How to make a game that stands out in the crowd:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peterchayward/the-lady-and-the-tiger-a-2-player-bluffing-game/posts/2016006

Evan Derrick on designing thematic games (audio):

http://www.buildingthegamepodcast.com/2017/10/08/episode-280-evan-derrick-and-thematic-detectives/

http://www.boardgamedesignlab.com/theme-and-how-to-bring-it-out-with-evan-derrick/

Ways to define the audience for your game:

http://brandonthegamedev.com/the-one-thing-that-can-sink-sales-for-board-games/

Questions to ask in the middle of your Kickstarter campaign:

http://www.theindiegamereport.com/cardboarding-with-carla-mid-campaign-kickstarter-retrospectives/

“Mediocre but not terrible games tend to generate less discussion – try prompting with specific moments from play.”

— John Brieger

Ways games can use some elements as different resources:

http://www.kindfortress.com/2017/10/09/design-patterns-you-can-also-use-it-as-a-resource/

The most important elements of your Kickstarter campaign page:

https://tompetgames.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/what-27-superbackers-think-is-the-most-important-element-on-your-kickstarter-page/

How to get a publisher's attention--a BoardGameGeek designers forum discussion:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1861972/how-get-game-published

“Record extra gamestate data at the end of tied games, so later, you can see how different tiebreakers would work.”

— John Brieger

Lessons learned from a first-time designer/publisher:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1859790/lessons-new-self-publishing-games-maker

A discussion about playesting for broken strategies, running blind tests and other topics for designers (audio):

https://www.buzzsprout.com/7928/574659-181-listener-questions-with-david-and-dirk

“Not all prototype games are worth finishing – it’s OK to shelve a project after playtesting a few times.”

— John Brieger

The requirement for the October 2017 24-hour contest is "toy":

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1858633/24-hour-contest-october-2017

Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources - September 2017

This month our roundup of favorite board game design links includes important reminders about playtesting, advice for finding the right publisher, rules-writing tips and more.

theory:

• Different ways of controlling turn order (audio)

playtesting:

• The different types of playtesting: how to prepare for each (audio)

• “Your playtesters’ minor irritants of today are your reviewers’ slams of tomorrow.” - John Brieger

licensing:

• How new designers can best spend their time to get their games signed

• How to find and approach a publisher that is appropriate for your game

 rules:

• How to write the "setup" section of a rulebook

 publishing:

• A crash course on Kickstarter for board games

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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, Doug Levandowski, Aaron Lim, Nathan Miller, Mike Sette, Kasper Esven Skovgaard, Isaias Vallejo, Ryan Wilson, Matt Wolfe

APPRENTICES: Darren Broad, Kiva Fecteau, Scott Gottreu, Scott Martel Jr., The Nerd Nighters, Neil Roberts, Marcus Ross, Sean Rumble, VickieGames

How to determine your game's MSRP (audio):

http://thegamecrafter.libsyn.com/msrp-with-the-game-crafter-episode-142

“A useful heuristic for testing a game’s limits is to have a player or dummy take a single action/path repeatedly.”

— John Brieger

“A tester’s experience of the game matters more than whether anything they say is mathematically sound or factual.”

— John Brieger

Hustling tips: ways to make the most of your time while working on your game (audio):

http://www.boardgamedesignlab.com/how-to-hustle-and-get-things-done-with-carla-kopp/

Two discussions of tax considerations for game developers:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/46339/570188-understanding-taxes-for-game-developers-with-ernest-jones-of-ellsworth-stout-cpas (audio)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE_phZXMdoA (video)

Different ways of controlling turn order (audio):

http://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-episode-160-law-and-order