Keep it simple! Leave as much as possible out in your concept, as opposed of adding as much as possible. Don’t think you are done with playtesting if a few friends played it.
— Daan Kreek
THE WAY to get good at game design fast: make a prototype today, despite having no idea what you’re doing. TODAY. Playtest ASAP. The test will and should be ABYSMAL. Then iterate til it’s not abysmal, then iterate more til it’s good. There. Now you’re a game designer.
— Nick Bentley
When prototyping game components players manipulate, use physical components that have similar properties to your intended final components.
— John Brieger
Focus on the big things before focusing on the small things. I often see other game designers focusing on fixing little details when it seems that some of the core ideas need to be changed instead.
— Thomas Dagenais-Lespérance
Some testers will try to dominate feedback discussions. You are responsible for ensuring all voices are heard!
— John Brieger
Don’t be afraid of big changes at each iteration during early tests. Most board games can’t be A/B tested to completion.
— John Brieger
The best thing you can possibly do to catch a judge’s attention in a design contest is to do something that they haven’t seen before. If your plan is ‘I will do [standard recipe] better than anyone else’, it has to be orders of magnitude better in order to stand out.
— Mike Mullins