New to BGDF - Looking for a human! (aren't we all...)

What books have you read recently? I just finished the Kobold Guide for the second time and would love another good read.

Hi Eric, and welcome!

Some good books there, though I've not yet read Brathwaite & Schreiber. As Ryan mentioned, the Kobold guide is excellent. I would also recommend Uncertainty in Games by Greg Costikyan, which is one of my favourite reads so far.

Have you tried actually making a game yourself yet? If not, then I suggest you do so. Don't worry about making your masterpiece, or making something particularly original: designing something closely based on something else is a great way to start (basing it on a statement like "It's basically (game I know) but with (mechanism that game doesn't have)" can be a good was to get going). Make a prototype and then test it, and you're on your way... Nothing teaches you how to design a game like trying to design and test a game.

As for discussing game designs, I tend to read and contribute here and on Board Game Geek, and also find that there is a good game design community on Twitter (I am @harperrob), though that is not generally good for detailed and deep discussion about specific games, but there is a lot of wisdom being shared if you follow the right people.

Good luck in your game designs.

Don't stress too much about originality, particularly on your early game designs. Apart from anything else, memory games are usually targeted at kids or party gamers, and an animal themed game would generally go well for those sorts of audiences. But also, you can't expect every game to end up sellable, so just getting the game designed and tested is a great education, even if you end up dropping it. And if you do, you might end up using elements of it later, retheming, or whatever.

That sounds very interesting. Testing parts of the game is a very good way to get started. I hope you manage to get it developed further.

It looks like you are well on the way. Keep at it, and all the best!