Devon invites Justin Gary—designer of the popular Ascension deckbuilding game and CEO of Stone Blade Entertainment to sit down and have a conversation!

In this session, we talked about Justin’s journey from student of law to master of games. His path toward design was unique given his professional success as a Magic: The Gathering player that pivoted toward a career in design and entrepreneurship. While he still is pumping out content for Ascension (including an upcoming miniatures game to celebrate the original game’s ten-year anniversary), some of Justin’s most intriguing work actually involves his masterclass course of Think Like A Game Designer. He’s guiding designers-to-be through all of the obstacles he encountered along the way and provides accessibility, accountability, and reality to the design dreams of those who take the class.

Sit down with us on the banks of the board game pond and let’s have a conversation.

Learn more about the masterclass here.

Learn more about Justin Gary here.

Who should we bring to the table next? Let us know in the comments!

-Time Stamps-

2:17 - A Magical Start
5:36 - Facing Failure and Uncertainty
10:24 - A Shared Design Process
13:36 - Collaboration in Design
16:47 - Think Like A Game Designer
24:01 - There is No “Creative” Person
28:19 - Looking Back on Ascension
35:07 - Ten Years
37:38 - A Committed Community of Creators
42:27 - SolForge Fusion