Welcome to the Board Game Designers Forum

I lurked for a while... then posted a couple of times... then have lurked on and off from time to time... I like the idea of an introduction section so thought I'd kick off in earnest in order to encourage others to do the same.

I started to get into BG designing when my wife was pregnant with my son about 3 years ago. Being a (hopefully recovering) computer game addict I wanted to come up with something we could do as a family encouraging a social interaction in a way that computer games don't.

I have about 10 amazing but top secret games in various stages of production... (for that probably read: not so good and probably not very original and nowhere near close to being finished!)

I suppose that I'm better at the idea of the game creation and initial stages of design/rules prototyping rather than the dotting the I's and crossing the T's part of finishing it... but my son was only 2 yesterday so I figure I have a few years to go before I have to get one completed.

Finally the 3 mains design areas that I'm interested in are:

1) Designing a game that is equally good as a single player and multi player by having a game run "itself" in order for the single player. (Not the best example off the top of my head - Imagine a set of rules for monopoly/risk so that 1 or more players could enjoy playing against the game itself)

2) Having a game be re-playable but with a player having "experience" the second time round weighted into the game... without it adversely affecting new players joining the second game (maybe even having a dynamic world that the players can dip in and out of)

3) How much a game can be modelled / simulated / playtested / "balanced" / predicted etc with SIMPLE maths/probability before its actually up and running

I hope I will try and make more of an effort in the forums... but I do wonder how much I can contribute at times when there are some seriously strong designers giving good answers to the questions!

Well, hello. I generally use the handle Auroch in various online settings. I'm a college student (Math/CS) and avid tabletop gamer with aspirations toward design.

I play a lot of Magic and deck-building games; my current favorite in-box game is Eminent Domain, closely followed by Dominion and 7 Wonders. When I can find a large enough chunk of time, it will almost certainly be devoted to Twilight Imperium, but since a proper game (6+ players) takes 12-16 hours, this is rare.

I registered so I could enter the GDS (I have a submission in the November contest); I tend to not talk about ideas until they're just so, so a time-limited design competition with intelligent critique seemed like a good way to push myself to design more.

My current project (for some time) has been a drafting-based area control game initially conceived of as a rework of SmallWorld, which my playgroup found to be dominated by the first player; this has not seen the light of day because integrating an initial draft with gradual deployment of forces without adding overwhelming rules or on-board complexity is taking careful thought to plan.

I'm quite new to this site, being here for about 3 days, approximately. Currently, I'm working on two board game projects, which are still quite early in the stages of development. My first game, about ship wars, is currently called Navy Wars, but the name is unfinished. The second game, whose name is also unfinished is Ancient Battles, which takes place in a fantasy world. Now, I don't want to reveal too much about my board games, but I feel they'll be quite fun to play. Recently, for my board games, I've been looking for large cardboard pieces that are 60cm x 60cm in perimeter. I also would like to obtain another cardboard piece that is 50cm x 50cm. So, that's it about me. Also, if your wondering, I decided to make a board game while I was setting up a simple game of Risk with my friend. So, here I am, making my board game.

Sincerely,

AlduinSlayer (Yes, I play Skyrim)

Hello everyone! A real pleasure finding this wiki; I've only toured through it a short time and it has already helped me a lot. Yes, I'm an amateur board game designer and yes, I have what I think is an original and innovative design for a game that I am keeping tucked greedily out of sight. Just until after Xmas; once the original is safely bestowed on our grand kids and I have copyrighted the design, I'll proudly share it with this forum. I'll be curious to see if anyone has seen anything like it.

As a long time Photoshop artist and illustrator, I've had fun creating all the graphics for the game on a first-gen iPad. Admittedly, it is a slower way to work compared to paper, but the touchscreen is addictive and I love having all my projects instantly available. As soon as I figure out posting to your image galleries, I'll share the game art with you.

Oh yes, profession...I used to be a digital artist and have completed grad school to be a librarian, but I continue to slave away (12-16 hours a day) as a Los Angeles chauffeur. Limo driver to da stars.

Hello,
I’ve always enjoyed board games, being the first among my siblings to discover ‘Hey! There are no strategies in Candyland!”. My favorite newish games are Quarriors, Seven Wonders and the Flux variations. Time honored favorites would be Axis and Allies, Go and Careers. I’m also interested in recreation of lost ancient games such as Senet.

My non-game career got a bit intense for the last 15 years leaving me little time for design but now I’m back to games on a regular basis.

By the way, KrisW is my online handle, not my given name. I use it for writing related stuff. It makes it easier to put mystery e-mails in context and keeps vocation and avocation separate. I hope that’s OK with folks here.

I’ve been a casual designer for quite a while and done play testing and run in-store demos on a professional level. (I was paid in free books – that makes it professional, right?) My never-to-be-published design attempts include a military strategy style game in which player-run NGOs attempt to evacuate the most people from a war torn region without becoming a pawn for various power groups. I also worked with a friend on another game in which player-run cats attempted to claim the maximum number of rooms in a household by depositing the most olfactory marks in any given room (i.e., a pissing contest).

The name for my current project is GUT – Great Grand Uncle’s Treasure. Players attempt to return ill-gotten (and cursed) treasures to their rightful owners and claim the enormous estate before the lawyers bleed off every penny futilely trying to clear the old thief’s name.

It’s great to be here,
- KrisW

Been here a while and try to help when I can. Great place. Instead of my retyping everything I'll just point you to my personal bio/blog that has lot so of resources:

http://www.JamesMathe.com

Been reading a lot of posts over the course of 2 months and figured if I'm part of BGG I should be a part of this forum as well. I am willing to playtest, critique, share knowledge and resources, as well as listen to words of experts and novices alike.

I'm a game designer from Canada and I'm looking to launch 3 of my titles this year in August at Fan Expo in Toronto. It's a big time for me so I'll be running through these threads pretty heavily over the next 3-4 months.

Ciao for now,
cK

Hi

I have just joined and require some assistance in taking my Board game to market. I have all the designs drawings, rules etc.

Can anyone help?

This is my perfunctory introduction. I have been an infrequent lurker for some time. I am working on my first game and have questions regarding the process.

Thank you,
jpwrunyan

Salutations and various apropos felicitations to you all. Long time lurker, new member here. Looking forward to participate!

I guess I am the culprit, so I better am the first to welcome you to the forum. ;)

My suggestion for you and all new members is to try to take part in the Game Design Showdown as often as possible. Probably the best way to learn a lot in a short period. And lurk around as much as possible, post when you feel you have something to say that might help, even if you feel a bit shy at first.

Ariel

Hello,

I'm Kim and my wife is Dana and together we are working on multiple game development ideas. We love playing games together or in other groups and have spent a lot of time trying to come up with games that would be enticing to our many gaming groups.

One is a board game that tries to mimmic a fishing tournament and includes angling, shopping at the tackle shop, betting and side-bets, sponsorship and the weigh-in to determine the tournament king!

Another is a card deck that plays similar to Gin but to complete melds, one will have to construct the object shown on the set of cards the player has collected.

I'm excited to be here and to learn from all the other designers on the board.

Kim

-- created a new thread with my introduction --

Hey there!

I'm new here, as you might have already guessed ;) and newish to board game design. Technically, I started designing my first board game when I was 12 but I never finished it. It was supposed to be an RPG in board game form (back then I had no knowledge of all the cool board games that already existed, aside from monopoly and life...).

Anywho, I am now 23, and started getting back into playing/designing board games about a year ago. I completely on a whim decided to buy a bunch of new board games to play with my friends, and enjoyed it so much I decided to try making my own again!

I have yet to complete a game, though I did bring one of my first ideas to prototype stage (along with several serious flaws...) which has been on the shelf for the last year collecting dust. I do have several game ideas I want to bring to fruition though, including bringing that first one back to life, and the goal is to actually FINISH one sometime soon!

As you may have guessed, my favorite type of board games are the complicated fantasy-style ones like Rune Wars or Descent, though I also love "building" games like Settlers and Agricola. I'd say that sums up my gaming "style", though I love new/fresh ideas as well.

So, I'm excited to meet all you like-minded board game fiends and get some help with my games, and possibly provide some input myself! Thanks for reading. :)