Molly Johnson and Shawn Stankewich are two of the three founders of FLATOUT GAMES, the studio behind 🎲 CASCADIA and 🐱 CALICO. They tell the story of an AEG exec brushing off POINT SALAD, why a small publisher stays on Kickstarter, and what a store owner said about their next game.
Check out Perennial: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flatoutgames/perennial-0
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🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE:
🥗 The AEG exec who said "thanks" and walked away from POINT SALAD
🐱 A two-hour debate over one tile bag, a "53 versus 3 thing"
🎨 Why there is no 100% black anywhere in Flatout's art direction
📦 The $20-plus it costs to ship a CASCADIA to a home in the US
🌿 A store owner's advice: "don't make another nature-themed roll-and-write"
🦁 Molly's role-play lion in a damp, horrible forest
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🔗 LINKS
🎲 Flatout Games
▶ https://www.flatout.games/
❤️ Support My Work — Join Cardboard
▶ https://crdbrd.app/
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🎧 TOO LONG TO WATCH? THIS IS NOW A PODCAST!
🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-board-game-secret-show/id6785378165
🟢 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GRnTDINaxqcoJksaCl4
🔵 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/01414914-23bd-4f4c-a29f-50daa231f364
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⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00 - Cold open
01:16 - Who are Molly and Shawn?
02:09 - Weather chat and Canadian prairie roots
03:47 - Gen Con week spent meeting partners
06:02 - Getting bit by game design in 2016
09:47 - The convention feedback that made it real
12:02 - AEG walks away, then an email lands
16:32 - The Cardboard Edison finals email arrives
18:47 - Propolis turns out to be a really old design
21:47 - Picking palettes with no pure black
27:47 - How the Flatout collab publishes games
33:02 - Two-hour debate over one tile bag
37:32 - Why small-box games stay at $25
39:47 - Why simple family games are a dying breed on Kickstarter
42:47 - Design is only 20 percent of the week
48:02 - No growth for growth's sake
54:47 - Why a small publisher stays on Kickstarter
1:06:47 - Calico's goal: sit on the shelf next to Azul
1:11:17 - Store owners say no more nature roll-and-writes
1:19:32 - Why the casual gamer crowd keeps growing
1:30:47 - Why Beth Sobel's art gets people excited
1:35:17 - Whisperstone, the puzzle-piece RPG, explained
1:48:47 - Three and a half years building an RPG
1:59:17 - How Perennial's polyomino tiles work
2:08:07 - What success looks like in five years
#cardboard #bgss
