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“Note what parts of your game initially confuse players, even if they understand them at the end.”
— John Brieger
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“Want to get better at #gamedesign? Put together a regular playtest group. Weekly, fortnightly, monthly - whatever you can commit to doing on a regular basis. You’ll grow better together, improving as a group, and most importantly - you’ll get your game to the table more.”
— Peter C. Hayward
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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