“What I wish someone had told me” about designing and publishing a board game for the first time:

http://thornhenge.com/hey-gabe/

Thoughts on competition, direct conflict, war games and screwage games:

http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/2013/10/competition-direct-conflict-wargames.html

Anatomy of train games

Part 1: Connections http://www.mechanics-and-meeples.com/2013/09/09/anatomy-of-a-game-train-games-connections/

Part 2: Pickup and Delivery http://www.mechanics-and-meeples.com/2013/09/16/anatomy-of-a-game-train-games-pickup-and-delivery/

Part 3: Stock Holding http://www.mechanics-and-meeples.com/2013/10/07/anatomy-of-a-game-train-games-stock-holding/

“The measure of a game designer is not how often they turn out to be wrong about something, but how gracefully they recover when it happens.”

— Gregory Carslaw of 3D Total Games

How to do early-bird Kickstarter levels–if you must:

http://www.stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-62-early-bird-pledge-levels/

“Merely playing games is not enough to be a good game designer. That’s a baby step, a necessary step, an easy step. Playing games shows you what has already been done. However, like an amazing meal in a Michelin *’d restaurant, it does not show you process of the chef/designer. Studying that is the secret. Wondering why. Deconstructing. That is what matters.”

— Brenda Romero (@br)

A broad overview of the game design process:

http://nothingsacredgames.com/the-path-of-the-game-and-the-path-of-the-designer/

How to keep in contact with Kickstarter backers after the project ends:

http://www.stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-61-post-campaign-communication/

Facebook groups for board game creators:

http://www.jamesmathe.com/facebook-pages-groups/

A panel of designers at GrandCon goes over lots of topics of interest to designers:

http://www.buildingthegamepodcast.com/2013/10/02/bonus-episode-26-grandcon-2013-game-design-panel/

Colby Dauch of Plaid Hat Games (@PlaidHatGames) joins Board Game University to discuss growing a game publishing company, effective playtesting, balancing factions, working with licenses, counting the costs and more:

http://boardgameuniversity.libsyn.com/board-game-university-episode-19-colby-dauch

More questions to ask and things to pay attention to during playtests:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/23715/ajs-game-success-indicator-model

Creating an “idea box” for quick game design on the go:

http://www.cheveedodd.com/2013/10/03/practice-makes-perfect-my-idea-box/

24 Hour Contest - October 2013

Requirement: cards

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1047939/24-hour-contest-october-2013

Thoughts on hidden objectives in board games:

http://3dtotalgames.com/hidden-objectives/

Considerations to make before offering exclusive Kickstarter content:

http://www.stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-60-exclusive-content/

Ways to put player experience at the forefront of your design efforts:

http://hyperbolegames.com/2013/10/01/make-the-experience-scrap-the-rest/

Board Game Design Forum’s October 2013 Game Design Showdown

Theme: “Balancing the Line.” Create a game that uses dexterity as a main mechanic, and balances that line of “heavy enough for a gamer, but light enough for the masses.”

Deadline: Oct. 8, 2013

http://www.bgdf.com/node/13250

Ruminations on numbers in board game design:

http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/2013/09/ruminations-about-magical-numbers-in.html

Two ways to tell whether people like your game, and how game length determines which you should pay attention to:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/23636/ajs-game-success-indicator-model-a-theory-or-fo