“It’s important to listen to what people say about your game because sometimes they have really good ideas on how to make it better. But you also have to know when to listen to negative comments and when to ignore them and trust in your own ideas.”

— Chloe Pritchett, young designer

Board game designers share how they stay on top of new releases and trends in the industry:

https://design100.org/58-keeping-up/#

How the psychological effect known as “loss aversion” shapes players’ decision-making (video)

What to do when you get stuck on a design:

http://www.weirdgiraffegames.com/carla/wordpress/2020/04/04/when-you-get-stuck-on-a-game-design/

7 lessons from Monopoly for aspiring board game designers:

https://brandonthegamedev.com/7-lessons-from-monopoly-for-aspiring-board-game-designers/

“Examine your games from every possible angle and edit the rules repeatedly. You want the end result to be as polished and flawless as possible. The time spent doing it can turn a ‘meh’ average game into one with staying power and longer lifespan.”

— Frank DiLorenzo

Board games that evoke emotional reactions—a Twitter board game design discussion:

https://twitter.com/erik_a_sunden/status/1244033981529587712

10 things anyone can do to become a better board game designer (video)

A few words in praise of games that are hard to play well:

https://hollandspiele.com/blogs/hollandazed-thoughts-ideas-and-miscellany/the-game-plays-you

Two ways of designing a board game based on an existing intellectual property (audio):

https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2020/03/23/podcast-episode-70-a-conversation-with-sean-mcdonald-about-making-ip-games/

How to design a COIN wargame (video)

Designing board games to be played over video conference:

http://mrbossdesign.blogspot.com/2020/03/designing-games-for-video-conferencing.html

How the day of the week a Kickstarter campaign is launched affects its outcome:

https://stonemaiergames.com/the-profound-impact-of-launch-day-timing-on-kickstarter/

Board game designers on how they know when a game is “done”:

https://design100.org/57-done/#

“Ignore all tips for ‘getting started in game design.’ Make what you think you want, fail a lot, learn to be motivated by embarrassment, and don’t be afraid to drop it if pain exceeds pleasure beyond your threshold.”

— Eric Lang

Advice on a wide range of Kickstarter-related questions, from posting updates and dealing with slumps, to fulfillment and failure:

https://level99games.tumblr.com/post/613132111004762112/brads-board-game-kickstarter-advice

Games with interesting tile- and token-drafting systems—a BoardGameGeek designers forum discussion:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2390750/interesting-tiletoken-drafting-mechanics

Considering the ways certain players are fulfilled by games, and ways games can be designed to cater to them:

https://www.cameronartgames.com/post/maslow2

Google “roll dice”

(HT/@emmalarkins)

A thread second-guessing the common wisdom that “lose a turn” mechanics should always be avoided:

https://twitter.com/tomandmary/status/1238220877935804428