Board Game Business Podcast

Today we go through a quick overview of each iteration of our design process from a tool perspective. We discuss which of these tools work well and which ones we've used in the past. We also cover …

We discuss licensed games and the specific challenges associated with making a game from them. If you are granted the rights to make a card game based in the Star Wars universe, how do you make a gam…

How do you find the right artist for the style of game you're making? Commence discussion! Topics:

• Finding artists to fit your target market.
• Identifying market segments.
• Examples of illustrations o…

Some predictions for what will happen in the board game industry in 2017.

• Legacy Games
• Quality Kickstarter Exodus
• • Otherwise, Kickstarter Growth Continues
  • Will Quality Go Up or Down?
• Company Me…

Here are Jeremy and Brian's top 10 ways to build your network within the board game industry:

Jeremy

J10 – Participate in contests.

J9 – Be easy to find on social media.

J8 – Place encouragement ab…

This episode, we ground everyone with a discussion of reasons why you might not want to enter the board game industry.

• You will lose money.
• You will lose time, effort, and opportunities.
• Other peopl…

Today we discuss how to reach your core audience at a convention. We specifically hit on these points:

• Luring on the First Day
  • Promo Packs/Where to Sell Them
  • Coupon Books
• To Do Lists
• Banners/Adve…

This is the first episode we did after Brian moved to the Los Angeles area. We talk about tips for exhibiting at a major con. Here are some topics:

- When to pull the trigger?    o Playtest Hall    o…

Tips for running your Kickstarter campaign in this condensed version of a Gen Con 2016 panel!

Panelists: JT Smith, Zachary Strebeck, Jeremy Commandeur, and Brian Henk

We discuss:

- #1 Mistakes - Kick…

At Gen Con 2016, we were on a panel to talk about lots of publishing topics. These were the folks on the panel:

• JT Smith of The Game Crafter
• Zachary Strebeck, the Game Lawyer
• Jeremy Commandeur, Game…

This is our first mailbag episode where we dig into these questions: - When do you give up on a game? - How do you recover from mistakes and setbacks? - How do you distinguish yourself from other gam…

How should you use print-and-plays as a designer, publisher, or indie creator? We discuss some options!

- Advantages

- Early Feedback

- Kickstarter

- Limited or Full Version?

- What do players use t…

Join us for a discussion on the tools you need to host your own game design convention, such as:

- Start small

   o Monthly meet-ups

   o Prototype night

- Location

   o Mom & Pop Restaurant

   o Gam…

Video Version: https://youtu.be/TrAmYLu8TTQ

- Make sure design is finished

- The major steps include:

    o Art

    o Manufacturing and Proofing

    o Kickstarter Prep

    o Review Copies

    o Info…

We sprinkle in these game balancing topics, among others, into our discussion:

• Easy to Balance Games
• Hard to Balance Games
• How many playtests?
• How to Make Adjustments
• Cutting to Balance
• Balancing an…

Do you have a game that you want to get into the magical land of "distribution"? We talk about how to make that happen! Some topics we discuss are:

• What is distribution?
• What is the structure of the…

Grant Rodiek from Hyperbole Games hosts a panel at Protospiel San Jose on board game design, development, and publishing. The panel members are:

• Jeremy Commandeur - Designer, Organizer of Protospiel…

We continue with our top 10 mistakes new designers make with a list from the designer perspective, led by Jeremy Commandeur.

We discuss these chipboard-related topics:

- Why use chipboard?

o Feel

o Durability

- Why wouldn’t you want to?

o Cost

o Wear

o Weight

- 3D chipboard constructions

- Cost analysis

- Sizes and custom …