My son wants to make board games, and I want to be involved in more social groups. To this end, I would like to join (or start) a group around the theme of making board games. I am still working out the finer details, but the general idea is:
- We read a couple books on the subject, and share our thoughts on them (2-4 weeks, depending on the books)
- Gather to share final thoughts and talk about first ideas
- We plan as many aspects of our individual games as possible; including things like theme and rules (6 weeks, gathering every couple of weeks to show progress)
- We implement as many aspects of our games as possible; including things like art, construction, and print (6 weeks, gathering every couple of weeks to show progress)
- We have 1 (or more) “games nights” where we play each game and give feedback.
Like most folks, I do not have a ton of time to spend on this each week, but you can think of this format more like a 4 month long game jam. Less time just means constrained scope.
Most of these can be virtual. I think finding enough local people to make this fun could be difficult. The games nights could be more challenging to be completely virtual; but still possible.
I’m putting this idea out there for feedback, ideas, and to gauge interest. If you have thoughts you’d like to share, please do. If you would like to sign up for it, please reach out to me.
Edit Some things I forgot to add:
- Folks don't have to start at the same time. The timelines are just to keep folks focussed and scope-conscious.
- We'd have a chat group where we can share thoughts between meetings (opt-in).
- We can ask for help or help others with their projects, bandwidth permitting.
- The group is free, the materials and books you use would be at your expense.
- I'd personally help you to get your idea to market if the general feeling is that it can work. This includes things like website dev, networking, and self-publishing experience. I'm not some kind of big shot, but I know a few things and want to see folks succeed.
That's cool! You should perhaps reach out to https://www.riscigames.com/, Craig has a ton of experience and there's perhaps ways to combine your efforts. Robert Maclean, https://www.sadev.co.za/, is a big games collector, he might just be interested to join as well.