I delve into the game mechanics and design of the massively popular Elden Ring. Aside from beautiful graphics, immersion, and world-building, the game designers made some interesting and innovative choices from a design perspective - that really elevate the game.

Chelsea and I were talking over the runaway success of Brandon Sanderson’s Kickstarter (now up to $26 million!), and she made a point that I hadn’t given much though to. Millennials and Gen Zers prefer buying directly from creators and companies which they have a personal stake in. Who they have connected with, and who they identify with. In short - we’re killing the middleman.

Heuristics are a powerful tool that can accelerate our game design process, focus our decision making and give us the mental capacity to make next level designs. But, they’re a double edged sword that we need to examine critically.

I find that the best and most actionable advice comes from people sharing their real experience and details of their work process. That is why I’m excited to share a guest post from Nick Fink at Fink & Fink Games on how he interfaces with creatives and manages a creative process

Tips & tricks for writing a great playtest survey.

It takes time to master new skills, learn software, master marketing, develop a business. But, if we want to create a product, or launch a business, we need to make due with what we have, and stumble along while we figure it out. I spend some time ruminating on this figureitoutedness and share a resource that I’m finding helpful for learning Blender (3d modeling & animation).

As a publisher it can be difficult to transcend from niche hobbyists to a broader, casual gamer, demand. We take a look at the motivating factors behind different consumer types, and think through how to build retail appeal and broader demand for our games.

In a guest post for Joe Slack’s blog, I dive into the expectation subverting pairing of cute subject matter and complex gameplay. We examine player psychographic profiles (motivations), and a semi-scientific look at cuteness versus complexity. When and why should we subvert expectations?

It's a question that pops up from time to time - often from a place of skepticism. We break down the seven reasons even established companies turn to crowdfunding to make their projects a reality.

I recently received a scam letter. I didn’t fall for it - but it reminds me of the importance of reading the fine print, understanding what you are getting whenever you cut a check, and just how wonderful the board game design community is.

I am excited to welcome author, professor, and seasoned designer Joe Slack to the blog! Joe shares insights into his process, specifically his top 10 (erm… 12) ways to come up with brilliant game ideas.

We recently signed our first game (working title SIGIL)! So, I’ve spent a lot of time researching contract terms, and understanding what is important and why. I break down our contract - in the hopes that it can be a reference for designers & publishers. What’s standard, what is a red flag, and how to think through the terms of your licensing agreement.

I sat down with Gabe Barrett of the BGDL podcast to talk about making a business plan for your project. We covered everything from the major expenses that go into making a game, how to model out your break-even, how to work within a budget, and how to plan for distribution after your crowd funding event.

Marketers talk target demographics - age, gender, family status, etc. But, as game designers it is more important to know who our target customer is from a psychographic perspective. Join us in building a psychographic profile for our games, and learn how you can do the same.

We always ask manufacturers is which components are sourced, and try to better understand their supply chains and capabilities. But there is a lot more to the story, with Industrial Clusters creating communities of manufacturing plants. Maybe it's better to think of your manufacturer as a production manager, and that they will source the best components for your game.

Designer Matt Dunstan shared that it takes an average of 28 months for a signed game to make it onto retail shelves. We delve into the process of creating a board game, and contextualize what’s taking so long?

A technical error on our website forms caused some portion of e-mail submissions on our site to fail. It’s impossible to know what portion. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but it’s also a lesson. And, it’s times like this that I’m grateful that I am a gamer, because we’re used to messing up, to punting away our wins, and to coming back to do it all again.

Everything you need to know and more about card stock, finishes, and decorative treatments. We do a deep dive into what goes into making a card and what the differences are between types of finish, foil treatments, gilding, card stocks, and more.

Despite mechanical similarities games can have very different play experiences. We examine how balance and theme effect the feel of a game.

As we settle in to a new normal we take a look at the landscape of post pandemic board game retail, and parse out the cyclical versus secular shifts.