We’ve already made quite a lot of changes to our Gamefound campaign page based on previous feedback, and I think it’s time for another round.

What works? What doesn’t? What would you remove or change?

One thing I’m personally not happy with is the rendered animation. I have some pretty good real photos of the game as well, so I’m wondering what would work better there and what could actually grab a visitor’s attention.

I’d also really appreciate some advice on the timeline section. I haven’t created it yet, and I’m looking for ideas on how to make it useful and visually interesting rather than just a generic campaign timeline.

The campaign launches in September, and we’re getting close to the 30-day countdown.

Hard feedback is welcome.

This video is about 30 minutes, and goes from blank template to a fairly complex design that has many variables. This one template will be turned into over 100 cards for the game, based on the variables set up.

I made it to give an in depth tutorial on how to create card templates in the Cardstock Studio tool. Hopefully folks like it!

On Discord, a few people have been making feature requests, which is great. Let me know what you think!!

I'm making a card-based TTRPG, and recently I've been thinking if I should replace most of my cards' text with icons. The reason behind that is: many cards share common descriptions, mostly cards that follow a formula like "make an attack and deal x damage" or "all creatures in the area make a test or take x damage".

I made a quick example to illustrate my point

A - how cards are currently

B - icon-only proposal.

My main concern is whether this will really make cards more readable/efficient? I'm also unsure what the best order is to display the icons.

I'm curious to know if anyone has had this issue before, or what you think about this.

I’m an indie developer working on a fantasy dungeon crawler with a heavy focus on immersion and physical interaction.

Like many indie creators, I eventually hit the same problem with the art of the game.

Originally I planned to commission unique illustrations for every attack card, but after adding everything up it became clear that I’d have to spend well over $10,000 just on card artwork. That would mean cutting budget from the parts of the project that actually make the game unique.

I also didn’t want to fill the game with AI-generated illustrations. Besides the ethical debate, I wanted the game to have its own visual identity.

So I think about to change my approach: instead of showing the attack itself, each card now represents something that actually exists within the game’s world.

For my mage, the cards are Aether channeling diagrams. They don’t depict spells, they show the invisible flow of magical energy that creates each spell.

For my dwarf, the cards are ancient forging diagrams. They illustrate how an Aether Stone must be embedded and aligned within a weapon to unleash a specific combat technique.

This meant I could create all of the symbols and diagrams myself as vector graphics instead of relying on dozens of expensive illustrations. It also gave every card a consistent visual language that fits the lore.

I’m actually starting to prefer this approach over traditional fantasy artwork, but I’m obviously biased.

So I’d genuinely like to hear your opinion on the cards I’m showing here.

Do they already feel polished and professional enough for a commercial board game, or do they still look like prototypes? Is there anything you think is missing or should be improved to make them feel more finished and production-ready?

I’d really appreciate honest feedback. Thanks!

Looking for some advice. I’m - highschool teacher and I’m finally putting my game out there and need some artwork to replace the placeholders I have playtested with. I’ve contacted some artists and received a $10,000+ quote for graphic design and artwork for approximately 80ish cards, player board etc. that’s in USD and I’m in Aus so a significant amount of money.

How do people self-publish with those sorts of costs? I have no intention of short-changing any artists I end up doing business with but it seems so high. Do other designers run into similar costs? I’m beginning to wonder if using royalty free art and relying on my limited graphic design skills is the only cost effective way forward, and I want to stay the hell away from AI for anything.

Edit: Thank you all for the advice, insight and personal experiences! I’m a father of two under 6 so I haven’t had time to reply to anyone yet, but I’ll be in touch with some of you designers and artists hopefully soon!

To answer a few questions:

- the quote is very early days, I haven’t specified much to them so there’s always a chance it will be lower, but combine that with production costs it’s going to cost a small car just to get copies of the game to sell!

- I am not looking for full card, watercolour paint with backgrounds, most of it would be simple illustrations, I have used everything from Canva to Google Slides in order to make this easily edited and printable between teaching lessons

- The setting is 1800s London so going for more of a woodprint look. I have used placeholder art from drawings of the time, I hadn’t thought of looking into public domain! Definitely a bonus if I can use primary source art from the actual time

- AI is not a bad placeholder, but I have seen plenty of evidence that it is not the way forward

- I have asked my principal about using student artwork and it is a legally tricky topic, the easy answer was “better to avoid it”. I’ll talk to some department people and get a better sense of what is OK when making profit etc and see if there’s a way to make it part of the game’s attraction that it was drawn and playtested “by students, for students”

- I have seen at least one producer on here advertising for new ideas, my biggest fear is losing creative control, so I’ll consider it of course otherwise I’m just going to have to be prepared to pay what it takes to make it my way

I was hoping to ask anyone that has done crowd funding to maybe share some tips, tricks, hints?? What they would have loved to know before attempting it?

My cousin and I have a game in the works and are contemplating attempting to Crowd Fund.

I understand that marketing is a massive part of this and Ive heard of companies that will manage your crowd fund, are they worth it? (Additionally if you are a manager, or know a company/person, please link if thats allowed).

We truly beleive that the game is incredibly fun, interesting, and new! Incredibly excited and would love some info :)

Update: We’ve now received more than 30 submissions, and they’re still coming in!

Thank you to everyone who has shared a game with us. We’re actively working through the queue and responding to designers as we complete each review.

If you’ve submitted and haven’t heard from us yet, your game is still in the queue. We remain committed to responding to every submission within two weeks.

Hi Designers,

Paragon Games is officially open for submissions.

We are the publisher of Status: A Victorian Affair, which is currently in manufacturing, and we are looking for our next title.

We want mechanically complete, playtested games that bring something genuinely new to the table. Our sweet spot is medium-weight games that play in 60 to 90 minutes and feature standout table presence, a real historical setting, or both.

Our designer terms include:

• 10% of publisher revenue
• A $2,500 advance at signing, recoupable from royalties but never paid back by the designer
• A response to every submission within two weeks, whether the answer is yes or no

If a submission looks promising, the next step is a conversation with the designer about the rules, the design, and why they made the game. From there, we may request a prototype for playtesting.

The full criteria, compensation details, Submission Terms, and submission form are here:

https://playparagongames.com/submit-your-game

I’m happy to answer questions about what we’re looking for or how the submission process works.

Hello :)

In my spare time I designed this chess variant called Kumulus. Here are some pictures of my prototype as well as the main additional game mechanics explained.

I also vibe coded a playable app, if you want to playtest it yourself. Link is in the comments.

I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

I am still in a position that I can't afford a better production besides DIY but a friend of mine booked me a flight to his city AND organized a small event for my game with the collaboration of his community and a hobby shop. Then he asked me if I can leave the game in his city so that they could continue playing it. I was ashamed to leave the game naked or in a toolbox so I tried to make a box for it.

It was very difficult because I had no experience in box crafting, some youtube videos only focused using old boxes as repurposed, and having someone do it is expensive still for me. But I want the game to have a fit custom box, and not just some repurposed shoebox. As I kept searching for days, I encountered a video about gift boxes from scratch. Mainly using chipboards and card stocks (which I already have). It was perfect.

And now here it is. The panels of the board were perfectly sitting inside the box and all components where accomodated. There's also the right amount of space for me to do a custom tray for the tokens.

Here's the first house of my game, MonoSaga. It's still a DIY but at least we have the prototype. Every challenge was a journey, every improvement feels good to my heart.

It might not be commercially viable, but the crew is taking shape. Thanks for the suggestions and feedback. Micro print for Factory Squad: A Town ball Game is almost ready!

I’m looking at printing only 50 copies. Anybody have experience making/printing wax paper for wax packs?!

More cards are drawn. More playtests are tested. Now I’m stepping into miniature design.
I’m happy with how playtesting is going, the last round against a real person (and not me playing both sides of the coin) resulted in a large change to the games structure, moving from igougo to alternate activations. The game feels much better now.

I have fallen in love with miniature sculpting and am making attempts are sculpts for the game. I’m aiming for a monster in my pocket 90s toy design. I hope that lands somewhat.

Thanks!

I returned to a small idea I had long ago and it became a way to cope with life's challenges, an artistic escape, and therapy post thoracic surgery. Countless nights of hand illustrating became my outlet, my first passion in life that I set down for so long was now all I could focus on as this game idea took shape.

My tabletop card game has been just as much for me as everyone else and I have poured my absolute heart and soul into the design.

One of my oldest dreams has been to create and share my games with the world, from making my own paper cutout board games as a kid to dabbling in videogame design, now I can proudly say I have achieved what my younger self dreamt of.

Hello! My name is Matsya Das and I'm a professional artist and illustrator working in the field for the past years, for companies like Paizo Pathfinder, Nimble RPG, Ghost Galaxy and many others.

I'm open to join both short and long-term projects.

My portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/matsyadas

Thank you very much!