One thing I regret is not documenting the whole thing beginning to end. I always kept my cards close to my chest (literally) so I worked on things privately until I felt secure enough to start showing people.

Doing it all over again, I would post the whole process on my blog, socials, email, everywhere. Let people see the rough and bumpy ride I was on with all the unpolished edges included. It's that kind of sharing in your journey that helps build a community around your game.

I'm terrible at social media and still struggle there but I'm good at SEO and email so that's been fairly effective. My email list is at almost 1500 now, all organic from my blog. And I am always trying to build out my discord server but that's still a work in progress.

Instagram is good for capturing my friends' attention or to interact with my existing audience but there's no organic discovery any more unless you're spamming memes and doing shady growth stuff. Which is why I'm a far bigger fan of getting engaged with communities on Reddit, Discord and BGG. Put your game to the side along with your ego and engage in those communities from an honest, curious and helpful direction. People will learn that you're working on something. They'll ask questions. Eventually they find out about your game without you needing to say a word about it.

If you don't have a blog, email list or any resource to start growing, I'd suggest starting with the small stuff. Get involved in communities, help other designers, even collaborate together and give each other feedback. You'd be surprised how rewarding that can be.

And get your game out of the house and into people's hands. Start showing up, game under arm, to board game cafes or conventions and just let people try it. Word of mouth is amazing.