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“Get the game on the table. You can tweak the rules forever, but it’s meaningless unless you print the game and play it.”
— Benjamin Rosset (@BenjaminRosset), designer of Mars Needs Mechanics
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Brittania designer Lewis Pulsipher (@lewpuls) gave a wide-ranging two-hour talk at the recent World Boardgaming Championships, covering topics including:

  • the way the industry is set up and how it’s changing
  • the working processes of board game designers
  • what makes a good game
  • variety vs. replayability
  • licensing contracts
  • intellectual-property law

http://pulsiphergames.com/teaching1.htm

Direct link to mp3: http://pulsiphergames.com/presentation/Lew%20Talk%20at%20WBC%202012.mp3

Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources – August 2012

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“HOW DO I GET A GAME PUBLISHED?” in 17 Tweets. I’m sorry, I mean “Steps.”

By John Kovalic (@muskrat_john)

STEP 1: Make a playable prototype of your game.

STEP 2: Playtest the HELL out of it. Not just with family and friends. Most importantly, with people with no vested interest in your sanity.

STEP 3: Keep playtesting it.

STEP 4: No. Seriously. KEEP PLAYTESTING THE DAMN THING, until you’re SICK of it. Then playtest some more.

STEP 5: Go to gaming conventions. Talk with people who own companies. Ask them about their submission process. Buy them beers.

STEP 6: Hey! Look! There’s some free time! Just right for some more PLAYTESTING!

STEP 7: Work on more prototypes to send to companies. Make these the best you can.

STEP 8: Unless you want to FOUND your own gaming company.

STEP 9: YOU DO NOT WANT TO FOUND YOUR OWN GAMING COMPANY!

STEP 10: Is it a day ending in “Y”? Time for more playtesting.

STEP 11: Send out your prototypes. Follow the companies’ submission guidelines TO THE LETTER.

STEP 12: No. Really. TO THE LETTER! If you can’t follow THEIR rules, why should they trust yours?

STEP 13: Be prepared for rejection. Do not let rejection break you.

STEP 14: Accept some of the criticism. It’s nothing personal. Some may be hooey, but some may do you good.

STEP 15: Do not get defensive. NO, JUST DON’T. Send out polite, professional “Thank you"s. Hope they are willing to keep in touch.

STEP 16: Send out more prototypes. Set up more playtests. Did someone say "PLAYTESTS”?

STEP 17: Repeat until you get accepted, or start working on your next game.

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“Focus is the key to move from someone with a great game idea to a game designer with a great game.”
— Jesse Catron (@ktronod)
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“Many designers, myself included, have a tendency to add on this cool idea or that to the games core. Sometimes it meshes well but often it’s cumbersome and detracts from the game experience. It’s like putting a giant spoiler and spinning chrome rims on an Aston Martin; it may seem cool at the time but you are destroying a thing of beauty.”
— Jesse Catron (@ktronod)