Welcome To Game Design - Introduction to Board Game Design

Explore the core components of tabletop games, from boxes and rule books to miniatures, dice, tokens, and bags, and learn how design choices influence playability and immersion.

Compare how cards and dice feel to players, showing that the math is the same but the sensation of control and anticipation differs, guiding playtesting to shape the game experience.

Explore tabletop game aesthetics from rustic and old school materials to futuristic components, and learn how box design and visuals convey theme, story, and target audience.

Explore board game genres, from fillers and gateway titles to family, party, and dexterity games, plus strategy, gambling, and bluffing mechanics. See how these genres target players and shape play.

Design clear tabletop game tutorials using icons, images, and examples to teach setup, goals, and gameplay steps, with rulebooks that explain scoring and exceptions.

Explore tabletop game moments: from setup and a story-driven introduction to component placement, rule explanations, and the main gameplay, with real-time or turn-based play and meaningful player interaction.

Analyze how tabletop mechanics define player actions, interactions, and outcomes via rules, randomness, and equipment, and how luck and choices shape game feel and complexity.

Use paint, an image editor, to create quick prototypes that transmit board game ideas like a tower defense with aliens and paths. Save and organize these prototypes in Google Drive.

prototype and play online with friends using Google Slides and Google Drive, collaborating in real time to create a simple board game prototype with dice, rules, and editable components.

Discover how to source icons for your board game with Flaticon, including free assets, licensing and credits, premium subscriptions, and customize colors and styles for static icons.

Explore how to use Canva to design game cards and assets with templates, import your own images, customize layouts, and export files for print and play board games.

Discover how to source and license game assets for your board game, from freelancers and royalty-free options to creative commons licenses (CC0, attribution, share alike), with guidance on attribution.

Explore creating physical components for board games using 3d printing, cardboard, and miniatures; prototype ideas with reusable components, stickers, and a personal notebook to validate balance and creativity.

Learn to use the game design document (gdd) and game design canvas to plan, version, and manage a game project, with templates covering scope, team, audience, platform, gameplay, and assets.

Start your board game by choosing story and theme or a main mechanic, then draft a simple game design document or canvas, test, balance, and iterate for meaningful choices.

Explore four levels of playtesting, from solo testing to inviting others at events to observe gameplay, gather feedback, fix bugs, and refine the game and its tutorials before launch.

Define your game's scope and constraints to avoid endless additions, start with small, fun rules, and use expansions or alternate modes to extend play.

Learn to raise funds through crowdfunding by selecting the right platform for your audience (Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Patreon) and run a high quality, transparent campaign with clear funding goals and rewards.

Understand publishing and distribution costs for board games, including production, shipping, taxes, and distributor cuts, and compare publisher vs direct-to-store paths to optimize earnings.

Learn core math concepts for game design, including fractions, percentages, randomness, probabilities, and logical operators, with clear examples and visuals to support meaningful choices.

Explore percentages and simple fractions using a six-sided die, convert 1/6, 3/6, and 1/2 to percentages like 16% and 50%, and learn fraction simplification.

Explore how multiple events shape dice probabilities, from independent rolls to at least one six in two tries, and the odds of same numbers on two dice.

Learn to compute the chance of exactly two black faces in three coin launches using binomial distribution, diagrams, and factorials, plus alternate methods for replacement scenarios.

Learn how two six-sided dice produce sums with distinct probabilities, including order effects, and how adding more dice changes the possible totals and sample space.

Balance a game by shaping probability and frequency to suit your design, recognizing that intentional imbalance can make easy games feel accessible, using dice and cards to illustrate.

Celebrate completing the course and invite questions, offer help, and look forward to seeing the games you're creating; see you in the next course.