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“Sometimes you just have to “take your medicine” and work on that bad design. Sometimes you have to show people a broken prototype with issues you can’t quite put into words. Sometimes working through a design challenge isn’t pretty.”
— Emma Larkins
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“When you make large changes, you need to re-test your game at all of its player counts.”
— John Brieger
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“If you love designing: participate in contests. If you want to network: participate in contests. A whole spectrum of opportunities become available when you’re able to set aside self-doubt and embrace the fact that you’re a designer capable of greatness. You can do it!”
— Corry Damey
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“Every game is its own thing, its own miraculous and impossible creation. It’s a magic trick. It gets easier with time and experience, and you pick up techniques and short-cuts - the craft you can fall back on - but it’s always a process of discovery and iteration and trying things that don’t work until they do. There’s no secret handshake, no special or arcane knowledge.”
— Tom Russell
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“Ideally, you want people to play your game. Avoid mechanics that discourage people from playing your game (“skip a turn”, rewarding hoarding (instead of playing) action cards, “cancel” cards, player elimination). ”
— Peter C. Hayward
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“Don’t confuse volume of playtesting with quality of testing. That said, you should test more.”
— John Brieger
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“Find out what the most fun part of your game is and make sure your players spend the most time doing that. Enough folks have been dumbstruck by that advice that I repeat it often.”
— Kevin Wilson
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“At some point, you’ll hate your own game. Keep testing through that valley – but be willing to shelve it.”
— John Brieger