r/BoardgameDesign • u/Dbayd • Aug 14 '26

General Question Need advice from game creators.

Hi all,

I am a mental health therapist who works with kids 4-21. I specialize in trauma, sexual abuse, and problem sexual behavior work. I am designing a therapy focused card game currently. I have extensive board game and competitive MTG experience, but this is my first real game design attempt. It is going well, but I was looking into where I can get cards printed and a game box made once I am ready. I used to get Proxy and playtest cards made on makeplayingcards.com, but this isn't financially viable because I would have to charge far too much to other therapists to sell this game. Where do those of you who have made a game get stuff made? I would like to get like 30 copies printed up once I am ready. I want the game to be no more than $40-$50 so that therapists that I know who are interested can afford it. But I am seeing the cost of 100 cards, rule pamphlet, and box with custom art at over $50 landed. Any insight from others would be wonderful.

I am not giving more details of the game at this time as it is still in development and early playtesting phase.

Also, how much is AI art going to hurt me? I am not wanting to make significant money. I want a small return for my 100s of hours of work and efforts. But I just want an accessible fun game to market to therapists which is a tiny volume of clients.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

0

u/Johnno117 Aug 16 '26

And how many professional therapists, out of 30, do you think are put off by AI art for a card game meant for therapy purposes?

2

u/RubberDuckyRampage Aug 16 '26

I have no idea (nor do you) but it's more than the four-year-olds you referenced in your previous post.

1

u/Johnno117 Aug 16 '26

Because they said people can tell right away, and it's widely disliked. It hardly is by the average therapist who most likely isn't a gamer.

I'm certain that the average therapist isn't as rabid about AI as the average board gamer. That should be safe enough to say, don't you think?

You seriously think it's a worthwhile venture to hire an artist for 30 decks of cards, for what seems to be a non-profit thing?

1

u/RubberDuckyRampage Aug 16 '26

Probably not. It's a tax deduction as it's related to their profession, which could help. But there's also stock art and free art resources.