Tips & Resources for Board Game Designers
Our annual Cardboard Edison Best Practices booklet, filled with board game design tips and resources for every step of the process, is back!
evaluating playtesters’ feedback
improving your rulebook
making your prototype more usable with graphic design
setting design goals for yourself
and lots more!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EPqJLYnwt0LXDEmZaZ8ebbA6M2MS_quN/view
Digging into a fundamental question about games: What are rules? And what kinds of rules come into play with board games? (audio):
https://decisionspace.podbean.com/e/the-5-types-of-rules-what-we-talk-about/
Good examples of tutorials, learning scenarios, and built-in how-to-plays in board game rulebooks—a Bluesky game design discussion:
https://bsky.app/profile/emmalarkins.bsky.social/post/3l4wjv6l2532y
The problem with board game rulebooks:
https://geekdad.com/2024/08/the-problem-of-board-game-rulebooks/
Examples of excellent rulebooks—a BoardGameGeek forum discussion:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3328162/in-praise-of-excellent-rulebooks
When writing a rulebook, there are four different audiences to keep in mind:
https://bsky.app/profile/tzartzam.bsky.social/post/3kus24mydpf2r
Tips for simplifying your game’s rules—a Bluesky board game designers’ discussion:
https://bsky.app/profile/drunkcrunkfranken.bsky.social/post/3kszvh3m4qk2t
Translating game text to language-neutral diagrams—a step-by-step process:
https://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/translating-game-text-to-language.html
Things to look for in a quality rulebook, and things that make one poorly written—a Bluesky board game community discussion:
https://bsky.app/profile/sarahsharp.bsky.social/post/3ko3hgfxmd524
Tips for making board game icons that work well:
https://www.thedarkimp.com/blog/2023/12/06/can-icons-make-or-break-your-game/
Two common reasons why players may forget a rule, and what you could do to address the issue:
https://twitter.com/BenjaminGoldman/status/1641494210560897034
