“Don’t get too excited about your own game. It makes it harder for players to criticize it.”

— John Brieger

The Game Crafter Social Deduction Challenge

Deadline: Aug. 12, 2019

Prizes: The Game Crafter shop credit and more

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/contests/social-deduction-challenge

A publisher’s perspective on the biggest business-to-business trade shows for board games:

https://scottgaeta.com/f/a-publishers-view-on-b2b-trade-shows

What skills does your game test?

https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/85274/what-skills-does-your-game-test

How to prevent players from losing interest when it’s not their turn:

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/whose-turn-is-it-anyway/

Steps to take to improve your Kickstarter’s chances of funding in the first 48 hours:

https://stonemaiergames.com/is-it-now-necessary-to-successfully-fund-within-the-first-48-hours-on-kickstarter/

Simple Elegance Contest

Design a game with simple rules, but that doesn’t lack planning or strategy

Deadline: June 17, 2019

Prizes: The Game Crafter shop credit and more

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/contests/simple-elegance-contest

“If you send out a request to meet with a publisher, include some info on your game. Sell sheet, rules, link to information. You know, something to make your game look like it’s worth meeting about. There’s not infinite time to do all the things!”

— Carla Kopp

“When testing family / mass market games, keep in mind hobby gamers’ kids have atypical exposure to hobby gaming.”

— John Brieger

Working within design limitations:

http://design100.org/7-limitations/

The Board Game Workshop Design Contest 2019

Deadline: April 21, 2019

https://theboardgameworkshop.com/design-contest-2019/

Tips for finding and making maps for your prototype:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2167787/where-best-place-get-maps

Designing a game with a serious or sensitive theme—a BoardGameGeek designers forum discussion:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2167154/question-theme

Tips for getting past the conceptual stage of game design and into actually designing the game:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2167091/getting-past-conceptual-stage-game-design

“A question I ask routinely in early tests: ‘Is there anything you wanted to do in this game that you couldn’t?’”

— John Brieger

2019 BostonFIG Tabletop Showcase

Deadline: April 15, 2019

https://www.bostonfig.com/festival/tabletop-games/

Answers to a young game designer’s questions:

https://streamlinedgaming.com/3-questions-from-a-young-aspiring-game-designer/

How incentives can change player behavior:

https://remptongames.com/2019/03/09/game-design-in-real-life-playing-with-incentives/

“Don’t sit on one game for too long. Try to design a lot of games early on. Figure out what sort of games you like to play and design. It’s very rare that your first game will be a breakout hit.”

— Shem Phillips

Notes on building a business making board games:

https://brandonthegamedev.com/dont-just-build-a-board-game-build-a-business/