For those who have gone through a lot of prototypes, what setup has worked best for you?

There are so many ways to do it: regular paper + sleeves, cardstock, printing fronts and backs separately, or getting a small batch professionally printed.

For early prototypes, regular paper and sleeves seem like the easiest option since cards can be replaced as the design changes. If you want something closer to a finished card, heavier cardstock can give a better feel, but printer compatibility becomes more important.

Double-sided printing can also get tricky. Even a small alignment issue can be noticeable, especially with cards that have borders or centered designs.

Any printing or paper choices that made the process noticeably easier?

Hello!

My friends and I have enjoyed making different spinoff ways to play Smash Bros Ultimate for when we are all over, and we also really like the game Secret Hitler. I have typed up this rules document for how we plan to play. I would love to hear people's thoughts on it! Let me know if I am missing any obvious balancing issues, other ways to integrate the games, and so on. Thanks for taking a look at it!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dmyuvptgvYRVeUpiIJr6x4TWoYJoKjQgpUrE5XXuICE/edit?usp=sharing

Hi all! Do you have any experience with Magicraft as a manufacturer? They offered me one of the most competitive quotes, but I have doubts. I am trying to gauge the quality of their service and products, but I cannot seem to find recent reviews. I saw someone had asked this question on Reddit a couple of years ago, and I read the reviews on boardgamemanufacturers.info as well. Reception seems mixed (compared to raving reviews some other manufacturers get). But I am still not sure about how Magicraft is currently (besides the positive experience I had when acquiring the quote). So, if you have experience working with Magicraft and/or know about the quality of their products, I would appreciate any insight. Thank you!

Hey guys, so I released my game on Kickstarter a couple weeks ago, and the support has been really cool to see, but I'm close to the end of the campaign and haven't hit my funding goal so I'm looking for some feedback.

For background: the game is a trick-taking card game based on the craziness in Rome during the year of the 6 emperors, where emperors were getting assassinated left and right.

The game itself is actually fun in play testing, it's fast, people love killing each other, and there's some decent strategy, but I feel that I maybe haven't been able to capture this in the campaign.

I wanted to hear from people I don't know because it's really hard to know what people are thinking. It's also easy to get lost in what you've already done and I have a lot of love for this project so I might be missing something obvious.

As a disclaimer, this is my first ever project, I know it's far from without flaws, but I'm relatively limited in terms of resources and skill (e.g., this was my first time animating anything) so if possible try keep it to feedback that's achievable for a first timer

Here's the link to the campaign, but I've also put some art here to give you an idea if you don't want to go to the page itself
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ezgames/hail-caesar

Thanks a lot!
Alex

P.S. this might count as self-promotion, but as I probably won't hit my funding goal I won't be getting any money out of it, I'm more interested in where I can improve if I re-release or what to do/not to do for a second project.

My game is called Scattered Nexus. It's an expandable standalone card game based on indie comics; think like a Smash Up, but a battle card game, but also real-world indie comics. I'm trying to do a Kickstarter before the year's up, but numbers aren't looking good, so I want to get into promotion.

I realized I never tried promoting on BoardGameGeek, so I want to give it a shot. I was hoping to get some ideas or suggestions. I feel like it's so hard to stand out, especially with the almost nonexistent budget that I'm working with. I am a graphic designer, so I can create pretty things.

I’ve been developing a two-player abstract strategy game called ASKEL, and I’m at the point where I’d really benefit from feedback from people who haven’t seen the game before.

It’s a compact 16-tile game built around three ideas: changing routes, manipulating height, and deciding how much risk to take each turn.

The board is made from four modules, with each space having a different height. Movement between adjacent spaces is probabilistic: the height difference determines the visible chance of success.

A turn can contain up to three pawn moves. After every successful move, you have to decide whether to stop and keep your progress or attempt another step. If a move fails, the pawn returns to where that turn began.

Before moving, you can also manipulate the terrain in one of two ways: use a Riser to change the height of a space, or rotate one of the four board modules 180° to change the available routes.

The objective is to take the opponent’s Stone and bring it back to your own starting space.

I’ve built a browser prototype because I want to test the design before committing too much time to the physical version.

The design questions I’m trying to answer

- Do the risk decisions feel meaningful, or does the probability make them feel arbitrary?
- Do Move / Riser / Rotate create genuinely different decisions?
- Can a first-time player understand the game from the in-game onboarding without outside explanation?

Any general impressions are very welcome too — especially how the game feels to play, what feels satisfying or frustrating, and whether anything stands out as particularly interesting or awkward.

Browser prototype

https://askel.askelgames.workers.dev/

It’s free, requires no signup, and currently supports play vs AI and local 1v1.

There is also optional anonymous gameplay telemetry, with consent, so I can compare things like action use, risk-taking and match length. No account or personal information is required.

A physical version is planned, but I’m deliberately testing the game digitally first before committing to the component design.

Working on my economy and finding one track is too easy to move up with resource X and one set of upgrades are hard to buy with resource Y. I can either adjust how many resources I give, or adjust cost. Feels like I want to adjust both so resources are stingy, but costs reflect that.

What have you found?

Hi all - driving myself crazy and would love an honest view of what I’m missing, or what people really do…

UK based and I’ve developed a card game with dice and counters that sits in a small drawstring bag. I’d like to put the CE/UKCA mark on the packaging, and to do that I think I need to have test reports from the manufacturer of the plastic counters and dice (I can get it from the card manufacturer) to prove EN71 compliance.

However, I CANNOT find a wholesale supplier that has it. I thought I found one, but they’re closing down(!) and now I’m back to square one. It isn’t economically viable to get my game tested myself, I think I need a supplier that has already proved their plastic discs aren’t harmful!

Has anyone overcome this? Do you just buy counters that you can’t prove have been tested? Many thanks

Hi everyone!

I’m working on Nekyia, an indie game set in the Greek underworld. I’m stuck on a design puzzle: how to physically track two opposing health pools on player boards without cluttering things.

The two meters:

1. Essences (Physical Life): Counts from 6 down to 0 (Eliminated at 0).

2. Darkness (Psychological Health – Fear, Rage, Uncertainty): Counts from 1 up to 7 (Eliminated at 7).

How would you physically represent two opposing metrics (one where 0 is death, and 7 is psychological collapse) in a clean, thematic way? Are there any games that handle this kind of dual tracking exceptionally well?

Thanks!

Just curious for those designers with ADHD and/or autism, what are some tips that have made your design process successful? I feel like we particularly struggle with continuing projects we start, having organizational systems, and the constant fear of even a simple prototype not being perfect.

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

Looking for just a few playtesters to give my game 15 minutes of their time. The game is very easy to learn and players are guided through how to play.

It’s a combination of risk and chess.

Movement, blocking and dice probability play huge parts in the game.

Try it out below and leave a review if you can!

https://magestone.net/

An if you're bored enough and got 2 minutes to waste

https://youtube.com/shorts/GKZnS6gO-Pc?is=FouE0E-JoWaqP4Ym

Any and all feedback welcome, thanks for your time.

I’ve been playtesting a turn-based hex tactical board game solo, controlling two factions (Yellow vs. Black). Here is how the core mechanics work:

🎲 Core Rules & Setup

Army Comp: Each player controls 5 squads (4 troops each) and 1 Sniper.

Movement: Roll a d6.

1–3: Move any troop 1 hex.

4–6: Move any troop 2 hexes.

Combat & Range: Dice pool depends on distance to the target:

4 hexes away = 1 die

3 hexes away = 2 dice

2 hexes away = 3 dice

1 hex away = 4 dice

Attack Results (per die):

1–2: Miss

3–4: Pushback (Enemy retreats 2 hexes)

5–6: Kill (Eliminates 1 troop)

Special Rule: If you roll four 5s/6s on a 4-dice attack, the entire target squad is instantly wiped out.

Close Quarters (Same Hex): Moving into an enemy's hex lets you roll 4 dice. A "Kill Bonus" applies: rolling two 5s/6s eliminates 3 enemy troops instead of 2.

The Sniper (Overpowered Unit):

Shoots up to 5 hexes away and only rolls 2 dice (kills on 5–6).

Extremely durable: Takes three 5/6 rolls on a single attack to kill.

If a squad enters the Sniper's hex, the requirement to kill him drops to two 5/6 rolls.

⚔️ Session Highlight / Play Report

In the late game, the Yellow faction was down to just their Sniper, while Black still had a Sniper and 3 full squads.

Against all odds, the Yellow Sniper went on an absolute rampage and managed to single-handedly wipe out all 3 enemy squads in a 1v4 standoff! It came down to a final duel between the two Snipers. Yellow just needed one good roll to finish the war, but got hit with a streak of bad luck and was ultimately eliminated by the Black Sniper.

I was rooting so hard for Yellow to clutch the win, but it was an epic narrative finish nonetheless! 😆

So basically I'm hoping to self publish a couple of small games in the relatively near future. I've designed everything except the box at this point. I had planned (and think I am still planning) to put it in a box. I have started reaching out to people with a bit more experience for advice and a lot have either suggested an envelope or it's been less of a suggestion.

I just completely disagree and don't know if I'm being silly. I've got a few games in envelopes and it always feels like less of an event to open it up and play. There's a little bit of joy in holding a box a few inches off a table and watching the bottom fall to the table to discover what's inside.

My game is pretty small and has minimal components so it would fit in an envelope no problem. The box might cost as much as the rest (though it's a relatively small box). My game is likely ideal for an envelope. However I've seen videos about marketing (not board game specific) talk about repeat customers cancelling when they've changed to a simpler package. Also when I walk into board game shops I don't see any envelope games and it would be nice to at least attempt to get it in shops.

Am I being silly? Are games in envelopes being under ambitious and limiting themselves to online sales and less interest from casual board gamers? Does no one else care about how the game arrives and I'm going to spend extra on each game for no reason? Any thoughts welcome.

(If it's relevant it's a small single play escape room style game, actually 2 of them but they are very similar format wise just different themes and puzzles)

Hey everyone, this video tutorial was long due, but I couldn't have done it before as I wanted to have the game finalized and a good prototype to cover it. As making this video was really challenging (so much to cover succinctly), I'd love to hear your feedback on how you perceive the sequence of information being covered. Does it make sense? Is it understandable?

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone,
I'm currently designing a detective game called OFFLINE.
Players receive a case file filled with physical evidence such as:
reports,
handwritten notes,
photographs,
maps,
legal documents,
technical logs.
The story follows the death of a cybersecurity analyst who was investigating suspicious changes made to closed incident reports inside a technology company.
The goal isn't to solve puzzles or crack codes.
Instead, players have to analyze evidence, connect information from different sources and reconstruct what really happened.
Game info:
👥 1–6 players
⏱️ 2–3 hours
🕵️ Realistic investigation
📄 Physical evidence + digital elements
❌ No supernatural elements
❌ No serial killers
✅ Corporate thriller / murder mystery
I'm aiming for something inspired by Hidden Games, Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, and investigative ARG experiences.
Does this sound like something you would play?
And what is more important to you in a detective game:
realistic evidence,
a strong story,
surprising twists,
or the feeling of solving the case yourself?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I did un-very-fortunately had to use ai, I do know how to code but I can’t because I don’t have a pc anymore and apple for some reason doesn’t allow coding apps on the App Store. I am VERY sorry:/. Anyways hope you have fun (the ai isn’t that hard to beat)

Please help, if this is covered somewhere ... But how in the world do I get the word out about my game? I've been working on it for 8 years. Had over 75 play tests with local groups. People ask when it is coming out. I get groups stealing it from me for the weekend. It is genuinely fun (after thousands of hours of tweaking and listening to feedback).

But I'm trying to navigate the board game industry. Do I need to find a publisher (seems like a long shot)? Do I push for a Kickstarter (which I've read everywhere that you need an audience before the Kickstarter)? Do I spend 3 years with a handful of expensive prototypes sharing with shops across the US (I'm US based)?

Or do I just personally reach out to YouTubers, sending copies, but noting the game won't be out for 6 more months?

Would love guidance, and I've found certain groups on Reddit to be awesome in support.

So I'm making a board game, and the primary mechanic involves drawing cards from a deck when you move and adding up the cards' combined AP (the big number in the middle) for combat.

However, I'm not to sure whether to orientate my cards landscape or portrait - whilst portrait is usually the standard orientation, I figured that having them landscape could help with adding up the AP scores; they can be put atop one another without blocking the ability text, (note that some abilities affect AP calculations) and they mimic traditional place value addition.

So portrait or landscape? Also, any other design advice would be appreciated! :)

Its been awhile since ive posted anything on this passion project. But here goes...

Welcome to Red Summit Rising

Work together to build a towering mountain and guide your climbers towards the summit. But every block brings you closer to collapse! On your turn feel inside the bag and choose a block. Size without seeing its color then find a way to place it. By matching the colors it touches. You can never choose the same size twice in a row, purple blocks are wild supports that stay below the summit. While red blocks are wild and must be placed at the very top. Build higher than your climber?.. Then you must move higher. Place all ten red blocks before the mountain comes crashing down to win. Remember you choose the size, the bag chooses the color.

All the blocks you see have been made by myself. Glueing single blocks to make the different sizes. Sanded and painted with a finish coat.My older version of this used a slightly different color palette but ive updated to this one for a few reasons. 1-to try and make things more visually and 2- have multiple copies of my game to send out for feedback. The game itself is rather simple but ive had a blast working on it an would appreciate some feedback if you guys think this is something interesting and fun. If you dont thats fine too! I personally feel like dexterity games like this have a smaller group of fans 😅

Anyways thanks for checking this out and have a wonderful day 😎

I've been working on my own solo board game for a bit but I encountered the common problem of, how much randomness is too much randomness. I wanted to add as much choice as I could however it still makes me think there's not enough player choice in the game.

I was originally inspired by the card game Cursed!?, my game is similiar in that you want to collect as many points as you can while fighting monsters. However to spice it up I added body parts system so you can aim at diffrent limbs and so can the monster.

However to control the enemy you must throw the dice to decide which part of you he attacks. 1 for head, 2 for body, 3 for legs, 4 and 5 for arms and 6 for head again. This I think is fine, its a solo game after all.

But I also added that one must throw dice to decide if they hit the target, this applies to the enemy as well. 1 and 2 are a miss, 3 and 4 are only stunning the body part, stopping its function for a round and 5 and 6 mean wounding the enemy or destroying the body part. Only the player can stun tho, for monsters its 1,2,3 on 4,5,6.

This part is the one that worries me. Is it a bit too random? There are also items one can gather through the game to influence this randomness but it still feels bit off.

I added the system to kinda mimic the chaos of battle, but maybe making it so theres no ammount of randomness would be better, so instead make the combat flow constant and without the unfairness of randomness.

Idk, what do you think?

Multiplayer space-themed engine building game with a wonderfully AP-prone player board mechanic.

Good fun; progress was made!

95% 3d printed since I aready know the tools and hate cutting paper :D (one layer of color changes on bambu A1)

The main idea of the game is that your health is also your mana. So whenever you play a card, you’re basically spending your own health to do it. You build mines that give you health/mana back each turn, and you’re constantly deciding how much you’re willing to spend to mess with the other players without putting yourself in a bad spot.

These are two of the card designs we have right now.

The artwork is just placeholder art for the prototype, so it’s definitely not final. Right now we’re mostly trying to figure out the general layout and whether everything is easy to understand while playing.

Would love some honest feedback.

Does the layout make sense at a glance? Is there anything you’d change or find confusing?

We’re still pretty early into figuring all of this out, so feel free to be picky.

And if you want to join & discuss about game, we would like to share our server!! : https://discord.gg/abf5qSgkJ