“When you can look at the needs of the market and not just your own personal tastes, your games go much further. You gotta still like and be proud of what you’re designing, of course, or what’s the point?”

— Kevin Wilson (@KevinWilson42)

Classic Novel Microgame Contest

Deadline: Sept. 15, 2014

Prize: publication by Escape Velocity Games

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1205636/classic-novel-microgame-contest

More stats and lessons from Stonemaier Games’ Treasure Chest Kickstarter project:

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

“As a game designer, you need to worry a lot about the costs of various components because those costs can spell the difference between success and failure of a commercial game release.”

— Philip Reed

Why component costs are important to the art of game design:

http://www.battlegrip.com/?p=61084

“Beware scope creep. Focus on delivering an excellent and concise experience. There’s always the next game to deliver your other cool idea.”

— Eric Lang (@eric_lang)

Eight common mistakes that lead to failed Kickstarter campaigns:

http://www.polyhedroncollider.com/2014/07/your-kickstarter-is-rubbish.html

Using Amazon Fulfillment to ship your Kickstarter project:

http://gameswithoutstrings.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/using-amazon-fulfillment-to-ship-your-kickstarter-product-part-1-of-4/

James Ernest (@cheapassjames) on Kickstarter: ads, art, earnings and more:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/kickstarter-questions-with-james-ernest/

“When the Kickstarter marketplace tells you that your project isn’t interesting, you should believe them. This is so much better than printing a game and then figuring out that you can’t sell it!”

— James Ernest (@cheapassjames)

The Game Design Round Table discusses open and hidden information in games:

http://thegamedesignroundtable.com/2014/07/15/episode-88-what-you-dont-know-can-hurt-you/

How to determine whether your game is a good fit for Kickstarter:

http://news.thegamecrafter.com/post/91958856549/is-my-game-good-to-kickstart

“Players who don’t understand your game may be uncomfortable admitting that in a group setting. But these players can offer some of the most valuable feedback to help improve your game, so it is worth following up with people one-on-one.”

— David Chott (@3haresgames)

A way of looking at board games as the fusion of theme, players, rules and components:

http://www.big-game-theory.com/2014/07/towards-grand-unified-theory-of.html

Something From Nothing discusses working with publishers: timelines, development, graphic design and more

Stonemaier Games shares its top 10 lessons from the Treasure Chest Kickstarter campaign:

http://stonemaiergames.com/top-10-lessons-learned-and-data-points-from-the-treasure-chest-kickstarter/

Colby Dauch of Plaid Hat Games (@PlaidHatGames) joins the Happy Mitten Games podcast (@HappyMitten) to discuss managing playtesters, working with licensed intellectual property, balancing life and work at a small publishing company and more:

http://www.happymittengames.com/36/

The Ludology podcast discusses numerous aspects of playtesting with Gil Hova (@gilhova):

http://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-episode-84-the-playtests-the-thing-0

Academy Games’ Uwe Eickert on the dopamine cycle in games, computer vs board games and more:

http://grogheads.com/?p=5401

“You need to make sure that you have built in “days off” from the [Kickstarter] project. If you work for 23 days straight, you’ll go insane.”

— Doug Levandowski (@meltdowngames)