Game Design Resources

I am not a game designer. Nor will I ever (likely) be. However I do find game design to be a very interesting topic, and as such have collated quite the collection of references and resources. Since that is what I do when I pour myself into a hobby- I make lists of resources. However it is often the case that my interest in the hobby wanes (only to wax again later), and I am left with list upon list of resources and no current use for them!

If this is the case, why shouldn't you, the intrepid game designer to be, benefit from my hours of web searching, scrutinizing and scanning? My time spent ranking and rating and otherwise spent categorizing?
You should! As such I am starting a series on resource sharing.

First up is... The Designer's Resource List  from BoardGameGeek.
Now over on the 'Geek they've got a whole forum section divided off for board game design. Right at the very top you'll find this list. What I like about this list is that it has quite a few things on it! What I don't like is that it hasn't been updated in a year, and that, well, there are so many things on it! It can get kind of bogged down- especially with the very minimal descriptions given.

Next we have the aforementioned BoardGameGeek Game Design Forum.
This forum is a great place to talk about board game design.
Pluses: Active and friendly with good resources available in the pinned threads.
Minuses: Everything is muddled together. You have your mechanics questions next to your theme discussions next to your playtest requests and everything just gets a bit lost.

A Brief Crash Course on Game Design is another thread on the BGG Design Forum.
This thread discusses in a nicely detailed manner all the steps to take an idea from the paranoia stage straight through to prototyping and production. It offers a nice set of questions to ask yourself of your game to see where it is heading.
It also gives advice on playtesting, both by yourself, with others and in blind runs.
the only thing I don't like about this thread is that the majority of the time is spent explaining production of prototypes, playtesting and publishing and not much attention is paid to the actual steps of designing the idea.

Exploratory Learning Through ...Games links to the course syllabus of San Diego State University's course EDTEC 670.
This site is a little hard to follow, not being a student. But if you take the time the resources it offers are quite good. With exercises and design outlines as well as 'required' reading.
the Board Game Analysis worksheet is great for cementing your ideas about what you want from your game. The Board Game Design worksheet helps you discover and utilize different mechanics and pieces for your game. the First Steps article is a great introduction on how to actually come up with ideas and design thoughts.
The one drawback is that everything is oriented to making an educational game. If that is not your intent you have to draw from the gist of the message, rather than the actual content.

Offering a concrete example How to Learn Board Game Design and Development walks you through the design process is simple steps, as well as offering several definitions up-front.
I love the list of questions asked, as well as the card game example used. The whole thing is easy to follow and gives an especially nice overview of the playtesting process.
It also offers a nice, though small, list of places to seek out more information on the topic of game design.

The Board Game Designers Forums is an entire forum dedicated to board game design.
It includes subforums for Mechanics Discussion, Playtesting, Thematic Elements, and General Design as well as many more.
It also allows you to have a mini blog on their site, as well as game journals to share your content.
It has the plus of being very diverse and informative, but it is a slow going forum and the content on the rest of the site is rarely, if ever, updated.

/r/tabletopgamedesign
I'll admit. I know very little about reddit. All I know is that this subreddit is very active and very informative.

The Ten Things Every Game Needs is an article listing... the ten things every game needs.
From Rules and Inertia to Fun and Flavour this article covers all the bases. While you could probably do with out one or two (strategy isn't strong in Candyland, to mention one) I would sense woe for anyone trying to disregard them all.

Back to the 'Geek for a couple of Board Game Mechanics.
This link takes you to the BGG's list of board game mechanics, which each have a definition and example games. While by no means the be all end all of mechanics lists, it is certainly a good start.

Offering ways to evaluate games and more content is Games Precipice, a blog.
everything on this blog has some value, so there is too much to list. But I will certainly mention (again) their How to Evaluate Games series. Looking at things from a game balance as well as a production stand point, this is a great yard stick to hold up.

Boardgamizer is a random generator that you can submit ideas to. It offers up Mechanics, Theme, Victory and an optional Constraint from which you can build a game.
It is great for getting the creative juices flowing and for jumping off from. It also offers some hover-over definitions for some of its mechanics.

For today, that's all I'll post. But maybe in the future we'll see more of my go-to places for this topic and others.

Happy Designing!