“Make sure it’s fun. A designer can fall into a trap of working on something that the designer thinks is interesting, but that ends up not actually being fun.”

— Michael Iachini (@OnlineDM1) of Clay Crucible Games

“If you don’t have a passion for design, you’ll end up as a game idea generator rather than an actual game designer. You have to be able to actually build prototypes and test them and build new prototypes and test more.”

— Michael Iachini (@OnlineDM1) of Clay Crucible Games

David Heron joins the Board Game Design Round Table podcast to discuss the pros and cons of collectible card games, deck-building games and more:

http://www.buzzsprout.com/7928/75107-12-ccgs-dominion-with-david-heron

Cardboard Edison's Favorite Tips & Resources - January 2013

Once a month, we gather the tips and resources for board game designers that we found the most useful and share them again.

The new year is off to a strong start, with meaty posts about playtesting, the game design process and more, plus great material from a recent unpublished-games festival.

Cartrunk Entertainment’s recent Unpub 3 event yielded a wealth of great advice for designers:

• Choice quotes from designers and publishers at Unpub 3, collected by Daniel Solis
• Video of the designers panel
• Video of the publishers panel

#industry:

• Answers to many of the most common questions that new designers have
• Jason Tagmire discusses why designers need to be jacks of all trades, navigating the publication process and more

#theory:

• An extensive glossary of terms used in board gaming and game design

#process:

• What you can control–and what you can’t–about your games

#playtesting:

• How to solicit better feedback from playtesters–and what to do with it

#licensing:

• “Do every thing you can to have a face-to-face demo. If you believe in your game, this is your best shot and it’s totally worth your time even if rejection comes.” - T.C. Petty III (@puppyshogun)

Hobby Game Designer Compendium, Part I

Nate Straight examines the games of several prominent designers in an attempt to define their individual styles. What separates a “Feld game” from a “Knizia game” or a “Wallace game”?

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/16583/hobby-game-designer-compendium-part-1-the-great-g

How to use playtesters’ feedback:

http://hyperbolegames.com/2013/01/30/how-to-use-feedback/

A lengthy post from Lewis Pulsipher (@lewspuls) examining player frustration:

http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/2013/01/much-of-game-design-is-managing-and.html

A massive post from James Mathe of Minion Games (@MinionGames) covering all aspects of creating, running and fulfilling a board game Kickstarter project:

http://www.jamesmathe.com/kicking-screaming/

Shipping: “the fastest way to go bankrupt on Kickstarter”

http://albinodragon.com/shipping-call-it-the-fastest-bankrupt-kickstarter/

Questions to ask yourself before setting a funding goal for your board game Kickstarter:

http://stonemaiergames.com/2013/01/27/kickstarter-lesson-7-the-funding-goal/

Butter up your playtesters by creating a fun and comfortable environment:

http://bellwethergames.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/208-playtesting-2-buttering-them-up.html

Queen Games “Escape: The Curse of the Temple” Design Contest

Details: design an expansion to Queen’s game Escape

Deadline: Feb. 7, 2013

Prize: possible publication

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/152579/queen-games-escape-the-curse-of-the-temple-design

Game Salute (@GameSalute) is accepting proposals to fill its line of games based on The Princess Bride:

http://gamesalute.com/princess-bride-announcement/

Viticulture co-designer Jamey Stegmaier (@jameystegmaier) joins the Funding the Dream podcast (@FundtheDream) with ideas for attracting Kickstarter backers and forging relationships with them:

http://www.buzzsprout.com/4646/74831-funding-the-dream-ep-116-jamey-stegmaier-viticulture

The Ludology podcast discusses feedback loops:

http://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-episode-48-fun-with-feedback

What types of emotions can board games elicit in players? A BoardGameGeek designers forum discussion:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/920897/boardgames-and-emotions

“Anyone creative can generate an idea. Most designers can cut moderate to bad ideas. Good designers need to cut good ideas, too.”

— Eric Lang (@eric_lang)

“When I run into game design challenges, I try to think like a sculptor instead of a painter. Take more off.”

— Corey Young (@hakubak)

Designers panel from Unpub 3

The Plaid Hat Games (@PlaidHatGames) crew discusses how time can be used in board games:

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/podcast/78