Boston Festival of Indie Games’ Board Game Design Showcase

Deadline: June 20, 2013

http://bostonfig.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Regulations-Boston-FIG.pdf

The Dice Tower has launched a new podcast for board game designers, called Board Game University:

http://boardgameuniversity.libsyn.com/

The first three episodes feature Stephen Buonocore of Stronghold Games, designer Jay Little and Zev Shlasinger of Z-Man Games.

Here’s the RSS feed: http://boardgameuniversity.libsyn.com/rss

Grant Rodiek (@HerrohGrant) joins the On Board Games podcast (@OnBoardGames) to discuss working as an indie designer:

http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/obg-109-indie-gaming

“Hire talented professionals and manufacturers. This is not a place to cut costs. This is not the time to have a friend do your graphic design or art for free. If they’re good enough to do your graphic design or art, you’ll know it because they’ll charge you.”

— Jamey Stegmaier (@JameyStegmaier)

Things to consider when determining your game’s play time:

http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/2013/06/is-15-minute-game-too-short.html

“The #1 thing I learned from playtesting was to pay attention to frustrations that players were having, even when better strategy could wash away those frustrations.”

— Jamey Stegmaier (@JameyStegmaier)

Tips for pitching to publishers at a convention:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/20220/10-tips-for-demoing-and-selling-your-games-at-game

Blunt advice from the BoardGameGeek designers forum for finding and engaging playtesters with your print-and-play:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/988451/i-will-pay-you-geekgold-to-playtest-my-game

1,078 free icons for prototyping:

http://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopgamedesign/comments/1fv0g5/1078_free_icons_which_could_be_useful_for/

A guide to area-control games:

http://www.islaythedragon.com/2013/06/all-under-control-guide-to-area.html

A short sample script and pointers for pitching a game to a publisher:

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/12480060#12480060

24-Hour Contest - June 2013

Design a board game in just 24 hours

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/810436/24-hour-contest-june-2012

David Sirlin (@Sirlin) joins the Game Design Round Table podcast to discuss the design process, balancing a game, running a game company and more:

http://www.buzzsprout.com/7928/96098-30-design-lessons-sirlin-games-with-david-sirlin

Albino Dragon Games (@TheAlbinoDragon) shares the top 12 lessons they’ve learned about making a Kickstarter campaign successful:

http://www.unboxedtheboardgameblog.com/2013/06/so-you-want-to-do-kickstarter.html

The Plaid Hat Podcast (@PlaidHatGames) discusses the growing pains that face an up-and-coming game publishing company:

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/podcast/94

The Ludology podcast discusses objectives, and what types of objectives work well:

http://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-episode-57-goal

Some features of great games, and tips for how you can add them to your games:

http://hyperbolegames.com/2013/06/03/the-great-game-molecules/

Board Game Design Forum’s June 2013 Game Design Showdown

Theme: “Everyone’s a Villain to Someone”

Deadline: July 9, 2013

http://www.bgdf.com/node/12506

What can we learn from the board game Kickstarter campaigns that fell the furthest short of their goals?

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/19963/kickstarter-analytics-biggest-losers

Be sure to check out the rest of the series of “Kickstarter Analytics” posts here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1424

The Designer, Indie & Small Publisher’s Guide to Gen Con Indy

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/984519/the-designer-indie-small-publishers-guide-to-gen