“We don’t make entertaining games. We make games that make the people you’re playing with entertaining.”
Entering the gaming market with this explosive motto, a startup by the name of Exploding Kittens transformed the realm of interactive non-virtual gaming by crafting the hit-card game by the same name, Exploding Kittens. The company went on to break records as the highest-funded Kickstarter at the time (2015) and sold over eighteen million copies. However, there’s more to these games hidden underneath the bright-colored cards and humorous art style. Behind each product is a vast network of creative inventors, who are responsible for crafting the specially-curated games that have dominated the card and board game scene for the recent decade.
For Senior Game Designer of Exploding Kittens Ian Clayman, he’s been part of the team that has brought Exploding Kitten’s new projects to life since 2019, yet his journey up to this point has been filled with twists and turns.
“I only realized I wanted to do game design in high school. Before that, the plan was always to become an architect,” Mr. Clayman said. “I just found the idea of creating spaces for people really engaging.”
A self-described introvert, Star Trek fan, and stereotypical nerd, Mr. Clayman realized early on that in order to push himself out of his shell and explore his hidden passions, he had to proactively take some steps forward in high school itself in order to ascertain what he wanted to do with his future.
”The first three, four months of high school were difficult and I really struggled for that fall into that winter to kind of find my space,” Mr. Clayman said. “I think it was just a combination of saying screw it, I am who I am, people should know who I am, if they don’t like me I haven’t lost anything and if I am outwardly who I am, I will find people of my interests and my background who I mesh with.”
Sure enough, it turned out that Mr. Clayman discovered a group of friends who he claims were just as shy and nerdy as he was, friends he still keeps in touch with to this day. In fact, it was one of these friends that kickstarted his passion for game design.
“In my sophomore year of high school, a friend introduced me to Doctor Who. There [was this concept] in that show of the TARDIS, which is a machine, spaceship, [and] time machine, kind of all rolled in one, and was bigger on the inside than it is on the outside,” Mr. Clayman said.“The first time I saw that I had two thoughts. The first was [that] this is the coolest thing that I’ve ever seen in my life. And the second was ‘Oh no!’ if I become an architect, I’m going to be bound by the rules of physics.”
Mr. Clayman’s fascination with Doctor Who continued, as he explored the show and the games its fans created.
“I did a deep dive on the show and found people who had made essentially video game demos of what the TARDIS could function like: [how] you could walk through and explore [the world] like a video game level and the fact that you can create spaces and experiences in gaming [where] you get to build the rules, or do whatever seems the coolest or the most fun or the most interesting,” Mr. Clayman said. “From [that point on], I knew that I wanted to go into game design, and I basically told myself that I would do whatever it took to make that a reality.”
However, while Mr. Clayman had asserted the professional destination he aimed to reach, the journey there wasn’t easy. When Mr. Clayman first set out to study game design in 2012, he found a lack of proven programs that were focused on game design. In fact, the first college game design program he attended had a syllabus of primarily hardcore coding, with just a few art and film classes scattered throughout. He left the program feeling burnt out and unfulfilled.
“It took a while. I basically spent about two years working odd jobs,” Mr. Clayman said. “My mentality was, if I’m not ready to jump back into that pool immediately, the best thing I can do is at least give myself the tools, whether it’s work experience or cash to make sure that the next time I pursue my education, I’m better equipped.”
Eventually, Mr. Clayman signed up for a private program based out of New York called Playcrafting NYC. Essentially a video game design boot camp, the immersive experience provided Mr. Clayman with an eight-week intensive camp of game design — both physical and digital, part of which included an assignment to create his own board game, which reenergized his passion for authentic game design.
“That process of just doing something and feeling that forward momentum, and looking at the end of it and going like, look, I did the thing. [Realizing that] I can do this, was the kick that I needed,” Mr. Clayman said. [The experience] taught me that when you’re struggling and you kind of feel stuck, you have to break the problem down to the smallest possible step. You take one step forward, and you prove to yourself that you can take one step. Then you take a second step forward, and as long as you feel like you are moving in the right direction, eventually, you can build back up the confidence to run.”
From that starting point, Mr. Clayman was able to find his momentum and soon entered into a fulfilling game design program: becoming an intern at Exploding Kittens. After exhibiting his passion and evolving skill, Mr. Clayman was then able to work his way up to Senior Game Designer in the company by coming up with innovative solutions to game design challenges along the way.
“[One of the first] ideas at the time that I worked on was [this idea of] Scrabble meets Codenames,” Clayman said. “You have a bunch of letter tiles, you have to come up with a secret word, and then write down as many words as you can find in that pool of tiles to earn points. If you manage to also find your opponent’s secret word, you score additional points on top of that.”
However, the idea encountered roadblocks as the design process progressed.
“The game was fun, but it wasn’t great, and eventually we were in a meeting banging our heads against this wall of, like, why is this game not clicking?” Mr. Clayman said. “Eventually I said, ‘What if we’re making two different games?’ And I kind of got confused looks [in the pitch room] and said, ‘What if we’re making a fast-paced word unscrambling game and a really tense strategic find-the-opponent’s-secret-word game?’ That kind of blew the doors open on solving this problem.”
It was this type of thinking that opened the doors for two games to be made.
“It took this real obstacle of, like, why does this game feel like it’s at odds with itself, and made us realize not only did we have a good idea — we actually had two good ideas,” Clayman said. “[One team] ended up taking the fast-paced word unscrambling concept and they made this cool project called Kitty Letter, while we took the secret word game, and that became known as A Little Wordy, which I was lead designer on. [It was] a really cool two-person word game about being clever and trying to suss out your opponent’s secret word before they get yours.”
A Little Wordy became a full-fledged Exploding Kittens game, having over 1000 five star reviews and 500 monthly sales on Amazon. Mr. Clayman’s success continues with his newest game, created in collaboration with reality T.V. show Survivor host,Jeff Probst. The game, Exploding Kittens Survivor: The Tribe has Spoken, has already earned stellar reviews from critics and fans alike. After being part of Exploding Kittens for four years, Mr. Clayman sees the tabletop gaming industry only continuing to expand.
“There was this idea that once video games came along, board games would kind of die a slow death,” Mr. Clayman said. “The fact that it wasn’t just the video game industry that grew during the pandemic demonstrated that people have a real desire for real-life experiences. There’s something magical about board games: they’re tangible, you can pick them up, experience them, and share them. As long as you are doing interesting and exciting things with the opportunity of the board game as a package, you’ll always be able to find people who are interested in seeing what you can create.”
Mr. Clayman explains that game creation isn’t just restricted to adults, and that anyone can begin the steps of bringing their own idea to life: all it takes is the spark of belief.
“There is nothing stopping you from making a board game. The only things you need are some paper and a pen. I mean, we do this professionally, where if we have an idea, we’ll grab a deck of blank cards, which you can just substitute for literal scraps of paper and a Sharpie, and we’ll just start writing things out,” Mr.Clayman said. “The barrier of entry to making a board game or a card game is so low that the only thing stopping you is thinking that you aren’t good enough. And you never know until you try.”
According to Mr. Clayman, the true magic in board games isn’t in creating the most fantastical setup or elaborate gameplay. Instead, it’s focusing on bringing out the magic that resides in each player.
“What I think the best games do is give you some really cool options and let you figure out how you want to play,” Mr. Clayman said. “If you can make a game that makes your players laugh and feel clever, that’s when you know you have a real winner.”
