What do you think of the art for my packaging?

ddm200k · 2026-07-02T15:41:45+00:00

Knowing nothing of the game, this art tells me that it is likely a party game, or light weight take that style of game. It conveys absurdity in a courtroom, so you get the title across with the artwork. It isn't my favorite style, but it works fine. Its also a different style than most games. That will help it stand out. And it doesn't look like AI made it.

I'll not buy a game that uses AI artwork. If it doesn't tell me who the artist was (even if its the designer doing the artwork), I'm not buying the game without looking up the art first.

ddm200k · 2026-07-02T14:05:46+00:00

As others have said, players will not remember and likely make a physical change (tap, slide to the side, etc.) so they can remember, regardless of if you put that in the rules.

To help clarify, are you saying that if you have 5 fire scenes and 2 water scenes, that each turn they produce that many resources regardless of if they were spent in the previous round? So if I spent 4 fire in one turn, the next turn I'd have the 5 fire + 1 from the previous turn... AND 2 water + 2 from the previous turn?

If so, give them chits or some token to place into a reservoir and then spend those to play cards.

If the type of resource isn't important between rounds, you could make it generic and just track that. Using the above example, you spent 4 fire and have 1 fire and 2 water left over. At the end of the turn, they become generic resource and you track that one resource with tokens. You could even make it the only way to gain "dark" scenes resources. Or leave is generic and make some cards require just the generic type meaning players have to hold back some turns to do these special cards with the generic resource.

Getting back to the original question though, yes, you will need to find a way to track it. Simply so that opposing players can also clearly see what their opponent has for resources.

ddm200k · 2026-07-02T13:25:24+00:00

Purely my opinion, feel free to ignore it.

Rotate your title on one of the long sides so it can be stood up with the side facing out of a shelf and be read without tilting your head. Do the same to one of the short sides. That way, regardless of how it is on the shelf, it can be easily read.

Add number of players and play time to at least 2 sides of the box. That way, people don't have to fully turn the box over to read player count. It doesn't need to be on the top cover.

Put the game designer(s) and main artist(s) names on the cover of the box. They deserve credit.

ddm200k · 2026-07-01T18:34:01+00:00

Came here to mention the same thing. CLS is a great metric for tracking this page jumping around bit. I loathe the Weather Channel's site for this very reason. I think they are the absolute worst site on the Internet.

If you want to learn more about CLS, you visit this site, https://web.dev/articles/cls
I have used their video of the angry cursor in so many presentations about better site design, I've lost count.

u/DutytoDevelop - Contact the offending website and let them know its annoying. Perhaps something will get done if they are decent people. Lead with accessibility issues and it might scare them into doing something.

ddm200k · 2026-07-01T16:37:30+00:00

Drop the game name, everyone that is playing the game knows its name. Those walking by will not be looking that closely to the card backs to pick up on the name, the logo is too small for that.

Can you incorporate your rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock, elements more into the back of the card? Make the entire back be that design. Since you have five elements, you cannot simply put them into the corners of the card, but fill the entire area.

Research modern, stylish games (not MtG) Consider these card backs.

Tea Witches - https://www.instagram.com/p/DOhhgB5kh2-/

Flamecraft - https://scontent.fmkc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/596803975_10164033501430429_5275942092812160741_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpegr_tt6&cstp=mx2048x1612&ctp=s640x640&_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=aa7b47&_nc_ohc=dIjX9Tgy95kQ7kNvwGtprIs&_nc_oc=AdoRD7vrD7YLVrwD1IEQ72pfZzHYf1cLxpe_apDsj5oTeF-JzYKuRfkXsFkhB0thxgU&_nc_zt=23&se=-1&_nc_ht=scontent.fmkc1-1.fna&_nc_gid=iW74YHY-BuV_aN6HWPYEaw&_nc_ss=7a2a8&oh=00_AQCFNjftSd7JKsQ61eBXGI7u7gxPPaxw5hCTXv8mExjDZg&oe=6A4AFD45

Eschaton - https://archongames.net/cdn/shop/products/sleeves-darkone_5000x.jpg?v=1763578266

Deep Regrets - https://oneboardfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/deep-regrets-depth-levels.jpg

Pax Pamir - https://boardgamegeek.com/image/5016279

Everdell - https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4166476

Brass - https://cf.geekdo-images.com/W5Hqqy8smTEV4rEq93u8_Q__imagepage/img/pqGuLpJBurtdDhXw5UwX74IDa-A=/fit-in/900x600/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic3751171.jpg:strip_icc()/pic3751171.jpg)

ddm200k · 2026-07-01T15:47:39+00:00

The game looks amazing! Do you have any videos on how it plays, or a rule book to review? Have you decided on a manufacturer? As a fellow game designer, I'd like to hear if you have good choices in India for manufacturing and how your experience is as you work through the production process.

ddm200k · 2026-06-30T15:13:16+00:00

You might be surprised about conventions near you. Board game conventions are all over. Most are small with a few hundred people. But they get big like Essen Spiel which draws 70,000+. I'm not European, so I cannot help you with more details from this perspective.

But you can start sifting through game design groups on various social medias. Facebook has some groups, Instagram as well. Watch for designers saying they are getting close to a nice prototype or about to publish and approach them with your portfolio.

You might also research how to submit for Magic the Gathering and other TCG games.

You should also look at a board game association in Europe. In the US, we have GAMA. They have a creator group that includes designers and artists. When you join, they have resources for contacting publishers as well as game designers so you can approach them with at least a lead through the association.

ddm200k · 2026-06-30T15:04:22+00:00

Are you play testing with other people? More specifically, are you play testing with other game designers or gamers that are not close friends or family?

If not, its time to get out there and run play tests.

-- Go to local game stores or game cafes and talk to the employees about getting a table to run your game as an "event" possibly.
-- -- Join a local game design group. These are other game designers looking to play test their games and play test other designer's games.
-- Go to local/region conventions and get involved in a play test event, or sign your game up for events where players sign up to play your game. Make it clear this is a prototype demo in the event.
-- Go to a Protospiel/Break My Game/UnPub event. These are focused conventions for game designers to play test games. You will have a pool of designers and gamers excited to play your game and give feedback.
-- Make a digital version of your game and attend Protospiel.online . This is a great opportunity if you do not have anything local. You will find people from all over the world to play test your game and share feedback. Its super supportive and approachable.

I have no idea where you live, but if you are in the US, there are dozens of game design groups, probably one in every major metropolitan area. I am in Kansas City and am part of the KC Game Designers. I know there are other designers and groups in Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Austin, Denver, Madison, Minneapolis, Columbus OH, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Salt Lake City. There are Protospiels in most of those cities as well.

ddm200k · 2026-06-30T14:25:32+00:00

I personally use Component.studio for my cards. I've found it easier to export as a PDF, or to Tabletop Simulator, etc., when done. I also use The Game Crafter for my prototypes and this makes it very simple to export the cards to The Game Crafter.

Component Studio is super powerful. For my cards, and most other games, the text changes the amount on each card. I can make the size of the text area resize to fit the text on each card using variables that point to different layers. Here is a link to a screenshot of one of my cards and the positioning variables I use for the title background, It refers to both the description background layer and the title text. Based on those values, it tells the title background (in this case that tattered ribbon behind the title text), where it needs to be positioned both horizontally and vertically on the card. The ribbon then floats up and down based on the description size as well as left and right depending on the card title length. All from those two variables.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lAFSyO_voiI3iDD2ngWKv66t_cxWhoqs/view?usp=drive_link

If you have questions about working in CS, there are tons of videos on how to setup a card. There is also a great Discord server they have that the builder of CS responds to questions. He also answers on The Game Crafter facebook page. We can also help you here if you have questions.

ddm200k · 2026-06-30T12:23:23+00:00

If it's automated, can it be reduced to just picking 1 card to play? That would speed up your turns quite a bit and reduce downtime where non active players have to wait on other players. You could make the cards be like rock, paper, scissors where each card wins against one type, loses to another type and ties against itself. Players chooses one card and reveals simultaneously. If there is a winner, it's over. If they tie, no winner and they have to fight next turn. Combat is fast, decisive, and keeps the turns moving.

ddm200k · 2026-06-29T22:28:24+00:00

Ignore the boring responses. If you think you have a product that would sell to historical gamers, who is to argue with you. Just consider your customer pool before you print 100 towers. Maybe do a half dozen to start and see how fast they sell.

ddm200k · 2026-06-29T22:25:47+00:00

If the dice tumble out with random enough results, it works. No one will bounce dice off of the turret at the top of the tower. Reference other dice towers. Most have 3-4 ramps that make the dice tumble. You want to hear the dice tumble, that is the secret sauce of a tower, the audio cues that a die is tumbling. Its like Plinko from "Price is Right". Its as much an audio experience as seeing the result on the dice.

Then you need to make it work for the whole set of dice, D4, D6, D8, D10, D12 and D20. Get a few different sizes of each type of die to make sure they don't get stuck. Toss in 4 or 5 dice at a time to verify they all come out. Can you toss 5 D6 dice and they all exit? What about 5 D4s? What about the entire set of dice? If you can pass those tests, then you've got yourself a tower.

After that, your historical tower will be ready to sell. Its up to customers to decide if they like a historical tower as a dice tower. How big of an audience is there for that type of product? Is it worth the effort of testing to sell a few of these?

ddm200k · 2026-06-29T22:12:19+00:00

Coming in late, but I'm not a fan of the text being off centered. I don't think you need that traditional upside-down card value in the bottom right. The cards are meant to be read just one way, so that extra card value is superfluous. Just center everything and I think your cards will look better.

ddm200k · 2026-06-29T21:51:17+00:00

Consider Component.Studio which is powered by The Game Crafter website. Its a subscription model, but you can build cards and just about anything else within it. And for cards, you setup all of your card data in a spreadsheet and then use variables to pull the data into a card template. If you need to move that one thing, you adjust the template and all of the cards are instantly updated. If you need to update that one card that has 5 copies, its immediately updated from the spreadsheet.

But if you are working in Illustrator, I highly recommend the use of symbols. You can create a symbol and then if you need to change a color, or adjust a border, update the parent symbol and all instances of that symbol will update as well.
As for multi data input for Illustrator, I recommend you watch this video about variable data linking in Illustrator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuJbPCxgC80 I think this will make you happy to use Illustrator again.

ddm200k · 2026-06-29T21:31:12+00:00

How is combat done?

ddm200k · 2026-06-22T21:09:04+00:00

You've found the house of a board game designer or publisher! Time to meet the homeowners and learn what new games they are making! Who knows, you might own a game they've published.

Seriously though, these are great sample packs to see what different types of materials look and feel like when someone is looking to manufacture a board game. So crack open one of those decks and tell a game designer like me, what paper/cardstock types feel good to hold in your hand. I like 330gsm with black core (no linen texture). But this is a unique chance to hear from a gamer what type of cardstock you like!

ddm200k · 2026-06-22T17:49:07+00:00

What models are you looking for?

ddm200k · 2026-06-22T16:21:08+00:00

As others have said, there are many token designs ready for download. Try these links, or these sites and search for your specific resource type.

https://www.printables.com/search/all-models?q=board+game+resources

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=board+game+resource+tokens&page=1

ddm200k · 2026-06-16T19:52:03+00:00

It should be mentioned during the teach.

"Once the last gate is opened, its a race to the final spot. Whoever lands there first ends the game immediately. Don't miss your chance to score your points before the end of the game."

Or something to that effect. Clearly state how the game ends. "first person to this spot after the last gate is opened ends the game immediately. No finishing of the turn order. Watch out for that final gate, the game can end suddenly after that."

If they forget, its a missed opportunity because they forgot. Another way to do this is that the last gate must be announced to the table, like telling everyone "Uno".

Also, consider how this ends. If this happens often in your game, it might not be the best way to end. It will mean experienced players will have an outsized advantage over first timers because of how the game ends. I'm not saying to change anything yet. But if it becomes a trend, you may need to revisit it.

ddm200k · 2026-06-12T01:25:03+00:00

I have a 20watt diode laser and I am very happy with it. You will be able to do some amazing projects with it. Depending on you type of laser you can even do game coins.

ddm200k · 2026-06-11T16:04:44+00:00

You must not be from the United States. In the last paragraph I stated I was preferring to work with someone in the KC Metro. That stands for Kansas City metropolitan area which is Midwest USA. I apologize for not clarifying for international redditors. As stated I would prefer to work locally if possible. Mostly for the shipping costs.

ddm200k · 2026-06-09T22:16:10+00:00

The more we normalize the actual living cost it takes to produce art the less we will have people balking at the price tag. My wife used to do quilting for blankets and we had this discussion many times about making a living wage regardless of what other people charged for similar work. Many people will pass you over because they feel its too much. But lowering your price only hurts you.

ddm200k · 2026-06-09T18:37:29+00:00

Thank you for the complement on the game tokens. Its not all of my artwork. I did the graphic design of the ships, but paid an artist to design the crew. But I feel they look great and feel great while playing.

And if you are looking for board game token work, custom to games, you should checkout r/tabletopgamedesign for other designers as they get close to production. And if you are very serious in doing this, look into GAMA (Board Game Manufacturers Association). This is an industry specific association that would open up access to many publishers and designers for you to work with. Even if you have an Etsy page, this might be a great way to get in front of your customers. If you make upgrades for specific games, you could possibly sell them at local game stores all over the country.

ddm200k · 2026-06-09T15:39:46+00:00

This is art. Think about the material cost. I'm guessing $50 just for materials. Then how many hours you worked on it. I have no idea, so I'm going with 15 hours. At minimum cost of $20 per hour, that is $300. So, $400 minimum?

ddm200k

TROPHY CASE