A curated list of board game development resources
- Communities
- Rules Writing
- Creator Tools
- Design Tips
- Physical Resources
- Visual Resources
- Getting Published
- More Lists
Places to go to talk about board game design with other designers.
- /r/tabletopgamedesign - a subreddit filled with game designers with irc, slack, and discord available
- Protospiel Facebook Group - a facebook group for goers of Protospiel events
- Board Game Geek - communities for every board game with forums for designers as well
- Board Game Designers Forum - a community a game designers
- Indie Game Alliance - helps designers tweak, playtest, get funds, and produce games
Information and rules on how to write rules for your board games.
- 11 rules for board game writing - dos and don'ts from a board game rules editor
- 10 rules for writing rules - a PAX dev talk on writing rules
- Tips for Rules Writing - some guidelines on writing rules
- Rulebook Cookbook: Recipe for Success - an annotated list of what you should cover in your rulebook
Tools that can be used in board game development.
- nanDECK - a downloadable software for card creation with a custom programming language
- deck.zone - a web-based software for card creation with a custom programming language
- NHMK Card Maker - a downloadable software for card creation
- AnyDice - a dice probability calculator
Tips to make your design experience easier.
- press.exe - a large listing of design tips
- board game mechanics - a giant list of board game mechanics
Websites to custom-order parts for your game.
- The Game Crafter - Many pieces, on-demand print of games
- Print & Play Productions - Many pieces, on-demand print of games
- ArtsCow - Card printing
- DriveThroughCards - Card printing
- Shapeways - 3d printing
- Spielmaterial - Various pieces
- OneMonk - SciFi/Fantasy paper miniatures
- Toposolitario - SciFi vehicles/mechs/terrain papercrafts
Images, icons, and anything you can use in the creation/prototyping of your game.
- The Noun Project - tons of high-quality, scalable images and icons
- Game Icons - tons of game-oriented icons
- Game Icons Font - Game Icons, but as a font (created for use with deck.zone)
The Dos and Don'ts of getting your game published.
- Your First Contract - A guide to publisher contracts, what to look for, what to avoid
More lists like this one. Some are in the form of blogs, while others have specific topic listings.
- Cardboard Edison - A blog-like site that covers a sprawlingly large amount of topics.
- Board Game Design Lab - Another list-of-lists site. Has a lot of topics ranging from getting started to getting published.
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To the extent possible under law, Kyle Kemp has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.