“It’s conventional wisdom by now that you have to market your games to get anywhere, but there’s one little chestnut of wisdom that seems not to be said enough: It all starts with the game. If your game isn’t right for a specific set of gamers, none of that marketing matters.”

— Brandon Rollins

Rules for writing rules (audio):

http://theforbiddenlimb.libsyn.com/rules-for-writing-rules-ep-74

The benefits of testing significant, rather than incremental, changes to a design:

https://www.3dtotalgames.com/double-it/

A discussion on designing abstract games (audio):

http://www.boardgamedesignlab.com/designing-abstract-games-with-david-abelson/

Reasons to attend conventions as a designer or publisher:

https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/83261/reasons-go-convention-designerpublisher

Factors to consider when naming a game (audio):

http://www.thespiel.net/node/1178

What it takes to get a game into retail (audio):

http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/obg-324-crack-the-code

How game design can shape the ways that players communicate while playing (audio):

http://www.thespiel.net/node/1181

Ways of making a dice-rolling system that feels thematically appropriate:

https://www.3dtotalgames.com/thematic-dice-rolling-systems/

A roundtable discussion about the current state and future of rulebooks (audio):

http://www.thespiel.net/node/1179

What goes on in the minds of players during a game:

http://makethemplay.com/index.php/2018/11/14/mind-games/

A detailed look at objectives and victory conditions: how players can win a game:

http://www.gamesprecipice.com/objectives/

Why you shouldn’t make board game publishing a solo endeavor:

https://brandonthegamedev.com/6-reasons-you-shouldnt-make-board-games-alone/

“Try to finish your projects. Even if it’s a game you’ll never show to anyone, even if you yourself consider it horrible, try to finish it for the sake of finishing. You’ll learn a lot in the process, which in turn might make your next game better.”

— Matthew Dunstan

Board game fulfillment logistics, and companies that do the work:

http://www.jamesmathe.com/success-without-fulfillment-is-the-ultimate-failure/

“You know what I want in rule book? A brief overview. It doesn’t make sense to me to read what you do each step if I don’t know what the ‘story’ is. It’s like having a bunch of ingredients & going through all the steps & finding out at the end what dish you’re making.”

— @ellalovesbg

“After designing ‘special powers’ for many games, I’ve learned that 90 percent of all special powers you’ll come up with are stupid and bad. If you’re not on at least your fourth draft, you haven’t put enough time in.”

— Jon Perry

Takeaways from the 2018 Metatopia playtesting convention from a first-time attendee:

https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/82808/lessons-playtesting

“The purpose of a playtest is not to validate your game but to expose issues so they can be improved. A successful playtest finds problems.”

— Jay Treat

An in-depth discussion about game balance (audio):

http://ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-episode-187-balancing-act-0