Have You Ever Dreamed Of Designing, Creating, And Publishing Your Own Games?

Justin has managed to capture and communicate the process for designing games starting from the blank sheet of paper all the way to thousands of fans playing your game.”

-  Jordan Weisman
Creator of Shadowrun and BattleTech

"Justin Gary went from world champion Magic: The Gathering pro-tour competitor to award-winning game designer and then to multi-million-dollar CEO. He has a lot to teach."

- Peter Adkison
Founder of Wizards of the Coast

Join the newsletter to be the first to know about the next class!

Learn To Design (& Publish) Games With Justin Gary

As Seen In:

If you are anything like me, you love the idea of making awesome games to share with the world.

But starting down that creative path can be tough, and you probably don’t have time to waste making big mistakes that could cost thousands of dollars and hold your game back for years.

That's why, after a 20-year career in game design, a game design book, and a game design podcast, I've decided to create a course.

Introducing the Think Like A Game Designer Mastery Course. A simple and effective way to learn game design.

This course will not just help you learn to bring your game to life, but teach you to take the first steps toward a career in game design.

The Think Like A Game Designer Mastery Course is a step-by-step approach to game design that will give you the confidence to create your game and the knowledge to side-step the design mistakes that every new designer makes.

This course is designed to transform you from a person with games on the brain to games on the table.

I'll show you how to come up with ideas, iterate on your design, prototype on the cheap, effectively play-test, and finally, get your game published.

— Justin Gary

What's Included In Justin's Game Design Course?

If you signup for the Think Like A Game Designer Mastery Course right now, you'll get tons of hands-on training from me and my team:

01

Pitch Your Game to a Publisher

During the Think Like A Game Designer Mastery Course, you'll learn how to create all the tools you need to pitch your game to a publisher. After creating your pitch materials (video + sell sheet), Justin's team will review them and give you detailed feedback so you can be confident that your pitch is ready to show off!

Pitch Day! With your material ready and polished, we'll put you in front of real publishers to pitch your game. This is a rare and exciting opportunity that has the potential to change your life forever.

"Probably the strongest batch of game submissions I’ve ever seen in one day! It’s clear that the students who went through this program learned a lot about how to design, playtest, and pitch a game. Very impressive!"

—Johnny O'Neal, CEO, Brotherwise Games, Publisher of Boss Monster

02

Monthly Mastermind Calls with Justin Gary

These are monthly live group calls with Justin and your fellow classmates. In these Masterminds, you can ask questions and get advice on your designs. These are incredible opportunities to workshop your game and hone your creative skills!

New! In addition, to the monthly Masterminds, you'll now be able to join weekly Accountability Masterminds. This is an incredible opportunity to get regular, powerful feedback on your game and to make friends with designers in the community!

03

Justin's Private Game Design Community

The Think Like A Game Designer Discord is a way for you to interact with your classmates, Justin Gary, and the design team from Stone Blade. Get advice, meet other designers, and have fun.

New! We're adding Weekly Design Questions to the curriculum. These are discussion prompts that keep up-and-coming designers motivated and thinking while they work on their games. These questions often lead to new game ideas, new perspectives on current concepts, and even design breakthroughs!

04

Playtesters, Playtesters, Playtesters!

Playtesting, feedback and iteration cycles are the keys to building a great game, but building a playtest community can be really tough—so we've got you covered!

New! The Think Like A Game Designer community now includes a fully managed calendar to make sure that every student has a chance to regularly playtest their game with other like-minded designers and members of the Stone Blade team!

05

The Best of the Mastermind Calls

New! Over the past few years, Justin has spoken with dozens of up-and-coming game designers, helping them to develop their games into products they could pitch to publishers. In this course, we've added the best moments from those mastermind calls—a hand-picked collection of the most impactful moments for you to learn from!

"If you're interested in making games, at basically any stage in game design, I think that this would be a great course for you."

- Jimmy, TLAGD Student

06

40+ Video Lessons + Assignments

This course includes 40+ step-by-step video lessons, along with assignments, to take you from developing ideas, to prototyping, and eventually, to publishing and Kickstarting your game. You'll get lessons from Justin himself, along with guest speakers and industry experts, to make sure you receive the best, most well-structured and easy-to-follow game design education possible.

07

Accountability + Encouragement

This course includes a variety of tools to help students make regular progress on their game, custom deadlines, along with team encouragement and feedback.

08

Plus, Even More Bonuses:

Justin will also include a bunch of additional books and guides to support you on your journey into game design, they include:

  • Justin's Pitch Primer and Sell Sheet Template
  • Justin's PAX Talk "How to Make Games That Last."
  • Exclusive Q&A Video from PAX 2019
  • The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design
  • Puzzlecraft and the Puzzlecraft Workbook PDFs
  • And more!

Join the newsletter to be the first to know about the next class!

Game Design Success Stories

"If you love games and you want to make them: join this class."

- David

"Everyone is so supportive and encouraging. We're all constantly learning and sharing new ideas with one another."

- Lucas

"The last three or four weeks have changed the game, for the better, instrumentally."

- Konstantino

"It's been a great experience."

- Darren

"If you are interested in getting into game design or you're already a game designer and you want to get better at game design, you should take the think like a game designer mastery class."

- Nathan

"I think it's fair to say that the Think Like A Game Designer Mastery Course has given me the tools, the network and a hell of a lot of inspiration that I need, to ship something I could be proud of."

- Chris

"Justin provides a lot of great information and great support. I was very happy to have taken the class. I would pretty much recommended this to anyone who is starting out, trying to get into game design, or even if you've had some experience."

- David

"If you're interested in making games, at basically any stage in game design, I think that this would be a great course for you."

- Jimmy

In Justin's Course You Will:

  • Pitch your game to a real publisher! To prepare, get your pitch materials reviewed by the Stone Blade team so that your first pitch is at its best!
  • Master Justin's step-by-step Game Design techniques for building games from scratch, with a limited budget, from start to finish.
  • Test your games without ego so you can quickly solve your project's biggest sticking points.
  • Effectively combine pre-existing game mechanics to create new and fantastic designs that players will love.
  • Master the Core Design Loop process so that you can efficiently and effectively root out problems and iterate like a pro.
  • Avoid the Three Big Rulebook Mistakes that nearly every novice designer makes.
  • Learn how you can make a living as a game designer and get your games published!
  • Learn to implement Justin's Kickstarter Strategies that have been used to successfully crowdfund millions of dollars!
  • Answer the Design Motivation Questions to create the life of your dreams as a game designer.
  • Apply Justin's Prototyping Principles that can turn the things you already have in your home into hugely successful games. 
  • Discover the counter-intuitive secret ingredient that gets players excited to play your game and buy expansions.
  • Embrace the Always Be Exploring mentality that will become a limitless source of game design potential.
  • Learn the Game in a Box Technique to help you design games and game mechanics on the spot!
  • Find out what Justin's Never-Forget Tips are, lessons he’s distilled from over 20 years in the gaming industry.
  • Learn the biggest mistake novice game designers make when it comes to creating their first game and how to avoid it.
  • Maximize the enjoyable experiences of your players so your game stands the test of time.

What Are Group Masterminds?

Group Masterminds are periodic calls designed to create a variety of different learning experiences.

These will include:

Q&A hot-seats where you'll talk about your design with Justin's team and get instant feedback.

Conversations with talented game designers from across the industry so you can learn from the best.

Justin's personal tips and tricks for overcoming problems that are specific to your games.

New lessons based on Justin's current experience in game design. Here, he'll walk you through the process he's using for one of his personal projects so you can see the lessons in action.

"Even experienced designers will benefit from looking at design through his eyes."

- Richard Garfield
Creator of Magic: The Gathering

"Justin Gary is a brilliant game designer and a great teacher. He has learned from experience and is awesome at breaking down the principles of design in ways that are easy to understand and act upon."

- Rob Dougherty
Founder and CEO of White Wizard Games

FAQs

How long do I have access to the course?

Time constraints are proven to increase a person’s motivation to complete a project or course. You’ll have a full year to access the course materials, but you’ll likely complete the course in 12-weeks, especially with us helping you along the way.

What if I am unhappy with the course?

If you do the work and are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the up to 30 days after your purchase and we will give you a full refund and you can keep the bonuses as our gift to you.

Do I have to have any previous game design experience?

Nope. Just a desire to make games.

If I have previous game design experience will this course help me?

Yes, absolutely. The Think Like A Game Designer Mastery Course is designed to take anyone who joins to the next level. Whether you're brand new or a veteran of design, you'll be glad you joined the fun.

Your Course Includes:

40+ Video Lessons +
Assignments

Monthly Live
Mastermind Calls

Private Design
Community

Pitch Material
Review

BECOME A GAME DESIGNER TODAY.

Sign Up to learn about the Course, the Podcast and get FREE Game Design Lessons

30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE