How To Make A Board Game

Have you ever had a board game idea that you felt needed to be created? Maybe it is a coop, strategy, or mystery. It could even be a traditional family card game that you think might be worth being mass-produced. The only problem with creating your own board game is you have no idea how to start. Let me take you through the process

Creating your own board game from start to finish involves these steps: 1. Brainstorming game ideas. 2. Creating game mechanics focusing on how to play. 3. Designing and prototyping your board game. 4. Test your board game. 5. Build your game pieces.

The process itself isn’t exactly as simple as I described above. For each step, there are a series of roadblocks one must consider and adapt to overcome said roadblocks. For more information on how to overcome roadblocks and successfully create your board game keep reading.

The process of creating your own board game involves brainstorming, designing, testing, and building. Depending on where you are in your creative process you may be starting at the very beginning or near the end of the creative process.

Brainstorming Game Ideas

The first step in the creative process is brainstorming game ideas. This is your chance to flush out all of your creative ideas. When it comes to brainstorming there are no bad ideas. Let your imagination go wild. Here are things to consider while brainstorming:

Game Mechanics.

What type of game do you want to create? Does it involve boards, cards, is it a hybrid of both or is it something completely different? Do you want your game to be cooperative or competitive? How do you keep score/win?

There are many game mechanics to think about. We’ve only covered a few. Don’t be shy when it comes to thinking through board game mechanics. List any and all ideas that come to your mind. This will be helpful especially if you are struggling to come up with a game of your own.

Think about what you like in other games. It may be possible to incorporate it into your own game.

Game Pieces.

What kind of game pieces will you need? These will be items like dice, figures, tokens, cards, spinners. This also includes the actual board. How does your board need to be designed?
Players.

How many players does your game need to be played? How many players can play at once? Does the number of players affect the board game pieces in any way?
Setting

What is the setting of your game? Thinking through this thoroughly will help when it comes to designing and prototyping. Does your game take place in a fantasy, western, horror, historic, and or natural setting? Do you want the look to be realistic or cartoony? Are you looking for humor or seriousness?

Is there a history that you can add to your game that will engage your players? What about your characters? Are they people, animals, or things? Does adding a backstory to your character enrich your board game?

Creating Board Game Mechanics

Now that you have brainstormed through all of your board game ideas, it is time to narrow down to the best ideas and start creating board game mechanics. The good news, if you did enough brainstorming, you won’t have to create mechanics out of thin air.

Using the ideas you came up with, start pulling ‘pieces’ together to come up with the board game you want to play. This includes not only the game mechanics but also the pieces, players, and setting for your board game.

When creating your board game mechanics keep in mind that these are the foundation of your game. Go through your brainstorming ideas. What mechanics that you came up with make sense for the game you want to create?

Try to visualize a play session using your mechanics. Does it make sense? Is it fun? Will you be able to explain how the game is played to others? Will it be fun for them to play as well? If you can see how your game is played out, you are off to a good start. Don’t be afraid to improve or replace mechanics. This is a process of trial and error.

While thinking through the mechanics, keep in mind that these are essentially the rules of your game. Whether you are creating a simple or complicated game, be sure to convey your game mechanics clearly.

Designing and Prototyping Your Board Game

When it comes to designing and prototyping your board game keep things simple at first. Rely on game chosen game mechanics. Mistakes are welcome. Then refine and repeat improving each time.

At the beginning of design, perfection is not your friend. Think of your first few designs as rough drafts. Then once you have gotten your initial design look for what works and what doesn’t. Fix what doesn’t work and improve what you can.

Use your game mechanics as your reference for your design. What you have decided in the previous step will directly influence how you design and prototype your game.

The type of game will determine the pieces that you need to design and create. Your setting will influence the look and feel of the game. The number of players will let you know how many pieces you need to design for your game.

Designing and prototyping your board game can be a fun process. This is when your game starts to become real.

In the early stages of design be sure to use all of your resources. Pen and paper will be just fine for sketching ideas. Responsibly borrowed game pieces can be a quick shortcut giving you an edge in design.

Test your Created Board Game

With the mechanics and design finished it is time to test your game. Play through your game from start to finish. Invite others to play the game with you. See if others can figure out how to play your game using your instructions. Ask for feedback. Try to break your game.

Play through your game from start to finish. Take notes with each playthrough. Did the game make sense as you were playing through it? Did you enjoy playing through your game? Is there anything that can be adjusted to the mechanics or design that will improve your game?

Invite others to play through the game. Let them read through your game mechanics to see if they can play the game on their own. Ask for feedback. What did they like and didn’t like about your game?

Take advantage of feedback. If you are building this game with the intention of having others enjoy playing it then listen to and implement the feedback you get from others. If you are looking to only build a board game that satisfies your gaming needs then maybe only your feedback needs to be considered. Feedback can be a great way to improve your game.

As you play through your board game try to ‘break’ it. Is there any way to cheat the system? Do your rules need to be more detailed? Are there any mechanics in your game that aren’t fun or fair? What can be exploited? This is your quality check. Look for the flaws in your game and remove them appropriately.

Build your Board Game

Now it is time to build your board game. Review your game mechanics, finalize your designs and build your board game.

Review your game mechanics. Make sure you have clear instructions and rules.

Finalize your designs. Now we are looking for quality in design. This may be when you enlist the help of others to help get the professional touch if needed. This is your board game. You get to decide how much you want to invest into the looks of your game.

Using your final designs it is now time to build the game. How you go about this is entirely up to you.

Maybe you are just looking for a homemade game and you don’t need anything fancy. Cardboard and stock cards could be your key to success there. You might even have access to a 3D printer allowing you to custom make your figures and pieces on your own.

If your homemade game allows for it you could possibly buy pieces from other games that fit into your game appropriately. Ebay and Amazon are a couple sources where you could do such a thing. I have had success buying random game pieces on ebay to be used on a completely different game.

You may be looking for a more professional build. There are resources like https://www.boardgamesmaker.com and https://www.thegamecrafter.com that allow you to build your own game. Follow the link to their sites and follow their process. I personally haven’t used either one, but that may change in the future as I complete my own process of building my own board game.

Your Custom Board Game Experience

Thanks for following along the step by step process of how to make a board game. If you have any board game ideas you would like to share feel free to comment down below. Let me know how your board game building experience goes.

How To Make A Board Game