EP #42: The Early Years of Garphill

🎙️Welcome to the Lens and Veil podcast, join Shem, Sam and Zach as they discuss games they've played together, specifically focusing on game design elements.

In this special episode they discuss the early years of Garphill Games when Shem was self publishing as a brand new designer. Get ready to do a deep dive on the origin story of Garphill Games!

📜Chapters:
0:00:00 - Which would you prefer?
0:8:32 - Intro
0:5:49 - What this episode is about and why we are doing it!
0:10:42 - Linwood
0:17:37 - Capek
0:26:38 - Saqqara
0:27:43 - Plethora
0:32:19 - Playtesting and Development
0:34:07 - Plethora Continued
0:37:50 - Tanzania
0:43:17 - Cibola
0:47:21 - As a new designer, should you try make the best game?
0:49:15 - Garphill's identity as a company
0:51:36 - Woodlands
0:56:48 - Flee the Scene
1:02:22 - Overcoming design problems in the early days
1:04:23 - Which of these would you play and which would you redesign if force to?
1:06:37 - How important is a good premise for a game?
1:14:39 - Bethel Woods
1:24:55 - Wrapping up

⭐About the Cast

Shem Phillips is the owner of Garphill Games and has designed a fair few board games, notably Raiders of the North Sea (Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee) and Legacy of Yu (Golden Geek, Dice Tower Award, Origins Award for Best Solo Game of 2023).

Sam Macdonald is a Game Designer and Developer at Garphill Games, bursting onto the scene with his co-design together with Shem, Architects of the West Kingdom. He has gone on to design a number of other games, most notable among them is Paladins of the West Kingdom which is currently in the top 100 games on BGG.

Zach Smith works for Garphill Games as Marketing and Media Manager, but is also a credited designer, having co-designed Circadians: Chaos Order and The Great Sea together with Sam, and Spirited and Skute with both Shem and Sam.

🎵 Music licenced from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jessy Ribordy Studios⁠