“Icons are fine for shorthand, but long-form rules text should have words with icons in parentheses. We read and speak words, not pictures.”

— Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis)

The Cardboard Jungle (@CBJPodcast) discusses what–and what not–to do with your rulebook (discussion begins 58 minutes in):

http://thecardboardjungle.libsyn.com/ep35-breaking-the-rules

Cardboard Edison's Favorite Tips & Resources - April 2014

This week’s roundup of useful links for board game designers features tips for being a good playtester, a look at classic games from the present day, an entire hour of discussion about board game design, and more…

#featured:

• The 5 W’s and 1 H of Good Playtesters

#process:

• Advice to those dreaming of designing a game: You will fail.

#industry:

• A recent #BoardGameHour was all about game design—lots of knowledge was shared
• “So You Wanna Be A Game Designer”: Ben Rosset (@BenRosset) on getting started as a board game designer and how to get published

#theory:

• Glossary of common board game terms
• What can modern designers learn from the mechanics of classic board games?

#prototyping:

• When to make ugly prototypes and when to make pretty prototypes

“Game design is a skill like any other and practice hones that skill and keeps it sharp.”

— Chevee Dodd (@cheveedodd)

Board Game Design Forum’s May 2014 Game Design Showdown

Challenge: Design a game with religion as your theme

Restrictions: 18 cards and dice

Deadline: May 8, 2014

http://www.bgdf.com/forum/game-design/game-design-showdown/gds-may-2014-i-believe

Detailed stats from the Tuscany Kickstarter:

http://stonemaiergames.com/statistics-from-the-tuscany-kickstarter-project/

The theme for May 2014’s 24-Hour Contest is “cyborg”:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/15654920

The Boardroomers discuss Kickstarter timelines

Four tips for in-person beta-testing:

http://ryanmacklin.com/2014/04/4-tips-inperson-beta/

Rules of thumb for coming up with game terminology:

http://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/game-design-tip-dont-alliterate-game.html

Packaging your game: what should be on the box:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/packaging-your-game-so-stores-can-yknow-sell-it/

Getting over the fear of sharing your ideas–a Reddit tabletop design forum discussion:

http://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopgamedesign/comments/24bb2a/fear_of_sharing_idea_fear_of_idea_stealing/

Tabletop Deathmatch 2014 is accepting submissions:

https://tabletopdeathmatch.wufoo.com/forms/zwxhh5g0dc2qmw/

What cultural differences over the perception of “fairness” means for game designers:

http://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/game-design-outside-euro-american-binary.html

The difficulties of transferring the “tribe” you’ve built to Kickstarter:

http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-93-overestimating-and-underestimating-your-tribe/

The Game Design Round Table discusses prototyping methods and practices:

http://thegamedesignroundtable.com/2014/04/29/episode-77-prototyping/

A detailed financial breakdown of the costs of a modest Kickstarter campaign:

http://claycrucible.com/2014/04/financial-breakdown-of-the-otters-kickstarter-project/

Aldo Ghiozzi of Impressions Game Distribution Services joins the Happy Mitten Podcast (@HappyMitten) to discuss the industry of publishing and distributing tabletop games:

http://www.happymittengames.com/30/

Ben Pinchback (@pinchback21) and Matt Riddle (@mdriddlen) join All Us Geeks (@AllUsGeeks) to discuss co-designing, the gaming community, working with publishers and more:

http://www.allusgeeks.com/2014/04/the-game-of-crowd-funding-ben-pinchback-and-matt-riddle-interview-04-25-2014/

The Building the Game guys (@PodcastBTG) reveal lessons learned pitching games for 100 episodes:

http://www.buildingthegamepodcast.com/2014/04/27/episode-100-100-episodes-and-all-the-pitches/