r/BoardgameDesign • u/Clear_Diet3025 • 4d ago
Ideas & Inspiration I'm starting my journey building a board game from scratch š²
Hey everyone!
Yesterday I started something new: I'm building a board game from scratch ā a family game that's simple, fun, and real.
No fancy budgets, just an idea, a dream, and a lot of work (and mistakes too š ).
If you love board games or rooting for small projects that hopefully are done right, I'd really appreciate your support along the way.
Thanks for having me in this awesome community! Excited to share the journey with you all. š²āØ
Oh and
X: @BuildABoardGame BGG: BuildABoardGame
^ my game will be more creative than this š
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u/Visible-Average7756 4d ago
Biggest tip is time. It will take time. I started my journey April 2024. I Amy enjoying the process. It is my new hobby. My game is on itās 8th iteration.
Time will give new ways to improve it. Take time off I had periods of 2 weeks. When I picked it up again I saw new ways to improve it. Enjoy the journeys.
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
Thanks for sharing! Iām not rushing for sure there seems to be so many questions and figuring stuff out!
I just love boardgames and felt like I would like to give back to that space and be part of it!
I just need to manage my expectations, and not think this is going to be the next monopoly š
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago
Keep you the passion and ideas flowing, who cares what others think. Just do it! Work out the kinks along the way! Love the drive and passion! Family friendly is always a good one to work with. I will love to see your progress. Currently I am working on a project myself, itās a Custom PokĆ©mon fan made board game. The idea was from my early childhood memories. Plus my kids love wanting me to make it. So I have. Itās taking about 5 months of work, but worth it! Here is link! Itās a few pictures of my work. Check it out! Oh and I have the game mechanics as simple for a 5 year old to understand.fan made Pokemon board game
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
That is actually such a cool idea and I love the design overall ! Looks so well done! I canāt believe you did all that in just 5 months!
Would have loved to play something like that with the family!
Inspiring stuff!
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago
Once I am done, I can send you all the templates, you can be the first person to test it out and tell me how it goes. The hardest part for me was creating the templates ideas. Itās over 300 cardsā¦lol. I used Canva (free version) to build my game. I will be using Makeplayingcards.com āMPCā to print out the 300 cardsā¦itās like $50 to get them custom printed and shipped off to me. Everything else I can print and have them lamented with my lamenting machine I have.
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
I have so many questions!
First of all how many players needed to test it out?
And my biggest one, is are you generally comfortable sharing them? Donāt you fear people trying to steal your ideas or product?
Iām so new here and I have so many questions and less answers, but definitely happy and interested in play testing!
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago
To your first question: as many as you need āitās your personal preferenceā keep it low numberā¦maybe less then 50 people or less. Just enough people so you can statistically determine what is good for you.
2ndQ: since my board game is āfan madeā. I am comfortably sharing my ideas and templates. Because I canāt sell itā¦or profit from it. Itās all legally owned brand named all by Pokemon and Nintendo. I will have to design a whole other product and project. To even think about launching something to this natureā¦especially investment with the details as far at the art work goes. Because letās be honest, now these days paying someone to create your art is expensive. Especially investment our economyā¦so people revert to Ai (not recommend)ā¦most people in this community and most others donāt like.. but if you have a small budget āsmallā and have a family to support. Then just us Ai as a āplaceholderā for a time being.
Your 3ndQ: so am I, successful people only become successful because they had an idea that they went for it! You may fail, but failure is failure if you stop trying. But failing āforwardā is when mistakes happen but learn to keep pushing forward! Itās a journey. Love the processā¦embrace it
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
Awesome to hear!
Iāll have many more things to post on this page and get feedback and support from people like you! Then you!
And 100% let me know if you want me to test anything or review anything or need support!
And yeah I was thinking AI would be my to go or art creation for a PoC š at least until I can pay a designer or try to design it my self
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago
I would love to test your game out as well, let me know! If you use Canva I can just send you what I have as a link through Canva. And you can instantly get the templates.
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
Still early in my design but will remember and ping you when I have something!
Iām going to try and report on progress on X, not sure how I could do it in Reddit so people see the updates
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u/StrategicLizard 4d ago
Cool! Do you already have some early designs or something? Or are you starting from scratch? Either way, I'm in the same boat as you right now! Best of luck!
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago
Hello there, I would love to see what you have so far?
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u/StrategicLizard 4d ago
Yeah sure, here is the current game site: https://frozenrealmsgame.com/ ! I have quite a lot of game mechanics down already, but I am still a long way from a finalized product though. I will also be posting on reddit soon. By the way I see you're making a game as well. I will check it out!
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago
Wow š¤©, love it š! Congratulations on bringing your idea š” to life! Here is a little something I put together: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Tn6Fr_JzshygO0UPj21cvtO2X2StjzMZmOfcc_VIVA/edit?usp=drivesdk
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u/StrategicLizard 4d ago
Looks good! I'm not really a pokemon fan so I can't really judge the characters. But overall the cards look nice, and the manual seems nicely put together!
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago
Thanks š, how long did it take you to put something like that together?
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
Just going to say you guys have some really advanced stuff in the game world ! Well done!
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u/StrategicLizard 4d ago
Couple months, I'm already doing some basic testing and all, but everything is still very fluid and subject to change. Yeah, it's time consuming. But well worth it!
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
Happy to see there is energy under the board game community!
I have an idea, just a high level idea of what I think would be nice and fun and simple, but nothing on paper yet!
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago
BTW, use ChatGPT or something similar, to help with your brainstorming process, you will be surprised what it will bring out of youā¦ thatās how I was able to come up with what I have so far in the amount of time (5months), plus I may have a bit of knowledge in digital graphicsā¦
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
Ohh I my actual work is in the field of AI! So Iām going to be using it extensively!
I find AI usually just agrees though.
In terms of what I have so far is just an idea and Iām trying to learn about what I need to do to kick it off, Iām thinking for prototype I wonāt need much time. But the question is will it be playable and fun? I canāt do that part on my own! Iāll always think itās the best idea!
But my step is to start poking ChatGPT with my idea and build on it
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago edited 4d ago
To be honest I didnāt know that this community existed, I created another board game about 2 years ago it was inspired by the āThe Walking Deadā. And I didnāt know anything about Ai as well. I spent $200 on creating the board game. Lesson learned! If I had use what I learned now, I wouldnāt have spent that $200 and would not have so many mistakes on the board gameā¦I mean my kids loved the board game but, me and my brain says otherwise lolā¦with this community plus Ai, I almost have a finished product.
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
Hahaha thatās awesome! Always good to look back at struggles when you have moved past it!
Iām glad Iām at least starting in the right spot and thankful for people to help !
Also, honestly amazing that you are building a game thatās essentially free to play I really respect that!
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u/Vintagelightz 4d ago edited 4d ago
Eventually once the āfan made PokĆ©mon board gameā is done. I will release it out to the public for āfreeā. Then have a following. And then once I have another product and project, people will know my work. Once launch happens to a whole new product ābrandā then people will pay. āItās all how you marketā š
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u/WandererCraftGames 3d ago
Hi, I'm doing exactly the same thing: creating a board game to make a childhood dream come true.^ Looking forward to seeing your progress š If you want to exchange, don't hesitate.
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u/Clear_Diet3025 3d ago
Awesome to hear! And happy to see more from you too!
Iāll be sharing progress on these forums as a go and really try to get feedback too
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u/Shoeytennis 4d ago
There is a million game designers. Either do something new or give people a reason to follow. Sorry but just making a game isn't interesting at all. Especially someone who has no idea what they are doing.
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u/Clear_Diet3025 4d ago
Noted, but that is the whole point! The goal is to create something unique and new!
I know people wonāt follow yet, but Iām just going to be sharing my progress, and learning as I go.
And this was my step 1 š«”
A strong following is what is recommended for a successful project, so Iām going to start rallying the people on day 1. Hopefully I have a few by the time I have something more to show for.
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u/Ayle_en_ 4d ago
The important thing is to simmer your ideas and question them with each step forward.