Hi, everybody
My name is Roman (Nekr0ns), and I am looking for a job in these difficult times.
I draw characters, illustrations, maps, objects - basically everything that is in board games, haha. Except for the Ui and the labels - I'm not very good at them.
So if you are interested in my work, then I will be glad to work with you!
Have a nice day.

What do you guys think of 'Panzoa' as a name for an animal card game? It means 'all animals'.

Back in the 90s, I was obsessed with the video game 'Pharoah' that was created by Sierra and impressions games. It's a classic city builder that was notoriously difficult yet strangely addictive.

Fast forward 30 years, and I've created my own tabletop version that I can play with the wife - she loves it and we play it a few times per week. I won't go into all the mechanics here, but it's essentially a semi cooperative race to build the shared city and progress yourself through the ranks. Similar to the video game it was based on, the tabletop version is highly addictive yet surprisingly difficult to complete before the deck runs out.

Up until this point it's purely been a passion project for myself - the artwork is lifted directly from the original game and it was all printed at staples, with the other bits all coming from the dollar store.

However, my wife and I enjoy the game so much that we really think it should be shared with others, but I'm not sure how feasible it would be to publish. Obviously I don't own the rights to the existing artwork, so publishing would either require a total reskin (which is fine), or some sort of cooperation with whoever owns the original game rights (I think it's Activision these days?)

So my question to the fine folks here, is what path would you guys take in this situation? Is it worth approaching a publisher? Should I reskin and self publish? Should I contact Activision or the original game studio? Or should I just upload all the print files for people to have access for free without selling anything?

I'm not particularly fussed about making profit as I mainly just want to share it with others who would enjoy it as much as we do, and I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to publishing and IP rights, so any suggestions here would be very much appreciated 🙌

P.s, if you played the old pharoah game and have any questions about the tabletop version here feel free to ask!

My editor and I are having a difference of opinion regarding the use of the word lunacy. For context, I made a moon-centric board game, and the action cards are called lunacy cards.

They were called lunatic cards, but my editor said that's an ableist slur, and that lunacy is only slightly less offensive. He likened it to using words like "Spaz" or "Hysteria" and feels very strongly that I should change it.

My opinion is that I'm using the word Lunacy as intended - moon madness - to describe the unique action cards. Merriam-Webster defines it as "intermittent insanity once believed to be related to phases of the moon", which seems incredibly fitting. The cards allow things like taking another turn, scoring more points, removing cards from a board, discarding down to one card, then drawing three.

Side note: I'm part of the queer community - and queer is a word people feel strongly about - either for or against, because it was/is a slur. I feel like lunacy is in the same boat - whether or not its appropriate depends on its usage. I'm not a member of the mentally ill community, so maybe I'm dead wrong here.

I want to use Lunacy because it seems like the best word: easy to say, descriptive, and moon-themed.

While Lunatic was once a word used to dehumanize people, it's fallen out of practice. I'm not using to describe a person, but is "lunacy" still too tainted of a word to use in a board game?

If this isn't the best place to ask this question - I would love your recommendations.

Hi everyone! I made a card creator. It runs on Mac and Windows, and it turns spreadsheets into prototype decks.

If any of you end up buying it, please don’t hesitate to give me feedback! I’ve made apps for other fields that hundreds of people bought, and I remember times when I shipped dozens of updates in just a few days. What I mean is, I really love fixing problems for the people who buy my apps and releasing updates for them as much as I can. Is there a feature you’d like to see? DM me right away and I’ll see if I can build it.

I’d also like to answer a few questions I expect to come up. You’ll probably ask, “Why should we pick this one?” I actually have more than one answer to that:

A more modern interface. A more advanced design editor, so you can design almost any card. You don’t have to pay extra for programs like Photoshop or Canva. You can design every card you want right in Dekkr.

And here’s the best part: you’re not tied to any subscription. No monthly or yearly plan, no account to create. You buy it once, you get every update free for life, and it’s completely yours.

I don’t put subscriptions on any of my apps unless I absolutely have to, because I’m really tired of subscriptions myself. I don’t want to subscribe to anything anymore, not even for $1 :) So I could never set one up for my own app. Like I said, there’s just one price. There aren’t even separate tiers. Everything’s straightforward.

If you watch a bit of the site and the tutorial videos, you’ll get a good idea of the features. Like I said, your feedback really matters. If you actually test it and give me good ideas, I can make it truly polished in less than a month.

As much as I’m just sharing my excitement, I guess this post counts as an ad. I hope I’m not bothering anyone. I’m leaving a video below. For more details, head to https://dekkr.app/

Bye for now!

Site: https://dekkr.app/

https://reddit.com/link/1xggk6s/video/eosgxgmy5xxh1/player

Found this very useful template, I just added my design to the faces and printed them.
They are super useful for testing dice balancing, you just print multiple of each face and you can hot swap them even mid-playtest session.

Also, any advice on 2 symbols I could use for a chance die? It's for a die split with 2 symbols, one appearing 4 times the other one 2, the game use them interchangeably depending on the odds to succeed a specific event requires.
I'm having trouble finding 2 that have no hierarchy between each other and can fit a "street brawl" theme.

For the life of me I cannot remember where I downloaded the template from, if someone has it please comment with a link.

Hi everyone!

I'm working on an independent trading card game called Echoes of the Fold, and I've recently completed the first fully illustrated card.

I'd like to share a couple of design ideas I've been exploring and get some feedback from other designers.

The first is a unit lifecycle built around changing abilities.

Units progress through:

Active → Fading → Echo → Fold

Active and Fading are two different gameplay states, each with its own set of abilities.

When a unit transitions to Fading, it loses its Active text and starts using its Fading text. Echo is then a transient resolution state, where the unit performs its final ability before leaving for the Fold.

Units normally advance during the Fade Phase, but combat and certain effects can cause them to skip intermediate states.

The design goal is to make a unit's evolution part of the strategy, rather than treating its removal as a purely negative event.

The second idea is a resource system called Momentum.

Players gain Momentum through normal gameplay, but they're also allowed to spend more than they currently have, entering negative Momentum (Debt).

This creates an interesting tension between immediate tactical advantages and long-term resource management.

A player loses immediately upon reaching -7 Momentum, so taking on Debt is a meaningful risk.

There are also two other systems interacting with these mechanics:

• Three-lane combat, where players distribute units and compare total Power to determine damage and Collapse.
• Six Doctrines, where deck composition determines your Dominant Doctrine, its restrictions, and which additional abilities you can unlock through other Doctrine tags.

One challenge I'm particularly interested in is how these systems interact without overwhelming the player.

For example, the card I'm sharing, Keeper of the Library, has three different abilities corresponding to its Active, Fading, and Echo stages.

I'd love to get feedback on two questions:

1. Does having different ability sets for Active and Fading units create interesting decisions, or would you expect it to increase cognitive load too much?
2. How would you approach balancing a resource system where players can deliberately go into Debt?

I've also started a small Discord community where I'm discussing the rules, sharing new cards, and organising playtesting.

If anyone enjoys analysing game systems or testing early prototypes, I'd be happy to have you involved.

Discord: [https://discord.gg/5AbtwqTGB\]

Thanks for reading! I'm particularly interested in constructive criticism, so please don't hesitate to point out potential problems.

Hello everyone, I wanted to ask about what you consider the most relevant and interesting game design theory that currently exists?

I also want to know what you would expect a game design master and doctorate level education to focus on and care about in terms of topics, areas of study etc. In other words what would you consider the next frontier in game design as a field of study?

(I currently work as an educator at a game design department, and the conversation came up and sparked intense debate between various different interests. My grounding is that this is best answered by practitioners and people who care deeply about the field outside of academia)

Excited with this key art I just did up tonight!

Hello, tabletop enthusiasts!

I made a post a couple of months ago looking for work as an illustrator and graphic designer in my favorite hobby, and the response was amazing! Many people reached out to connect, and one of those connections actually led to a project.

I got lucky and had the chance to work with the kind people at Jurf Games on their debut game, First Is Cursed. I had a ton of fun creating the artwork for their card game, and now we're in the final steps of getting everything print-ready. I can't share any specific artwork from the game just yet, but you can check them out on social media and at Jurfgames.com.

Now that this project is nearing its end, I want to put myself out there again and look for the next adventure! :)

I'm a graphic designer and illustrator with years of experience in graphic design and more recent experience in tabletop illustration. My style leans towards bold, graphical visuals, which I believe work really well for games where information needs to be easily digestible.

If anybody wants to collaborate on a game, just shoot me a message!

I found an online retailer I never gave inventory to selling my game for less than the wholesale price. My game just hit shelves at small stores this month so nobody would be unloading stock at a loss yet.

Is there a standard response to seeing shady retailers selling your game? I’m guessing it must be counterfeit or some other illegitimate source.

It's been just over one week since this idea came to me. Prototyping, play testing, designing and refining have gotten me much progress.

So, here we are.

We have Superheroes. They now have Allies, Tech, and Super Powers.

Villains now have Minions.

The Location, Crisis, and Agenda combination is being refined.

The adventure continues.

Card drafts (PDF print-out):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HOnVgoiYULsVOQXy6jaWcwr41luY-RQ6/view?usp=sharing

Data tracking:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nAHy2eoBKS4UjPDi_H32TCDwwTFaRd2IoLfAILbYhv8/edit?usp=sharing

The rules:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F1HtIs9ccFc2KlN2YjVfY_VwFvhgHZoRo7AZYdQQ0R8/edit?usp=sharing

Design records:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lXSkoRO4Fkn_bQJij3TRYemSzwKcUCLWQOcce_8IalU/edit?usp=sharing

Diamond Ascent is a 6v6 card collecting team builder baseball game. Where the roll of a 20 sided die is your result. Fast paced 3 inning games to complete objectives with a constant flow of rewards and packs. Randomly generated, rarity based cards are unique to your team and no card is made twice. Take on the AI or invite a friend, play however you want and get the same rewards! Season 0 Pre-Season is live now, many more updates will be in the future so look out for that and see you guys on the diamond! I'm a solo developer making this passion project so I appreciate anyone that checks it out, thank you!

https://diamondascent.online/home

Hi everyone, there’s a new version of nanDECK with bug fixes and the following new features:

- New FRAMETRAIL function
- Added E, T, W, M to COLORCHANGE for edge detection, posterize, twist, and emboss effects
- New RANGEAUTO directive
- New ICONCASE directive
- Added to TRANSFORM directive direction and intensity parameter for brightness
- Added Q flag to HTMLFONT to use multiple outline colors
- Added D flag to ICONS and PATTERN directives to use DPI from image
- Added to GAMEICONS function the parameters for the outline color and steps
- Added flags to MANDALA to use more graphics and different alignments
- New MAPICONS function

Website:

https://nandeck.com/archives/524

BGG guild:

https://boardgamegeek.com/guild/454

Discord server:

https://discord.gg/KTjyDBRYWE

Steam link:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3258490/nanDECK

I've designed a maths card game that I'm proud of. It is designed for schools and has been successful at one school through regular plays with 8 hand made prototype.

I'm planning on getting it printed soon. And worked out that a bit under 100 sales would help me break even with printing costs for a first batch. Also, keeping in mind schools will often buy between 6 to 8 decks to use in a classroom. This is something I know happens with other class resources.

From what I've seen in other posts and my own general piece of mind, I want to know there are more interested parties. E.g. other schools, educational stores, homeschooling, gaming stores...

I don't feel confident approaching these places without a professionally printed product to present. I have spec sheets and advertising material but believe a hardcopy is going to be the greatest selling point.

What experiences do you have with pitching in those initial days?

Do I simply take a risk on the first print?

Hi! I'm Tosic and I'm looking for an opportunity to work on Character Design & Illustrations in Fantasy setting.

If my style aligns with your vision, feel free to reach out to me via DMs and we'll bring your ideas to life. :)

My portfolio: https://cara.app/tosiccat

i've been playtesting this resource management system and it's definitely different, but i can't tell if people are genuinely engaged or just distracted by the newness of it. does anyone have a way to distinguish between "this is legitimately compelling" and "this is interesting for like five minutes"? trying to figure out what questions to ask playtesters.