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The Noun Project
Upwork
Google Fonts
Game-Icons
Inkscape
Meetup
Creative Market
AlternativeTo
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Figma
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The most popular reviews in /r/BoardgameDesign:
If you’re interested in going deep on this sort of thing, a couple friends wrote a book that is basically a whole lot of this: Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms
There's a game called Letters from Whitechapel that you should check out.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/59959/letters-whitechapel
In it one player plays Jack the Ripper the other players work together as the police. Jacks attempting to commit murders, while the police continually hunt jack down around whitechapel.
I don’t know if they are any issues with using it in the context you describe, but maybe this would be a tool to use:
https://thispersondoesnotexist.com
Just keep refreshing the page until you get a face that fits the profile you are looking for.
From what I know, these are AI generated images. The website was created to show how realistic AI generated faces could be. I’d recommend reading up on it yourself before using it though, just in case.
Unfortunately, you can’t convert a DOCX (Word) file into a SVG file, because they handle different types of data (SVG for vectorial images, DOCX for full text documents, that may include images)
My recommendation would be to install an application for SVGs (Inkscape is free and open-source) and recreate the images there. Maybe you can copy the images from the DOCX file to the Inkscape window in order to have something to trace from, but I’m not sure.
Most cities have play test groups - check Meetup.com or something similar. Also, there are Protospiels, which are weekends of play testing and iterations on prototype games. The next one is Protospiel Chicago - see Protospiel-Chicago.org for details.
I think this is probably the strongest advice at the moment. Seems like you have theme and mechanic in progress which would make the art something to focus more on after you've nailed the general aspect of your game.
I would personally add that if these are to rep corporations dealing with some sort of armed forces, I'd pull away from the standard army camo and lean into perhaps a solid uniform color (blue/green/purple/etc). If this is meant for each corp/player to be their own role, you can split these colors per role.
If you absolutely want yellow as a resource value, make text black or add a black stroke to your white text. I'd also utilize some tools available online to compare colors like this one: http://paletton.com/#uid=13-0u0k00ur00Zuhl++94sa3Wca
Hope this helps!
Just so you're aware, I believe there are at least two other games (one app, one tabletop) named "Nut Hunt".
https://tabletopia.com/games/nut-hunt
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.yepaisa.nhunt&hl=en_US&gl=US
Buy the cheapest thing on Amazon. E.g: Blank Playing Cards https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1572814993/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_R2ejAbA1BE8C2 (I'm in the UK but I'm sure you'll find equivalent in your country)
Don't buy overpriced specialized kits.
If you want only small pieces and are willing to learn 3D modelling, you could buy a cheap 3D printer like the monoprice select mini. However, I'd say just use any substitute parts early on and worry about appropriate pieces when you get the design nailed down... then maybe get the pieces modeled and the 3D printer when you need a nice demo copy made.
Also check out places like shapeways, thingiverse, meeplesource, the game crafter, print and play productions, and used thrift games that might have parts to use (or sales - Amazon for Queen Games and other publishers have occasional deep discounts). Some might do what you want, some might not - board game bits tend to be preset pens while others are bring your own 3D models.
Oh, and check out Arcknight fit clear plastic standees (like paper minis or chipboard standees but on clear plastic and full color front/back prints)... oh, and toy store plastic figures.
You can buy “penny sleeves” and slip in a basic magic land card for stiffness, then just use plain paper for the card.
You can fit 9 cards on a sheet of regular printer paper. Then it’s really cheap to make changes to cards.
Good luck! And have fun!!!
To add to this as well, I’ve played Escape Room the Game before and I hated it, mostly because I found it to tedious, I don’t want to give a time limit but I did found the function for the player to have “help clues” available to be a good feature for those who aren’t experienced in solving mysteries.
Game I mention:
https://www.amazon.com/Spin-Master-Games-Escape-Thrilling/dp/B07B7W94Y3
I've gone to theGameCrafter.com a bunch of times for bits. I've also made games through them. Over a few years I've accumulated a couple hundred bucks worth of bits, standees, etc... so I can just walk downstairs and make something. Which is nice.
Honestly if you just get a box of cubes from amazon that's often enough to get started. https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-Centimeter-Cubes-1000/dp/B000F8VB4G/ref=sr_1_39?keywords=Mathematics+Cubes&qid=1660520166&sr=8-39
That one's 1000, but I think I got a couple hundred for like $10 back in the day.
I suppose I can throw my hat in the ring. I'm working on Scrapbots, a 2-player competitive deck-building card-battler. I've been working on it for a while so game play is fairly stable. I just recently added a new graphic design and a bit of artwork for flavor.
TTS: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1631921788
Either a really good guillotine paper cutter because there might be some drift, a good slide cutter or an X-acto blade and a steel ruler.
(Example page missing)
It sounds like you already have some illustrators in mind. If you’re looking for more to approach, or want to see back catalogues, here is a consortium of illustrators I like - and I could put you in touch with the guy who manages them:
For our game we’re using Stephen Nickel. He is a great illustrator and great dude (https://instagram.com/stevesketchesart?utm_medium=copy_link).
Not sure if this is a start: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Measure-Man-Woman-Factors-Design/dp/0471099554
What sorts of things are you wanting to test?
What you might want to consider is the mass of already accepted objects like Subbuteo, as these make good references.
I recently discovered Mural. It’s like an online whiteboard and it’s great to jot down ideas, because you can also add all kinds of symbols, text boxes, notes to self, whatever you want really. And because it’s digital, unlike with a notebook, you can also delete ideas, shift them around etc. i think it’s quite useful in the early stages when you’re just collecting ideas and connecting some of them.
Unfortunately it is only free for the first five murals i think? But would still be worth giving it a try I think!
I've used printable business cards in the past myself.
Found them at Walmart.
I just did
Its Syrak war in the middle east
I wanted to do a boardgame , I looked at all the hassle for doing it physical and I decided to learn programming instead :)
It's on steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1613530/SYRAK_the_War_in_the_MiddleEast/
And android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.SAA.SYRAKFEB21
It's s war game / coin / twilight struggle/ pandemic
The crazy thing I realized is that video gamers DO NOT LIKE to read/learn rules before playing !
I think anything by Days of Wonder (five tribes, small world) for how well their rulebooks are laid out.
And Scythe for it's board/art design that helps you remember the rules with it's very layout.
Tigris and Euphrates, for how it flips your preconditions of strategy on its head.
And I would recommend Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1138365491/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_glt_i_AGR7XHFH4Q3S01KD8AAE
You can find a bunch of his stuff on BGG, and even just the iconography is helpful for thinking about mechanics and how to describe them in a rulebook.
Challenges for Games Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers - One of the best books that I've read so far! There's a lot of small insights in this book, based on "design pieces" that you can use to create your game. Also, at the end of each chapter, the book proposes some exercises in order to practice your concepts.
Seems like it’d be a bit easier to just get one of these Blank Game Boards from Amazon for $10 personally.
https://pixabay.com/service/license/
https://unsplash.com/license
Yes, you can use the photos from these sites commercially. You don't even need to credit the author (but it's the right thing to do).
I usually just ask meetup groups (meetup.com) if they are okay with play testing. Most are fine, some have designated days for it, and there are usually a few that are specifically geared toward play testing.
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You might also have some luck by placing an ad in your local paper, town Facebook group, or on Craigslist saying that you're in need of play testers.
it depends, but i've been virtually designing and play-testing with a long-distance friend, and Figma has been an amazing program for that. the design of our game is simple enough that we can easily play-test in it, but it's still a great program for designing and organizing your notes. there are tons of plug-ins for icons, pictures, mock-ups, dice rolling, card dealing/shuffling, coin tossing, etc.
and many tutorial videos (albeit not for what i've been doing with it)
I highly recommend listening to the GameDesigners of NC podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/48513
The name put me off at first, but their podcasts are really excellent (start with episode 1) to get inspiration and ideas on how to proceed with your ideas.
Wooden pegs in holes in the corners of each square? Might be more suited to a wooden board though...
0.25" squares rotated 45º at each corner with the squares being 1.5" wide? Might work for cardboard.
Or don't rotate the tiny squares and have short corridors between the larger squares? But doesn't sound like that would work with the pushing mechanic...
Or would a little round drop of clear rubber in each corner work? Like those you get to stop cupboard doors slamming... eg https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cupboard-Buffer-Rubber-Adhesive-Cushion/dp/B07577RRND
Start with anything you can find off the internet for a prototype, its all fine until you start making money on your game then you have to use your own work. You won't be selling an actual product anytime soon. This will let you get a design language, a look and feel, together for whats you're making. You should try to find the artist who actually made the artwork you're having stand in. For example if if you like the box art for Citadels then dig up th game instructions online and look for the art credits.
You can ask the original artist if they do commission work but get ready to pay for it. Beautiful artwork is hundreds-thousands of dollars. But if you have a look and feel you can put up your project on a site like Upwork.com asking for illustrators to do Cover Art / logos / Icons or whatever for your game based on "this" and you will get people making you offers to work on it. You can play slowly for progress on small parts of your game. You can have someone just do a box cover or individual parts of it, another can do some iconography or cards layouts .
If/when your prototype is getting serious it would be prudent to shell out some money for at least that one artwork that will go on the cover and maybe some tokens or a card to show off. This would make a Kickstarter taken much more seriously
I have tried freelancer.com before once a long time ago for something small. I don't recall. But I have used Upwork.com a few times and it works out great. I think upwork might be better for really small things, you can pay in milestones and other neat features so you can do a lot of small back and forth with whichever guy you chose while hes doing stuff for you.
Oh, for that then, they are good. My biggest suggestion is find a nice font and it will go very far for you making only a simple change. I'd recommend this one, nicely themed yet also highly legible... and it's a steal for $15.
I've done a ton of window shopping on Creative Market (link at the end) and it is great and frustrating. If you want photos of people doing stuff in offices, fonts or icons, it is amazing. If you want illustrations, art and such it is a bit harder. Also if your product sells more than 500 copies you need to upgrade your licence but that is a 'good problem' to have.
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I whole heartedly recommend Characteristics of games from Richard Garfield
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https://www.amazon.com/Characteristics-Games-Press-George-Skaff/dp/026201713X
You should check out Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms. It’s impressively comprehensive
There's certainly a lot more in-depth analysis in the book, including tips and traps for the mechanisms, variations in usage, etc. Close to the entire first chapter is available as a preview on Amazon. That should give you a pretty good idea of what it contains, and whether or not you will find it valuable.
Here's the Amazon link - just go to "Look inside" or get a kindle sample.
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Blocks-Tabletop-Game-Design/dp/1138365491/ref=pd\_ybh\_a\_11
>The Art of Game Design
+1 to The Art of Game Design
It forces you to ask yourself "what is my design," and really makes you think about why you're designing.
It's not specific to card / board game design, but I really enjoyed Spelunky. There's some great intel about game design, randomness and feelings of progression in there!
Just get printable business cards: https://www.amazon.com/100-Sheets-Blank-Business-Card-Paper/dp/B077F4NYG6/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=business+cards+printable&qid=1617116360&sr=8-6
They come pre-punched and you can usually find a Word template online for them. Might already be available in Word already depending on the paper you get. I got Avery brand for a prototype myself and they shuffle pretty well! They're a little smaller than standard playing cards but it's great for tests.
These dry erase cards Here could work too! Only issue being that if there are permanent elements that need to remain on and/or be printed on the cards...that might be difficult but you could always test it out! These are pretty cheap too
In my experience your best bet is a heavy duty rotary cutter like this one:
Has saved me literally hours and hours of cutting time.
I've always wondered if these packs of printable business cards would be good for prototyping. Then I had a fantasy about a site with entire games that people could just print and punch out if they had sheets of perforated paper like that. Or a living game that could keep changing and you just get your peeps to print replacement cards or add-ons or whatever. Just a thought!
In addition, I like to use the blanks in the sleeves with the paper. The sleeves with just the paper in them feel empty and are hard to shuffle.
If amazon is your thing, this is my go to for blanks. Fair warning, these are not standard size, they are more like 3-1/2 x 2-1/4. Not a big deal for prototyping though.
Hey guys, just wanted to share with you a recent update that I've developed for "Alt Dice" (my Dice roller app). Among other improvements it has now a settings menu which allows to:
Control how hard your phone should be shaken to roll the dice
Vertical and Horizontal screen orientation support
Prevent the screen of your phone from falling asleep
Define a cool background color
And more..
Please give Alt Dice a try and let me know your thoughts!