The Outpost Podcast

In this episode, we start off with a look at the impact of the natural world on our work here at O-Neb. How do we connect with nature? How do we interpret what we see and put it into our designs? Perhaps it is the shapes and patterns that inspire. Or maybe its a sense of something more cosmic and grand that moves us to insight? We each come at this a little different and this was a more interesting community question than we originally thought it would be.   For the main topic, we dive deeply into how we deal with exhaustion and how inspiration can come from that state. Where's the line between investing yourself and becoming a workaholic? What does it mean to truly lose yourself in the work? Can exhaustion maybe be a good thing if the result turns out amazing? Is all of this just a bunch of unhealthy brightsiding?!   There's also little something about a fantasy life, some confusing dualities, and writing genius ideas in our sleep (it totally happens). All this and more awaits in the newest episode of The Outpost.

What other tabletop experiences have influenced our games? We're not huge proponents of “all design is iterative” or “great artists steal” as overarching ethos, but we do love to weave a healthy thread of inspiration from other creations into our own. Find out what other games had their voice in the creation of Vindication, Unsettled, and Spirit Fire.  Would you have guessed those influences? Are there others you would have assumed? Are there any games that *you* find particularly inspiring? Why? Let us know in the comments and we'll let you know how right and wrong you are!  What types of mindsets, mottos, strategies, practices, principles, lenses, tactics, and what not are at the heart of our game design mentality? What about theme versus mechanics? What is invisible design? What is a “sacred concept”? How do hostage negotiation tactics factor into our thinking? How do we choose what to keep and what to cull?  We have thoughts! We think they're pretty good. What other thoughts are good? Do *you* have thoughts? ….Are they good? Think those thoughts at us in the comments so we can have thoughts about your thoughts and we can get a whole thing going.

We're talking lore(s)! First, some real-life O-Neb lore, which ends up being more full of feels and substance than we would have guessed. Then, some make-believe Vindication lore, which ends up being exactly as full of oddness and hilarity as we would have guessed. In a format we will definitely be returning to, our producer throws cards from Vindication onto the screen in front of us and we improv/brainstorm possible backstories and personalities for each character presented to us.  If we studied this episode closely, we'd probably learn some things about ourselves. But we're not going to. We know more than enough already. 

Jam-packed with creative-thinky things, this episode dissects the traits of board game developers and all the depth, faux-depth, context, and contextless crazy logic trains that run through our "brains". We ponder quickly if these are good things (and decide: they totally are). Things then turn to a broader discussion on the struggles and agonies (excuse us, "nuances") of being a creative team. The standard array of weird tangents surface as well. 

You know how people are, like, people, and how that can be *rough*? And then you put people on the internet and...oof? And then, you know how you make creative projects and share them with people on the internet, but sometimes things don't go according to plan, and all those internet-ing people have big big feelings about that? This episode is about all these things. More specifically, it's about navigating truly brutal feedback, overly intense criticism, and well-intentioned situations threatening to turn toxic. A regular topic on our Discord, we can think of no better way to start this new season of the Outpost than diving straight into the question we get asked most frequently: "How do you deal with this $&#@ with such grace?"  Back after year long-hiatus, we are very excited to be back in your ears, talking about all the behind-the-scenes things happening at Orange Nebula.

How Many Mummies Should You Own? / How Much Are You All Just Winging It? / What Are Some Of The Weird Little Things You Love About Your Craft? 05:03 - Tom's thoughts on optimal mummy quantity  07:32 - An answer filled with Neb-Soul 10:58 - Main Topic - Weird Little Things We Love 21:26 - Tom on Jared presenting ideas in a meeting

What Would You Do If You Knew You Could Do It? / What's The Worst Creature To Give Wings To / Fantasy Vs. Sci-fi  00:58 - What Lacey Would Do If She Could 08:40 - Tom's apt research 10:50 - Main Topic - Fantasy Vs. Sci-fi 23:41 - Subdividing The Two

How Do You Make Your Work Feel Like Play? / What Is Your Coffee Order? / What Are Ghosts That Haunt Your Creative Mind? 02:18 - How Krista Adds Objects To Her Work & Process 08:00 - Marc's Coffee Order 12:51 - Main Topic - Ghosts That Haunt Your Creative Mind 24:52 - Krista's Thoughts On Creative Ghosts Relating To Our

Obstacles You Wrestled With Early In Your Career? / How Would You Like To Die Vs. How You Think You're Going To Die? / How Does Media's Portrayal Of Your Artistry Effect You? CONTENT WARNING: This episode of the Outpost contains descriptions of ways someone could die. The context is playful, but if this is a subject you'd like to avoid, we recommend skipping the segment between minutes 13 and 17. We care about you. Thanks for listening. 03:18 - Marc's obstacles early in his career 13:29 - How Krista thinks she will die 17:15 - Main Topic - Media's Portrayal Of Your Artistry  31:46 - Lacey's feelings on how media portrays her role as a marketer 

What Is An Old Reliable Muse? / What Is The State Of Your House? / Fail Share 04:07 - Jared's musical musings  17:43 - Tom's major fixer-upper 20:16 - Main Topic - Fail Share 36:26 - Approaching repeated failures 

What's Your Favorite Way To Consume Media? / If You Could Be A Music Genre, What Would You Be? / What Does Your Work Day Look Like? 02:03 - Derick describes his preferred environment for media consumption 06:59 - Krista has an existential crisis as to her music-genre personification 10:00 - Main Topic - What Does Your Work Day Look Like? 17:50 - Derick describes the merits of switching between tasks

How Different Is O-Neb Off Camera Compared To On Camera? / What Makes Designing Games More Problematic Than Designing Other Things? / Is Creativity Contagious? 01:42 - Tom claims off camera to be funnier  04:50 - Jared compares fulfillment of a game online to a board game 12:42 - Main Topic - Is Creativity Contagious? 16:39 - Krista describes the inherent creative force within us all

In What Ways Do You Sabotage Your Own Creative Potential? / Do You Think People's Interests Are Remaining Childish For Longer Than Past Generations? / Comparison & Cynicism In the Creative Space 03:10 - Tom discusses frittering away creativity on frittery things  17:50 - Childish Vs Childlike  23:25 - Main Topic - Comparison & Cynicism In The Creative Space 24:08 - Krista's ideal process of comparing her work to others' 

When You Switch To A New Project, How Often Do You Resurrect Old Ideas? / When Are You Most Creatively Motivated? / The Language of Visual & Verbal 03:37 - How Tom usually goes to his Idea Well 10:13 - Marc differentiates inspiration & motivation  16:36 - Main Topic - The Language of Visual & Verbal 19:25 - Tom discusses what you control & what is out of your control, in writing

What Is A Misunderstood Pop Culture Franchise That Doesn't Get Enough Credit? / Does A Team Made Up Of Creative-Types Handle Adversity Better Or Worse Than A More Traditional Team? / Fear's Role In Creativity 01:32 - Lacey shares which franchise she wishes was still around 08:23 - Kevin, joined by everyone, struggles to say "adversity" 12:46 - Main Topic - Fear's Role In Creativity  23:50 - Adorable fear monster, with large eyes

What is missing from Pop culture that would make it more for you? / How much do you think people's interests are the results of everyone else's? / Using Pop Culture as Escapism vs Catharsis 2:46 - Lacey recounts super powered squirrel 9:30 - Krista being suggested media 12:37 - Main Topic - Pop Culture As Escapism Vs Catharsis  22:45 - Derick's Escapisms 

Is Creativity Narcissistic? / Collecting Vs Consuming / Relationships With Hobbies  4:31 - Creating For Yourself Vs Others 12:23 - The Major Difference Between Consuming & Collecting  19:22 - Main Topic 19:17 - Jared's Hobbies 

How Important Is It To Keep Up On Emerging Industry Tech? / Best Or Most Powerful Memories At Orange Nebula / Villains In Storytelling 6:30 - Lacey distinguishes different ambitions of growth 13:23 - Lacey Recounts Vindication's First Kickstarter 22:42 - Main Topic - Villains In Storytelling  28:48 - Lacey discusses the background of the word "Villain" 

Do You Follow The Industry Happenings? / The Most Frustrating Things In The Board Game Business? / Control Issues 4:29 - Lacey's Industry Analysis  13:41 - Marc's Least Favorite Part Of It All 25:03 - Main Topic - Control Issues 37:40 - Jared Tells A Story Where He Seized Control 

What Is Creativity To You / Is Creativity Inherent or Nurtured / Importance of Environment on Creativity 2:05 - Theresa illustrates the two variations of creativity 14:23 - The difference between creatives & creative professionals 16:14 - Main Topic - Importance of Environment on Creativity 23:48 - Marc on exploring environments & horizons 

Working With Freelancers & Other Creatives / Is It More Productive To Work On A Single Project Or Several? / Destruction's Role In Creativity  10:21 - Krista's forest research 17:13 - Tom's focus cube 24:45 - Main Topic - Destruction's Role In Creativity  36:47 - Lacey's ritual of out destruction 

What Memories Does Theresa Have From Her Time At O-Neb? / What Perspective Has Tom Gained From Heart Surgery? / Passion Burnout 1:49 - Theresa recalls witnessing her impact 6:28 - Tom's inverse relationship with how connected you are to the world and how much you bring to it 15:04 - Main Topic - Passion Burnout 30:56 - Theresa's estimation on Marc & Tom's shifting ratio of passion

What Lasting Impression Do You Hope Your Work Will Have On Others? / Have Childhood Experiences Influenced Your Creative Endeavors? / Knowing When To Quit  4:43 - What kind of impression does Derick want to leave?  13:45 - Marc looks back on childhood  26:25 - Main Topic - Knowing When To Quit 38:30 - Lacey's describes productively starting over 

Is There Anything You Haven't Yet Achieved That You Feel Compelled To In The Future / How Much Of Your Own Life Is Reflected In Your Work / The Lottery Lie  5:50 - Marc's book on his suffering  8:46 - Lacey's 3 Core values as a person 14:51 - Main Topic - The Lottery Lie  19:50 - Jared's reframe of the "Lottery"  

How storytelling and world building relate to each other and work together as key components of a strong narrative experience. Come weave narrative with us on the Outpost podcast. 01:10 - Community Question: The journey from idea to execution is hard  - "The Shower Principle" 14:16 - Community Question: You can work on your creativity whenever/wherever 20:40 - Main Topic: Storytelling VS World Building 34:15 - Jared's take on humans as storytelling creatures

Perfection Vs. Excellence  / Determining Value of Board Games / Finding Your voice 02:10 – Community Question: Is the final push toward excellence a good use of time? 13:02 – Community Question: What determines the value of a board game?  18:30 – Main Topic: Finding your voice 36:00 – Lacey's Getting-It-Together methodology

How do analog vs. digital tools affect creativity?    1:19 - The “no accent” memo 1:22 - Is using GameFound as an alternative to Kickstarter good for the industry?  8:26: - Is the O-Neb team mostly alike or very different? 12:30 - Main Topic Begins: What are the differences between Analog and Digital creativity 35:11 Digital tools can be really distracting

What gives a creative endeavor charisma? Is it subjective? Tackling what x-factors the team explores how humans are hardwired to detect excellence.    2:39 - What's the point of slip-n-slides?   6:05 - Are we moving away from Kickstarter?  8:47 - Main Topic - Charismatic Products and Creators  22:58 - Derick sings, “A new hole.”

17:57 - I'm a storyteller - board games  24:16 - Wrinkle City 27:10 - Giant cheesecake trap  30:00 - Favorite house-rules for Vindication

Do you need a mentor? Is it even worth it? What does even having one look like?    After listening to this, we're curious about your take. How has having a mentor helped you? Does having a mentor make you better enough to recommend it to others?   5:35 - Professional break taker 19:15 - Tank of dead fish  21:17 - Mentos defined 47:51 - Can you reach excellence without a mentor?

Look we have been gone a while and just like a car that hasn't been driven in 8 months we had a rocky start. After the group got Theresa to be more than present everything went perfectly.   3:09 - Lacey implies her kids are still alive 14:21 - Theresa requests burn cream 36:56 - Do you have an obligation to share what you create? 57:29 - Emotional-support polar bears.

Sometimes improving ourselves is just too dang hard. Sometimes we lack the where-with-all for genuine improvement. It's moments like these where all we can attempt to do is just suck less. Tom, Theresa, Marc, and Lacey break down their trials and errors.

Agility, adaptability, flexibility - these are not inborn skills. Right? The O-Neb fam unpacks the importance of being agile.

4:10 Tom stares blankly at the wall with the refrigerator open eating olives  14:55 The team plans on how they are carefully annoying 34:31 The book, How to Win Friends and Influence People is summarized as, “Just listen to people and shut up.” 

How do you feed the machine of your creativity?   The team tackles their individual challenges to consume content to inspire them. We also talk about what we avoid. Are you similar? 

We're tackling that gap between comfort and success.    What happens when we leave our comfort zone? How can we manifest opportunities and push our projects to the next level? The team identifies how to embrace that discomfort and get to that next level. 

With the team spending so much time working remotely, what discoveries have we made?    We dive into fears, bad habits, and a deeper understanding of who we are. Have you found out the same things about yourself? 

With a huge focus on work revolving around maintaining passion - how can you do it?    The team tackles how to define passion, and then how they create space to cultivate their excitement for projects. 

How does a personal brand drive your success?    Derick and Mark get candid and share their journey working with clients and managing Blue Blazes. Expanding on that the team explores how charismatic brands invite others in and they share. 

We're exploring all the warning labels that should accompany the creative life.    So what are the hidden pitfalls? What dangers await those living a creative life? Dive in and tackle this issues with us. 

From extra body parts to reflecting on our need to extend grace, the team is at it again.  Entitlement culture. Is this a new thing? How do we view this as a challenge to conquer this within ourselves? How does this need affect how with our internal dialogue? 

Whew. It's been a while and the Outpost has recorded a new podcast. As the team brushes off the rust of not recording in a while, they tackle their self-care and the importance of working with pain to frame their creativity.

What's the morality of time travel?  Are we wise enough to wield time travel responsibly? We had a lot of fun delving into the perils of traveling through space and time. Tune in as we dive into our favorite tales of time travel and the important lessons this genre teaches.

What's the importance of having a thick skin?  Marc, Lacey, Derick, Mark “Daffirmation” Daffron lightly chatting about psycho-savage driving, our passions, and the importance of developing a thick skin.

What makes a healthy community? What is the purpose? Why should you pursue it? What brings people together?  It's an awesome time with some community questions about personal injuries -- join us!  *Hey, friends. This episode was recorded before COVID-19 hit and in it we discuss food washing habits. Obviously times have changed. Please refer to current recommendations from health officials regarding such things. We—obviously—are not health experts. Be safe. Because we like you.  

What does it mean to be an adult?  Marc, Lacey, Tom, and Derick explore creativity and the meaning of work. Why do we do what we do? Why does it matter? And then close things off with a discussion about what it means to be an adult, and (re)learning how to be a kid. 

Creativity throughout our lives changes in how it's expressed. Once creative people become parents, then what happens? Is their creativity sucked out of them? Does it grow superpowers? Lacey, Marc, Mark, and Theresa explore how parenthood caused them to explore creativity while raising children.

What is world-building, and are there secret methods to getting it right?  (There are always secret methods, and they rarely get it right.) Lacey, Marc, Theresa, and Tom dive into this, your mailbag questions, trusting your own imagination, and producing garbage. It's been a few weeks. We've missed you. 

Trashed vocal cords, cell phone destruction, and World of Warcraft round out a deeper discussion on finding healthy versions of yourself amid a culture that amplifies your own worst instincts. Really though, WOW players, you are needed. Help a lost fire mage find its forever home.

The mailbag opens up the most detailed dive yet into the mechanics and experience of the upcoming cosmic survival game: Unsettled. Then Lacey makes things all weird by asking the fam to explore their perceptions of themselves. 

What is the creative process? Can it be defined? Should it be defined? HAVE WE GONE TOO FAR!!?