The role of creativity in game design

Boston Festival of Indie Games is accepting submissions for its Tabletop Showcase through May 15, 2015:

http://bostonfig.com/tabletop-games-showcase/

“As a freelance designer, you need to go with the flow. Keep the publisher’s schedule, no matter how hectic it can be. Make yourself easy to work with, help them where you can, and you’ll hopefully have a chance to work together as planned. There are so many things that delay a game, and the designer should never be one of them.”

— Scott Almes (@Scott_Almes)

Advice for designers looking to craft an amazing experience for the solo gamer:

http://matthewgravelyn.com/solo-round/

An overview of how to work with an overseas manufacturer:

http://casualgamerevolution.com/blog/2015/04/overseas-game-manufacturing-demystified-or-how-to-avoid-a-disaster

On the potential for innovation in board game design:

http://www.3dtotalgames.com/room-for-innovation/

Tips for starting and maintaining an email newsletter:

http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-146-start-an-e-newsletter/

Where to find free art for prototypes and what to expect when you’re ready to hire an artist:

http://thegamecrafter.libsyn.com/finding-art-resources-with-the-game-crafter-episode-13

“You may have some clever mechanic or cool theme in your game, but you need to find what part is the fun part as quickly as you can. If you are going to design games that are fun, you probably have to understand fun more than you do right now. Become a student of fun.”

— Randy Hoyt (@randyhoyt)

Randy Hoyt (@randyhoyt) of Foxtrot Games (@foxtrotgames) on cash flow, components, fulfillment costs, designing endgames, becoming a student of fun and more:

http://theinquisitivemeeple.com/2015/04/08/meeple-makers-foxtrot-games/

Pros and cons of dice vs. cards:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/mechanics-face-off-dice-vs-cards/

On Board Games (@OnBoardGames) discusses marketing games with Game Salute (@GameSalute):

http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/obg-155-that-chocolate-cake-looks-amazing

What not to say in a pitch email:

http://www.wiltgren.com/2015/04/08/submitting-103-never-ever-do-this-3/

“It’s important to not only play a lot of games, but to play a different assortment of games. Even ones you may not like. Each game you play is an opportunity to learn something new.”

— Isaias Vallejo (@vallejoisaias)

Isaias Vallejo (@vallejoisaias) on the hardest part of being a designer, learning by playing, demoing your game and more:

http://meeplemechanic.com/foxhole-fiver/isaias-vallejo-on-designing-valeria-card-kingdoms/

Tools to mitigate the effects of randomness:

http://lawofgamedesign.com/2015/04/06/theory-mitigating-randomness

Notes on several U.S. fulfillment partners:

http://stonemaiergames.com/4-crowdfunding-fulfillment-shipping-partners-in-the-us/

“Fear is good, because it comes from a place of caring. If your game design does not cause you fear, you probably don’t care enough.”

— Eric Lang (@eric_lang)

How to learn to accept playtesters’ feedback:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/the-stages-of-playtesting/

Lessons learned from the successful Bad Medicine Kickstarter campaign: games vs. products, engaging backers, promoting the campaign and more:

http://gil.hova.net/2015/04/06/bad-medicine-kickstarter-postmortem/