Cardboard Edison’s Favorite Tips & Resources - June 2018

In this month's roundup of excellent board game design links and quotes, we have discussions about some fundamental questions in game design, references for making your game look good, playtesting advice worth remembering, and more.

theory:

• What makes a game "fun"--a Reddit board game design forum discussion

process:

• Tips for researching games that might be similar to your design (audio)

prototyping:

• Graphic design references for tabletop game cards

playtesting:

• Brief outline for how to start a local designer playtest group
• "Sometimes the best player feedback is in their faces: what do they smile at, what do they frown at, where do they spend lots of time looking, what seems to confuse them, what components do they ignore, mix up, or forget about?" - Jon Moffat
• “Show up at a playtest event also being willing to test other desigers’ games. Don’t be that designer who sits at your table, expecting others to fill your empty seats, while you remain unwilling to fill theirs.” - Charlie Hoopes

publishing:

• How to start out as a publisher with $1,000
• How to work effectively with artists: communication, contracts, timelines, costs, and more (audio)

industry:

• On dealing with criticism as a board game designer

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ADVISERS: Rob Greanias, Aaron Vanderbeek

SENIOR INVENTORS: Steven Cole, John du Bois, Chris and Kathy Keane (The Drs. Keane), Joshua J. Mills, Marcel Perro, Behrooz Shahriari, Shoot Again Games

JUNIOR INVENTORS: Ryan Abrams, Joshua Buergel, Luis Lara, Aidan Short, Jay Treat

ASSOCIATES: Stephen B Davies, Adrienne Ezell, Marcus Howell, Thiago Jabuonski, Samuel Lees, Doug Levandowski, Nathan Miller, Neil Roberts, Mike Sette, Matt Wolfe

APPRENTICES: Cardboard Fortress Games, Kiva Fecteau, Guz Forster, Scott Gottreu, Aaron Lim, Scott Martel Jr., James Meyers, Tony Miller, The Nerd Nighters, Matthew Nguyen, Marcus Ross, Rosco Schock, VickieGames, Lock Watson, White Wizard Games