“Designers can especially become attached to clever parts because we want to do really original mechanics. But you have to be ruthless. If it slows the pace of the game too much, makes things too confusing, messes up other parts of the game somewhat, or anything like that — it’s a candidate for the chopping block. A good pace is a virtue unto itself.”

— Dan Schnake

Preparing for a Kickstarter campaign: advice for getting quotes from manufacturers, and setting a realistic goal:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/kickstarter-homework-lesson-1-quotes-and-setting-prices/

What developers do and how to work with them:

http://theinquisitivemeeple.com/2015/03/16/designing-meeples-with-seth-jaffee

MicroGame Print and Play Contest 2015

Deadline: June 3, 2015

Prizes: GeekGold

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1338297/microgame-print-and-play-contest-2015-discussion

Jason Tagmire (@jtagmire) on the best feedback, theme vs mechanics, handling rejection, publishing and fulfillment, and more:

http://goforthandgame.com/2015/03/12/lucky-numbers-a-conversation-with-jason-tagmire-the-designer-of-seven7s/

Designing around an experience:

https://oakleafgames.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/designing-around-an-experience/

“Be as objective as you can without discouraging yourself. Be as hard on your own games as you are to the games that you play on a normal game night, but don’t let that discourage you and let you stop making games.”

— J. Alex Kevern (@AlexWithIdeas)

“If you want to design games for a living, you always need to have WAY more excellent ideas than time. Like, a 10:1 ratio is a good start.”

— Eric Lang (@eric_lang)

“Listen to yourself. If you ever find yourself wanting to apologize for some aspect of your design, take note of it! See if there’s a way you can remove it.”

— Matt Leacock (@mleacock)

The Meeple Syrup vidcast (@MeepleSyrup) discusses co-designing

Ways to help a game scale well for different player counts:

http://www.3dtotalgames.com/player-count/

How to reach out to reviewers politely:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/reaching-out-to-reviewers/

Tips for running a playtest at a board game meetup:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/pints-and-pawns-playtesting-with-london-on-board/

Creating better game experiences with fun density and memorable endings:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/fun-density-and-colonoscopies/

How to pitch a publisher–and handle the rejection that will likely follow:

http://matthewgravelyn.com/first-rejection/

An introduction to using grids in laying out rulebooks:

http://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-quick-introduction-to-typography.html

“When designing games there’s no substitute for actual playtesting. It may work perfectly in your head. That’s usually not true in reality.”

— Ed Marriott (@EdPMarriott)

Reasons not to offer existing products through a new Kickstarter campaign:

http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-142-selling-existing-inventory/

Ben Rosset (@benrosset) offers advice on following your passion, assembling a prototyping kit, overcoming designer’s block, questions to ask playtesters, pitching to a publisher and more:

http://theinquisitivemeeple.com/2015/03/09/designing-meeples-with-ben-rosset

2015 Korea Boardgames Game Design Contest

Deadline: May 29, 2015

Prizes: Cash and possible publication

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1333563/kbg-design-contest-2015-1600-prize-pool