Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources - May 2015

This month, our roundup of great board game design links features the latest in our series of infographics on licensing contracts, networking tips, PNP advice and more.

featured:

• Designers’ Desires: How to get what you want out of a board game licensing contract
  

process:

• Scott Almes offers a cornucopia of advice about everything from playtesting to prototyping to pitching to the design process and more
  

rules:

• Tips for making your game’s text clean, consistent and clear
  

playtesting:

• “You can never playtest enough. If you think you are done, you are not. Playtest some more.” - Jon Gilmour
  

industry:

• Tips for networking at cons
  

prototyping:

• Tips to make the print-and-play version of your game easy to use
  

theory:

• Data and tips for designing two-player games
  
• “So many people talk about theme and mechanism as if they’re mutually exclusive, as if starting at one precludes ever adapting to the other. But where you start really doesn’t matter. It’s where they intersect at the end. Your game’s story won’t be told through flavor text. It’ll be told at the intersection of where your theme meets its mechanism.” - Gil Hova
  

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SENIOR INVENTORS: Steven Cole, John du Bois, Richard Durham, Matthew O’Malley, Isaias Vallej

JUNIOR INVENTORS: Stephen B Davies, Luis Lara, Behrooz Shahriari, Aidan Short, Jay Trea

ASSOCIATES: Robert Booth, Zachery Cook, Doug Levandowski, Nathan Miller, Marcel Perr

APPRENTICES: Gino Brancazio, Kiva Fecteau, Scott Gottreu, JR Honeycutt, Brad Price

The Plaid Hat Podcast (@PlaidHatGames) discusses branding in the board game industry:

http://plaidhatpodcast.libsyn.com/176-branding-in-board-gaming

The Ludology podcast discusses games that tackle controversial subjects:

http://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-episode-105-teach-the-controversy

The theme for the June 2015 24-hour contest is “assassin”:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1378720/24-hour-contest-june-2015

Tips for networking at cons:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/connecting-at-conventions/

Tips to make the print-and-play version of your game easy to use:

http://blog.foxtrotgames.com/2015/05/27/tips-for-pnp/

Tips for making your game’s text clean, consistent and clear:

http://hyperbolegames.com/2015/05/27/effect-proofraeding/

Using relative numbers to strengthen a game’s design:

http://nothingsacredgames.com/relative-numbers/

Designers’ Desires: How to get what you want out of a board game licensing contract

Jamey Stegmaier (@jameystegmaier) discusses Kickstarter, game content, designing for first-time players and more on the Game Design Round Table (@TGDRT):

http://thegamedesignroundtable.com/2015/05/22/episode-125-stonemaier-games-and-scythe-with-jamey-stegmaier/

Reiner Knizia (@ReinerKnizia) on making salable games, working with publishers, designing for two players and more:

http://matthewgravelyn.com/designer-interview-reiner-knizia/

“Designs can start from so many different places: mechanics, theme, audience, format, components, experience. But none of these things are optional and the earlier you start thinking about all of them, and how your game will blend them into a cohesive whole, the better each individual piece will be, to say nothing of the whole.”

— Jay Treat (@jtreat3)

Jay Treat (@jtreat3) on playtesting, forgetting your ego, design starting points, player joy and more:

http://goforthandgame.com/2015/05/25/because-she-weighs-the-same-as-a-duck-a-conversation-with-jay-treat-about-cunning-folk/

Ways to make a board game A.I. mimic human behavior and emotions:

https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/42313/what-if-game-could-hate-you-answering-high-flying

The Building the Game podcast (@PodcastBTG) offers lots of advice for writing a good rulebook:

http://www.buildingthegamepodcast.com/2015/05/24/episode-156-rippin-rules-and-robbin-forts/

Designing with Kickstarter in mind:

http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/designing-for-kickstarter/

Should game designs require honesty from players? A Reddit tabletop game designers forum discussion:

http://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopgamedesign/comments/36mer3/how_much_honesty_should_be_demanded_in_card_games/

Data and tips for designing two-player games:

http://matthewgravelyn.com/board-games-party-of-two/

The Plaid Hat Podcast on how to playtest:

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/podcast/175

“Don’t attack design problems one at a time. Consider pairs together. Use one problem to solve another. For max combo points.”

— Jay Treat (@jtreat3)