Kevin Craine
Today’s feature designer is Kevin Crane, who also happens to be one of our Granite Game Summit organizers. Kevin is a Husband, and a father to two boys, who loves to create, no matter the medium. He is an amateur game designer who is in the process of publishing his first game, Robit Riddle, but does not currently have any games on the market.
Three random facts about Kevin:
Google "Mega Man Costume" or "Death Star Tree Topper" the first link/pic will likely be of stuff he has made.
Saw Tron for the first time at school in 5th grade, it inspired him to go to college for computer art.
He failed English in college and had to take it in the summer in order to pass it, yet his game relies heavily on writing.
Questions by Kimberly Bullock (KB), answers by Kevin Crane (KC).
Three game design related questions:
KB: If you could collaborate with any game designer, who would it be?
KC: (Kevin cheated a bit and chose more than one answer) This could go two ways, work with someone that I align with or someone I think would be very different from myself? For someone that I think are different and I could learn a lot from would be either Stefan Feld or Uwe Rosenberg. Love their games, but they are very far from what I typically would design.
For someone that I think I would align with would be Isaac Vega/Jonathan Gilmour. My very first design of a game feels a lot like Dead of Winter. Once I played it I thought... this would be exactly how I want it to play and feel. I know... that is 4 people, too hard to pick one.
KB: How long have you been into hobby gaming?
KC: Only 4 years. When moving to NH I needed to meet new people and thought I needed a change. I went on Meetup and found board games, and thought, oh I love Clue and Risk, let’s do that. I showed up to someone’s house for the first time and they had Arkham Horror with some expansions laid out. I looked at them and said... "Well, I guess we aren't playing something like Clue." The people were amazing and the game was fantastic. I was hooked completely.
KB: Is there one publisher that you would really love to work with?
KC: Hmm... my end goal is to establish my own publishing company. While I love coming up with ideas and seeing them through I really enjoy the process of bringing something to market. Maybe my mind will change after I have Robit Riddle in people’s hands, only time will tell.
Three questions that are just for fun.
KB: Where are you originally from, and how did you end up in NH?
KC: Originally from many places, but I guess I would call the Cleveland Suburbs home. I worked at Geauga Lake Amusement Park (which is no longer). I went to college in Ohio, but after graduating and not wanting to move to the west coast I ended up in Atlanta for 12 years.
After my wife and I started having kids we wanted to get back to 4 seasons. I was working remotely and could move anywhere. We both absolutely fell in love with New England, specifically New Hampshire, more specifically the Portsmouth area, so we moved there. Have not regretted the decision ever, it's amazing here.
KB: What is your favorite food?
KC: I love all foods, and I'm spoiled to have an amazing wife who is an amazing cook. She can take anything and make it so much better. Because of this I really no longer like restaurant food. So anything that she cooks would be my answer, but if I had to pick an ethnicity it would be Greek with Indian as a close 2nd.
KB: What is your favorite spot in NH?
KC: The mountains, I love to hike and the views are breath-taking. And I love it there all season long, though I have yet to hike in the snow but it will happen.
Kevin’s game is named: Robit Riddle,
And his company is: Baba Geek Games
You can find him online at:
On Twitter: @baba_geek
BGG: craineum
