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“It seems this would be obvious, but throughout dev, many things change. What felt good once isn’t optimum later on.”
— Brenda Garno (@br)

At what point is a game perfect?

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Benny Sperling (@benny275):
At what point is a game perfect? (Meaning no more playtesting) What would you consider a “perfect” game and why?

Samuel A. Liberty (@SA_Liberty):
When you’ve chiseled away all the bits that aren’t fun.

Grant Rodiek (@HerrohGrant):
I think Herr Liberty makes a good point. … I sincerely believe it’s one of the few pieces of philosophical nonsense that adds value.

Bryan Fischer (@bryanfischer):
It’s not about developing a perfect game, it’s about tweaking a game until its rules cannot be broken. Could still be a bad game.

Michael Fox (@idlemichael):
Surely there’s no such thing as a perfect game? You just need to know when to step back and say you’re done. But that’s HARD.

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“Failure and rejection inciting you to quit? The only difference between you and the masters of your craft is that they never gave up.”
— Jay Treat (@jtreat3)
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“Life, Management, Design… If you are a leader, lead; if you are a follower, follow; if you just want to stand around, get out of the way.”
— Reiner Knizia (@ReinerKnizia)
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“When doing a Kickstarter video, please get to the point and sell me your pitch. Then you’ll have time to be funny after I’m hooked.”
— Chris Hanrahan (@ChrisHanrahan)
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“Step 1: buy bathroom tile (square or hex). Step 2: soak until the backing comes off. Scrub. Step 3: use as tiles for physical prototypes.”
— Ian Schrieber (@IanSchrieber$
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“Note to Designers: Taking a genre and swapping out components is not an innovation.”
— Grant Rodiek (@HerrohGrant)
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“For future Kickstarter surveys, I recommend adding a multiple choice question: “Would you like to receive emails from us?””
— Tasty Minstrel Games (@TastyMinstrel)
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“Innovation comes from seeing what everybody else has seen before, but thinking what nobody else has thought before.”
— Reiner Knizia (@ReinerKnizia)
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“People, accepting the USPS flat rate box price is usually not the cheapest option for a single game! Use their box, but ship by size/weight.”
— The Noble Gamer (@ianoble)
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“Theme is a context to make mechanics intuitive. Theme feedback [from playtesters] can be a flag that the mechanics aren’t “making sense”.”
— Visible Hand Games (@vhgames)
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“An elegant, efficient design should be the goal of every game—and every game designer.  After all, most of us don’t really want to feel like we’re doing time on a stationary bicycle when we get together for a game night.  We want the mental exercise, but we also want to go somewhere, and an efficient, elegant design makes the ride smoother and every aspect of the experience easier to enjoy.”
— Jeffrey D. Allers
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“Ultimately with any game I design, I want that finished game to be as close as possible to a state where it lacks nothing and needs nothing more.”

“Whatever piece you put in or take out should be there or not because it is essential to the very nature of the whole.”

- Todd Sanders (@lackriver) on Why I Design Games

http://whyidesigngames.tumblr.com/post/20899808185/todd-sanders

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“My First Principle of Game Publishing: Work with competent publishers, or you will have delays, inferior products and a lot of extra work.”
— Reiner Knizia (@ReinerKnizia)
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“Your precious mechanisms are not the primary goal; they are a means to an end.”
— Asger Sams Granerud, interviewed on Bellwether Games