One of the rewarding parts of designing board games is seeing the progress from an initial prototype to a finished product. Those prototypes are usually handwritten index cards, card stock run through my trusty laser printer, and a handful of mismatched components from my game development kit. There’s a flurry of testing– first by playing against myself to work out the obvious problems, and then with patient friends who are willing to play over and over and give honest feedback each time. The prototypes get a little better, the rules get a little clearer, and the games get a little more engaging.
And at some point, it’s time to print the game. That means design, gathering graphic assets, experimenting with layouts, and sending it off to the print company. After that, it’s a couple of weeks waiting for the finished product. And when it arrives…
This is Onward, my latest game. On the right is the final prototype, printed on card stock and colored with Crayola markers; on the left are the printed player mats and decks of cards. It looks like a “real” game now!
Already I’m hard at work on my next creation, although it hasn’t yet hit the table with other people. That’s coming soon. And maybe, in a month or two, I’ll have another finished product to bring to game night…