Cardboard Edison's Favorite Tips & Resources of 2015

This past year was filled with useful material about every aspect of board game design. We've gathered our favorite links and quotes from the past 12 months in one place. We also added links to all of the interviews, articles and infographics that we produced this year.

As always, we hope you find help and inspiration here.

Thanks, and happy 2016!

~ Chris & Suzanne Zinsli, Cardboard Edison

licensing:

• Tips for building relationships with publishers and getting published through the back door

• An important piece of advice before signing a publishing contract

• Reasons why a publisher might reject a game even if it's very good

• “Don’t pitch a game to a publisher until you envision it on the store shelf as-is (design-wise), and are happy with that. Then also don’t be surprised or upset if a publisher wants to do some development changes.” - Seth Jaffee

• 10 tips for negotiating a publishing contract

theory:

• The Ludology podcast discusses the use of heuristics—mental shortcuts—in board games

• “Focus on 1. Fun, 2. Decisions, 3. Interaction. If they aren’t enjoying themselves, nothing else matters.” - Matthew O’Malley

• Score tracks: good and bad examples, and what else they can do

• “Instead of perfect smoothness, focus on finding the right texture for your game.” - Daniel Solis

playtesting:

• “You can never playtest enough. If you think you are done, you are not. Playtest some more.” - Jon Gilmour

• Different playstyles you can mimic during solo testing

• “If you ignore all feedback and advice, you will fail. If you twist and contort your designs to follow all feedback, you will fail. Listen to your advisors, and weigh their words of wisdom. But you have to make the final decisions, you have to provide the vision.” - Kevin Wilson

process:

• Key questions to answer very early in the design process

• "If a design isn’t working, kill it. It’s tough but for the best. Fail fast. Move on." - Ben Pinchback

• Countering common fears about game design

• “We’re all just making this up as we go along. Experiment with crazy ideas when you’re designing.” – Matt Leacock

• “Pay more attention to the ideas that return to you. They strike a chord for a reason.” – Jay Treat

• “Good games aren’t designed, they’re developed.” - JR Honeycutt

publishing:

• 10 cost-saving tips for tabletop publishers

• 10 time-saving tips for tabletop publishers

• Detailed information for how to request a quote from a manufacturer

industry:

• Advice for finding work in the board game industry

• At Unpub 5, Richard Launius and Mike Fitzgerald offered advice on playtesting, the design process, finding a publisher and more (starting at 1:19)

Meaningful Decisions:

• Jason Tagmire on Design Choices in Maximum Throwdown

• T.C. Petty III on Design Choices in VivaJava Dice

• Donald X. Vaccarino on Design Choices in Dominion

• Jamey Stegmaier on Design Choices in Euphoria

• Gil Hova on Design Choices in Battle Merchants

• Daniel Solis on Design Choices in Belle of the Ball

• Adam P. McIver on Design Choices in Coin Age

The Publishers:

• Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me Games

• Shari Spiro of Ad Magic & Breaking Games

contract terms:

• View From a Deal: The board game industry as seen in publishing contracts

• Designers’ Desires: How to get what you want out of a board game licensing contract

• Pros vs. Newbs: Experience Counts When Signing a Game

• The Kickstarter Effect: Signing a Game in the Age of Crowdfunding

• Signing a Game: Board Game Licensing Contracts - Part 1: Pre-Publication Terms

• Signing a Game: Board Game Licensing Contracts - Part 2: Post-Publication Terms

featured:

• The Hidden Work of Game Design

• Cardboard Edison shares resources for tabletop game makers on the Gaming Careers podcast

• The Meeple Syrup vidcast discusses licensing contract terms with David Short and Cardboard Edison

Cardboard Edison is supported by our patrons on Patreon.

SENIOR INVENTORS: Steven Cole, John du Bois, Richard Durham, Matthew O’Malley, Isaias Vallejo

JUNIOR INVENTORS: Stephen B Davies, Luis Lara, Behrooz Shahriari, Aidan Short, Jay Treat

ASSOCIATES: Robert Booth, Doug Levandowski, Aaron Lim, Nathan Miller, Marcel Perro

APPRENTICES: Kevin Brusky, Kiva Fecteau, Scott Gottreu, Michael Gray, JR Honeycutt, Scott Martel Jr., Marcus Ross, Diane Saue