Considering the differences between maps that use hexes vs. maps that use connected points:
https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/everything-is-pointcrawl
Tips & Resources for Board Game Designers
Considering the differences between maps that use hexes vs. maps that use connected points:
https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/everything-is-pointcrawl
An introduction to casino games: how common gambling games are designed, the odds behind them, and how casinos use them to their benefit (video):
Suggested terms to discuss different types of “randomness” in games:
The Daniel.games game design advice website has been updated with new and revised articles:
Tips for designing board games with strong narratives (video):
Fragile mechanics: what makes a game mechanic particularly fragile?
When making a historical game, how to decide what to include and what to leave out? A Bluesky board game designers discussion:
https://bsky.app/profile/biffybeans.bsky.social/post/3m2d575y6mk2y
Player psychographics: how archetypes of different players and what they want from games can help designers make better design decisions (video):
Games that hold scoring until the end can leave players unclear about what their goals are. Here are some fixes to give players earlier, clearer feedback (video):
Designing traditional and abstract board games (video):
Common game design problems and suggestions for overcoming them: being stuck on a mechanic, downtime, overwhelmed players, lack of interaction, and when the game just isn't great (video):
This chat with a game designer and developer considers what makes a game “cozy” and what makes it a good product (video):
How to design cooperative games—lessons learned from a designer who has made several of them (video):
A short thread with some observations about how players can perceive randomness differently at different points in a game:
https://bsky.app/profile/salkind.bsky.social/post/3lyqxkl4v4c2u
The designer of Ascension offers up five game design lessons from 15 years of the game:
https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/177249/designer-diary-5-lessons-learned-from-15-years-of
Player count problems and solutions: What makes games flexible or inflexible at certain player counts, and what can designers and publishers do about it? (video)
Thoughts on why downtime isn’t always a bad thing and why constant engagement isn’t always desirable:
Tips for designing satisfying combos in a board game (video):
Tips for designing a megagame for a very large group of players:
https://www.megagameassembly.com/blog/some-megagame-design-lessons-i-learned-the-hard-way
How to make a simple game that’s also deep, or a heavy game that’s still simple to grasp (video):