10 Steps to ACTUALLY Design a Board Game

This is how to design a board game, a guide to walk you through how to create a board game step by step. If you're a newbie board game designer this is everything you need to get started.

In this comprehensive video, I'll guide all you newbie tabletop designers through the intricate process of crafting your very own board game, step by step. Whether you're an enthusiastic gamer with a unique idea or someone taking their first leap into becoming beginner board game designer, this video is tailored to equip you with the essential knowledge and skills needed to bring your game to life.

From conceptualization to completion, we'll delve into every aspect of the board game design process. I will help you navigate challenges, make informed decisions, and transform your creative vision into a playable reality. Whether you're aiming for a strategic masterpiece or a casual party game, this tutorial will provide you with the tools and confidence to embark on your journey as a burgeoning board game designer.

Welcome to Tabletop Craft, a series crafted specifically for aspiring game designers who are eager to dive into the world of creating board games. This series is your gateway to the realm of tabletop game design, offering a comprehensive guide to crafting your very own tabletop games.

Connect with fellow enthusiasts, access invaluable resources, and foster your passion for tabletop game creation by joining us on the Tabletop Craft Discord!

This video could save you literal months of tedious work on your next game.

00:00 How to Make a Board Game
00:20 Inspiration Takes Time
01:11 Brainstorm
02:08 Prototyping and Experimentation
03:26 Planning
04:13 Prototype MVP
04:50 Playtest
05:43 Balance and Refine / Iterate and Improve
06:40 Playtesting More
07:52 Commission Art and Design
08:33 Finalize and Produce
09:12 The Best Tool for Rapidly Prototyping Your Board Game

[davejeltema]

What step of the process are you on and which one are you looking forward to the most? I can’t wait to get some art made 😀

[Korrik]

My 7yo son and I decided to make a simpler card battle game recently. Kind of surprised we have been following your steps. Appreciate your step by steps and encouragement. So far the designing and prototyping has been a blast.

[hanshatv]

I was here because I felt inspired to make my own board game. And after watching your video, it made me even more inspired. I wish everyone who have watched this video, including the one who made this, to be successful in their passion.

[hotfishdev]

Absolute crime that this doesn’t have more views

[nightjarproductions]

I am relieved to see how closely I have unintentionally followed these steps in my process so far. Thanks for your content, I will for sure be looking at more of your stuff going forward.

[shibizzy]

I made a board game with my brother a while back (I was 13, he was 15). It was called Airspace, and it was about dogfighting. We made 3D different elevation levels and even built model planes. The game was so well made we went to a small board game publisher and asked to publish it. We got a flat out no. 8 more publishers later and we get nothing but no’s

[asotov]

That is a brilliant video! Thanks a lot, Dave, you are like a guide in the dungeon of board game design.

[KienTrung-ozyg]

Thank you so much. I'm working on a game for my school project and you helped me a lot

[quingelfand]

These videos are fantastic! I think a more detailed video on the "balance and refine / iterate and improve" section would be exactly what I'm looking for! That step is impossibly hard for me...

[davidkelly]

Your videos are way too useful and way too professional for a channel with 70 subs and 100 views! Given you a sub, look forward to seeing more :)

[AndrewRogue]

Serendipitous discovery as I just started converting a game myself. Great guide based on everything I had researched myself!

[JustinThomas-yg]

*Board Game name idea I had: Timeliners Trekkers or Timeliners Agency

- Players take on the roles of time travelers, each with unique abilities and strengths.
- Objective: Complete missions, collect resources, and navigate the timeline to prevent disruptions.
- Game components:
- Game board featuring a timeline with different eras and events. Maybe have a sideline map of that certain event areas the characters are exploring.
- Character cards with abilities and strengths.
- Mission cards with objectives and challenges.
- Resource tokens (time, money, etc.).
- Disruption tokens (representing changes to the timeline).
- Mechanics:
- Time travel: Move through the timeline, visiting different eras.
- Resource management: Manage resources to complete missions and maintain time travel capabilities.
- Mission completion: Resolve challenges and objectives to earn rewards.

[mr.duck]

We have these monarch kits for gel extraction in the lab I work at and the box is so cool and well made so I want to make a board game/card game to go in it haha

[loriki]

Thank you! This is helpful! I will say doing the art first is helping me. But then I have Adobe Illustrator and am doing my own art and mock ups and doing the design helps me think through things. Just my weird process. Now I'm going to go watch more of your videos while I work on some art and think through my games!

[emmiasilk]

This is a lot like Agile in software develpment, a paradigm I'm still coming to terms with. Overall, I really like this approach to tabletop game design. The one aspect in your guidance I strongly disagree with is "don't make a complete rulebook" by the time of playtesting with others. This can easily be confused with "don't write down your rules, " which I think would be a major mistake for any tabletop project. It's easy for developers to take a lot of information for granted in their rules, so it helps to write them down and reference them early on, forcing you to become aware of exactly how the 'engine' of your game works.

[alexgloomandor]

Nice work! I think it would be helpful to have some kind of flow graph of the steps, especially for the looping where you go through the same processes over and over again.

[LukeEdwardstube]

New sub here. Been binging your videos today. Really great stuff! Really informative, realistic, and surprisingly motivating videos. Keep it up! :)

[sylvainschellenberger]

These advices seem very solid. There's some that bother me though.

I am a web developer, so I'm well acquainted with iterations. But shouldn't the key pillars of gameplay be somewhat set in stone? Isn't there a risk you'll be going back-and-forth between all game mechanics that ever existed? Let's say you start with a worker placement game with a set number of turns and victory points, would you change to a deckbuilding game with win conditions amidst your iterations cycle?

Also, the video game industry has people working on 'concept art' in very early stage of the game development process. It helps sets the theme and directs the collective imagination for other aspects of the game. Wouldn't involving art this early into the game production helps in the decision making about mechanics and components? Just imagine the Dune Imperium game, how would have they created all the cards effects if the characters and vehicles weren't from a well known science-fiction universe with an extensive documentation and pictured a thousand times?

Just a few questions that popped in my mind, thank you for making the video!

[Logzilla-oq]

this is helpful I've been stuck making a game that's close to a dungeons and dragons remake I've been stuck wondering what to do thank you I have been rigorously play testing the life out of it I have perfected almost 900 levels 2.5 YEARS OF HARD WORK tho I want about 5000 levels 😢 it takes 3 weeks to get to level 150 its scary that's if you play non stop for 8 hours each day and 7 days a week its mortifying this helps my progression ALOT thank you so Much man I have made so much that a binder of 200 pages doesn't fit all my work I think im obsessed with this I think I might be able to continue 😊 I have over 50 races 70 classes 8000 artifacts a 17 continent world Thousands of monsters and types over 10000 unique items im stressed but its worth the journey I plan on releasing the game when I hit my goal I might die before its completed I have been documenting every little thing I think I its worth the dedication im only just soon going to be 18 🎉 I plan on making this a board game and a video game

[radenlacquerware]

Ive started with the design too early... Shoulf have started with the game mechanism first 😅 thankyou so much