“Playtesting has a way of revealing “oh hey, this game should never exist.” But if you leave a first playtest thinking “but THIS part didn’t totally suck,” keep going.”
— Adam McIver (@ad7m)
“Most significant barrier to design and publishing your first game is… you. Dedicate time and energy and you will do it.”
— Peter Vaughan (@pvaughan007)
“Seeing how intuitive playtesters find various mechanics is a great way to determine what to streamline.”
— Adam McIver (@ad7m)
“It becomes emotionally easier to streamline after you’ve designed a bunch of games. Ideas less precious.”
— Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis)
“What can I cut while still keeping the core experience intact?”
— Nazca Games (@nazcagames)
“The HARDEST part of design is follow-through. PLENTY of amazing ideas never get made because design is hard.”
— Adam McIver (@ad7m)
“What’s fun? What is the big thing that’s fun to do? Augment that, chop off things that don’t matter.”
— Chris Darden (@cbdarden)
“If you really have game design on the brain, inspiration will come from every aspect of your life.”
— Adam McIver (@ad7m)
“It is easy to get a game half-done, and not so difficult to take it to 75%. The other 25% may never come.”
— Scott Nicholson (@snicholson)
“The reason games are reskinned by publishers is because the designer does a poor job of identifying the market.”
— Boyan Radakovich (@thegamesmith)
“If your goal in doing a game is to make a game you want to play, then you are the audience. If your goal in making a game is to sell the design to a publisher, then you need to think of an audience.”
— Scott Nicholson (@snicholson)
“If I design just for myself, I can’t find playtesters. Dead end. I must think about others when I design.”
— Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis)
“I would never design a game I wouldn’t enjoy myself, but knowing who else would enjoy it is also key.”
— Adam McIver (@ad7m)
“The feedback you can never deny: “Your game is good, but not yet great.””
— Andrew Federspiel (@AndrewFdrspl)

“So You Wanna Be A Game Designer”: Ben Rosset (@BenRosset) on getting started as a board game designer and how to get published

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Episode four features Rocket Wreckers, a 2-Player card game where competitors battle each other while riding on the back of a rocketship. The game is designed by Rob Couch.

Rob can be reached at Twitter at @poorly_designed, or you can visit his website at www.poorlydesigned.com

For more, check out his interview with Jared Rosen below where he discusses approaching design from a story standpoint, fighting for a spot on the shelf and that last bit of tuning.

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Rob Couch (@poorly_designed) discusses approaching design from a story standpoint, fighting for a spot on the shelf, and that last bit of tuning

“When using feedback to iterate, focus on trends over a smattering of individual opinions and data points.”
— Grant Rodiek (@HerrohGrant)
“The more experienced you are, the more you take production costs into consideration while developing a game.”
— Uwe Rosenberg, via @boardgamegeek
“It’s possible to be a crazy perfectionist without going perfectly crazy, and it’s possible to find flaws in your best creations and still sleep well at night.”
— Kory Heath (@KoryHeath)