“So many mistakes have been made, and so many lessons have been learned by other designers. If you don’t play their games, you’re going to waste time making all those mistakes again for yourself.”

— Adam Porter

Making your prototype more appealing for pitches through stock art, example diagrams, decent components, and a how-to-play video:

https://randomskill.games/so-you-think-you-can-be-a-board-game-designer-part-5-presentation/

A massive guide with basic info on all sorts of marketing platforms and techniques for board games:

http://atgn.com.au/designers-dangers-103/

Free illustrations of black people for digital projects or board game prototypes:

https://www.blackillustrations.com/

6 ways of using randomness to spice up a game design–without overseasoning it:

https://subsurfacegames.ca/2020/06/06/when-to-use-randomness/

Julio Nazario and Jason Slingerland discuss rules documents (audio):

http://www.buildingthegamepodcast.com/episode-418-julio-explains-the-rules/

Design choices and challenges with Richard Garfield (audio):

https://player.fm/series/magic-the-gathering-drive-to-work-podcast/ep-737-richard-garfield

10 brand extension strategies for tabletop games:

https://stonemaiergames.com/10-brand-extension-strategies-for-tabletop-games/

4 lessons from Imhotep for aspiring board game designers:

https://brandonthegamedev.com/4-lessons-from-imhotep-for-aspiring-board-game-designers/

Tips for making an immersive game through world-building, art, characters, and more:

http://atgn.com.au/designers-dangers-102/

Industry leaders discuss the effects of the COVID19 pandemic on the tabletop games industry (audio):

http://www.buzzsprout.com/46339/3957179-covid19-and-the-tabletop-games-industry-with-justin-jacobson-and-ben-harkins

Follow your passion, use your personality and find success on social media (audio):

https://breakingintoboardgames.libsyn.com/breaking-into-board-games-episode-119-danny-quach

Industry insight from a full-time developer (audio):

https://breakingintoboardgames.libsyn.com/breaking-into-board-games-episode-117-john-brieger

“Scoring is what incentivises different behaviours. So, to a large extent, your scoring system IS your game. A good scoring system can provide a higher skill ceiling, differentiation of skill, reward interesting/fun play, tension of risk/reward, and real meaningful choices.”

— Bez

How heuristic evaluation can improve your game design (audio):

https://ninjavspirates.libsyn.com/who-what-why-s22e04-let-me-learn-you-something

The difference between novelty that comes from original concepts and novelty coming from variety–plus ways of increasing replayability:

https://justingary.com/2020/05/05/the-lost-chapter-think-like-a-game-designer/

“Most strategic games are about decisions, and when you decide to do something you’re also often deciding not to do something else. And there is a cost there, and that cost is often not appreciated by some designers.”

— Tom Lehmann

A repository of millions of icons, many of them free:

https://www.flaticon.com/

The 10 Minute Design Challenge is a great exercise for quick thinking and creativity:

http://10minutedesignchallenge.co.uk/

Here’s a video explaining how it works:

https://youtu.be/E3_KhFZZ93c

What makes a racing game a racing game? (audio)

http://dicehateme.com/2020/05/the-state-of-games-ep-173-the-one-about-rockets-and-racing/