Tuesday 19 February 2013

The designer's resources list



              For months now I have been researching information on board game design, prototyping, publishing and self-publishing. My research has proven to be quite fruitful and I managed to gather well over a hundred interesting links on those subjects.

                I would love to keep growing and updating this list, so if you find more please share it here. Also please tell me know if a link goes dead so I can either remove it of find an updated link. If you have a business or a website that would be relevant to this list, don’t hesitate to let me know so I can review it and potentially add it. Suggestions, thoughts and comments are also welcomed. 

                Granted, some links are a bit obvious (mostly in the “Publishers” and “Social networking” categories). But in the interest of being thorough, I decided to include them. 


- Artists for hire
o Conseptart.org http://conceptart.org/forums/forum.php
o Elance Freelance https://www.elance.com/
o Map Designers http://www.cartographersguild.com/mapmaking-requests/2569-re...

- Art and Graphic design
o Adobe TV http://tv.adobe.com/
o Dafont http://www.dafont.com/
o Font Squirrel http://www.fontsquirrel.com/
o Free Fonts http://www.1001freefonts.com/
o Game-Icons http://game-icons.net/
o Graphic River http://graphicriver.net/
o Hex Graph Generator http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/hexagonal/
o InDesign video podcasts http://www.theindesigner.com/blog/episode-53%E2%80%A6sort-of
o Lost Type http://losttype.com/
o NanDeck http://www.nand.it/nandeck/
o Open Game Art http://opengameart.org/
o Pixel Art tutorials http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/pixel-art-tutorials/
o Pixel Joint http://www.pixeljoint.com/default.asp
o Psd tuts+ Photoshop Basix: Video tutorial http://psd.tutsplus.com/sessions/photoshop-basix/
o Public Domain Clip Art http://www.pdclipart.org/
o Public Domain Images http://www.public-domain-image.com/
o Public domain Pictures http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/
o The League of Moveable Type http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
o The Noun Project http://thenounproject.com/
o Vector Stock http://www.vectorstock.com/

- Books about game design and game design related subjects
o Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games(Stewart Woods)
o Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihaly)
o Game Design (Lewis Pulsipher)
o Hobby Games - The 100 best (James Lowder)
o How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish (Lewis Pulsipher)
o Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us better and How They Can Change the World (Jane McGonigal)
o Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (Katie Selen and Eric Zimmerman)
o The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses (Jesse Schell)
o Theory of Fun for Game Design (Raph Koster)

- Community sites (location specific)
o Board Game Designers Guild of Utah http://www.bgdg.info/index.php
o Boardgames Meetup Group http://boardgames.meetup.com/
o Creaj2s www.creaj2s.com
o Dragons Nocturnes / Québec http://www.dragonsnocturnes.org/
o Game Artisans of Canada/ Canada http://www.gameartisans.ca/
o Toronto Area Boardgame Designers https://www.facebook.com/groups/tabdmembers/

- Crowdfunding
o Crowdfunder http://www.crowdfunder.com/
o Fundable http://www.fundable.com/
o Indiegogo http://www.indiegogo.com/
o Kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com/
o Rockethub http://www.rockethub.com/

- Custom wooden parts
o Benny’s Woodworks http://www.bennyswoodworks.com/
o Casey's Wood Products http://www.caseyswood.com/
o Maine Wood Concepts http://www.mainewoodconcepts.com/index.php
o Woodworks http://www.craftparts.com/

- Design Tips
o 10,000 Feet to Publish a Board Game http://www.jamesmathe.com/10000-feet-to-publishing-a-board-g...
o Board Game Designer Forum http://www.bgdf.com/
o Cardboard Edison http://cardboardedison.tumblr.com/
o Circular tokens http://www.mainewoodconcepts.com/index.php
o Cards http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/490643/making-cards-youll-ne...
o Donald X. Vaccarino: Boardgame Design http://dominionstrategy.com/2012/12/20/interview-with-donald...
o From inspiration to publication http://inspirationtopublication.wordpress.com/the-steps-for-...
o Publish Games, The tasty Minstrel Way http://boardgamegeek.com/blog/741/how-to-publish-games-the-t...

- Dice Odds
o Any Dice http://anydice.com/
o Die roll Stats http://rumkin.com/reference/dnd/diestats.php
o Smallroller http://www.fnordistan.com/smallroller.html
o Throwing dice theory http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/probability/calcdice.htm

- Distributers and Fulfillment
o ACD Distribution http://www.acdd.com/
o Alliance game distribution http://www.alliance-games.com/Home/11/1/79/1156
o Brave new world http://www.bravenewworld.biz/website/
o Esduvium Games http://www.esdeviumgames.com/
o Global Games https://www.globalgamesdistribution.com/
o GTS Distribution http://www.gtsdistribution.com/
o Impressions http://www.impressionsadv.net/index.php
o Lion Rempant Imports http://lionrampantimports.com/
o Publisher Services http://www.pubservinc.com/PS/welcome

- Game accessories
o Bare Game boards http://www.barebooks.com/gameboards.htm
o Boards and Bits http://www.boardsandbits.com/
o Boxes Paper Mart http://www.papermart.com/index/index_box.htm
o Chessex http://www.chessex.com/
o Dice Koplow Games http://www.koplowgames.com/
o FRP Games http://www.frpgames.com/index.php
o Gameparts http://www.gameparts.net/
o GameScience Dice http://www.gamescience.com/home
o Historic Games http://www.historicgames.com/RPdice.html
o Indented Blank Dice http://indentedblankdice.com/
o Kardwell http://www.kardwell.com/index.htm
o Laser engraved dice http://www.dice.co.uk/
o Litko http://www.litko.net/
o MeepleSource http://www.meeplesource.com/index.php
o Miniature Figurines http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Home.aspx
o MrChips http://www.mrchips.net/
o Paper Miniatures One Monk http://www.ready-made.com/
o Perforated Paper http://www.perforatedpaper.com/
o Plain Cards http://www.plaincards.com/
o Plastics for games http://www.plasticsforgames.co.uk/
o Plastic trays http://www.ready-made.com/
o Printer Studio http://www.printerstudio.com/
o Rolco Games http://www.rolcogames.com/pages/home/1
o Spielmaterial http://www.spielematerial.de/en/

- Important events
o BGG Con http://boardgamegeek.com/bggcon
o Essen Spiel http://www.internationalespieltage.de/e000.php4
o FallCon http://www.fallcon.com/
o Gama Trade Show http://gamatradeshow.com/
o Gen Con http://www.gencon.com/
o Journées ludiques de Québec http://journeesludiques.qc.ca/
o Origins Game Fair http://www.originsgamefair.com/
o Protospiel http://www.protospiel.org/index.html
o Unpub http://unpub.net/

- Manufacturing
o 3D Printing http://www.shapeways.com/
o Alibaba http://www.alibaba.com/
o Brimar Packaging http://www.brimarpackaging.com/
o Cartamundi http://www.cartamundiusa.com/
o Custom Playing Cards http://customizedplayingcards.com/
o Customized Playing Cards http://playingcardsrus.com/index.php
o Game Manufacturers Association http://www.gama.org/
o Grand Prix International http://www.grandprixintl.com/
o Ludo Fact http://www.ludofact.de/cms/front_content.php
o Package Right corp. http://packageright.com/index.html
o Panda http://pandagm.com/

- Podcasts and game news
o All us geeks http://www.allusgeeks.com/
o Ludology http://ludology.libsyn.com/
o On Board Games http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/
o Purple Pawn http://www.purplepawn.com/
o Tabletop Gaming News http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/
o The D6 Generation http://www.thed6generation.com/

- Print and Play
o Cheapass Games http://www.cheapass.com/
o DriveThruRPG http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php
o WargameVault http://www.wargamevault.com/

- Print-on-demand and Prototyping
o Arts Cow http://www.artscow.com/
o Blue Panther LLC http://www.bluepantherllc.com/index.htm
o Guild of Blades http://www.gobretail.com/pod.php
o Printer’s Studio http://www.printerstudio.com/
o Print & Play Productions http://printplaygames.com/
o Superior POD http://www.superiorpod.com/category#.USP1o6XFV8E
o The Game Crafter https://www.thegamecrafter.com/

- Publishers
o AEG http://www.alderac.com/
o Ape Games http://www.apegames.com/index.html
o Asmodee http://us.asmodee.com/index.php
o Bombyx http://www.studiobombyx.com/accueil_eng.html
o Colombia Games http://columbiagames.com/index.html
o Cranio Creations http://www.craniocreations.com/en/index.php
o Days Of Wonder http://www.daysofwonder.com/en/index/
o Family Games inc. http://www.familygamesamerica.com/mainsite/consumers/
o Filosofia http://www.filosofiagames.com/
o Fox Mind http://www.foxmind.com/
o Game salute http://gamesalute.com/
o Game Workshop http://www.games-workshop.com/gws//home.jsp?_requestid=34955...;_requestid=623106
o Indie Board Games http://www.indieboardsandcards.com/home.php
o Jeux Alary Games http://www.jeuxalary.com/en/
o Le Scorpion Masqué http://www.scorpionmasque.com/en/home-page
o Matagot http://www.matagot.com/
o Mayfair Games http://mayfairgames.com/
o Minion Games http://www.miniongames.com/
o Outset http://www.outsetmedia.com/
o Rio Grande Games http://riograndegames.com/
o Tasty Minstrel http://playtmg.com/
o Valley Games http://valleygames.ca/
o Victory Point Games http://victorypointgames.com/index.php
o Z-Man http://www.zmangames.com/

- Self-Publishers
o Brain Candy http://www.braincandy-games.com/index.htm
o Conquistador Games http://www.cqgames.com/
o Giant Goblin Games http://www.giantgoblingames.com/home/
o Gray Gnome Games http://greygnome.com/news/
o Level 99 Games http://www.lvl99games.com/?cat=1
o Mercury Games http://www.mercurygames.com/
o Sands Of Time http://www.sandsoftimegames.com/

- Social networking
o Blogger www.blogger.com
o Creative Switch http://www.creative-switch.com/
o Facebook http://www.facebook.com/
o LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/
o Twitter https://twitter.com/

    Certain categories are a little bare and I would love your help with adding content. Here are the categories I would particularly like help with:

-         - Community sites: they need to be specific to a certain location. I am looking for web sites that would lead to face to face interaction (whether it is for gaming groups, designer groups or play testing groups) or promote some kind of local networking.
-        - Design tips: I’m looking for posts or blogs explaining in detail a certain aspect of board game designing, prototyping, publishing or self-publishing.
- Important events: I’m looking for conventions and trade shows
-        -   Podcasts and game news: This one is self-explanatory
-        -   Publishers: I’m sure I omitted a lot of them. I’m looking for publishing companies that don’t exclusively publish their own designs and that are preferably open to submissions. 

If you are the owner or administrator of one of these websites and feel like it hasn’t been placed in the right category or if you would like me to take it out of the list, please send me a private message and I will fix the situation.

 Thank you

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