Knitting Circle (dev), etc.

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