Connor Milliken
Today’s featured designer is Connor Milliken. Connor is a co-designer of game Masters of the Gridiron, published by Sports Mogul. Connor will also be joining us on May 14th, 2016.
Three random facts about Connor:
He played collegiate baseball.
Has jumped out of a plane before.
He has traveled to over 50% of the U.S. states via car.
Questions Kimberly Bullock (KB), answers by Connor Milliken (CM).
Three game design related questions:
KB: How did you decide to move from video game design and into board game design?
CM: The creation of Masters of the Gridiron (MoTG) essentially came to fruition because we were interested in turning the game of football into a fun card game that used our game engine from Football Mogul. Clay (CEO of Sports Mogul, Inc.) had the idea in his head for a while and wanted to finally bring it to paper. After several months of designing the game and mechanics, we were able to begin a Kickstarter to fund the project.
KB: Are there plans to add more decks to the Masters of the Gridiron series?
CM: We intend to come out with new decks every year! Each year the Super Bowl teams (from the previous year) will be added and possibly historic teams as well; such as 2007 Patriots, 1985 Bears, etc.
KB: Does the clientele from your video game market cross-over into your board game market? Or do the markets differ?
CM: The markets are certainly different, but we did get many backers who supported our venture because they do enjoy our games. A sports card game has a niche market, but we received a lot of great responses from the product after launch. Today we sell our products on our Amazon page and the MoTG official site (motg.net).
Three questions just for fun:
KB: What is your favorite sports team?
CM: I'm a die hard all New England/Boston sports fan. I was born and raised to be a Boston fan and I wouldn't have it any other way!
KB: What video game have you spent too many hours playing?
CM: Tough question, mostly because there's a few. I enjoy just about any video game, but the one game I probably spent too much time on was Madden NFL. I even wrote a 30-page manual in a college writing class for a final paper.
KB: Which board games have you played and immediately wanted to play again?
CM: For me, I always enjoy funny and engaging games, so something like Balderdash or Cards Against Humanity come to my mind first. However; as a game designer and creator, I really enjoy playing games that other people took time to create because they put all of their heart and passion into designing that game. For me it's truly the effort that goes into a game that makes it so fun to play.
