5 Amazing Board Game Design Tips
Designing your own board game is an intensive process. You need to think about the rules, game mechanics, art, marketing, and your target audience. Your game should be appealing enough for gamers to want to play. According to research, 22% of the people surveyed spend more than $1,000 on games annually. Therefore, there’s a market for your board game as long as you have the best design strategy. Here are five amazing tips to get you started.
1. Utilize Your Ideas
If you have a brilliant idea for a board game, develop it. Your idea can become the most popular board game. As soon as you get some inspiration, use that to create your first designs. This strategy will help you develop unique games ahead of other developers and propel you to the next level of board game design. Avoid working on mediocre ideas if they are not going to help you design a great board game.
2. Pay Attention to Color
Board games are quite visual; therefore, you need to design a game that stands out and appeals to your target audience. You need to be aware that a small percentage of gamers are color blind. Most suffer from red and green color blindness which makes it hard to distinguish between the two. If you include these colors in your game, some of the players will have a hard time playing. However, if you include the colors, you should add extra details such as texture, text, symbol, and different fonts.
3. Have Enough Finances
The game design process requires finances. You need to pay for the game design, salaries to employees you hire, and trademarks. You also need to pay manufacturing costs to produce more games for your target audience. If you are just starting out, you can apply for small business grants or for bank loans.
However, if these are not enough, there are other ways to get funding. If you have equity in your vehicle, you can research the title loan requirements and get a short-term loan. This cash comes in handy when you need to cater for board game expenses.
4. Prototype Fast
Prototyping is an important part of board game design. Most of the initial designs might have flaws that will force you to revise the game. Therefore, instead of wasting money on actual designs, prototype and make some drafts. This strategy will help you save money because you can change designs that don’t work much easier and faster. Ensure that you make prototypes fast to stay ahead of your competition.
5. Be Diverse
Your game needs to be diverse in all aspects, not just have diverse colors. Ensure that you include all genders, races, colors, and sizes. Apart from adult board games, you can also design age-appropriate board games for children. Educational board games have gained popularity since the onset of the pandemic and online sales increased by 18% in 2020. Diversification will enable you to reach a wider audience in the long term.
Creating a board game requires a lot of focus and commitment. You need to pay attention to specific elements for your game to be popular. These tips will help you create the best board game designs.