Ten Essential Steps for Any Tabletop Game Creator
1. Play test like crazy, then double it.
The single best chance to being successful is playtesting. I know I know, you're probably thinking, "Aaron this has been drilled in through every reddit post ever, and every other board game forum!" Yes I know, but they have a point, it works!
2. Record all your play test sessions.
This is a great tip that a friend of mine gave me recently, audio recording is the most helpful here. It’s a great way to get direct feedback by listening. Does a player have a lot of questions centered around how a mechanic works? Does the winning condition make sense? Do players understand how each move is structured? A lot of these questions will be answered, albeit nuanced, in an audio recording of your play test sessions. Plus, they serve as handy listening material in the car or plane when you want to run back some old sessions for some inspiration.
3. Secret play testing.
Better put, play test your game but don’t tell anyone that you are actually the creator. This one sort of has a social experiment aspect to it, but the feedback from it can be really valuable. There is inevitably a common bias that happens when you tell someone that this is a game you are working on. Usually its of the notion that they are going to be too kind, but sometimes, they are too harsh. You are looking for a baseline opinion on your game, and this is a surefire way to get it. Granted, there are some concerns here by misleading your players, be sure you are comfortable with this tactic before employing it.
4. Pay attention to context clues while play testing.
Do they look confused? Frustrated? Do they think their turn still has options? There are a lot of gestures and movements that can indicate either delight or despair with your game. Know how to recognize them, even if a player is having a great time, they might be stuck with a limited move set and you might be able to deduce that. Paying attention to non-social cues is just as important as the feedback of someone telling you.
5. Index cards.
I was actually hesitant to put this because I agree only to an extent. What do we mean by index cards? Have an idea? Index card it out and play it. The reason I’m hesitant is because so much of a game to me is the art and feel of the game. Playing on index cards has always been a bore to me. However, with that being said, knowing when to print a prototype is hard. I recently wrote a blog post about it, but I can almost guarantee you, if it is fun and addicting with index cards, it will only be better as a printed game.
6. Know your game is fun.
This is really hard to know and very ambiguous. The metric I personally use is, “would I play this game over all the games I currently have”. This requires a lot of honesty with yourself, it’s hard to not love your baby, no matter how ugly it is. A great way to know if your game is fun, is to get other people to tell you the truth. This sort of refers back to step number 3, a secret play test. Nothing is more handy, then a group of players telling you wow this game is awesome, or wow this game needs a lot of work. However, trust your intuition, don’t let a few opinions change your whole games outlook. There will always be tweaks to be made off other people’s opinions, knowing when to change is an art form in and of itself.
7. Don’t be afraid to change mechanics, or your game completely.
I’ve seen this one come up countless times. This happens to be why a great majority of games fail, they don’t have the willpower nor desire to change. If all the feedback of your game is, “This one mechanic is way too unbalanced” that’s probably something you need to change. Yes, I know that it was put in there for a specific reason, but you have real people telling you it is not fair! Change it, but also, if you have to change everything around you, so be it. It’s a blank canvas, and it happens to be yours, so paint the correct picture, because you might only get one chance to sell it.
8. If you are changing your game too much, take a step back and consider why.
Am I not including the correct game mechanics? What is causing my game to not be fun? The reality of changing your game over and over again has a simple answer, it’s just not that fun. Tweaks are always happening, but full sail changes over and over again could be a lead indicator that something is more inherently wrong with the gameplay itself. If that happens to be the case, take a step back, and examine all of your mechanics. Is the game linear? Does it play too slow? Does it play too fast? These are all questions that need to be looked at when you are suddenly changing everything all the time.
9. Identify who your game is targeted towards before testing.
I wish I had of known this ahead of time. Know your user. I know, you want to create a game where everyone can play, but you also created a deeply strategic game that has a long play time. Think you are going to capture every player, the answers is probably no. Build the archetype of the user you are pursuing and know what their habits are. Would they like my game, would they prefer it over the other x number of game they are playing. What’s a really popular game mechanic that is successful with this group I’m targeting. I know all of this might seem obvious, but there are countless attempts of creating games without knowing the user they are looking for and failing a great ball of fiery kickstarter doom.
10. Enlist your community’s feedback and support.
Super useful. Find your users. Where do they hangout, do they post on reddit a lot? Cool, get on reddit. Got any tabletop conventions happening in your town or meet ups? Go to them. No one, and I repeat no one will know about your game unless you are telling them about it. You are your games greatest marketer, as creator it is your duty to pursue these opportunities. The more you have your communities backing, the easier it will be the day you go for a production run, or a kickstarter fulfillment.
