Over at Instructables, there’s a really great post by a teacher named Jay Noack, who shows you how to create your own board game. It was created as an entry in Instructables’ Teacher contest. And Noack says that the really hard part about creating a board game is the obvious element … it has to be fun to play. Check out his solution to make your idea the best game it can be.
We’ve all had the experience of playing a game that brought us hours of enjoyment. These days, board games seem to have taken a back seat to video games and the internet. I’m not saying that video games are a bad thing. I certainly played my fair share in high school. I’m suggesting that we take a closer look at board games. This project is the perfect way to do that. – Jay Noack
Sketching out your game is really helpful in laying it out.
Asking key questions like what type of game, it’s concept, how many players, and what kind of board and pieces can go a long way to getting you started.. From there, Noack says that the key is to work out all the possible outcomes. This is accomplished through brainstorming, research, and laying out an if this, then this kind of grid. And he’s got a clever PDF file that helps you do that. Then, once you create the game, test and review the outcome. Then tweak it according to the notes you get from your focus group. There’s a lot more to it than that, and the instructable is pretty comprehensive and takes your through each step from creation to publishing.
So, if you’ve always wanted to create your own board game, this may be the path that gets you to pass Go.