Life & Work with Jonathan Weaver of Rome, GA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Weaver.

Hi Jonathan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The year is 2017 and I have a pretty free summer and have been loving playing all the hobby board games as they rise into prominence in American hobby due to success of Catan, Pandemic, Carcassonne, and others. I decided to try to make my own board game about a medieval historic period and the design fever caught my mind and passion alight. After 20+ game ideas created and eventually 3 games worth being played by the greater public. As an indie game designer, I began looking to get board games licensed to publishers by playtesting them to a refined prototype and then pitching them to particular publishers that the game may fit. After doing this for 3 years and having moderate success with getting publishers interested in many games, the pandemic of Covid-19 hit.

As I continued to pitch during 2020, there was a clear disconnect between the designing of new games and my passion for GREAT games to be finished and players to enjoy them grew! At the same time, a close friend began a self-publishing journey of a game and I became the main developer on that particular project. As a developer in the board game industry, you act more like an editor and quality assurance to make sure the designer’s intended experience is the most refined and enjoyable.

Therefore, I realized that supporting creators and publishers was a FAR more exciting and energizing role for my efforts and created GameWeaver Games to weave joy into games and the people that play them! I wanted to do anything I can to help publishers to weave prototypes into products in whatever way we can collaborate. Thus, GameWeaver Games was born!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No entrepreneurial endeavor that attempts to be successful will be a smooth road. Even more so when you don’t have any capital when you begin and you plan never to take a loan or go into debt. When my 3 friends and I decided to create GameWeaver Games and attempt to gather new clients by going to conventions, stay up late after our day job hours to playtest, write reports, and write emails, all while balancing other family and friend relationships we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, smooth, or without trial. Yet, when you see a need that you feel a passion to serve then you can sacrifice for that goal and not see the struggles as only difficulties but as opportunities.

Now what I’m not saying is that 80+ hours of walking convention halls in a weekend attempting to convince publishers that you could help them is not a struggle. It was. For all of us. As we were turned away or asked “what games have you made?” or “where’s your portfolio?” for the nth time. What I would say is that if grit and tenacity aren’t part of your DNA then you might not make it as an entrepreneur. But there’s still very much to be said about those who support you in the midst of those trials.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We are specialize in game development, product mapping, issue tracking, game arch streamlining, rulebook layout, and psychographic playtesting.
These all sound like jargon words to any one outside of tabletop game development and sometimes sound that way to those inside the industry as well. We are constantly educating and consulting with publishers and creators to keep a language of development alive and accurate.

One of the words in this group that truly sets us apart in the development world is Psychographic Playtesting because many of the publishers in the board game world will accept any player who might give them time to enjoy their games but we know that your target audience for a game isn’t just every Joe or Sally. (No offense if you’re a Joe or Sally) Your game is meant to be bought and played by a particular customer and player that has a certain psychographic. Well, the main issue is that if you’re playtesting and editing the game along its design journey with players that aren’t your main customer then the game and maybe more specifically the product will not be crafted for the right players. Feedback all seems good and helpful at the time but in the end if it makes iterative changes to the game for the wrong person then the game could not find its intended audience as easily. This all makes sense to most of us as consumers but it is easy in the board game publishing world due to difficulty in finding the “right” testers.

What matters most to you?
So, at GameWeaver Games we a strong purpose statement and a few values that guide our decisions, postures, and work.

“We exist to weave joy into games for the people that play them.”

This is fundamentally about fueling games as a vessel for joy! We want any game we touch in any way to come away bringing more joy into the players lives of that game because we supported or assisted that publisher or creator. There is nothing more integral to our work than to make sure our aim is joy!

Therefore, our professional values as a collective of developers, artists, writers, and creators are Joy, Kinship, Vision, Success through Excellence, & Creativity.

I wont go through every value but I will pull out a few to highlight. Kinship may seem strange in a for-profit business world. And to be honest, it feels like a oddball one to us as well. But due to our genesis into the board game designing world AND professional development being built on the relational rapport and serving others first mentality We couldn’t help but hope to continue to instill this into the industry that we love so much! Humans find all kinds of reasons to divide and despise each others’ differences. But one of the things that drew us to the table of games is that everyone can be a player. Everyone could find an action, decision, or experience to enjoy TOGETHER! So, we couldn’t get away from our company bringing others in with the hospitality of Kinship! We are all humans navigating this world and seeking joy in various things. We hope to value others as if they were Kin and show them where we’ve been finding joy in this life…around a table most of the time!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gameweavergames.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gweavergames/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090366070925
• Other: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedeveloper/161307/gameweaver-games

Image Credits
Andrew Rayn Photography