Survey for Designers

Don't know if my reaction is required since I'm not a "Designer" with the capital D but I do design games in my spare time.

Anyhoo, since noone else is replying as of now:

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS:

1. Why have you chosen game design as a hobby or job? How did you start?
-- Cause I enjoy boardgames and games in general and have always aspired to create something (comics, games, screenplays, art etc). Since I'm not adept enough to program for videogames this also seemed like a good in-between.

2. What do you like the most about your favourite games (either yours or someone else's)? Why would you consider them your favourites?
-- The place they bring me into, the story unfolding behind it and the general ideas in them. It's a different feeling then playing a video game and boardgames seem to have more deep and special subjects than other games.

3. From where do you find the inspiration and ideas for your game designs?
-- From things I see and do and am interested in. From comics, games, movies, series to everyday happenings.

4. If there's one thing you could share with a new game designer about the game-making process, what would it be?
-- Don't worry that you're not being unique or that others have more resources, get more attention or seem to be more professional/better. Just do it.

5. What is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are in the playtesting stage with your game design?
-- That the game is fun and that you don't arrive on a point where you say "ok uhm this is kinda...idk" and then keep it in just cause of ego or lasyness.

6. What's the most useful suggestion you could give to someone who wants to approach a publisher with their game design?
-- Can't comment on this cause I have no idea either. I'd personally say: "believe in what you have made" but the cynic in me (and my experience) often refutes this (but it seems to work just fine for others!)

Greets

1. Why have you chosen game design as a hobby or job? How did you start?

I started designing board games when I was about 12 years old, Because I didn't have access to many computer games. I just really enjoyed the creative process behind it. To this day, I enjoy seeing other people get enjoyment out of something I create. I hope to be published some day!

2. What do you like the most about your favourite games (either yours or someone else's)? Why would you consider them your favourites?

Carcassonne is currently my favourite game. I love the random tile placement and jousting for land and cities as well as Tons of replayability. All of which are my favourite things

3. From where do you find the inspiration and ideas for your game designs?

Historical eras, for the most part. I enjoy creating a setting based on historical facts, but purely fictional. I also take Ideas from popular recent themes, such as zombies, or space sci-fi.

4. If there's one thing you could share with a new game designer about the game-making process, what would it be?

Don't be afraid to accept your game may be bad, or that people don't like it. You can't get offended or discouraged by this, because it will be part of your experience. Move on to the next idea, or modify!

5. What is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are in the playtesting stage with your game design?

Listen to feedback! Don't be so set on your ideas that you stick to them no matter what. If your playtesters tell you it's not fun, they're on to something. Ask them what they'd change, remove, etc.

6. What's the most useful suggestion you could give to someone who wants to approach a publisher with their game design?

N/A

1. Why have you chosen game design as a hobby or job? How did you start?
Game design has seemed to emerge as my creative outlet. I’m a creative guy, but I’ve never really gotten past dabbling in any of the formal arts. My first game design started about 4-5 years ago, when I woke up following a vivid dream I’d had (about watching people play a game). After describing it to my wife when driving her to the airport that day, I returned home and spent the next 12 hours working on the design. I’ve also played D&D off and on for 20 years, and in retrospect, creating characters, adventures and campaigns seem like an aspect of game design.
2. What do you like the most about your favourite games (either yours or someone else's)? Why would you consider them your favourites?
I like games that provide the opportunity to play the way you want to, or at least support a wide range of strategies and game play. Games with emergent play, sandbox, or open styles of play are my favorite (TES, Fallout, MtG, Civ, tabletop roleplaying games).
3. From where do you find the inspiration and ideas for your game designs?
I get inspiration from everything. Real life systems (politics, climate, economics), social encounters, dreams, books, history, wikipedia, movies, comics...
4. If there's one thing you could share with a new game designer about the game-making process, what would it be?
Somethings work, some don’t. Don’t get too caught up on one aspect or idea. Keep working and rolling with new ideas. Once you’ve seen a lot of stuff and have designed a lot of games, you’ll have a better idea about what is good / what works.
5. What is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are in the playtesting stage with your game design?
Pay attention to the players. Are they having fun, or at least engaged? Is the game evoking the response that you intended? And listen to everything they have to say.
6. What's the most useful suggestion you could give to someone who wants to approach a publisher with their game design?
I haven’t actually done this, but my advice would be to read about it. There’s a lot of helpful information out and about on the internet.

Hi :)

1. Why have you chosen game design as a hobby or job? How did you start?
I like games and was stuck in a Job that didn't challenge me at all. If I recollect right, I was searching for "free games" or something like that, when I found the Boardgamegeek. There I found the designers' board the most interesting. When the 4 tile contest was started in 2010, I was hooked.

2. What do you like the most about your favourite games (either yours or someone else's)? Why would you consider them your favourites?
One keyword:
Customization.
I like games that play differently each time you play them.
In my games, customization always plays a role, whether you customize your "playing piece" (such as a hero you're playing) or the board (such as a track you are racing on).
Games always pitting you into the same situation feel kind of dull for me.

3. From where do you find the inspiration and ideas for your game designs?
I read game rules for breakfast.
And the 'geek and - since lately - the bgdf, too.
Reading other designers' ideas often sparks own ideas.

4. If there's one thing you could share with a new game designer about the game-making process, what would it be?
For each enthusiastic feedback you receive, there will be one guy who wrote it. For each not so enthusiastic feedback you receive, there will be at least one hundred folks who didn't even care writing.

5. What is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are in the playtesting stage with your game design?
Aim for proper targets. Miniature wargamers probably won't be able to discuss a childrens' game while 6 year olds won't understand the concept of your highly detailed wargame.

6. What's the most useful suggestion you could give to someone who wants to approach a publisher with their game design?
In our society, the only thing of interest is money. The publisher does not need to understand the rules of your game. Instead he needs to understand, why your game will grant him profit.

Interesting questions .. forced me to think .. *like* :)

Kind regards,
Kai :)

1. Why have you chosen game design as a hobby or job? How did you start?

I love playing games and I love to designe things (I´m an architect).

2. What do you like the most about your favourite games (either yours or someone else's)? Why would you consider them your favourites?

I don´t realy have a favorite game. It verry much depends on the situation and the group I want to play with.
Regarding the best of my onw game I like that the games ar quite innoveatve, not just a vatiation of Catan or Chess etc or a mixture of ...

3. From where do you find the inspiration and ideas for your game designs?

Most of my games are inspired by "geometrical relatinships", but the first idea can come from everywhere.

4. If there's one thing you could share with a new game designer about the game-making process, what would it be?

Never trust the praise of your friends. ;-)

5. What is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are in the playtesting stage with your game design?

If the game does not work well, don´t change to much in one step but do the improvement step by step.

6. What's the most useful suggestion you could give to someone who wants to approach a publisher with their game design?

Do not take them too seriously.

1. Why have you chosen game design as a hobby or job? How did you start?
I have always had an interest in table top games since I was a kid. I designed a lot of my own, and would make new rules/content for games that already existed. But a year ago, I had a class in college where the final project was to launch your own business. I thought about it, and I knew I had to take my skills to the next level and take myself seriously as a game designer if I wanted to go anywhere.

2. What do you like the most about your favourite games (either yours or someone else's)? Why would you consider them your favourites?
Magic: The Gathering is one of the most inventive games out there. It was a brilliant concept, and they keep it fresh, by practically reinventing the game mechanics around the core rules every year or so. Choices is a big factor for me in games. That's where strategy comes from. And Magic has a lot of choices, from what cards to build a deck with to what card to play on turn 6.

3. From where do you find the inspiration and ideas for your game designs?
Inspiration comes from everywhere. You can watch a television show, go to the park, read a book, or just talk with people, and you'll be surrounded by ideas for new games. The trick is finding them and using them effectively. But the best way to find inspiration is by playing and evaluating other games, and it's a skill that every game designer needs to cultivate.

4. If there's one thing you could share with a new game designer about the game-making process, what would it be?
Get your game out there! The difference between successful, published game designers and those that are all talk, is moving forward. you need to take an idea in your head and put it on paper. Then you must take that paper and make a prototype, Then take that prototype and playtest it, and put it in front of others. And do that quickly! Fail fast, or else you'll be wasting your time. Too many early game designers take months or even years before they get their idea to "work" and be "perfect." And often, by then, they find out that their idea doesn't actually work, except inside their heads. You should preferably be able to make your idea a reality the same day you have the idea, even if it's the worst balanced and aesthetically faulty piece of garbage you've ever seen. Refine it, but get it out there fast to see if it an work.

5. What is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are in the playtesting stage with your game design?
Is everyone having fun? And no, I don't mean your brother and your grandma telling you it's fun. Seriously pay attention to if people are having fun. A game can be perfectly balanced, but if it's too balanced, and no one wants to play it again, you've failed. What makes a game successful is when people are smiling, laughing, interacting, and genuinely having a great time. A great line I heard that you should look for from playtesters is : "Can we play again?" You hear that, and you've got it.

6. What's the most useful suggestion you could give to someone who wants to approach a publisher with their game design?
Know the publisher. For example, Hasbro mostly deals with family games. If you're creating a game that's too "adult" for them, or that they're already producing. They won't care to see another idea from you. Now you can't always predict what they have in development that you don't know about. But if you bring them a solid idea and they are already doing something similar, they'll let you know, and want to see what else you have, so always bring a portfolio of a few ideas.

I know I'm late to the party, but I'm just getting active again on the boards. Maybe this will be of some benefit to the next generation, or something :)

1. I am pretty deep into the "designer" board game hobby, playing 1-2 times on a slow week, up to 4 times on a good (summer!) week.
I heard Eric Lang say, paraphrased, that "I used to play euro games, but now I design games instead. The design process scratches the same itch".

That resonated deeply with me. I am also moving away from "euro" games, and prefer more social, thematic, interactive, and even random games.

2. Cosmic Encounter is probably my current favorite. I love that, aside from some crazy edge cases, it takes luck, strategy, wit, and social maneuvering to win.

3. Some games are thematically inspired. Others come from my experience on game nights, where I feel like there is *probably* a game that would best fit our [player count/mood/time constraints/etc], but I don't know what it is!
So I'm going to make the perfect game for that situation!

4. You don't have a game until you have a prototype.
In other words, having a playable prototype is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition.

5. Does this game achieve its goals? Can the game grind to a halt or be broken in some way?

6. Know the publisher that you are pitching to. Each is different, and even if they love you/your game, the game might not be a good fit for their company (at its current state, at least).

Don't know if I'm authorized to comment on this, I'm still new to board game design and haven't fully completed a game yet (only to first playtesting stages), but here is my input from what I have thus far learned...

1. Why have you chosen game design as a hobby or job? How did you start?

I love building things. It really gets my creative juices flowing and it makes me happy. I used to think I wanted to make video games but I didn't have the skills needed. I thought 'Well, I could make a board game on my own...' so I am now doing just that. I've found that the hands-on social experience of a board game can be more rewarding than a video game, anyway.
I started by writing my ideas down in notebooks during slow work days or between classes and working on the prototypes on my days off.

2. What do you like the most about your favourite games (either yours or someone else's)? Why would you consider them your favourites?

I tend to gravitate towards two genre of games: building games and RPG games. Building games because I love starting with a blank slate and building something I can call me own. RPG games because I like to play my own character or race, make my own decisions, and so on. I also love games with the perfect atmosphere to draw you in. I love to feel that to some extent I have control but that there is always the element of chance as well.

I probably haven't played as many as others but my favorite games at the moment are Arkham Horror, RuneWars, Agricola, and Settlers of Catan.

3. From where do you find the inspiration and ideas for your game designs?

Anywhere and everywhere. For instance, one idea's inspiration came from Plato's Republic. I want to make games that I want to play, so some inspiration comes from things I've enjoyed. I also get inspiration from certain themes or wild ideas that sounds fun and that I'd like to make work. Basically, anywhere.

4. If there's one thing you could share with a new game designer about the game-making process, what would it be?

Always think about your players. Also, try to keep it as simple as humanly possible. I adopted the "Keep it simple, stupid." Motto pretty early on. The best games are usually (in my opinion, of course) easy to pick up. The complexity comes from within. So think about every element of your game and if something doesn't add anything to the experience, or if it's just unnecessary clutter, get rid of it. No one likes flipping through the rule-book every other second...Nobody!

This might be elementary advice, not sage advice (for I am nowhere near a sage) but it's all I have to give.

5. What is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are in the playtesting stage with your game design?

I have only little experience with this, but here's what I've been looking for: Where are they getting confused? Is something not working right and if so what is it and why? Do they seem engaged, or do they look bored? How fast did they catch on to the rules? Is an element of your game being neglected? Why? Have they done anything you didn't expect?

Take notes. Take lots of notes.

Oops, didn't realize this thread was so old. Well, I guess I'll just leave it anyway.

1. Why have you chosen game design as a hobby or job? How did you start?

Well I don't have a published game yet, just starting out though as a kid I wrote a bunch of them. It was a good creative outlet, I'm one of those people who wants a go too - I love music so I became a musician to make my own. I like books so I wanted to write as well. And I've always loved games, so it was inevitable I'd want to make at least one of my own....

2. What do you like the most about your favourite games (either yours or someone else's)? Why would you consider them your favourites?

My most memorable days and night playing with friends (who are mostly non-gamer types) have been when the game has a sense of humour or the play is fun, such as really zinging your buddy as he's about to do something ambitious, etc. Favourite games definitely allow for this, and I'm pretty old-school so Talisman, Bloodbowl, Magic: The Gathering and my all-time favourite is Illuminati - all of these allow you to be inventive, keep the mood light and fun with friends and create enjoyable days/nights and memories

3. From where do you find the inspiration and ideas for your game designs?

Life, kinda. While other games make me want to create, it's pretty meta to use existing games and might not bring anything new to the party. My approach is like the one reality TV producers use: you can take any job or scenario or situation out there - real or created - and it's grounds for entertainment.... but only if it's entertaining. So while being a factory cleaner has challenges and could turn into a TV show or game, it might not be an interesting one.

And it's got to be a fantasy I want to have; you could make a clever game about cleaning public toilets with really smart mechanics but I might avoid that because I don't have that fantasy and if I wanted to experience it (again) I would take that job (again lol.

Actually, the reality TV thing is a strong comparison for me because I was watching one recently and thought that this sort of thing ought to be a game, and so that's my latest idea. The shows in the genre provide all the plot twists, backgrounds and characters I could possibly want and because the premise is essentially ludicrous (paranormal investigators) I can add a lot of humour to make a really fun experience

4. If there's one thing you could share with a new game designer about the game-making process, what would it be?

I am a new game designer! But I can offer from other creative things I've done that not all ideas will flourish and be worthy. You might come up with 11 screenplay ideas, but not all of them will turn into something that people want to see. Maybe any of them could with the right attention, but there's value in dropping an idea completely and looking for something new instead.

I read that in Hollywood they say there's nothing less valuable than an idea. So many people think all they need is an idea and the rest will take care of itself - but the execution and development are what has value. There's zillions of great ideas that will never come to anything or not be developed into anything worthy. A great example of a stock idea is a lot more enjoyable than a laborious game/movie/etc of a unique idea

5. What is the most important thing to pay attention to when you are in the playtesting stage with your game design?

That most of the fun isn't in the rules or components. A fun day/night or a great memory from a game session comes more from player interaction than from completing tasks and deciding strategy. People will be more likely to think favourably of your game if it provides a framework for fun and laughter than if it's got chin-strikingly clever mechanics detailed in war-and-peace-sized instructions and rigid rules. Playtesters (I have been one of them) will give feedback about *rules* but what you want to look for is where the *fun* is.

6. What's the most useful suggestion you could give to someone who wants to approach a publisher with their game design?

Again, a novice... but I'm pretty sure that the advice for games publishing is the same as for music and novel publishing, which is that the role of publishers is being dramatically redefined thanks to the interwebs. Where once upon a time you needed a record label/publisher/studio to get your work "out there" there are a lot of ways you can get your product out there yourself these days.

It depends what you're after. Marketing directly from your own website often doesn't get the reach you're after, and if you want to be a household name then a publisher might be the best way to do it. But as a commercial venture? Do the math. I sold 822 copies of my album in 2001 from my website, but I got to keep all of the revenue which turned out to be a lot more worthwhile than moving 5,000 through traditional means would have been.

What I'll be looking at when the time is right will be what it will cost to make my final product. Chances are I can do it cheaply because it's cards, so I can fund that myself and distribute through my website, social media, local games stores, etc. (If I were making something in a box with a lot of figurines etc, I couldn't produce or mail that sort of thing cheaply on my own and I would need that sort of thing to be backed by a publisher).

Publishers are like record labels - if you do it yourself and develop a buzz, they come looking for *you* and they'll be a lot more generous with their offer than if you went to them, cap in hand, trying to sell an unproven idea. 822 albums was all it took for me to start getting emails from labels - if you can sell a few hundred units with their network, then the risk is removed for them and you can get a better deal :)