Creating a game without any programming skills might seem daunting, but there’s a timeless solution: board games. Unlike video games, board games don’t rely on stunning visuals or immersive soundtracks. Instead, they captivate players through clever game design and engaging mechanics.
My journey began in 2016. While I occasionally enjoyed board games like “Survive” and “Escape from Atlantis,” I found them to be quite expensive. I also noticed that many video game genres could be adapted into board games, offering a new realm of fun. After a fruitless search for the perfect board game to play with friends, I decided to create my own. The concept was a dungeon crawler, akin to a roguelike, where players navigate floors, battle enemies, collect cards, and level up like in an RPG.
Encouraged by family, I created a rough prototype using index cards. The initial playtest was chaotic, with rules being invented on the fly. However, this experience taught me valuable lessons about what didn’t work. Determined to improve, I reimagined the core mechanics and tested the game with friends at a local coffee shop. This session transformed the game into a more cohesive and enjoyable experience, shifting its focus from a grindy RPG to a dynamic party game.
The game evolved into a multiplayer roguelike on paper. Players built a dungeon, searching for a key card to unlock the gate card. Initially cooperative, the game turned competitive once the key was found, as players raced to the gate. Each player controlled two unique characters with varying strengths, defenses, speeds, and abilities, ensuring a fresh experience with every playthrough.
As the project progressed, my friends Bonzo and Brad joined the team, contributing artwork and assets. We refined the game mechanics, balanced characters, and added new features. The game, now named “The Keep,” took shape with a distinct art style featuring thick vector outlines. Our professors even allowed us to work on the game during class, integrating it into our coursework.
With a January 1, 2018 release deadline, we devised a marketing strategy. Instead of using platforms like Kickstarter, we opted for direct pre-orders through our shop. To generate excitement, we hosted a gallery show at our art school, showcasing the game’s development process and offering a game night for testing. Weekly Facebook live streams further fueled anticipation.
The launch exceeded our expectations, with enough sales to fund additional copies. “The Keep” has since reached over 15 states and even Canada. Expansion packs have enhanced gameplay, and the game has positively impacted players’ lives, from family bonding to teaching strategy to special needs children. Despite its imperfections, “The Keep” remains my favorite board game, a testament to the power of creativity and community support.
While producing board games is costly, and we didn’t profit from “The Keep,” the experience was invaluable. We have a limited number of copies left, and future reprints depend on publisher interest or demand. If you’re interested, visit feareth.shop to secure a copy.
I encourage anyone with a dream to create a board game, video game, movie, or book to pursue it. Surround yourself with supportive people and dedicate your energy to your passion. Even if it doesn’t become a business, the journey will be a cherished memory. “The Keep” shaped who I am today, and I’m grateful for the friendships and community connections it fostered.
If you have questions about “The Keep” or want more content, leave a comment below. Special thanks to James Kennedy, Ryan Brad, and our Patreon supporters for making this possible. Like and subscribe for more game development adventures. Thank you for joining me on this journey!
Take inspiration from the article and design your own board game. Start by choosing a video game genre you enjoy and brainstorm how it could be adapted into a board game format. Consider the mechanics, objectives, and player interactions. Create a prototype using simple materials like index cards or paper, and prepare to present your concept to the class.
Bring your board game prototype to class for a playtesting session. Pair up with classmates and play each other’s games, providing constructive feedback on what works well and what could be improved. Focus on the clarity of rules, balance of gameplay, and overall enjoyment. Use this feedback to refine your game further.
Form small groups and collaborate on enhancing one of the board game prototypes from the class. Assign roles such as designer, artist, and rule editor. Work together to refine the mechanics, create artwork, and develop a cohesive theme. Present your improved game to the class, highlighting the changes made and the collaborative process.
Develop a marketing strategy for your board game, similar to the approach taken for “The Keep.” Consider how you would generate interest and excitement for your game. Create a plan that includes social media campaigns, live events, and potential partnerships. Present your strategy to the class, explaining how it aligns with your game’s target audience.
Write a reflective essay on your experience of creating a board game. Discuss the challenges you faced, the skills you developed, and the lessons you learned. Reflect on how the process of game development has influenced your understanding of creativity and collaboration. Share your thoughts on how this experience might impact your future projects or career aspirations.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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What’s the best way to make a game without programming? By making a board game, of course! Board games are the ultimate form of gaming. They don’t rely on fancy graphics, amazing soundtracks, or compelling stories to keep you engaged; they purely use game design to create a fun and entertaining experience.
But how do you make a board game? Follow along as I share my story about how I successfully published my first board game with the help of friends, family, and, of course, paper. So roll some dice, pick your character, and let’s get started!
To tell the story from the beginning, we need to go back to 2016. I don’t play board games all the time, but I do enjoy them on occasion. I think there’s a lot of fun and strategy behind games like “Survive,” “Escape from Atlantis,” or even classic games like “Herd Your Horses.” However, the number one problem I have with board games is that they’re extremely expensive. I also feel like there are many cool genres in video games that could be translated into board games and could be a ton of fun.
During this time, I was looking for a game to play with my friends, and after searching for months, I kind of gave up on finding the perfect board game for me. So, I thought it would be a fun idea to make my own game. I started brainstorming and came up with a game that was kind of like a dungeon crawler, almost like a roguelike, where you would go through floors, fight enemies, pick up cards, and level up like in an RPG.
I shared the idea with some family, and they recommended that I actually mock up the game. I know this seems like common sense, but it was a bit intimidating because I didn’t really know what went into making a board game. So, I created a little mock-up using some index cards and played it with one of my family members. I remember them being incredibly confused and frustrated because I didn’t know the rules and was literally making them up as I went along. One of the core mechanics I had for this game was that you’d actually build out the dungeon as you explored it. Since I hadn’t figured out how movement worked or how many spaces you could go, let’s just say that the first round of the game was completely broken.
After learning what I didn’t want in my game, I went back to the drawing board and tried to think of a new core mechanic. That weekend, I was meeting up with some friends, and one of them suggested that I bring the game to test it. I thought that was a great idea, so I scrambled to rework the game to make it more playable for the group. When Friday rolled around, three of my friends and I met at a local coffee shop and played the game for a couple of hours. I was surprised to see how this improved mock-up of the game became something fun and playable right before my eyes. By the end of the night, we figured out a lot of interesting mechanics to implement and how to make it more focused as a party game rather than a grindy RPG.
This ended up being the core gameplay that didn’t change much from that point. The players had to build out a dungeon, and within that dungeon, there were two types of cards: a key card and a gate card. The players had to find the key as quickly as possible. Before finding the key, all players were friendly and could collect items by landing on treasure spaces. However, after the key was found, all players turned on each other, and the goal became to be the first person to reach the gate tile with the key. Everyone played as a unique character, and not just one but two. These characters varied in strength, defense, speed, and abilities, and that, paired with the random generation of the dungeon, made the game feel different every time. It really felt like a multiplayer roguelike but on paper.
As summer rolled by, I was working on another project at the time, so the idea of the board game sat on the shelf for a couple of months. It wasn’t until the fall semester that year that I started to work on the game again. My friends, Bonzo and Brad, would watch me work on the game during class, and before I knew it, they were part of the team, helping create artwork, assets, and sketches. Eventually, after making some amazing character concepts for the game, Bonzo moved on to work on the other project, but I was still unsure what I wanted to do with the game. If it weren’t for Brad’s help, I don’t think I would have been able to finish it at all.
At this point, the game was pretty refined. We had experimented with different items, balanced characters, and implemented more features, but the core mechanics remained unchanged. We also came up with a name for the game: “The Keep.” The majority of the work was focused on creating the artwork. I had established a style using thick vector outlines, and Brad picked it up flawlessly. We even convinced some of our professors to let us work on it during school. If it was an animation class, we made animations for promotion for “The Keep,” and in packaging class, we designed the packaging for the game.
But the game wasn’t finished yet, so we decided it was time to set a deadline. The game needed to be released by January 1, 2018. With only a couple of months left, we started brainstorming our marketing plan. Most people who want to publish their games put them on platforms like Kickstarter, but we weren’t sure if we had enough people to successfully launch a Kickstarter campaign. So, we figured we would do our own pre-orders. We created a shop where people could place their orders, and at the end of January, we would buy as many copies as we could and then ship them out. Instead of mailing out copies, we drove to as many places as possible to hand-deliver them to save on shipping costs.
Before we launched, we knew we needed to generate hype, so we decided to have a gallery show at our art school to showcase the process of how we made the game, display some merchandise, and host a game night where people could test the game before it came out. We also did weekly live streams on Facebook to generate excitement, and it was amazing to see how enthusiastic people were about this little board game.
When January 1st came, we were surprised at how quickly we got funded with our first round. We sold enough copies to buy extra and pay for the next batch. I won’t lie; that was one of the craziest years of school, considering it was our senior year, and we should have been more focused on our studies rather than releasing a board game. But it was an absolute blast to see the smiles of satisfaction on people’s faces when playing the game.
Fast forward to the present day: “The Keep” has been sold in over 15 states, and some people have even brought it into Canada. We’ve also created expansion packs that really added to the gameplay, and to be honest, I still feel like there are many expansions we can create to enhance “The Keep.” It was also so cool to see the impact that the game had on other people’s lives. There was a family that played “The Keep” every morning with their kids before starting their day. Another person used “The Keep” to teach strategy and rules to special needs kids. Even one of my friends, who is a huge cynic and typically dislikes everything, said it was the best board game he’s ever played.
Even though it has some flaws and isn’t a perfect game, it remains my favorite board game to this day. I know that may sound strange, but I achieved the dream of making a game that I loved and wanted to play. Not only that, but I made friends along the way and was able to connect with new people in our community. It was just so cool to see the love and support from those around me who wanted to see me thrive and succeed.
The only sad part about this story is that board games are expensive to produce, and we really didn’t make any profit during “The Keep’s” lifetime. It was a lot of work for not a whole lot of reward, which means that when we sell out of our last copies (we only have about 20 or 30 left), we probably won’t be reprinting it anytime soon unless we’re contacted by a publisher or there’s enough interest. So, if you’re interested in getting a copy of “The Keep” for yourself, make sure to check out feareth.shop and get one before they’re gone.
I also want to encourage you: if you have a dream to make a board game, a video game, a movie, or a book, go for it! Surround yourself with people who will inspire and encourage you. In total, it took about two years to create “The Keep,” and then we spent another year to a year and a half working on it and developing it even more. But I just want to encourage you that whatever you want to make, go for it and give it all the energy and effort you have. Even if it doesn’t become a business or your dream job, you’ll always look back at that time in your life and cherish it fondly. I know that I do, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it weren’t for that game.
If you have any questions about “The Keep” or would like to see more related content, please leave a comment down below. Also, a huge shout-out to James Kennedy, Ryan Brad, and the other fantastic Patreon supporters for helping me make videos like this. You guys are amazing, and I appreciate everything you do. If you’d like to see more videos like this, make sure to like and subscribe. Thank you so much for watching, and I’ll catch you next time for another game development adventure!
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This version maintains the essence of the original transcript while removing any informal language and ensuring clarity.
Game Design – The process of creating the content and rules of a game, including its structure, gameplay, and user experience. – In our university course, we explored game design by developing a new digital board game from scratch.
Board Games – Games that involve counters or pieces moved or placed on a pre-marked surface according to a set of rules. – The game design class required us to create a board game that could be played by four players within an hour.
Roguelike – A subgenre of role-playing video games characterized by dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, and permanent death of the player character. – For our final project, we designed a roguelike game that challenged players with increasingly difficult levels.
Prototype – An early sample or model of a game used to test concepts and gameplay mechanics. – We built a prototype of our game using simple materials to test the mechanics before developing the digital version.
Mechanics – The rules and systems that govern the interactions and gameplay within a game. – Understanding the core mechanics of our game was crucial to ensure it was both challenging and enjoyable.
Multiplayer – A game mode that allows more than one person to play in the same game environment simultaneously. – Our game design project focused on creating a multiplayer experience that encouraged teamwork and strategy.
Characters – The personas or entities that players control or interact with in a game. – Designing unique characters with distinct abilities was a key part of our game development process.
Artwork – The visual elements of a game, including character design, environments, and user interface. – The artwork for our game was inspired by classic fantasy themes, giving it a unique and immersive feel.
Creativity – The use of imagination or original ideas to create something, particularly in the context of game design. – Creativity was essential in developing innovative game mechanics that set our project apart from others.
Collaboration – The action of working with others to create or produce something, especially in a team setting. – Successful collaboration among team members was vital to complete our game design project on time.
