Panda Game Manufacturing (@pandagm) answers questions about manufacturing board games

Michael Coe (@Gamelyn_Games) on preparing for a Kickstarter campaign, salability, using BoardGameGeek, director’s cuts and game design, and more:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/a-tiny-epic-interview-with-michael-coe/

“If you’re designing a family filler, just keep it as simply as possible. Trim out every rule you can. Get to the bare bones of your game. Eliminate components. Find the most streamlined version of your game that is still fun.”

— Scott Almes (@Scott_Almes)

The post hoc fallacy in playtesting: why happy players might not be enjoying your game:

http://nerdstable.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-post-hoc-fallacy-in-playtesting.html

“Pay more attention to the ideas that return to you. They strike a chord for a reason.”

— Jay Treat (@jtreat3)

“The game you’re working on is not the last game you’ll ever work on. There’s an impulse to make the current project contain every clever idea you have, but really I think you can get by with just one or two.”

— Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis)

Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis) on exploring games, using your clever ideas, eloquent design, layout, fighting players’ instincts, print on demand and more:

http://theinquisitivemeeple.com/2015/03/18/designing-meeples-with-daniel-solis/

“It’s important for game designers to try all kind of games, because it will not only provide inspiration, it will give you a better idea of what you DON’T want to do in your designs.”

— Chris Leder

“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/