70-61: A Decade of Game Design Wisdom

Board game designer Adam Porter continues his epic journey through 10 years of lessons he's learned about design and the board game industry.
0:00 Introduction
0:50 Table presence can be a strong hook
2:57 Work on many games
4:36 Kill your darlings
6:24 You can pitch virtually but in-person is superior
8:46 Co-designs halve your income but double your fun
11:10 Game design is addictive
13:20 You don’t earn enough to playtest 100 times
15:14 If they are rude, they go on my list
16:59 Enthusiasm from a publisher is the tie-breaker
18:13 A bad review feels awful; a good review feels OK.

[@tonyallen4265]

I've played my prototype a hundred times, out of the joy of playing it with people. The "playtesting" has been converted to "playing" a while back. The rules and components are set. In lieu of finding a publisher, I've been having a blast with my game, especially with new players. I love seeing them "get" the strategies and have the "aha" moments. Experiencing others enjoying my creation is quite uplifting. Of course it would be cool to make some money off of it. I'd never be compensated enough for all the time and effort I've put into it, and that's okay.

[@AdaminWales]

That’s wonderful! Glad you’re having such a good time with it :)

[@khiarastales2091]

My, these points hit hard, especially about game design addiction since I tend to get hyperfocused so easily when it comes to new hobby/ideas. I need to take a break from it to do other stuff or hobbies.

[@AdaminWales]

I give you my permission to unsubscribe and go and explore your other hobbies Khiara! :)

[@TrecherousMonki]

Game Design is Addictive for sure. So many late nights faffing around with tweaking card design and my wife is like "are you coming to bed tonight?" and then I look up and it's midnight and I have work tomorrow

[@asura899]

I recently bought and played the game Kompromat and really enjoyed it. The other person was pressing their luck to hard but still enjoyed it very much. I will for sure introduce the game to more friends in the future. I also bought Dice Thrown and looking forward to play it ;)

[@AdaminWales]

Thanks so much for picking up my games. Glad you enjoyed Kompromat! Thrown is more divisive, but lots of people enjoy it - I hope you do too.

[@tcp1623]

Carcata - love that volcano in the middle of the board :)

[@AdaminWales]

I haven’t heard of this game. I will read more about it :)

[@sirguy6678]

Really enjoying the series! Are you going to wear some Christmas sweaters for the last videos? 😂

[@AdaminWales]

I haven’t worn many Christmas jumpers this year. I should be more festive. Sorry to disappoint!

[@thedspenguin]

regarding hitting a block and not being able to find a solution, I've found AI to be really helpful. explaining exactly what I need to create with board game components. it's fascinating how well it understands the prompt.

[@AdaminWales]

Interesting - I haven’t used it for this before. It tends to be very specific mechanical issues that “block” my progress. I’d be surprised if AI could solve that level of detail, but maybe I’m underestimating it! I’ll give it a try :)

[@thedspenguin]

@@AdaminWales for example, I told Chat GPT that I wanted a board game mechanic to work like the blue zone in PUBG, using board game components, and not only did it understand what I wanted, it made a very good suggestion (one I had already thought of but didn't really work). I then told it that it didn't work because of X and I wanted Y, and it came up with a great solution.

[@mlmattin]

Excellent, as usual. I for one am glad that you are addicted to game design. Haha! Just kidding, of course. Mostly. I look forward to the next 10.

[@AdaminWales]

Glad you’re enjoying it. Yeah, I’m hooked - so I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere :)

[@SilentBeutlin]

Thanks, Discount Dr House

[@AdaminWales]

Grumpy Brit? I’ve been compared to worse!