“Advice to designers pitching to publishers: Make a video explaining the rules so the publisher can play sooner. Rules can be rewritten later.”

— Bryan Fischer (@bryanfischer)

“My hardest decision as a designer is one I face on a nightly basis: play OR design. To be successful I feel I must choose the latter more.”

— AJ Porfirio (@VanRyderGames)

“Making a prototype is like making a pinata; you labor over it, but you know it’s going to be smashed to pieces the first time it’s used.”

— Kevin Spak (@Captain_Spak)

Hyperbole Games (@HyperboleGames) is launching a prototype-sharing program for blind playtesting:

http://hyperbolegames.com/2012/12/16/prototype-penpal-program/

The publishers of the successfully Kickstarted game Viticulture share five mistakes they made in their campaign, and how you can avoid doing the same:

http://stonemaiergames.com/2012/12/16/5-kickstarter-mistakes-we-made-that-you-can-avoid/

Jason Glover of Grey Gnome Games discusses Kickstarter, using The Game Crafter for prototyping and online community, maintaining focus and more:

http://news.thegamecrafter.com/post/37911609388/jason-glover-inducted-into-hall-of-fame

2013 Two-Player Print-and-Play Design Contest

Deadline: April 30, 2013

Prizes: GeekGold

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/898355/2013-two-player-print-and-play-design-contest

cartrunkent:

CARTRUNK ENTERTAINMENT

PRESENTS

THIRD ANNUAL UNPUBLISHED GAMES FESTIVAL

Board Game Designers, Publishers And Players Invited To Play-Testing Event  

Cartrunk Entertainment will present the 3^rd Annual Unpublished Games Festival (Unpub 3) on Saturday January 19 from 10am-11pm and Sunday January 20 from 10am-6pm at the St. Thomas More Academy (133 Thomas More Dr.; Magnolia, DE 19962.)  Unpub 3 is an event dedicated to the improvement of yet to be published board, card, and role playing games through play-testing. Tickets are available for General Admission ($5.00) and for Exhibitors ($10.00) and can be purchased at the door or through Unpub.net. 

Unpub 3 is one of the premier events for the play-testing of unpublished games. Designers and publishers are coming from around the country to present their latest designs for an audience of players interested in trying new board games and giving feedback to make them better. This year’s event will run for two full days of game playing fun and give participants many opportunities to talk with people in the board game publishing industry.

Players are wanted and welcome. The $5.00 General Admission badge will gain players access to all the titles being presented at the event both days. Pre-registering is encouraged, but tickets will be available at the door. Come in, play some new games, talk with designers and publishers, leave feedback on what you play and help good games get great.

Exhibitors are the draw. Over 25 games are already registered, and more are welcome! The Exhibitor fee of $10.00 secures a designer/publisher 1 table for both days. Multiple games can be presented by each exhibitor (one at a time.) Sunday Morning exhibitors are welcome at 9am for a special coffee and donuts talk with some of the publishers at the event. Other talks are being scheduled.

Registration and ticket information for General Admission or Exhibitors is available on Unpub.net

Several upcoming games from publishers like Dice Hate Me Games, Clever Mojo Games, Nevermore Games, Crash Games, and Eagle-Gryphon Games have participated in the Unpub Network in the last year. Come try out the next great game at Unpub3!  

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For more information contact John Moller by email at john@cartrunk.net. Information on Unpub 3 and the Unpub Network can be found on Unpub.net.

Matt Butler, designer of Rollors, discusses researching existing games, promoting your game and more:

http://ideasuploaded.com/interview-with-matt-butler-about-his-invention-a-game-called-rollors/

“In games, the more important the destination is compared to the journey, the more likely people are to cheat.”

— Lewis Pulsipher (@lewpuls)

Tricks for writing good trivia questions:

http://www.mostdangerousgamedesign.com/2012/12/a-game-design-perspective-on-trivia.html

15 tips for finishing a game:

http://makegames.tumblr.com/post/1136623767/finishing-a-game

(Written for video games, but mostly relevent for board games.)

A BoardGameGeek forum discussion about creating games with traitors:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/895374/lets-talk-traitors-the-resistance-battlestar-galac

The Milwaukee extension of the Protospiel playtesting event takes place next year on March 9-10, 2013:

http://www.protospiel-milwaukee.org/

Eric Zimmerman (@zimmermaneric) joins the Ludology podcast to discuss the phenomenon of emergence in games–complex behavior emerging from simple rules–and how to achieve it in your designs:

http://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-episode-45-emergence

Free icons to use in your games:

http://game-icons.net/

SEE ALSO:

http://thenounproject.com

“Ask yourself two things… what’s the point, and who cares? In other words, get right to the heart of the matter, and always always always remember your audience.”

— Peggy Brown, inventor of Backseat Drawing and others

The Game Crafter’s Map Builder Design Challenge

Deadline: March 1, 2013

Prizes: Game Crafter points, credit, etc.

http://news.thegamecrafter.com/post/37402374169/map-builder-design-challenge

The horror of card game design:

http://exampleofplay.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/the-horror-of-card-game-design/

Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources – November 2012

Here’s our regular roundup of the most valuable tips and resources for board game designers that we’ve found over the past month.

This month’s list features advice for the design process, playtesting, game design theory, publishing and more. Enjoy!

#industry:

• What would you learn about board game design if you created and published a new game every month for 10 years straight?

#process:

• “I advise new game designers not to play a lot of games, but to design a lot of games. If all you ever do is see what other people have wound up with, you can never really understand what they started with and how they got there.” – James Ernest (@cheapassjames)
• “Focus. The designer should pick a goal they want to accomplish. Everything in the game should focus towards that point. It’s easier to do one or two things incredibly well than fifty things.” – Grant Rodiek (@HerrohGrant)
• “Theme matters but is mutable. Don’t let your mechanics suffer for your theme. Iterate toward symbiosis.” – Jay Treat (@jtreat3)

#theory:

• Different options for keeping track of quantities in games

#playtesting:

• “Your game begins as a rough rock. Submerge it in playtesting. It will be smoothed into its final shape.” – Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis)
• “If you test with only gamers, don’t expect it to ever go to mass market – expect it to be beloved by gamers, and that’s where you’re going to sell it. So you have to figure out ahead of time who the market is that you’re aiming for, and that’s where you test it.” – Dominic Crapuchettes (@DCrapuchettes) of North Star Games (@NorthStarGames)

#publishing:

• Caring for your game after release: keeping the community happy