Have
you ever played a board game? Of course you have, be it checkers or
chess, board games are one of the oldest pastimes of humanity and
even if you’re not really into more complicated games you must have
played some. Games have evolved a great deal, especially in the last
decade. Surprisingly, the new golden age of board games can be
attributed to the popularization of the internet, which allows us to find easily more people who want to play, and more games.
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Modern
tabletop games range from simple, abstract games of association like
for example Dixit to long, 8 hour fantasy adventures like the Might &
Magic board game. Actually, it might be hard to find a big
intellectual property that doesn’t have a tabletop counterpart -
Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Witcher, there’s even a board game
based on Doom and This War of Mine in the works. But designing and
making board games is not reserved for big companies with already
established properties, if you ever had an idea for your own board
game, there’s never been a better time to make your dreams come
true.
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With
the new technologies, like 3d printing making any design a
reality is
possible, and with
many online communities built around design and production of board
games it’s way easier than it used to be just a few years ago. Obviously, most of the work must be done on paper, to reach a
state when your game can be playable, and even then you don’t
really need an actual board and pawns to test it out with your
friends. You can present it to other people and actually
sell it. For example https://www.thegamecrafter.com/
is an online store that sells not only board games made by small
teams of people, or even by a single person, they offer a variety of
services, like printing tokens, boards, cards that you can use to
assemble your very own game. Not to mention how successful tabletop
games can become on crowdfunding sites like kickstarter. The most
funded card game got backed for almost 9 million dollars!
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But
is it that easy to create a good board game? Actually, there are
many, many questions you need to ask yourself when designing a game.
For example, how many players do you want your game to be for? How long
should the play session take? How will the interaction between your
players look like? How do you win? And so on and on and on. What it
boils down to is, can you give people a game that they would actually
enjoy playing?
So
how about you? Have you ever thought about making your own board
game? And if not, share with us what your favourite games are and
what makes them so enjoyable? Finding and naming what we
enjoy in games might be the first step to bringing that feeling to
others by making our own games.
Comments
a) they are truly well prepared, thought through and they involve the players a lot, so they feel that the game is engaging and interesting;
b) they are educational, so the players can actually learn something from this game or from the topics which are included;
c) they bring people together, so regardless of the plot and the point of it, the players can socialize, laugh and talk during the game or even explore each other's views and opinions.
I play board games mostly because of the third reason, because usually I am not the one who initiate this kind of games, but when we get to sit together and play a board game, I also prefer the ones which require quite a bit of new knowledge and focus, so I feel I occupy myself with something interesting and extraordinary.
But is it that easy to create a good board game? Actually, there are many, many questions you need to ask yourself when designing a game. For example, how many players do you want your game to be for? How long should the play session take? How will the interaction between your players look like? How do you win? And so on and on and on. What it boils down to is, can you give people a game that they would actually enjoy playing?
This is a difficult question. In my opinion, a good board game is not easy to come up with. Everything depends on the story board game. From the principles of what the game contains.
So how about you? Have you ever thought about making your own board game? And if not, share with us what your favourite games are and what makes them so enjoyable? Finding and naming what we enjoy in games might be the first step to bringing that feeling to others by making our own games.
I have never thought of making your own game. My favorite game is MONOPOLY. This is a very cool game board. I like to play this game with friends. You can spend a nice time. You can learn a lot such as: communication, negotiation, strategy, logical thinking.
If you'd like to try some other games to play with friends and family you could try Dixit, it's a really fun one.
As for socializing, the face to face aspect of board games is very important and can bring people together.
I like play board games very much. It's nice opportunity to meet with friends, spend some time just playing, but making games is not for me. It's just not interesting for me. Despite that, from time to time I buy new board games, so makers are needed :D
Sometime ago I have an opportunity to take part in process of making game. In fact, it wasn't board game. It was application, which was made in shape of board game. Really hard process, but interesting.
I've never created my own board game, however, recently I've received Harry Potter Monopoly as a gift, but not the autoritised one; it's a game overally made by an artist and it looks far more pretty than classical one.
Just for now, every time I have the occasion I play this game. Few years ago I was all the time playing Ludo, I loved the more complicated version with blockages. I really like the Catan too, despite I always lose with my brother. I play Hotel very often. I used to spend much time with classic games like jackstraws, battleship, dice, scattergories and jigsaw puzzles. My favourite card games are 1000 and Kierki, however I can't play these with my friends (most of them play so badly) and only two person from my family are a real challenge to play with.
My favourite game board is Monopoly. I think that almost everybody know what are the rules of this game. I like it very much, because many people can play it at one time and we can spend a great time together.
And if you're fan of Anime/Japan, 100% Orange Juice (available e.g. on Steam) is also a marvelous way to ruin every form of friendship... :).
But I never tried to make one. It's incredibly hard to make interesting and engaging game. Plus it has to be balanced and visually appealing.
But it was interesting to find out that people can create their own games. This is a great idea, I think.