Hi, i'm 13 years old and I think i'v made a pretty good game.
It's a fantasy based board/card game using 5 dice. I have made a somewat sketch of what I want my cards to look like, but I really don't know where to start...
How should I make my crads and what program should I use to make them look really cool.
By the way, I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba and I don't know where I could show my game to puvlish it...
Plz help.
Froggy_00
Hi Froggy
Lets take the last question first: before you even consider to show the game to a publisher, you should have tested, tested and tested the game. The game should be tested with friends, families, strangers and been send to some sort of black box tests (a test where the testers not have seen the game before and you are not present).
With the game publishers, you will only have one shot (on each). You will probably have maximum 15 seconds to get there attention from a mail, and around 2 minutes if you meet them face to face.
Start by creating a prototype. You don’t need to make it a complete game with all artwork when the first prototype is done. The most important thing is that you start to test the game.
The programs is depending on your budget (and what you have). Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw and so on is good programs but you can manage with freewares (and there are several that are good). To set the cards you can also use PowerPoint (have used it myself and it works) or Word. If you have a scanner, draw the cards by hand and scan them into the computer.
... and every game designer think that they have a good game. You need to convince yourself, the testers and finally the publisher that you have a great game. Be open to suggestions and changes.
// Johan
p.s. 13 years old... I started to think that you were young, but when I thought back I recalled that when I was 13 years old I had designed games for 7 or eight years already. I had just finished my largest game yet with (a business game where the rules were written on 160 handwritten pages). After 12 hours of a test sessions with my friends, we had just scratched the surface, the game ended up in the waste-paper basket. (I must have been a real geek).
So even if you fail in this attempt, continue to design games. Very few people can fly in there first try.
I am always impressed with people with attitude and the will to create!
I agree with what Johan just said.
Play test it, and then playtest it again and dont forget to listen to other peples opinions.
Read what has been said here on BGDF, it helps.
Dont rush to a publisher before u know that the game "works" and its fun.
Good luck
Johan
Welcome Frogman!
In addition to the wonderful people and ideas on BGDF, I would also point you to Boardgamegeek.com (BGG), which is a huge community of board/card gamers. Also there is the largest repository of boardgame information. I find that just reading rules, seeing components and reading reviews of published games informs me greatly of what's out there and what I could do that's different (Not to mention giving me the itch to go out and buy more boardgames!).
But best of luck in your quest!
Jon
Photoshop is a commercial software, so you would have to buy it. You can download Gimp for free, which is similar.
For vector image creation, InkScape is a very nice, free software.
AFAIK, neither of these is intended for professional design for commercial printing, but they conform a great combination for web and, most important, prototyping.
To layout your cards I suggest you to try nanDECK, a great free software specially designed for card prototyping. It's been very wellcomed by other BGDFers: read this thread.
Seo
great place to find what u are looking for...
Hi Froggy! Great to hear you want to design games:)
heres a good link if you have access to any printer:
http://www.incompetech.com/beta/plainGraphPaper/
You can print your board in portions of 8.5 by 11 inches(letter size) regular paper(if you're in the us and canada that is), cut the paper, tape it on some kind of cardboard or even(i did this for recycling purposes and loved it!) on an old vynil "drape" (i'm not certain what the word is in english, sorry!) that i cut to the necessary size.
Don't forget that you can keep this process as cheap as possible because your game might (and probably will )change often and quickly as you playtest it. Cheap is easy to replace when you don't have a steady inflow of income. Cheap is easy to replicate. Cheap is easy!...and a big peace of mind on your pocket:)
take care and enjoy!
soulbeach
No problem Froggy_00,
I'm glad I could help :)
PS: take a look into the ressources section of this site, quite a few usefull links there:
http://bgdf.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links
soulbeach
Hi Froggy,
Yes i do speak french, it is my native language:) Careful when you speak french to french canadians, if you learned the "France" way of speaking, we will understand you, but you migth have a hard time understanding us! The french we speak is more like medieval french(or so i heard!) with regional slangs to spice the mix! hehehe
I personnaly love accents, they color peoples' expressions in nice ways:)
Feel free to pm me to practice or start a french thread!
soulbeach
Oh, by the way, i'm french not "fench", hehehe
if you learned the "France" way of speaking, we will understand you, but you migth have a hard time understanding us! The french we speak is more like medieval french(or so i heard!) with regional slangs to spice the mix! hehehe
I grew up in Maine. At one point a friend of mine took a french exchange student up into Canada. She had to translate from French Canadian-into Mainer French-back into French French.
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Thank you so much guys!
For the prototype of my cards, i'l probobly use sticker paper and stick them to a cards from normal cards decks. I'm working on pictures for my cards, and i'l make a webpage using HTML to show you guys an idea of my game!
Thank you very much!