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Cardboard Edison

Game design & bright ideas for game designers

Bright Ideas

Tips & Resources for Board Game Designers

Cardboard Edison
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    • Houdini's Last Act
    • Quad Squad
    • Cobras
    • Retail Rejects
    • More Games
    • Prototypes
  • Free Resources/
    • Blog
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    • Virtual Tabletops
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    • Game Design Checklist
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theory
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prototyping
process
rules
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May 28, 2022 May 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Some bad habits that board game designers should be careful not to fall into:

https://shippboardgames.blogspot.com/2022/05/self-centered-design.html

May 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
process

Cardboard Edison

May 28, 2022 May 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Mistakes that may sink your crowdfunding project:

https://stonemaiergames.com/top-5-mistakes-that-may-sink-your-crowdfunding-project/

May 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
publishing

Cardboard Edison

May 28, 2022 May 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Elizabeth Hargrave on game design lessons she’s learned, including on getting inspiration, failing faster earlier, prototyping cards, finding bits, articulating your vision, and more (video)

May 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
process, prototyping, playtesting, industry

Cardboard Edison

May 26, 2022 May 26, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

How games create art by exploring different modes of agency (audio):

https://decisionspace.podbean.com/e/games-are-agency-as-art-a-new-way-to-talk-about-games-with-c-thi-nguyen/

May 26, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
theory, podcasts

Cardboard Edison

May 21, 2022 May 21, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

7 traps that can ruin your crowdfunding campaign, and how to avoid them:

https://gamefound.com/blog/post/how-to-avoid-crowdfunding-traps-that-can-ruin-your-campaign-

May 21, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
publishing

Cardboard Edison

May 19, 2022 May 19, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Board games through the lens of story structure: how setup is like exposition, and scoring is the denouement:

https://shippboardgames.blogspot.com/2022/05/exposition-and-denouement.html

May 19, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
theory

Cardboard Edison

May 19, 2022 May 19, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Push-your-luck games: what they are, how they work, and examples of the genre (audio):

https://anchor.fm/cardboardmechanics/episodes/Episode-7---Should-I-stay-or-should-I-go-e1ig15p

May 19, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
theory, podcasts

Cardboard Edison

May 19, 2022 May 19, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

How board game designers can incorporate some basic market-research techniques into their early design processes:

https://imaginarysword9074488.wordpress.com/2022/04/12/game-designers-shouldnt-do-marketing-but-design-for-it/

May 19, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
process, playtesting, industry

Cardboard Edison

May 15, 2022 May 15, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

How to get started designing an 18-card game—a Twitter board game design discussion:

https://twitter.com/AmyDesignsGames/status/1525864886923845633

May 15, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
process

Cardboard Edison

May 14, 2022 May 14, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Should you pitch your board game design to publishers or self-publish it? Some pros and cons of each approach:

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/should-i-pitch-or-self-publish/

May 14, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
licensing, publishing

Cardboard Edison

May 10, 2022 May 10, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

A walkthrough of how to create board game prototype cards in PowerPoint (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmoP7QMYyS0

May 10, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
prototyping

Cardboard Edison

May 09, 2022 May 09, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

How to write the opening paragraph of lore for your board game:

https://shippboardgames.blogspot.com/2022/05/inciting-incidents.html

May 09, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
rules

Cardboard Edison

May 06, 2022 May 06, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

How can designers knit together their game’s theme and mechanics well? One way is by considering the narrative framing of the game:

https://shippboardgames.blogspot.com/2022/05/narrative-framing.html

May 06, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
theory

Cardboard Edison

May 05, 2022 May 05, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Two situations when you might need to pursue a new path for a game design—to differentiate it from another design, or to make it lighter or heavier—and how to do that:

http://www.weirdgiraffegames.com/carla/wordpress/2022/05/03/game-design-going-off-the-rails-part-1/

May 05, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
process

Cardboard Edison

May 03, 2022 May 03, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Tips for making a pitch video for your board game (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWX3CO0uF0A

May 03, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
licensing

Cardboard Edison

May 03, 2022 May 03, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

Given the right circumstances, could your game prevent players from actually playing it? Here’s a short thread with a quick method for figuring that out:

https://twitter.com/peterchayward/status/1521028679970828289

May 03, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
playtesting

Cardboard Edison

April 29, 2022 April 29, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

This spreadsheet helps small board game publishers manage their international localization partnerships:

spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g8_QVuS4Bsfo-Kda-wuUutB7v6Gnjc6cpmFW6b4wHjk/edit#gid=2018350276

how-to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfEHuialts8

April 29, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
publishing

Cardboard Edison

April 29, 2022 April 29, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

A short thread on small decisions, and when offering more choices to players isn’t necessarily the best approach:

https://twitter.com/AmyDesignsGames/status/1520073727135911936

April 29, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
theory

Cardboard Edison

April 28, 2022 April 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

An overview of how to use product design principles to enhance your tabletop game (video)

April 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
theory, industry

Cardboard Edison

April 28, 2022 April 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison

After sending copies of your crowdfunded game to backers, here are some options for where to sell the additional copies that you’ve had printed:

https://boardgamedesigncourse.com/extra-copies-kickstarter-games/

April 28, 2022/ Cardboard Edison/
publishing

Cardboard Edison

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