“Every game sucks at some point. If you don’t feel like your game sucks, you are not being honest with yourself.”

— Jon Gilmour

Managing your time making a game: years, months, weeks, days, hours and minutes:

http://brandonthegamedev.com/how-to-master-time-so-you-can-make-games/

What should be in a contract between a publisher and an artist (video)

How to pitch your tabletop game to a publisher (video)

“Try not to develop before you design. Playtest first and often, then cut later.”

— JR Honeycutt

How to know when your game is ready for blind playtesting:

http://brandonthegamedev.com/8-signs-your-game-ready-blind-play-testing/

Insights for creating a memorable solo game experience (audio):

http://www.boardgamedesignlab.com/how-to-design-a-solo-game-with-hermann-luttmann/

Thoughts on randomness and skill (audio):

http://cardboardarchitects.libsyn.com/grant-rants-ep-2

“Be part of a community of designers. You’ll learn just by talking through issues with other experienced people.”

— John Brieger

The requirement for the August 2017 24-hour contest is "procrastination":

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1826107/24-hour-contest-august-2017

7 subtle player behaviors you should notice during playtesting:

http://brandonthegamedev.com/7-subtle-player-behaviors-you-should-notice-when-play-testing/

12 skills you can build a board game around:

http://makethemplay.com/index.php/2017/07/10/12-skills-you-can-design-board-games-around/

The Gen Con Experience: The gaming convention through the eyes of board game designers

Challenges of designing a game that is played outdoors (audio):

http://www.boardgamedesignlab.com/designing-outdoor-games-with-denny-weston/

Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources - July 2017

This month our roundup of favorite board game design links includes advice from a master, tips for con season, thoughts on a much maligned mechanism, and more.

featured:

• Meaningful Decisions: Matt Grosso on Design Choices in Dead Last

industry:

• Bruno Faidutti's advice for new designers about game design, playtesting, pitching, the industry and more

• Advice for designers attending cons: networking, pitching, playtesting and more (audio)

theory:

• The right and wrong ways to use roll-and-move (audio)

• How some games let players' actions help their opponents too

• “You cannot design games in a vacuum. They’re played by game-players, and if some method of play will ruin the game, design the game so that it cannot happen successfully.” - Lewis Pulsipher

process:

• A thread with lots of advice for board game designers on various topics

playtesting:

• Advice for running high-level playtests (audio)

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Cardboard Edison is supported by our patrons on Patreon.

ADVISERS: 421 Creations, Peter C. Hayward, Aaron Vanderbeek

SENIOR INVENTORS: Steven Cole, John du Bois, Chris and Kathy Keane (The Drs. Keane), Joshua J. Mills, Marcel Perro, Behrooz Shahriari, Shoot Again Games

JUNIOR INVENTORS: Ryan Abrams, Joshua Buergel, Luis Lara, Aidan Short, Jay Treat

ASSOCIATES: Robert Booth, Stephen B Davies, Scot Duvall, James Griffin, Doug Levandowski, Aaron Lim, Nathan Miller, Mike Sette, Kasper Esven Skovgaard, Isaias Vallejo, Ryan Wilson, Matt Wolfe

APPRENTICES: Darren Broad, Kiva Fecteau, Scott Gottreu, Knight Works, Scott Martel Jr., The Nerd Nighters, Marcus Ross, Sean Rumble

Game design axioms: starting points for creating good games (audio):

https://www.buzzsprout.com/7928/543052-173-game-design-axioms

Decision scales: how widely player decisions affect the table (audio):

http://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-episode-157-come-scale-away

“Know what words you want to hear players using. Those words are a great way to tell if your design is immersive.”

— JR Honeycutt

Concise list of first steps for new board game designers:

https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/67532/so-you-wanna-be-tabletop-game-designer-eh

Advice for designing and publishing family-friendly games, and how to get noticed on Kickstarter (audio):

http://www.boardgamedesignlab.com/how-to-design-a-great-family-game-with-james-hudson/