Tips & Resources for Board Game Designers
Boston Festival of Indie Games 2014 Tabletop Game Design Showcase
Dates: Submit by June 6, 2014. Showcase on Sept. 13, 2014
Prizes: Pitch session with Gamewright Games, $1,000 from AdMagic, $150 in components from The Game Crafter, and more
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1157058/boston-festival-of-indie-games-2014-submissions-ar
http://bostonfig.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/TTSubmissionGuidelinesBostonFIG2014.pdf
“Game prototyping tip: leave lots of white space on the cards so you can make edits as you go.”
Geekway to the West 2014 Game Design Prototype “Speed Gaming” Competition
Date: May 16, 2014
Theme: Microgames
Prizes: Pitch session with AEG and more
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1156739/2014-game-design-prototype-speed-gaming-competitio
Minor lessons learned from the Tuscany Kickstarter:
http://stonemaiergames.com/5-minor-mistakes-we-made-on-tuscany-that-you-can-avoid-and-3-insights/
SEE ALSO: http://stonemaiergames.com/3-kickstarter-mistakes-we-made-on-tuscanythat-you-can-avoid/
A deeper understanding of game currencies, and how they can create interesting decisions for players:
“Designing and publishing go really well together and also really go terribly together. When you can publish your own design, or assist in designing things you are publishing, it’s great. But publishing yanks all of the design time away as you are fulfilling many roles.”
The Impressions Vidcast offers shipping tips
The process of devising mechanics–a Board Game Design Forum discussion:
http://www.bgdf.com/forum/game-creation/mechanics/how-do-you-create-game-mechanics
A discussion of finance, information and dealmaking in economic games, with Michael Keller (@vhgames) and Aaron Honsowetz (@drwictz):
http://www.gamedesignerwannabe.com/2014/04/audio-aaron-honsowetz-interview.html
“When you think your rules are done, take another pass. When you think you have the best set of cards, identify your 3 weakest ones and try to replace them. If your mind conjures an alternate mechanic, branch and test.”
Lessons learned from the Tuscany Kickstarter:
http://stonemaiergames.com/3-kickstarter-mistakes-we-made-on-tuscanythat-you-can-avoid/
Challenges to making a collectible card game:
http://www.jamesmathe.com/to-ccg-or-not-to-ccg-that-is-the-question/
Alternatives to banning certain player actions:
http://nickbentleygames.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/game-design-tip-prohibit-bans/
“Sometimes, no matter how hard you work on a design, it simply will not come together. It’s okay. We all have those designs. Believe in yourself and keep at it.”
Postage calculations for shipping a Kickstarter game overseas:
http://gotgeniusgames.com/kickstarter-topics-5-shipping-a-kickstarter-game-international/
Worker placement games that all designers should play:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/172198/worker-placement-games-every-designer-should-play
One potential pitfall of success:
http://oakleafgames.wordpress.com/2014/04/10/success-as-a-way-to-alienate-new-players/
How to demonstrate to potential backers that your Kickstarter is worth supporting:
http://stonemaiergames.com/how-to-build-backer-allegiance-a-guest-post/
A guide to good rulebook writing:
http://islaythedragon.com/featured/laying-down-the-law-a-guide-to-rulebook-writing/
“The initial spark of creation is easy, the creation of said spark is harder, playtesting is even more difficult, and then iteration is where the time meter spikes and a designer could spend a lifetime trapped in this loop of spending years to make only the tiniest incremental improvements to the game in question. That’s why the reward for “completion” is never worth the effort. because paradoxically, the game is never “complete” in the designer’s eyes.”
