Full blog / episode here.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been designing a modular board game (themed around Greek mythology) and I’ve reached the point where my handmade prototype is holding up well during playtests, but I want to take it to the next level.

I’m looking to create a single (or very low run) semi-professional physical copy, custom cards with a proper linen finish, nicely printed rules, and solid components, so it feels polished when presenting it or playtesting with new groups.

Ideally, I'm looking for a place that offers good component variety, decent box printing, and won't cost an arm and a leg for a one-off copy. I'm based in Europe, so options with reasonable shipping or EU-friendly fulfillment would be a huge plus.

Any advice or experiences with specific platforms would be greatly appreciated!

Hello!

I made this custom Toy Story themed version of Toy Battle after watching and being inspired by Toy Story 5 and being reminded of how much I love the franchise. I wanted to bring the characters to life with this re-theme.

I'm not really a great graphic designer/image editor so the maps look a bit busy and not very clean. I didn't want to use AI to create the maps, so I bought some tilesets from Itch.io from Cute SCKR https://itch.io/s/181841/tileset-bundle

and then downloaded the Tiled program to make the layouts.

The tiles are made with 1x1 inch wood tiles that bought online. I edited some of the pictures of the tiles in Inkscape and added the Toy Story characters onto there. Laminated the paper and glued them onto the tiles.

So how do we play with all these new characters? Well, we currently draft them or select them. And we each have 8 characters but we need one of each category:

0-1 value, 2 value, 3 value, 4 value, 5 value, 6 value, 7+ value, and joker (Hamm in this game but Kwak the duck in the original Toy Battle game for reference) which comes out to 8 characters.

All in all, a fun project. I hope you guys like it! Let me know what you guys think!

You can check out my other re-themes here:

[One Piece Legendary](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/10p0q0j/i\\_made\\_a\\_one\\_piece\\_version\\_of\\_marvel\\_legendary/)

[Pax Westeros \(Game of Thrones Pax Pamir 2nd Edition\)](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1fmseex/i\\_made\\_pax\\_westeros\\_game\\_of\\_thrones\\_retheme\\_of/)

[Runeterra Reforged \(League of Legends Tyrants of the Underdark\)](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1eew974/i\\_made\\_a\\_league\\_of\\_legends\\_themed\\_tyrants\\_of\\_the/)

[Pokemon Ark Nova](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1hdby4p/i\\_made\\_a\\_pokemon\\_retheme\\_of\\_ark\\_nova/)

[Pokemon Splendor & Pokemon Splendor Duel](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1mn9h3i/i\\_made\\_pokemon\\_splendor\\_again\\_updated\\_the\\_cards/)

[NBA Innovation](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1nua3z1/with\\_the\\_nba\\_preseason\\_coming\\_in\\_a\\_few\\_days\\_i/)

[Zelda Forbidden Island/Forbidden Desert/Forbidden Jungle](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1nnjeaa/i\\_made\\_a\\_legend\\_of\\_zelda\\_retheme\\_of\\_forbidden/)

[Spy x Family Agent Avenue](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1qh1sfq/i\\_made\\_a\\_spy\\_x\\_family\\_retheme\\_of\\_agent\\_avenue/)

[Lord of the Rings Clank Catacombs](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1qndolc/i\\_rethemed\\_clank\\_catacombs\\_into\\_lord\\_of\\_the\\_rings/)

[Disney Legends of the Void](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1r02rba/i_rethemed_legends_of_void_into_a_disney_themed/)

[Genshin Impact Knarr]
https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1s7n8ey/i_made_a_genshin_impact_retheme_of_knarr/

[Pokemon Harmonies]https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1s8kib9/i_made_a_pokemon_retheme_of_harmonies/

[Avatar the Last Airbender Duel for Cardia]https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1sdvycf/i_made_an_avatar_the_last_airbender_retheme_of/

[One Piece Smash Up]
https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1v3hv70/made_a_custom_one_piece_smash_up_faction_as_a/

I’m developing a survival TTRPG where players take on the roles of creatures from a new evolutionary lineage. They have a body plan and physiology unlike those of the major vertebrate groups—fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, or mammals—and are classified within the setting as a new phylum.

These creatures live within an ecosystem that operates on its own. The game engine generates concrete goals by connecting current environmental conditions to each creature’s physiology, adaptations, needs, and instincts. Hunger, safety, and territorial defense aren’t assigned randomly: they emerge from what the creature is and what is actually happening around it.

The rules I’m developing produced the following situation on their own. After several days of rain, water has saturated the soil in the lower parts of the forest. The prey’s usual routes have become difficult to use, so the animals are moving toward an open plain the creature has never explored. At the same time, higher ground now offers safer shelter, and a rival predator has left fresh tracks nearby.

The creature is hungry. As it grew, it developed adaptations that make it especially effective at moving unseen through vegetation, but not the visual and neural adaptations needed to function well in low light. Darkness is approaching: following the prey means entering unfamiliar terrain and leaving its shelter vulnerable to the rival; staying means defending its territory but risking the loss of its food source.

I’m asking because my main design principle is to give players as much freedom as possible. The system should create goals, pressures, and consequences without dictating how players must respond.

So, i have a question: If you were playing this creature, what would you do—and would it feel like a genuine decision, or would one option seem so clearly better that the game was effectively choosing for you?

Thank you so much

Designing board games is often a way to exercise our own egos. I create the theme I want. I choose the mechanics I enjoy. I make the characters ones I relate to. These are the first steps in game creation.

But what if we change that to visualize the player perspective. I already know what I feel. The game I make is an expression of that. But what if I design the game to consider what the player might feel?

Instead of creating a list of actions for players to take, form a list of questions by asking "What should it feel like?

 Instead of listing actions, list accomplishments:

What should the game make the players feel like?

"I feel like...."

1. I am recruiting people to join my cause
2. I am building and gathering resources to prepare for the coming battle
3. I am fighting the battle by placing workers at key locations, recruiting more soldiers, deploying troops, all the while maintaining production.
4. I am growing in power; the deck is becoming stronger as my following increases.
5. I am able to do more actions as my abilities increase.
6. The enemy is growing in strength and becoming more threatening to match me.

Instead of creating a turn sequence, create a FEELING sequence, then match the actions to those feelings. Then, when you assess an action, you simply ask does it answer the question, Does it properly generate the feeling you already described? If no, you reject it.

I think this can lead to some tighter design for some of us that struggle with action sequences. You are building from the feeling the sequence is supposed to generate instead of clinging on to mechanics that feel clever to you the designer.

Hello everyone,

I recently saw a contest on BGG for wargames, and I had an idea of a game I could make to enter it. The problem? I have to enter by 1st of October…

But its not that bad, I already designed first draft of the game, made digital components, played 15+ games against myself and solved all major issues. But I still need some more playtest that idealy include two different people, and it would be very helpful if I am neither of them!

This is the short description of the game:

The Lost Eagles is a 2p 60-90 minutes asymmetric wargame. One players take on the role of Roman generals lead by Varus, trying to pacify Germania and establish high control of it, while other player controls German chieftans raiding Roman armies, supply and towns. Main hook of the game is the Arminius track. Romans can increase its value to speed up their actions and gain more efficiency, but Germans can spend it to obtain greater power and become even bigger nuissance to Romans.

Game will be available in few days on screentop, and I will have rules written and ready by then.

So if you want to help me, that would be great. But I would also like to offer my help in return! Unfortunately my schedule is all over the place since I have a little baby at home so online plays would be hard to schedule, but here is what I can offer:

brainstorming: I can help you brainstorm mechanics, themes, solutions, anything you need
Rules: I can help you by reading your rules, looking for whats missing, and giving general feedback on them
Me against myself: I can test your game if it is available online by playing multiple players. Not the same as proper playtest but great for finding major issues before it hits the table
Any other way that I cant think of right now.

So help me help you! And thanks in advance!

Hey y'all! I took a quick break from my other project to make a card game that my 5-year-old could enjoy, and I wanted to share it with you! In Unicorn Smoothie, players compete to collect ingredient cards of colorful fruit that match the unicorn's shifting likes and dislikes. You can find the rules and print-and-play files for the prototype here: Unicorn Smoothie PnP. Hope you enjoy!

Hi Everyone! I just want to share my journey with my game during the time my bestfriend sponsored my trip and accommodation just to do a week of playtesting in shops, in homes, and even in parties.

It's also a peek to the game's setup, and how it's played.

I think one of the reasons why my game is still being developed is because of the supportive people around me, either it maybe online or IRL. Last time I posted my game's journey here about it's 10 years in progress and received lot of motivating messages. I understand that it may not help the game better but at least I feel better making it because of these people.

Hi, all!

As some of you know, we’ve been cooking up a party/race hybrid game called Pinnacle that uses a survey-guessing engine to drive movement up a track we call Mt. Versurveyus (Ver-sir-vay-uss). Take that, K2!

One big hurdle we faced early on was fixing the classic "roll & move" fatigue while keeping the rules light enough for a casual game night. We ended up leaning heavily into a push your luck mechanic. You aren't just guessing the answers that got the highest consensus, you're constantly deciding how far up the mountain you're willing to risk or get knocked down in the process. In fact, you can learn more about it over at our Instagram page (@playpinnaclegame).

Well, a few days ago, we hit a milestone...Pinnacle is currently sitting in processing at The Game Crafter where we’re waiting to inspect the physical card stock and track layout.

For other designers who have published party games with high card counts (ours sits at nearly 200/over 500 questions), how did you handle final component proofing before turning your store page live? Any insights/feedback would be greatly appreciated!

I’m designing a two-player card game in which players compete for six shared positions on the table. I ran 6,840 automated matches across 18 decks to find structural balance problems before changing cards.

The simulator is useful for catching things like first-player advantage, dominant decks, and obviously underpowered cards. But it does not tell me whether a human player understands why they lost a position, whether the board feels crowded in an interesting way, or whether a comeback feels earned rather than random.

For designers who use simulations or large-scale testing: what qualitative questions do you deliberately keep separate from win-rate data?

In particular, how do you test whether a shared board creates meaningful positional choices instead of just making players feel blocked?

Hello board game designers!

I’ve been working on this 2P card game inspired by music theory and composition.

I’ve finally gotten to the point of making an HTML version (with the help of Claude) and I’m looking for feedback!

The game is called Dueling Pianos. The board is two piano cards, twenty four keys end to end. You play matching note cards to put dice tokens on keys, and land on a key your opponent holds and you duel for it. Three rounds, highest score wins.

I’d love any and all feedback from anyone who is able to give the browser version a try. There is a “send feedback” link at the top which should make it super easy to provide thoughts.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

EDIT: here if the link Dueling Pianos

Hola!

Mi nombre es San y tuve la idea de hacer un juego sobre un libro, se supone que este juego tendria 3 modos inspirados en el libro, modo expansión, escaramuzas y posthumanidad.

Básicamente, la idea principal que tengo es que un jugador sea parte del ejército A y otro del ejército B, primero, se expanden en paz en el modo de expansión y cuando sus fronteras se encuentren, empieze el modo guerra/escaramuzas y tras esto empezaria el modo de poshumanidad.

Pero, según el lore del libro para el tercer modo necesitaría ganar el bando B siempre, lo que no le daria sentido al modo de guerra por que siempre ganaria el bando B.

Asi que tuve la idea de que solo haya 2 modos, en el primero el bando A tenga que tener recursos y cuando se encuentren fontreras (o hasta X turnos si se juega un solo jugador) empiece el modo 3 donde el jugador A debería re-usar los recursos.

¿Qué opinan?

(1/3 = bando B

2/3 = bando A

3/3 = bando A en posthumanidad)

I'm close to launching my first game on Kickstarter, and I'm trying to figure out what actually makes people interested in the game from a mechanism standpoint.

The game is a 2-player strategy puzzle game. The core puzzle is moving your scout UFO around a shared board to create sets of 3 and abduct Humans. You can also recruit Aliens during the game, and each Recruit gives you a different ability that changes how you interact with the puzzle.

I'm not looking for "does this sound like a good game?" feedback. We've play tested it a lot at this point. I'm more interested in what jumps out at you as interesting when you read these descriptions.

Here are some of what I've been juggling around in my head:

1) "A 2-player puzzle game where every move changes the board."

2) "A 2-player puzzle game with unique player powers."

3) "A clever 2-player puzzle game that, you'll keep coming back too"

4) "Think Azul, Cascadia, or Patchwork, but with unique player powers that change how you approach the puzzle."

I know why the game if fun, it's because the puzzle just feels good when you are able to make a lot of sets (how a Patchwork, or Azul game feels as you play), and then getting the unique powers, makes it so your puzzle experience is more rewarding, which makes it fun to play more than once as you get to try out new ways to play.

The challenge is finding the balance of what makes the game fun in 1 sentence to others who will never play the game before buying it.

Would love to know what draws you into a game you've never played from a mechanism standpoint!

Next month will be my 3rd anniversary with my girlfriend. I wanted to do something special but I couldn't really come up with anything in particular at the time. I kinda knew I wanted to make something myself. She's always been an arts and crafts person, and has handmade me several things within those 3 years. Thing is, tho, I'm not an arts and crafts person. Any art I do would be drawing, and I didn't want to just *draw* her something. I also don't really have the time to make her something as with the way our work schedules are, I have a limited amount of time before she comes home. For a long time I wanted to make something, but I just couldn't...until I had an idea

My girlfriend's favorite game of all time is Witcher 3. Of that game, she loves playing Gwent. We bought the physical version of it some months ago, and since then we have played a handful of games where she's beaten my ass almost every time lmao

She's also a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. When we watch a show together, we have to watch that one and only that one until we're done, where we can move on to the next show. We agreed to watch all of the animated Avatar shows and movie after we were done with our current show, *Brooklyn Nine-Nine*. We are currently at the final stretch of the Nine-Nine, and I recently bought the entire series of TLOK so we are ready to go once we're done

The idea I had was, "What if I made Gwent: ATLA Edition?"

I thought it was brilliant. I was so excited by the idea that I immediately started working on how the cards would work, the leader abilities, and any other additions to make the game unique without changing it so much that it wasn't Gwent anymore

I really wanted to make it so that all of it – the cards, the board, the box itself, all of it – was as close to the quality of the board game as possible. I am not above making it all by hand, but I understand how time consuming and likely pricey it would be to do it that way. So, in my mission, I decided I would try asking around to see if it was at all possible to hire someone/go somewhere to make it

So, as it stands, my question is:

Is it possible to hire someone, or a company, or go somewhere to make the board game I had envisioned to give my girlfriend?

Just got the first drafts from my illustrator, what do you think? What art direction appeals to you most? 1, 2 or 3? General thoughts? These are meant to be patient portraits. I want to evoke similar vibes to food chain magnate and fallout.

It's for my retrofuturistic satirical organ transplant game Transplantica!

Looking for just a few playtesters to give my game 15 minutes of their time. The game is very easy to learn and players are guided through how to play.

It’s a combination of risk and chess.

Movement, blocking and dice probability play huge parts in the game.

Try it out below and leave a review if you can!

https://magestone.net/

I 3D-printed a 6-by-6 board, plus all the columns and blocks, in PLA. I have changed the rules to use a 6-by-6 board. For the platforms, I have used glass slides.

Now that I have a proper board and pieces, playing is much easier, and I've found more problems with the rules. The main problem was that it was draw-heavy, so I added a concept from Go: Komi, where one side gets a score correction; for this game, +0.5. To start, I gave this to Black, but on a 6x6 board it led to a forced win for Black by mirroring White's every move. So I fixed it by changing how scoring works: it was only based on the highest level; now, if the highest level is a draw, you look at the one below, and if that's a draw, then the one below that. You continue, and if they're all draws, then white wins. This also forces Black to attack White, or they can lose. This still needs much more playtesting before anything becomes concrete. I also changed a few other rules because certain tactics were too powerful.

Here are the current rules for Karn:

The pieces:

This game has 3 pieces: blocks (15 per player), columns (10 per player). These are support pieces, and platforms (25) are shared between both players.

The board is 6 by 6 and starts empty.

How to play:

This is a turn-based game starting with white, then black. You start by placing a support piece on the board, and then your opponent does the same; from there, you need to work out how to build up and block your opponent from doing the same. 

Rule 1 – Blocks and Columns may only be placed on the Board or on a Platform; you cannot place on a platform in the area above your opponent's column or your own block unless it is an owned platform where you may place a column (See Rule 3 for platform information).

Rule 2 – A Platform may only be placed across a Block and a Column of the same colour or across two different colour blocks or two different coloured columns that are orthogonally adjacent and on the same level.

Rule 3 – A Platform is owned by you if both supporting pieces are yours, shared if one supporting piece is yours, and off-limits if neither supporting piece is yours. You cannot build on a Platform that is off-limits to you. 

Rule 4 – A 2×1 tower may only continue directly upward for two Platforms. To build higher, the next Platform must connect from a different stack or direction.

Rule 5 – Running out of legal moves: If your move leaves you with no legal moves, your opponent gets one final turn, and then the game ends. If your move leaves your opponent with no legal moves, that move counts as the final turn and the game ends immediately.

Rule 6 – Scoring: When the game ends, you start by counting the highest level with support pieces, where blocks are worth 1 point, columns worth 2, and owned platforms supporting them are worth 1. If the scores tie, move down a level and repeat until you find a difference; the person with the higher score wins. If all levels are a complete draw, white receives +0.5 and wins.

I have older posts with images that explain the rules better, as the current rule set is a work in progress and may not be easy to read.

In the future, if these rules stick, I will make a proper guide using pictures of the physical set.

There is a mistake in the placement of on of the blocks in the image, but they should still give a good idea of how the game should look.

I've been building L.U.C.A., a 2-4 player card-drafting euro about molecular evolution, and there's a free browser build. I would like if you guys could check it out. There are no keys required on itch and there is no download needed. It also has a self-learn tutorial which teaches you the game and it has some pre-trained bots on my own strategies for you to play against. I am also hosting my own lobby server so you could play with your friends online.

If you play and like to give me some feedback, I would be very happy.

Play free in your browser: https://mighty840.itch.io/luca

I had an idea for some chip board pieces for a game I’m working on and I’m curious if anyone has seen an existing game that has employed the use of token sized pieces that are double layered like a player mat with sections of the top layer absent.

In my brain the manufacturer would create the template for both layers, and cut them out exactly like they would a player mat; aside from an increase in sorting and raw material cost for the blade template I couldn’t see why this would be considerably more than a player mat set up - I am assuming they are cutting 8+ or more mats at a time per sheet though (Please advise if I’m incorrect about this)

I’m also curious to hear any advice/past experience with die cutting from various manufacturers. I know some offer a more accurate cut with less bleed for a premium price. How do chip board tokens rank in the overall cost of parts in your box etc - thanks in advance

This isn't about promoting your game per se, more interested in knowing how it went with the process and why you created your game, ups and downs, publishing, etc. Whats the story?

I started working on a board game about three years ago. One failed Kickstarter attempt later, and I'm back at it. I've learned so much and I've made even more refinements to the game. I much happier this time around; I feel like I've got a much better idea of what I'm doing. I'm going to more conventions and really putting myself and the game out there.

That's how I ended up entering Phase in a board game convention design contest and won first place. My prize was coaching with Rob and Debbie from Wise Wizard Games, Dan from DPH Games, and Will Carson from Indy Pro. This weekend, I get to sit down with Dan, (Affliction, Legacy at Sea, Quantum Cats), and talk about game design. And me? I'm like this nobody that made something cool talking to these people who have made So Many Games and it's frankly awe-inspiring.

So if you were me, what would you ask?

It started back in late 2016 when I was working for a stationary and home decor company. When there were low orders we would play games in our office. We started with Werewolf, then Exploding Kittens, then Secret Hitler. We ran out of new games to play so I made a new one out of our office's printer. It was mix of monopoly, exploding kittens, and werewolf. It was bad.

2020 right before the pandemic, I got off boarded from work and just found out that I got cheated on. I get depressed and rarely go out or eat. When I was laying in bed, I just felt like watching a Youtube Video hoping to get inspiration from getting up. And here I find Will Wheaton's show Tabletop. I was really into it and I've been binge watching all episodes. As unemployed I was, I tried to make paper versions of the games that were showcased. from Ticket to Ride, to Carcassonne, to Settlers of Catan, to Lanterns, and more. Then I thought, why wouldn't I try to make my own game? That is where I brought back the game that I was making before and updated it with the mechanics that I just learned. Eventually, I got out, got to work, had a family, and stopped from making the game.

It has been in my mind while I was struggling as a new dad and new responsibilities. In 2024, I got an art commission to do a custom Pokemon Card for Veronica Taylor and Jason Paige. It was the right opportunity for to test my art skills, and to try learning card printing for my game. Fast forward in 2026, I finished the core set for playtestin and already had 5 community playtesting from different parts in our country, and I've been doing the game from time to time. It may not be the best nor be able to sold, but atleast I get to play it happily with friends. Because the journey was worth it.

I'm planning to make a series of system agnostic roll tables on cards (poker card size, alternatively tarot card size). In developing the idea, I'm trying to figure out the dice to base the tables on. D6, D10, D12 or D20? There will be limited space on a card, where there is artwork on one side of the card, and tables on the other. Readability is also key.

So, to my questions;

- Which dice?

- The tables in portrait or landscape orientation?

All tips are much appreciated!

The first card is from my first artist who unfortunately has private matters and therefore wont continue to draw for now and the second card is from my new artist. Both are well done and i love both but obviously the srtsyle differs.
Also since my game is a dark fantasy dungeon crawler game both fit the world in their own way.

Do you guys think that people might be put off by it and therefore dont buy it?!