Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources - August 2016

This month's roundup of our favorite board game design links includes advice for new small publishers, ways of creating the experience you want in your game, tips for finding a publisher, important things to keep in mind as you design, and more.

featured:

• The Publishers: Q&A With Stephen Buonocore of Stronghold Games

theory:

• 10 ways to deal with runaway leaders (video)

• Emotional arcs in board games--and room for design exploration

• Using incentives to guide player behavior

playtesting:

• Applying the scientific method to playtesting

publishing:

• Nearly two hours of detailed advice for new Kickstarter project creators (video)

• Starting out as a new publisher: pitfalls to avoid, common mistakes, basic but non-obvious steps, and more (audio)

licensing:

• How to find a publisher for your designs (audio)

• “Design pitch tip: “I’ve spent X years developing this game” is a red flag sentence for many reasons. It doesn’t help your pitch.” - Nate Murray

process:

• Ways to cope with being overwhelmed or blocked in the game design process (audio)

• “You’ll make a game and think you’ve nailed it the first time you write the rules. Then comes the real work, which can be exhausting, discouraging, confusing. But if you believe in your game, don’t be dismayed. Get it in front of people. Playtest it. Toss out what isn’t working, explore new ideas. Make something you love playing, and then enjoy what follows.” - David Somerville

• “Remind yourself, always: Your game is not as simple as you think. It is not as elegant as you think. It is not as intuitive as you think.” - Eric Lang

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ADVISERS: Peter C. Hayward, RetroIn Games, Aaron Vanderbeek

SENIOR INVENTORS: Steven Cole, John du Bois, Richard Durham, Koen Hendrix, Chris and Kathy Keane (The Drs. Keane), Matthew O’Malley, Marcel Perro

JUNIOR INVENTORS: Ryan Abrams, Luis Lara, Behrooz Shahriari, Aidan Short, Jay Treat

ASSOCIATES: Robert Booth, Danica E., Doug Levandowski, Aaron Lim, Nathan Miller, Isaias Vallejo, Matt Wolfe

APPRENTICES: Kevin Brusky, Kiva Fecteau, Scott Gottreu, JR Honeycutt, Knight Works, Scott Martel Jr., Mike Mullins, Marcus Ross, Sean Rumble, Diane Sauer, Smarter Backer