Made for Play: Board Games & Modern Industry

What randomness is, why it matters and occurs in gaming, how we can interpret and analyze randomness, and when it is or is not an appropriate game mechanism for a game design:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/11133/as-luck-would-have-it-on-randomness-uncertanity-a

SEE ALSO:

http://cardboardedison.tumblr.com/post/24951789254/the-ludology-podcast-takes-a-look-at-the-use-of

Jeffrey D. Allers has posted the text of a lecture he gave some architecture students in Berlin. It’s a solid overview of the history of board games, the current industry, design process, theory and more:

http://opinionatedgamers.com/2012/07/20/postcard-from-berlin-56-lecturing-on-game-design-at-the-technical-university/

“Don’t invent just to invent a game. A good idea that you can see through to the end will come when it is ready.”

— Casey Grove, designer of The Big Fat Tomato Game

Sam Liberty (@SA_Liberty) and Kevin Spak (@Captain_Spak) discuss “What is fun?” at TEDxBoston

Some tips for organizing your ideas and quick prototyping, from Darrell Hardy (@HardyTales):

http://darrellhardy.com/archives/tips-from-the-design-files

Kickstarter For Board Games 101

The Paper Money podcast covers the basics of how to use Kickstarter to finance a board game:

http://www.purplepawn.com/2012/07/paper-money-65-kickstarter-summer-doldrums/

Anatomy of a Kickstarter board game project. Dollar by dollar, week by week, what does it take to reach your goal?

Uniforge Games (@UniForgeGames) discusses Top This! on the Game Whisperer’s (@GameWhisperer) Funding the Dream podcast:

http://www.buzzsprout.com/4646/53976

Legal precautions for game designers: the Law of the Geek (@lawofthegeek) podcast talks to @Jennisodes about Project Ninja Panda Taco:

http://lawofthegeek.com/2012/07/15/lotg-20-project-ninja-panda-taco-legal-precautions-for-game-designers/

Lessons on crowdfunding a project, learned from academic study and real-world efforts, on the Funding the Dream podcast:

http://www.buzzsprout.com/4646/53791-funding-the-dream-on-kickstarter-ep-68-go-crowdfund

Hidden depth in games: What is it, how to capture it?
 
http://hyperbolegames.com/2012/07/16/hidden-depth/

How important is it for a strategy game set in the real world to be factually accurate?
 
http://paintedwoodencubes.com/2012/07/16/matters-of-fact/

End Gamers (@End_gamers) wants to interview the creators of new and upcoming tabletop games:

http://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopgamedesign/comments/wikr0/were_looking_for_tabletop_designers_who_want_to/

Some Kickstarter stats:

Established publishers, pledge levels and project duration:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/11960/kickstarter-qa-with-data-and-a-graph

Kickstarter’s biggest winners, by publisher:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/11967/kickstarter-analytics-biggest-winners-by-publisher

Most-funded game mechanics:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/11970/kickstarter-analytics-year-gains-and-game-mechanic

Need an artist for your game? Cartrunk Entertainment’s website now lists graphic designers and artists interested in board games:
 
http://unpub.net/unpub-artists/

Board Game Designers Forum’s Game Design Showdown - July 2012

Design a game that can be set up and played in less than five minutes.

Deadline: July 17

“Rules have rules: All things being equal, fewer words is better. All things being equal, fewer words is also harder. And more work.”

— Brett J. Gilbert (@55cards)

The Bamboozle Brothers outline the final step of the publication process on their blog Inspiration to Publication:

Step 33: Promoting Your Game

http://inspirationtopublication.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/step-33-promoting-your-game/

“

Unfortunately, a game that’s personally satisfying isn’t necessarily commercially viable.

And it gets worse: a game that plays very well for its intended audience, might not be one that can easily be marketed.  Two different things.

”

— Lewis Pulsipher (@lewpuls)

Emergent game design tips from Daniel Cook (@danctheduck):

Every object in the game has both a utility and a cost.

Make as many objects as you can have secondary or tertiary uses via interactions with other objects.

Put the player under pressure (time, resource, space, etc) so that they are always forced to choose between

Loosely couple object interactions using generic interfaces or resources. Objects become generalized tools.