Tips for beating designer’s block:

http://designingcardboard.com/beating-designers-block/

On Board Games (@OnBoardGames) discusses emergent gameplay:

http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/obg-161-emergent-gameplay

Why theme matters:

https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/43621/why-theme-matters

10 tips for negotiating a publishing contract:

http://meeplemechanic.com/specials/dave-chalkers-top-10-tips-when-negotiating-contracts/

“Don’t design for two or three paths to victory until you’ve completely thought through the first path to victory.”

— Bryan Fischer (@bryanfischer)

Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources - June 2015

This month, our roundup of great board game design links features inspirational quotes, publishing tips from people in the know, some exceptional podcasts, a couple of appearances by your favorite tips curators and more.

featured:

• Meaningful Decisions: Daniel Solis on Design Choices in Belle of the Ball
• Cardboard Edison shares resources for tabletop game makers on the Gaming Careers podcast

theory:

• Ludology talks with Emerson Matsuuchi of Nazca Games about hidden movement and programmed movement
• The cast of Flip the Table joins The Cubist podcast to discuss what makes games good–and bad

playtesting:

• How do I know when my game is done? The Game Crafter podcast answers

licensing:

• Learn by example: lots of samples of board game sell sheets
• An important piece of advice before signing a publishing contract

publishing:

• 10 cost-saving tips for tabletop publishers
• 10 time-saving tips for tabletop publishers
• Indie publishers discuss various aspects of publishing: manufacturing, art, Kickstarter and more

process:

• “Immerse yourself in the community! The gaming community is very welcoming, and in my experience designers are always eager to help other designers.” - Suzanne Zinsli
• Shari Spiro of AdMagic on balancing life and work in the games industry
• “It’s important to do bad work. You can iterate on bad work and make it good. You can’t iterate on something you haven’t started.” - Jay Treat
• “Play as many games as possible. Gaming is a vocabulary with a breadth of history. Knowing how to speak games and what’s already been done and not done, well and not so well will have a big impact on your design and its success.” - Justin Schaffer of Terra Nova Games

Cardboard Edison is supported by our patrons on Patreon.

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

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

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

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

The requirement for the July 2015 24-Hour Contest is “obscure”:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1394392/24-hour-contest-july-2015

Tips for making players think and speak in theme:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/43532/make-players-think-and-talk-theme

Tips for soliciting reviews:

http://meeplemechanic.com/specials/8-review-solicitation-tips-from-bowers-game-corner/

Recommendations for well-done rulebooks:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1393693/what-are-best-designed-rule-books-both-writing-and

“Don’t get hung up on minutia. Finish your prototype, and play it with others. Don’t be afraid to finish — the worst thing that can happen is that your idea needs to be reworked. It’s totally worth it.”

— Michael Murphey of Grim Games

“When you’re really happy with your game, and it’s elegant, and your playtesters love it, it still might be far from finished. Keep playing and playing and playing with everyone you can, because, in the end, you might find something lurking that will increase the development time hugely, but also make the game shimmer.”

— Andrew Federspiel (@KnapsackGames)

Ways to resolve ties in simultaneous-action-selection games:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1392343/resolving-ties-simultaneous-action-selection-games

Four strategies for featuring reviews on Kickstarter:

http://stonemaiergames.com/4-different-strategies-for-featuring-reviews-on-kickstarter/

David Sanhueza of Game-O-Gami (@gameogami) joins the Startup Gamers podcast (@StartupGamers) to discuss Kickstarter, playtesting, prototyping and more:

http://tabletoptorch.com/2015/06/immortal/

Board Games Insider (@bgipodcast) discusses the development process when working with a publisher:

http://boardgamesinsider.com/2015/06/episode-9-kickstarter-litigation-developing-games-and/

TGC: 042 Carboard Edison- Tabletop Info Aggregators Share Their Favorite Resources

ruduski:

TGC: 042 Carboard Edison- Tabletop Info Aggregators Share Their Favorite Resources

If you are just starting out as a  boardgame designer, one of the more frustrating things is trying to figure out how to sort through all the resources out there to get started.Today we have boardgame Uber-info- Aggregators Christopher and Suzanne Zinsli – from Cardboard Edison to help us find the best resources for our tabletop creations.

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Advice for playtesting your game at conventions:

http://www.bgdf.com/forum/game-creation/playtesting/game-conventions-playtesting

Shari Spiro of AdMagic on balancing life and work in the games industry:

http://www.admagic.com/blog/2015/06/23/get-on-top-of-your-game/

Tackling the question of what makes a game fun–and what doesn’t:

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/43320/what-makes-game-fun