Which is harder: self-publishing or pitching to publishers? A Bluesky board game designers discussion:

https://bsky.app/profile/ziongg.bsky.social/post/3leuylez3bs2x

How to create a custom card deck in playingcards.io (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9hXJRHpGns

Our annual Cardboard Edison Best Practices booklet, filled with board game design tips and resources for every step of the process, is back!

• evaluating playtesters’ feedback

• improving your rulebook

• making your prototype more usable with graphic design

• setting design goals for yourself

• and lots more!

  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EPqJLYnwt0LXDEmZaZ8ebbA6M2MS_quN/view

Looking for inspiration for a new board game idea? The Random Board Game Idea Generator does exactly what it says:

https://www.randomgameidea.com/

Making “toyetic” games with a strong toy factor (audio):

Games that do it well:

https://sites.libsyn.com/19999/obg-553-toyetic

Manufacturing and marketing them:

https://unboxedboardgamepodcast.podbean.com/e/s2e3-toyetic-games/

Digging into a fundamental question about games: What are rules? And what kinds of rules come into play with board games? (audio):

https://decisionspace.podbean.com/e/the-5-types-of-rules-what-we-talk-about/

How can tabletop designers make games that are less likely to trigger analysis paralysis in players?

https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/analysis-paralysis

A short thread on better co-designing efforts through learning more about your design partner:

https://bsky.app/profile/senfoonglim.bsky.social/post/3ldjt2gxbsc2x

Player failure: considering what kind of penalties make sense with the game’s theme (audio):

https://ludology.libsyn.com/thinking-beyond-mechanisms-ep-14

What constitutes plagiarism in game design?

https://gametek.substack.com/p/copy-paste

An overview of all the steps you’ll need to take to self-publish a board game (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4jKhdMv8sk

Circles of playtesting: how a game evolves through various stages of testing in terms of the idea, the prototype, and how the designer feels about it

10 types of board game designers—and how to discover what motivates your own design efforts (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xPHJaCYJyg

When you want to get a publisher’s attention, your game will have to pass through several “gates” or filters—here’s how it (usually) works:

https://bsky.app/profile/weheart.games/post/3lbpfwl7ylk2n

A short thread on the margins involved in publishing a board game, and how they change when using crowdfunding or direct-to-customer sales:

https://bsky.app/profile/425suzanne.bsky.social/post/3lbuhae2rnc2f

Lots of bite-size advice for making a board game, especially playtesting, pitching to publishers, and what to expect if it’s released:

https://bsky.app/profile/connievdc.bsky.social/post/3lbycjga5522q

Board games where the box is integral to gameplay:

https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2024/11/26/box-clever-board-games-where-the-box-is-integral-topic-discussion/

Useful for designers making a game for kids: developmental milestones for game play:

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8517750/black-canyon

The art of creating effective sell sheets for board games (video):

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

Board game designers share their game design theories in less than 300 characters:

https://bsky.app/profile/ross-esmond.bsky.social/post/3lbhlcbjdsk2m