Who are you, and what do you do?
I'm Rob Daviau and I'm a board game designer. I think of ideas, make prototypes, and then test them until the game is done. I do not take the game to a print-ready/manufacturing state. That is up to a publisher. My goal is to make a good playing game.
What hardware do you use?
A MacBook Pro and a four-color home printer. Scissors. Markers. An x-acto blade. Pens. A notebook.
And what software?
I'm in Google Docs and Sheets a lot. I do a lot of collaborating with remote people and we share documents. Docs are used for ideas and rules. Sheets are used for card design. I use Adobe InDesign to import spreadsheet data into cards and tokens. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop lets me build other components such as a gameboard. I spend a lot of time in meetings via Skype. Other than that it is email and the basic Apple Notes. I've tried planning software and checklist software over the years but it is always too robust for my needs.
What would be your dream setup?
I'd like a 3D printer for physical components such as game pieces, and it would be nice to have something that could cut out all my parts. Both of these are in market; I just haven't taken the jump to buying either a 3D printer or a cutter. I also work from home and never have a good place to put my physical prototypes. My kids are tired of half-finished games on the dining room table. Getting a proper studio with some large tables would help a lot.
Mostly I'd like to have playtesters on call, who can show up to play a game when needed. I'm likely to move to a larger city in a few years and that might help with that issue.