Hi, I'm Joseph Z Chen. I live in the Seattle area with my wife and two kids. I work as a software engineer for my day job but board games is my passionate side hustle.
The games I work on range from mid-weight puzzly euros to highly interactive games to casual party games. I enjoy making games that I can share with my friends and family and that get people together to the table. Seeing as many people people play and have fun with my games is what drives me.
When it comes to designing games, I believe less is more. I constantly strive for elegance and simplicity in my designs. My approach is to find the fun and carve away everything that doesn't support that fun. The result is often a focused game that is easy to learn and delivers on the promise of fun.
From time to time I write about my experiences in the tabletop industry. I'm a strong believer in sharing knowledge and supporting others who are trying to make games. I write about a wide range of topics including game design, pitching, publishing, marketing, crowdfunding, and convention experiences. I encourage you to check it out:
Within the board game industry I've had experience playing many roles. The first game I designed, Fantastic Factories, was with my good friend Justin Faulkner. Together we self-published the game through Kickstarter in 2018 -- raising over $160k across more than 4,000 backers. Through that process I learned about the business of board games as well as did the art AND graphic design myself. A couple years later we released two expansions.
I no longer publish games but both design games independently and work closely with Flatout Games as a part of their CoLab team to do game development. Through the CoLab I worked on Verdant, Knitting Circle, Cascadia Junior, Propolis, Point Galaxy, and a few other yet-to-be-announced titles.
Additionally I am actively designing games. Two of my games, Honeypot and Malarkey (co-designed with Randy Flynn), are signed with publishers, and I have a number of other designs in progress at any given time.
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any interest in my unsigned games, have questions about me and my game industry experience, or just want to say hi. You can find me on BlueSky or you can send me an email at info@josephzchen.me.