There’s a lot to learn about making amazing tabletop games. Here’s where I share what I’ve learned about game design.
How to balance a game – a deep dive into a real-world template
Spreadsheets - a word that drives terror or delight into the heart of many a game designer. I was a Business major in college, and it was a class on entrepreneurship where I got to be really comfortable in spreadsheets. If you already have a bit of knowledge of...
Creating prototype art with AI – 8 services that gives you commercial rights to use what you create, 3 that don’t, and 1 that’s just… weird
Everyone, the future is here. If your Facebook feed is anything like mine, your Facebook friends have been wowed by the powers of AI. Lots of these programs and systems are genuinely amazing, and board game designers are always looking for new sources of art....
Game design 101: 10 design lessons from classic board games
Part of making the future of board games means knowing where the industry has been. I'm of the firm belief that each and every game you can play can teach you something, no matter how old it is, whether it's a game you like or not, and so on. All 10 of these games are...
The Absolute Beginners Guide to Sell Sheets
So you've playtested your game a few times, you've decided to pitch it to a publisher, and you're hearing you need a 'sell sheet'... But what is a sell sheet? As a way of introduction, let's do a little thought exercise. Think back to when you applied for your first...
So I just had this idea for a game… What now?
It's a question I've heard more than a few times: 'I just had this idea for a game... now what? 'How do I go from this (usually some handwritten rules or cards) to that (pointing to wall of finished games)?' 'Where do I even start?!' You've just signed up for a...
About mechanical competency and strategic competency in games
Most of the time when you sit down to play a game for the first time, a few things happen, more or less in a set order: You read the rules (or have them taught to you in some way) You set up the game, board, cards, dice, pieces, etc. You learn the goal of the game,...
Pecha Kucha Kon 2021 – learn from some amazing people, 20 seconds per slide
So the Meeple Syrup community made a thing - introducing Pecha Kucha Kon 2021, all about board game design from many different perspectives. For those hearing the term 'Pecha Kucha' for the first time, it's basically a presentation format where you have exactly 20...
Best practices for pitching your game in 2021 and beyond – a 7 step process
After months of playtesting and lots of iterations, you've built a game that's fun, stable, and at least a little different from what's already out there (Well done by the way!). You've decided to pitch your game to a publisher (as opposed to Kickstarting it, though...
23 Things I Wish I Knew About Game Design When I Started
Has it really been over 4 years? I showed my first design in late 2016 to some gamers in Florida... and man that feels like forever ago... A big shoutout to the Board Game Design Lab community on Facebook for starting this conversation. Some of these items come from...
Game design 101: Where to find free icons, pictures, and graphics for prototypes
Because prototypes — especially those you're showing publicly — should not exist on text alone. [First published on 28 Sept 2018 - Last updated 11 Jan 2021] You're probably aware that you can't just take an image you find on Google and use it however you want. You're...